Call for Submissions - BLEU (The Hot 5 Project)

BLEU (Billie, Louis & Ella Upwind) – an anthology of poetry celebrating the music, life and politics of Billie Holliday, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald edited by Kamau Brathwaite.

flipped eye publishing seeks submissions for BLEU, a new anthology of poetry centred around the music, lives and politics of Billie Holliday, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald. We are looking for work that explores these areas as widely as possible but is rich and innovative, showing an awareness of the political climate within which these musicians lived. Writers who do not already have an interest in these artists might find that a little bit of reading about their lives will give the necessary context and texture to their work; however, it’s worth noting that all three musicians performed largely in the 20s, 30s and 40s when the United States of America was segregated. Further, they were well known for their ability to transform text/music in the way they presented and interpreted it.

You may submit up to 3 poems (maximum of 60 lines) per person.

Submissions are by e-mail only to hot5@flippedeye.net and should contain the word BLEU in the subject field (submissions without it will be automatically filtered out).

The deadline for submissions is May 20 2006.

About the Editor: Kamau Brathwaite is the acclaimed author of several collections of poetry including Black + Blues (1976), Mother Poem (1977), Trench Town Rock (1993), and ARK (2005) ref 9/11 and inspired by Coleman Hawkins' 'Body & Soul' and a critique, 'Jazz and the West Indian novel' in ROOTS (1986, 1993). He has received the Neustadt International Award for Literature, the Casa de Las Americas Prize for poetry and for literary criticism, as well as fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Fulbright Foundation, and the Ford Foundation. He is a professor of comparative literature at New York University and shares his time between CowPastor, Barbados and New York.

BLEU is part of a 5-book box set of poetry anthologies called The Hot 5, all edited by leading poets from around the world. The set will be accompanied by jazz compositions produced by the pioneering London jazz label Dune Records.

posted at 2:52 PM