Open Submissions for The Versus Anthology

Versus is a collection of works based on the theme of pitting
iconic characters or forces against one another (for example,
“Jesus VS Thor” or “Adolph Hitler VS Grendel”). Versus is edited
by Josh Woods and is set for release in the spring of 2009 by
Press 53 ( www.press53.com ). Versus already includes a great
host of writers, such as Pinckney Benedict, Michael Kimball,
Margaret McMullan, John McNally, Kyle Minor, Andrew Scott, Curtis
Smith, Susan Woodring, and many others, but we have held a few
spots open in order to give everyone interested the opportunity
to join this anthology, so here is that opportunity.

We’re looking mostly for short fiction of around 1,000-1,500
words, but Versus is open to longer works as well as poetry,
creative non-fiction, short screenplays, flash fiction, graphic
novel pages, and even hybrid genres. Submissions can be
previously published elsewhere as long as the writer has, or can
obtain, (re)publication rights. Simultaneous and multiple
submissions are allowed, but due to the volume of submissions, we
will be unable to communicate about individual manuscripts other
than to indicate that they are accepted or rejected. We will not
respond prior to the submission deadline.

The deadline for all submissions is June 1, 2008.

Please send submissions by email attachment in Microsoft Word
compatible format or as Adobe PDF to versusanthology(at)gmail.com

(replace (at) with @)

or submit by mail with SASE to:

Versus Anthology
Faner Hall 2390, MC 4503
SIU Carbondale
1000 Faner Hall
Carbondale, IL 62901

Cover letter is optional, but please include your name and email
address on each page of the manuscript. For these few remaining
spots in Versus, we are setting our focus on new, emerging, and
innovative writers. For further details on what a Versus piece
is, or even for the option of getting assigned a set of
characters for your Versus piece, please visit
www.myspace.com/versusanthology.

Do you love to weave words together?

Were you and/or one or both of your birth parents born in another country?

Do you live in the United States or Canada now?

Are you 13-19 years old?

http://www.mitaliperkins.com/teencontests.htm

If you answered yes to ALL of the questions above, YOU qualify to enter the 2008 Fire Escape Writing Contests! Submit an original, unpublished poem or story that reflects some of the joys and struggles of growing up between two cultures in America. The Fire Escape will only consider one poem and story per person, so send your best work. (If you like writing non-fiction, too, check out the Fire Escape's Write-a-Review Contest.)

Contests

Poetry (up to three poems)

Short Fiction (up to 800 words)

Prizes

First Prize: $40

Second Prize: $25

Third Prize: $10

How to submit an entry:

* Paste your poem or story into an e-mail message and send it to contests -at - mitaliperkins.com. I will not open attachments.

* Proofread thoroughly and keep your presentation simple. Entries with spelling, grammar or punctuation errors and funky characters/fonts may be disqualified without notice. (There were lots of these this year!) Do not include any clip art, images, or photos with your entry. Words only, please. Fiction longer than 1000 words will not be considered.

* Include your name, age, and e-mail address in your e-mail. Also include your countr(ies) of origin. You and/or ONE of your birth parents must have been born outside North America. If you were born in Puerto Rico and are now living in one of the states or Canadian provinces, you qualify.

* Current U.S. or Canadian residents only please, and previous winners are not eligible.

* To qualify, your entry must be received between September 1, 2007 and June 1, 2008.

REPEAT: you must be an immigrant or internationally adopted teen (or a teen with one immigrant parent) currently living in the United States or Canada.

NOTE: Failure to follow all of the contest guidelines will disqualify your entry.

Winning Poems and Stories will be published on the Fire Escape. Winners will be notified by June 30th. If you do not hear from us by June 30th, you can assume that your entry was NOT a winner. Prizes must be claimed by September 1, 2008. Please note that editorial or any other personal comments will not be provided for contest submissions. The Fire Escape reserves the right to award no prizes if no entry meets the judge's standards.

The Fire Escape seeks the following permissions from young authors: permission to publish your work on the web site, and permission to include your work in online archives after publication. Authors retain the copyright to their work. Once selected, winners must send their school information and a mailing address so that the Fire Escape can validate the entry and send the prize.

Fairy Tale Review is accepting submissions to its fifth issue, The Aquamarine Issue, from
April 15 through September 15, 2008. We welcome all previously unpublished fiction,
poetry, drama, non-fiction, etcetera, informed by the fairy-tale tradition.

Past contributors include Sarah Hannah (to whom our most recent issue, The Violet Issue is
dedicated), Aimee Bender, Donna Tartt, Mary Caponegro, Rikki Ducornet, Joyelle
McSweeney, Lydia Millet, Kim Addonizio, Lucy Corin, and Kiki Smith.

Please see our submission guidelinesfor
more details.

On Monday, May 5th, 2008 at the Medicine Show Theater on 52nd Street, NYC, Factory School requests your presence for a pre-Publication Book Party for Charles Bernstein and Ben Yarmolinsky's Blind Witness: Three American Operas, due out in August.


For more information about this event, please click here:
http://epc.buffalo.edu/authors/bernstein/blog/#04-23-08


For more information about Blind Witness, and to pre-order a copy, please click here:
http://factoryschool.org/pubs/blindwitness/



SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT – PLEASE HELP US CONTINUE OUR WORK


If you are unable to attend Monday's event, we hope you will join us online for an important announcement regarding the future of Factory School and its work in the community. We are planning a significant relaunch of our organization, its purpose and orientation. This change will be visible on our website on Monday, May 5th, when we will unveil a 2.0 upgrade to our site. To this end, we are seeking collaborators, projects, and support for our work.


Since 2000, Factory School has sponsored online galleries, an audio archive of poetry readings, as well as resources for teachers and teachers of writing--all this in addition to our books. Hundreds of thousands of visitors have made use of these materials. Since our books are our only source of income, we are pleading with the community to help us continue our work by purchasing one or more of our books. These purchases will allow us to continue to publish books while continuing to expand our organizational infrastructure.


While we will be making a more significant announcement on Monday, May 5th, here is a preview of what our priorities will be in the coming years:



CULTURAL CAPITAL GENERATING MACHINE


--Free University of New York Press: a new academic press without the university.
--Publication Club: social networking site allows younger writers to meet each other and develop editorial identity, social and real capital.
--Series based publishing: Developing projects for extant book series (Heretical Texts, PS3577, Public Intermedia, Southpaw Culture).
--Working collaboratively not as aesthetic judges, seeking alternatives to the social-subcultural engine that drives micro communities of taste.
--Development of books for use in courses, not the other way around.



KNOWLEDGE LAUNDERING


--"Community Handbook" resource development project: teaching materials, student-generated learning modules.
--Textbook recycling program.
--Reclaiming for public use educational content pilfered from the public domain by private corporations.



ACTION RESEARCH CONSULTATION SERVICE


--Community-based problem solving and future planning.
--Design studio and workshop.
--Curriculum and learning program development.
--Organizational feedback strategies, research methods and practice.



LEARNING STUDIOS AND POLICY LABORATORIES


--Interactive websites for all new Factory School books.
--Beginning research and planning phases for independent urban college.
--Think tank and policy-paper laboratory to counter-act regressive trends in American politics and culture.



PLEASE CONSIDER DONATING, OR PURCHASING SOME BOOKS


Please click on the link below to order a book or make a donation using Paypal. If you would rather send us money, please send an email to INFO "@" FACTORYSCHOOL ORG to make arrangements.


http://factoryschool.org/pubs/order.html

*Please post, forward, blog, etc.*

The deadline for regular and scholarship applications to the 2008 Napa Valley Writers' Conference is May 22 (not a postmark deadline!). This year's conference begins Sunday, July 27 and ends Friday, August 1. Faculty in fiction are Ron Carlson, Lan Samantha Chang, Ehud Havazalet, and Ann Packer; in poetry, Mark Doty, Nick Flynn, Brenda Hillman, and Claudia Rankine. Novelist Paul Lisicky is a special guest.

Scholarships are based on merit and need and are intended to bring to the conference serious and talented writers who would not otherwise be able to attend. Most scholarships are partial, defraying the cost of tuition; two full scholarships, the Richard Lemon Scholarship in poetry and the Rosselli-DeFilippis Scholarship in Fiction, are awarded to writers of color. Full details are available on our website, http://www.napawritersconf.org/, where you can also learn about our workshops, our community housing program and our faculty.