Friday, February 17, 2006

Opportunities

Manuel Ramos

ASPEN SUMMER WORDS
2006 Bedell Scholarship for Literature and World Citizenship


Aspen Summer Words is described by the Aspen Writers' Foundation as:
"Each summer bibliophiles from across the nation gather in Aspen to celebrate the written word during one of the region’s biggest literary workshops. Aspen Summer Words, our flagship program, is a five-day writing retreat and literary festival that offers an inspiring array of events — from author readings and writing workshops to publishing industry panels and VIP receptions. In 2006, Aspen Summer Words will celebrate its 30th anniversary with a Literary Festival exploring Voices of the West: Crossing the Great Divide."

The Bedell Scholarship for Literature and World Citizenship offers one opportunity for a full-tuition scholarship for a Writing Retreat workshop; a Literary Festival pass; two agent/editor meetings; round-trip coach airfare to Aspen; five nights accommodation; and a small stipend to a yet-to-be-published writer of fiction or poetry.

The scholarship recipient is responsible for his/her own meals and travel insurance covering flight, luggage and health. The selected student is responsible for arranging all personal travel documents.

Eligibility:
Must be enrolled in a creative writing program in the North American West
No previous book publication credits
Minimum age: 18 years
No upper age limit

Deadline:
The deadline for applications is 5 pm (US Mountain Standard Time) on April 3, 2006. Submission is by post, fax or email. A decision will be made by April 17.

To apply, send a:
Typewritten single-sided, double-spaced writing sample of up to 10 pages of fiction OR poetry
Brief cover letter explaining your desire to participate (include name, mailing address, email address, telephone number)

Only complete application packets, including both components, will be juried by our scholarship committee. Each application will be considered on its merit alone. Manuscripts will not be returned.

Aspen Writers' Foundation
110 E. Hallam Street, No. 116
Aspen CO 81611
Tel: 970.925.3122
Fax: 970.920.5700
Email: info@aspenwriters.org

HARDLUCK STORIES - BORDERLAND NOIR


I picked this up from Hardluck Stories, an online story site that features hard-boiled and noir fiction. Even if you don't submit a story, you have to admit that the call for submissions is entertaining:

"Deadline: March 15, 2006. Max. word length: 5000. Theme for this issue: Borderland Noir

La frontera … what El Paso-based songwriter Tom Russell describes as 'that delicious, dark-eyed myth of the border.'

We’re headed way out west, out past where you’ve dared to go before. Out to Touch of Evil country (that’s the film, not the book, hombres).

Our troubadours are Russell, Dave Alvin … Marty Robbins and Ry Cooder. Mariachi bands dominate the shortwave radios down this way, where tortured widower Orson Welles hands out justice with his ham-sized fists, all the while muttering under his boxy Stetson.

We’re not looking to be slavish about the coordinates: The Border is a state of mind every bit as much as it is a geographic boundary. But fiction or nonfiction, I will be seeking that Malcolm Lowry/Day of the Dead/Cinco de Mayo vibe.

Focus on that uneasy friction between Old Meh-hi-co and El Norte … because, way down deep, we all know that you can leave Brownsville, but you can never get Matamoros out of your soul.

Give me stories about young lives snuffed out chasing the dream of more money and better futures up north.

Show me guilt-stricken 'coyotes' who can no longer stand to roast peasants in locked freight cars, or to abandon babies and their too-young mothers in the scrub-oak purgatory of the Sonoran desert.

Tell me tales of Narcotrafficante madmen with too much cash and bent imaginations who build crazy tunnels under miles of wasteland to smuggle drugs. I’m craving stories about bad bastards who kidnap tourists and mail them back one-finger-at-a-time, seeking impossible-to-pay ransoms from gringo wage-slaves whose one foreign vacation has gone so terribly south on them.

To this day, cherry boys with butterflies in their bellies steal across the border to get laid … to drink rum at TJ’s infamous 'longest bar in the world' and to find out exactly what the hell a 'Donkey Show' is. But sometimes things take a turn. Rum and tequila and first sex are a treacherous mix. Show me how treacherous.

Emiliano Zapata said, 'It’s better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.' So, in that spirit, swing for the fences, amigos. Give me strong and original voices. Gut-shoot me and/or break my heart, because, tonight, I just want to feel something.

About Craig [McDonald, the editor for this issue]: Along with being one of the top crime fiction reviewers working today, Craig is an award-winning journalist, editor and an acclaimed short story writer. He is a contributor to the 2004 New York Times nonfiction bestseller Secrets of the Code. Craig's also had crime short stories appear in both Mississippi Review and Dublin Noir, edited by Ken Bruen. Art in The Blood, a collection of interviews conducted by Craig with 20 crime writers, is forthcoming from PointBlank Press."

ARIZONA THEATRE COMPANY NATIONAL LATINO PLAYWRITING AWARD
The National Latino Playwriting Award was established by Arizona Theatre Company to create a greater awareness of the work being done by Latino playwrights. Recent recipients of the Award are Luis Santiero, Karen Zacarias, Caridad Svich, Felix Pire, Luis Alfaro and Octavio Solis. Latino playwrights residing in the United States, its territories, or Mexico are encouraged to submit scripts for the 2006 Award. Each script will be read and evaluated by a culturally diverse panel of theatre artists. Finalists will be judged by ATC artistic staff. The winner will be awarded $1,000 and will be considered for ATC's GENESIS: New Play Reading Series. For the detailed guidelines call (520) 884-8210. Submissions must be postmarked by March 30, 2006.

NICKELODEON WRITING FELLOWSHIP
Nickelodeon is offering writing fellowships in live action and animated television to culturally and ethnically diverse, new writers. Participants will have hands-on experience writing spec scripts and pitching story ideas. The focus of the program is to broaden Nickelodeon’s outreach efforts and provides a salaried position for up to one year. The ’06 – ’07 cycle is tentatively scheduled to begin in October 2006. The next submission cycle runs from January 2 – February 28, 2006 . Application and submission guidelines are available on the website at http://www.nickwriting.com./ Information via phone: 818.736.3663 Information via email: info.writing@nick.com

REMEMBER NEW ORLEANS ON FAT TUESDAY
This notice is for Denver but there must be similar efforts all around the country:
Bradford Publishing is holding a Book Drive to benefit Louisiana libraries, Feb. 28–March 3. The libraries are in need of gently used books, including fiction, non-fiction published in the last five years, and audio books. The libraries cannot accept professional legal, medical, technical, or scientific books, or old encyclopedias, almanacs, or textbooks. You can donate books at Bradford Publishing, 1743 Wazee St., or Tattered Cover (LoDo, Cherry Creek and Highlands Ranch locations).

Later.

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