Please note that the deadline for submissions to "The Lost Border" has been extended until Oct. 15, 2011. (See below for details.)

Issue of Rattle Poetry Journal will feature Law Enforcement Poets

RATTLE #37 - Summer 2012 - Poets in Law Enforcement

 Note: the following information is copied from the Rattle website. Please refer to www.rattle.com

Poetry: The tribute section will feature poetry written by poets working in or retired from a career in law enforcement. The poems don't have to be about your work -- we're interested in any subject or style of poem, as long as you are or have been a police officer, detective, investigator, jailer, FBI agent, probation officer, etc. To submit via email or hardcopy, follow the regular guidelines, but please note in the cover letter that you are submitting for the Law Enforcement tribute.

Essays: We'd like to publish essays on the relationship between law enforcement and poetry. Our preference is a personal narrative essay, which focuses on your own experience. Please query with any questions. Essays can be any length.

Artwork: We still need cover and divider art for this issue. Photography, paintings, or collages relating to the theme will all be considered. Submissions are accepted as lo-res email attachments (jpegs prefered), or by mail on a CD. Production will require hi-res images (300dpi @ 9.25" x 6.125").

Reading Period Opens: August 1st, 2011 -- Deadline for submissions: February 1st, 2012

Houston Noir (A Proposed Volume)

I am looking for writers of East Asian, Asian, or African American heritage who have lived in Houston or currently live in Houston to submit short fiction between 3,000 and 6,000 words in the sub-genre of noir crime writing for a proposed anthology.

 This request for submissions relates to a proposed anthology of noir crime fiction for Akashic Books in Brooklyn. The anthology will be entitled “Houston Noir” and will  feature authors whose connection with Houston is current or has been established through residence.

 Each story accepted for the anthology will be set in a different Houston neighborhood.

 I encourage interested authors to review Akashic Books’ website.  As one of America’s most successful and prominent indie publishers, Akashic’s mission is “reverse gentrification of the literary world.”  Akashic has done more than any other contemporary publisher to erase the fictional boundary between literary writing and so-called genre fiction. You may also wish to check out “Indian Country Noir,” the recent volume I edited for Akashic, or any other of their books in their Noir imprint.

 If you are interested in finding out more about this project or in submitting a story, please contact Sarah Cortez at cortez.sarah@gmail.com.  I’d like to hear from you if you are seriously planning to submit a story.

 Please feel free to send this information to other writers who might be interested.

 Best,

Sarah Cortez

The Lost Border Anthology: Essays on Changed Lives & Culture Due to Recent Violence on the U.S.-Mexico Border

Request for Submissions

The Lost Border: Essays on how life and culture have been changed by the violence along the U.S.-Mexico border

 This new anthology will focus on the unique life and culture along the U.S.-Mexico border that has been changed and even lost because of the recent drug violence.  This book will feature writers from both sides of the border who explore the culture that has been changed or lost, the lives that have been split in two, and the way of life that has been interrupted, or even eradicated, by the violence along the border.

 Some of the questions that might be explored are: What way of life has been lost due to the recent violence?  What are the ramifications of this change for culture, politics, families, institutions, the arts, and even individual psyches?  Will it be possible to regain what has been truncated?  What might the border’s future be? Are there any positive side-effects?

 We hope that writers will conjure the past in telling moments and reflect on the forces that have spun out of control to destroy the unique bi-national, bicultural existence of la frontera.  Location is a vitally important and intrinsic element of the essays we seek, and each essay should show substantial ties to the border through the essayist’s lived experience.  We anticipate that the writing will draw scholars as well as those in the general public who wish to thoughtfully negotiate the border’s current complexities.

 The publisher of this project will be Arte Público Press and the anticipated publication date is in 2013.

 Please read the submission guidelines and follow them.  We look forward to reading your submission.  We will contact you by email about acceptance or rejection of your essay.

 Sarah Cortez (Cortez.Sarah@gmail.com) and Sergio Troncoso (SergioTroncoso@gmail.com)

Editors

 Submission Guidelines:

The deadline has been extended to October 15, 2011.  The length of the essay should be 3,000 to 6,000 words; please title your essay.  The essay should be unpublished and written in English.  All contributors shall be Latino/a.

 Each essay should be typed in Times Roman 12-point type with standard manuscript formatting for margins and spacing.

 Include your name, snail-mail address, two contact phone numbers, two email addresses, and exact word count in the top left margin of the first page of your manuscript.

Mail two hard copies of the essay and your bio to Sergio Troncoso, 2373 Broadway, Suite 1808, New York, NY 10024.  No submission will be returned.  We also accept electronic submissions.

Please include a one-paragraph biography summarizing your publishing credits.  Include a sentence or two that defines your relationship with the border (e.g. cities or towns lived in, length of residence/familiarity).