Line Up of Activities for Writing on the Wall Festival 2016 Announced

A full programme of events for this year’s WoWFest has been announced. Dave Gibbons, Isy Suttie, and Holly McNish are some of the authors, writers and performers heading to the event when it returns to the city in May.

Now into its 17th year, WoWFest is the longest running literature festival in Liverpool and is an important part of the cultural landscape of the North West, welcoming a host of local, national and international writers to the city.

The month-long festival will deliver 29 events, exploring the future, past and present through sci-fi, super heroes, graphic novels and comic books.

This year’s programme of events include a gender identity debate led by transgender teenager fiction author Juno Dawson, a ranting poetry event ‘Stand Up and Spit – Speaking Volumes’ and a 10th anniversary special of the festival’s Pulp Idol competition.

Co-director of Writing on the Wall, Mike Morris says: “This is a new adventure for Writing on the Wall, our own journey into new areas of writing and literature with some really exciting new projects with school pupils and young people.

“We’re excited to bring to Liverpool some of the biggest names and best writers and artists – novelists, graphic novelists, illustrators and actors – an excellent array of diverse talent, one of the hallmarks of Writing on the Wall.”

Culled from- http://www.yourmovemagazine.com/full-line-up-announced-for-writing-on-the-wall-festival-2016/13791#sthash.FNWOroip.dpuf

March 31st 2016 is the deadline for the Good Housekeeping Novel Competition.

Do you have a brilliant idea for a book, but keep putting off writing it?

Good Housekeeping, book publishers Orion and literary agent Luigi Bonomi are looking for a reader whose first novel deserves to be read. We’re after someone who has never had their work published and has no literary agent.

Entries should be in the crime/thriller and women’s fiction genres. First prize is a £10,000 advance and the chance to see your book in print!

A shortlist of 10 writers will spend a day with Orion Books and Luigi, taking part in workshops and getting feedback on their submitted chapters. There are also three Acer Switch laptops for runners-up.

WHAT TO SEND
Send us a full synopsis of your story (no more than two sheets of A4 paper); 5,000 words of your novel (crime/thriller or women's fiction); a 100-word mini biography of yourself. Include your name, address and telephone number. Your work must be original unpublished work.

TO
Good Housekeeping Novel Competition, Orion Books, Carmelite House, 50 Victoria Embankment, London EC4Y 0DZ

WHEN
Entries to arrive by 31 March 2016.

Terms and conditions
*Open to UK entrants aged 18 and over. *The book must be fiction in the crime/thriller or women’s fiction genres. *The competition is open to entrants who have never had a novel (including their entry) published by a publishing company and who are not already signed to a literary agent. *Entrants can have been self-published but must own the rights to their entry. *Only one entry is permitted per person. *Please enclose a printed version of your entry, printed double-spaced in 12pt type on A4 paper, along with the entry form above. We can’t accept entries submitted by email (except residents of Northern Ireland who may email their entry to goodh.mail@hearst.co.uk) and we’re unable to return manuscripts. *All entries must be received by 31 March 2016. *The prize is: £10,000 advance; publication of winning novel upon its completion; and an introduction to top literary agent Luigi Bonomi. There is no cash alternative to the prize. *The winner will be notified by 30 June 2016. *Winners must agree to be interviewed for a feature and for an extract of their novel to be published in Good Housekeeping. *Hearst Magazines UK reserves the right not to award the prize if we do not receive any entries of a publishable standard. *The judging panel’s decision is final.

Culled from- http://paulmcveigh.blogspot.com.ng/2016/02/good-housekeepings-novel-competition.html

IDOWU ADEDAYO: HERALDING THE GOSPEL WITH POETRY

IDOWU ADEDAYO: HERALDING THE GOSPEL WITH POETRY

Artiste: Adedayo Idowu

Number of Tracks: 5

Year of Release: 2016

Reviewer: Olutayo IRANTIOLA

There is a general misconception that there are some vocabularies in English that cannot be translated or transliterated into Yoruba. This was one of the things addressed by Adedayo Idowu in his new work titled Konkonboto which he translated as the Gargantuan Genre.

Adedayo Idowu has evolved with time because the opening track of the album has a contemporary tune with a slight blend of rap. The track, ‘Ori Mi ko Buru’ is a song of thanksgiving that God has prevailed in his life and that has not given the enemy an opportunity. The poet cum singer was also optimistic of his ascension with Jesus at his appearance and he urged all those who want to reign with Jesus to accept him and eschew sin.

The second track which is 18 minutes long is an exposition on the happenings in the church. He made a reference to the past album titled ‘Ara Jesu ko ya’. In the track, he made it known that his song is used to address the decadence in the church. As a Yoruba man, he described the church as ‘a rotten orange’. The role that the church is expected to play in the society has been corrupted. The track makes reference to the Bible when Jesus sent out money changers in Mark 11:15. There are different analogies of the atrocities committed by Men of God.  He rightly described that many followers of the ‘devilish’ ministers do not equally want the truth. He believed that the actual men of God will be known by their deeds.  The poet gave a vivid description of the qualifications of a minister of God as written in the book of I Timothy, Chapter Three.  Other atrocities committed in the church include abortion, adultery etc. He lampooned the denominational segregation; he explained it in English, thus:

‘ Jesus Christ has nominated us for Heaven but we are denominating ourselves. Hence, we have innumerable denominations and the spirit of denominationalism has demoralized the church.

Therefore, the church is critically sick and is drastically dying. Oh! Lord save the church’

He went to explain the trend of Pentecostalism that can be called Pente-rascalism. According to him, anointing oil as written in the Bible was used just twice for healing. The church is being humiliated because of the glory attributed to the ministers.

The third track is a contemporary Apala gospel titled, Eni Taye Ye Lo Datunbi. This track is a reminder of the need to be born again and concentrate on making heaven. He mentioned that his joy is filled whenever he is in the house of the Lord which is in tandem with the words of David in Psalms 122:1. As for the poet, there is no reason to be enticed for material gains. He noted that the stings of sin are very disastrous; he mentioned different sins and Bible characters that had unfortunate end like Samson.

The fourth track is titled ‘Ayipada Tooto’ is a called to the change that God is expecting from man. He said the change that every man needs is to change to godliness and righteousness while Nigerians need to change from being corrupt. In his exact words,

‘the honourables dishonouring themselves’; the respected disrespecting themselves;

the exalted debasing themselves; the valued devaluing themselves;

the graced disgracing themselves falling from grace to grass; exhibiting shows of shame; they need to change’

The track is an address of the political situation of the country. He implored political leaders to have a change of attitude; women to have a change of attitude. Other people that were not left out include students; teachers; masters; traditional rulers; traders; fuel attendants; journalists; civil servants and nomadic Fulani cattle rearers which he addressed in Hausa language and virtually every strata of the society. He implored everyone to turn to God.

The final track of the album is an encouragement to everybody titled ‘Erin’ however with moderation. The song is equally a plea that God should make use rejoice. The benefits of laughter were enumerated. He summed it up with the Biblical example of Abraham who laughed.

This is an original work of a gospel performer poet who has rendered his poetry in a corrective way for everyone who wants to hear the truth in tunes. He was able to code mix in a very attractive way. This great piece of music is recommended to everyone who has the desire for ingenious and meaningful music. This is another quality product from OKEHO!

HAPPY WORLD BOOK DAY!

Two Poets tie at the Julie Suk Contest for Best Poetry Book 2015

We have a tie this year for the winner of the Julie Suk Contest for best poetry book published by an independent press.

Noel Crook, Salt Moon, Southern Illinois University Press
Rickey Laurentiis, Boy with Thorn, University of Pittsburgh Press

Final judge Julie Suk says –
There are times language springs out of poems so strong
and perfectly attuned to subject it knocks us to our knees.
So it goes with Noel Crook‘s astonishing first book, Salt Moon.
Deep tenderness and love compete with the “crush of small
bones” in “a world that could take you in an instant.”
Buzzards wheel, crows on the lawn “bark a raucous code,” and
a “fisted black widow” appears in the sandbox. 

Relishing these images, the reader is compelled to return again
and again to her work.

And there, equally sinuous and authentic, are the poems in
Boy With Thorn by Rickey Laurentiis. His is a brutal world,
yet the rich, emotive language is ever in control.  Who else
has written so eloquently of a lynching as he does in the chilling
poem, “Of Leaves That Have Fallen”?

There is a wild elegance ever present in these wanton
yet deeply intimate poems. One does not question the awards
he has received.

Please buy these two books.  Buy all 5 finalists.  Buy all 16 on the long list.
You won’t regret it.

The 5 finalists are –

Abdul Ali, Trouble Sleeping, New Issues Press
Tara Bray, Small Mothers of Fright, LSU Press
Nickole Brown, Fanny Says, Boa Editions Ltd
Noel Crook, Salt Moon, Southern Illinois University Press
Rickey Laurentiis, Boy with Thorn, University of Pittsburgh Press

Congratulations to these 16 poets who made the long list of finalists for the Julie Suk Award for the best book of poetry published by an independent or university press in 2015.

It was difficult to narrow it to 16, there were so many good books published. Special thanks to my two women readers for their thoughtful deliberations and careful reading of all submissions. They shall remain anonymous, although I will say both are published poets.

Now for the difficult task of narrowing this list down to 4 or 5 for final judging. I would recommend these books without hesitation to all readers.

Abdul Ali, Trouble Sleeping, New Issues Press
Tara Bray, Small Mothers of Fright, LSU Press
Nickole Brown, Fanny Says, Boa Editions Ltd
Laura Bylenok, Warp, Truman State University Press
Noel Crook, Salt Moon, Southern Illinois University Press
Gregory Donovan, Torn from the Sun, Red Hen Press
Veronica Golos, Rootwork, Three: A Taos Press
John Hoppenthaler, Domestic Garden, Carnegie Mellon University Press
Jessica Jacobs, Pelvis with Distance,White Pine Press
Kirun Kapur, Visiting Indira Gandhi’s Palmist, Elixir Press
Rickey Laurentiis, Boy with Thorn, University of Pittsburgh Press
Angie Macri, Underwater Panther, Southeast Missouri State University Press
Nate Marshalll, Wild Hundreds, University of Pittsburgh Press
Kathleen McGookeyy, Stay, Press 53
Catriona O’Reilly, Geis, Wake Forest University Press
Marci Vogel, At the Border of Wilshire & Nobody, Howling Bird Press

2014 Julie Suk Award Winner

In our first 2 years, finalists have been published by presses in the U.S., Ireland, and Canada.

The 2014 winner –
David Roderick – The Americans – University of Pittsburgh Press

Runner ups –
Kelli Russell Agodon – Hourglass Museum – White Pine Press
Zeina Hashem Beck – To Live in Autumn – The Backwaters Press
Chloe Honum– The Tulip-Flame – Cleveland State University Press
Garth Martens – Prologue for the Age of Consequence – Anansi 
Susan Rich – Cloud Pharmacy – White Pine Press

Culled from http://www.jacarpress.com/readers/

CGU announces winners of 2016 Kingsley and Kate Tufts Poetry Awards: Ross Gay and Danez Smith

Claremont Graduate University (CGU) is pleased to announce that Ross Gay, of Bloomington, Indiana, has won the $100,000 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award for his book Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude (University of Pittsburgh Press). The award, given annually to a mid-career poet, is among the world’s most generous and distinguished prizes for a book of poetry.

 
Ross Gay (Photo by Natasha Komoda)

Danez Smith, of Ann Arbor, Michigan, has won the $10,000 Kate Tufts Discovery Award for their book [insert] boy (YesYes Books). The Kate Tufts Discovery Award is given annually for a first book by a poet of genuine promise.

A ceremony for this year's winners will be held on April 7, 2016 at 5 pm at Rose Hills Theater, Smith Campus Center (170 E. 6th Street, Claremont).

Gay, the author of three collections of poetry, teaches at Indiana University. His previous two collections are Bringing the Shovel Down (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2011) and Against Which (CavanKerry Press, 2006). His past honors include fellowships from Cave Canem, the Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the Radcliffe Institute.

Chief Judge Chase Twichell said the jury was impressed by Gay’s ability to “conjure profound and genuine epiphanies out of ordinary things.”

“In this accomplished third volume of poetry, we hear a voice that is fresh, exploratory, and curious about a wide range of subjects,” Twichell said. “Although modest and unpretentious, Ross has an authority that allows him to speak directly into the ear of the reader with a disarming intimacy, one that makes us feel that each poem turns directly toward us as we read. It's hard to describe, but trust me, it's a rare quality.”

 

Danez Smith

Smith is a MFA candidate at the University of Michigan and teaches with InsideOut Detroit. They are a 2014 Ruth Lilly - Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Fellow, a Cave Canem and VONA alum, and recipient of a McKnight Foundation Fellowship. Smith is also a two-time Individual World Poetry Slam finalist, placing 2nd in 2014, and a founding member of the Dark Noise Collective.

Twichell praised Smith’s [insert] boy as “remarkable for its nervy, surprising, morally urgent poems.”

“Although at times rough, raw, and sometimes angry, particularly in regard to issues of race and gender, there is always an underlying tenderness that holds the poems open to the reader and invites him in,” Twichell said. “Structurally inventive, vividly imaginative, and wholly original, [insert] boy is an unforgettable debut. I can think of no other recent first book of American poetry that packs a punch of this force.”

The Kingsley Tufts award, now in its 24th year, was established at Claremont Graduate University by Kate Tufts to honor the memory of her husband, who held executive positions in the Los Angeles Shipyards and wrote poetry as his avocation. The award is given annually to honor a poet at mid-career, providing resources that allow the artist to continue working toward the pinnacle of their craft.

The Kate Tufts Discovery Award was initiated at CGU in 1993 and is presented annually for a first book by a poet of genuine promise.

Finalists for the 2016 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award were Kyle Dargan for Honest Engine(University of Georgia Press); Amy Gerstler for Scattered at Sea (Penguin); Fred Moten for The Little Edges (Wesleyan); and Jennifer Moxley for The Open Secret (Flood Editions).

Finalists for the 2016 Kate Tufts Discovery Award were Meg Day for Last Psalm at Sea Level(Barrow Street); Bethany Schultz Hurst for Miss Lost Nation (Anhinga Press); Michael Morse for Void and Compensation (Canarium); and Henry Walters for Field Guide A Tempo(Hobblebush Books).

Final judges were Stephen Burt, literary critic and English professor at Harvard University; Elena Karina Byrne, poet and poetry curator/moderator for the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books; Brian Kim Stefans, poet and professor of English at University of California, Los Angeles; Don Share, poet and editor of POETRY Magazine; and Chase Twichell, chair of the judging committee and past winner of the Kingsley Tufts award.

Past winners of the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award include Robert Wrigley, Tom Sleigh, Matthea Harvey, Yusef Komunyakaa, Timothy Donnelly, Marianne Boruch, Afaa Michael Weaver, and Angie Estes.

To know about the University; read more on http://www.cgu.edu/pages/4546.asp?item=8793

The Naked Convos Presents The Writer Competition 2016

The Writer Competition is an online ‘reality’ writing competition created by TheNakedConvos which has been run for 3 successful editions, where contestants are given a topic or theme to write on each week and you, the public, as well as our judges, assess them and vote to keep the best writers in the game until we have one writer left standing, our winner – The Writer. The online reality aspect of the competition stems from the fact that evictions are done live online via social media platforms. Over the last three editions, we have had great competitions and this year it promises to be more exciting with higher quality writing, more drama and more at stake.

The Process

12 Finalists will be shortlisted from the qualification entry submissions based on the quality of their flash fiction. These writers will be mentored by our judges and will contest in four rounds of the online writing competition where we will evict three contestants every week.

The competition will require all writers to send in their short, themed stories weekly by a fixed deadline. The stories from contestants will be put up for members of the public to read and vote for.

At the end of the voting period, the panel of judges will evaluate the stories and score them using pre-communicated criteria.

The public votes from the audience (50%) and the votes from the judges (50%) will be combined into a single score and based on this contestants with the lowest scores will be eliminated weekly until there is only one left standing – THE WRITER.

Who is it for?

The competition is for all Africans who love to write. There is no age, nationality or location restriction. All African citizens are encouraged to send in pre-qualification entries to be considered.

How to qualify?

To stand a chance to qualify for the competition, simply write and send in a piece of flash fiction that is not more than 300 words long (it can be less than this but definitely not more). Please submit as an attachment in Microsoft Word format.

There is no theme for the pre-qualification entry. Send us your shortest and best piece. It can be flash fiction about anything. Set anywhere. Any genre. Any style — you get the picture. Be creative – the more creative and well written, the better your chances of qualifying.

Send your entry to thewriter@thenakedconvos.com on or before Midnight, West Africa Time March 31, 2016. The competition itself will run for 4 weeks in May 2016. 

Submissions must be Flash FICTION stories. Poetry and Opinion pieces will NOT be considered.

Only shortlisted writers will be contacted. Writers will be contacted only by e-mail. Please include your full name, phone number and a valid e-mail address in your submission which we will use for continued correspondence, even if it is the same email address you use to send in the entry.

Only one entry is allowed per writer. The work must be the work of the person whose name is stated in the email.

The Prizes

At the end of The Writer competition, there will be three winners,

First Place            – N200,000

Second Place     – N150,000

Third Place          – N100,000 

All 12 shortlisted Writers will also be invited specially to have their stories published in an Anthology and will be paid professional rates.

————

That’s it people.

Get excited. Get ready to write. Get ready to read. Get ready to judge. Get ready to vote.

THE WRITER SEASON FOUR BEGINS NOW!

Culled from http://thenakedconvos.com/22943-2/?utm_campaign=TNC_Socialshare&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=socialnetwork