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The Poetry Society (U.K.) announces the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2019 winners, best poets from around the world

Sixth Chancellor of the University of Salford Installation of Chancellor Professor Jackie Kay MBE – University of Salford, Peel Hall Sixth Chancellor of the University of Salford, April 29, 2015 / photo courtesy of University of Salford Press Office under CC BY 2.0

“If poetry is the language of being human, here we have poets speaking in every cadence possible. We were happy to get a sense of how many poets come from all different corners of the world – for there are no borders or boundaries to cross in the world of poetry and no one need carry a passport to get in.” Jackie Kay and Raymond Antrobus, Judges, Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2019

This week the Poetry Society (U.K.) announced the top fifteen winners and eighty-five commended poets in the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2019 at an awards ceremony at The Southbank Centre, London.

Run by The Poetry Society and generously supported by The Foyle Foundation, the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award celebrates its twenty-first anniversary this year. Since 1998, the Award has been finding, celebrating and supporting the very best young poets from around the world. The Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award is firmly established as the leading competition for young poets aged between 11 and 17 years old.

This year the competition drew over 11,000 poems from over 6,000 young poets. Young writers from 76 countries entered the competition, from as far afield as Vietnam, Romania, Mexico and Japan, and every corner of the UK. From these poems this year’s judges Jackie Kay and Raymond Antrobus selected 100 winners, made up of fifteen top poets and eighty-five commended poets.

“This year over 6,000 poets entered the competition, proving to us how many people are turning to poetry to express themselves in these times. There were poems that experimented with style, using the language of social media and of text. Serious and surreal poems sit side by side in this wide-ranging collection. Witty poems and sad poems shake hands with each other. We were delighted to get such a strong sense of poetry being a living, breathing relevant form that keeps changing across generations.”

Winners of the award receive a range of prizes to help develop their writing. The top fifteen poets are invited to attend a residential writing course at the Arvon residential centre The Hurst in Shropshire in Spring 2020. There they spend a week with experienced tutors focusing on improving their poetry and establishing a community of writers. All one-hundred winners of the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award receive a year’s youth membership of The Poetry Society and a goody bag stuffed full of books donated by  generous sponsors. The Poetry Society continues to support winners throughout their careers providing publication, performance and development opportunities, and access to a paid internship programme.

The top fifteen poems are going to be published in a printed winners’ anthology (also available online) from March 2020. The eighty-five commended poems will appear in an online anthology.

Both anthologies showcase the talent of the winners and are distributed free to thousands of schools, libraries, reading groups and poetry lovers across the UK and the world.

Judith Palmer, Director, The Poetry Society, said of this year’s competition:

“A huge congratulations to all 100 young poets and a massive thank you to our judges. It’s the enthusiasm and dedication of young people and teachers around the world that has made the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award the great success it is today. We hope that the quality of the writing and the support The Poetry Society provides to our young poets will inspire even more young writers to enter the competition in future years.”

The top 15 Foyle Young Poets of the Year 2019 are:

Suzanne Antelme, 18*, Guildford
Dana Collins, 18*, London
Annie Davison, 16, Oxford
Thomas Frost, 18*, Strathy, Scotland
Lauren Hollingsworth-Smith, 17, Rotherham Jean Klurfeld 16, New York

Nadia Lines, 17, Hertfordshire
Cia Mangat, 17, Ealing, London
Em Power, 17, London
Talulah Quinto, 13, Ross-on Wye, Herefordshire Trinity Robinson, 16, Durham

Libby Russell 17, East Sussex
Amy Saunders, 13, London
Lydia Wei, Gaithersburg, 16, Maryland, USA Helen Woods, 18*, Oxford

*18-year-old winners were 17 when they entered.

This post is courtesy of the Poetry Society, Wikipedia and Amazon.

Jamie Dedes. I’m a freelance writer, poet, content editor, and blogger. I also manage The BeZine and its associated activities and The Poet by Day jamiededes.com, an info hub for writers meant to encourage good but lesser-known poets, women and minority poets, outsider artists, and artists just finding their voices in maturity. The Poet by Day is dedicated to supporting freedom of artistic expression and human rights.  Email thepoetbyday@gmail.com for permissions, commissions, or assignments.

About / Testimonials / Disclosure / Facebook

Recent and Upcoming in Digital Publications Poets Advocate for Peace, Justice, and Sustainability, How 100,000 Poets Are Fostering Peace, Justice, and Sustainability, YOPP! * The Damask Garden, In a Woman’s Voice, August 11, 2019 / This short story is dedicated to all refugees. That would be one in every 113 people. * Five poems, Spirit of Nature, Opa Anthology of Poetry, 2019 * From the Small Beginning, Entropy Magazine (Enclave, #Final Poems), July 2019 * Over His Morning Coffee, Front Porch Review, July 2019 * Three poems, Our Poetry Archive, September 2019

“Every pair of eyes facing you has probably experienced something you could not endure.”  Lucille Clifton

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Where Literature Hits the Streets

“Workingman’s Cottages” built by philanthropist Alfred Tredway White as low-cost housing in 1876 (2009) / Cobble Hill area of Brooklyn / photograph released into the Universal Public Domain

“That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you’re not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong.” F. Scott Fitzgerald

Another one of those events that not only sounds like great fun but similar events could easily be organized in any community anywhere in the world.

For the fifth season, PEN America is presenting its Lit Crawl NYC: Where Literature Hits the Streets on Saturday, October 12. This vibrant festival of books and culture will wind its way through Brooklyn’s Cobble Hill this fall, featuring lively conversations and events staged at local businesses throughout the neighborhood. This pub crawl style festival this year includes Monique Truong and Dr. Jessica Harris, and events curated by local literary organizations.

All events are free of charge:

LIT CRAWL NYC SCHEDULE OF EVENTS – SATURDAY, OCTOBER 12

6:00 to 7:00pm
A Multilingual Most Exquisite Corpse
Warby Parker, 55 Bergen St.

Words Without Borders and SLICE Literary present a Multilingual Most Exquisite Corpse. Join four international writers who, along with their translators, will stitch together a story in multiple languages.

Words Without Borders (WWB) is an international magazine opened to international exchange through translation, publication, and promotion of the world’s best writing and authors who are not easily accessible to English-speaking readers.

7:00 to 8:00pm
Queens Lit in Brooklyn
Bien Cuit, 120 Smith St.

Out boroughs unite! Queens is the most diverse county in the country—and the writing produced there reflects the voices of many races, religions, ages, gender identities, and sexualities, as well as those with dis/abilities and immigration stories. Newtown Literary, a nonprofit literary organization, publishes and nurtures the voices of Queens poets and writers through the publication of a literary journal and free writing classes. Come and hear poetry and prose from some of the organization’s volunteers and participate in a Queens trivia contest. Featuring Tim Fredrick, Jackie Sherbow, Malcolm Chang, and Sokunthary Svay. Presented by Newtown Literary.

2018 Queens Pride Parade: Caribbean Equality Project

Queens is a borough of New York City, coterminous with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. It is the largest borough geographically and is adjacent to the borough of Brooklyn at the southwestern end of Long Island. To its east is Nassau County. Queens also shares water borders with the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. The borough of Queens is the second largest in population (after Brooklyn), with an estimated 2,358,582 residents in 2017, approximately 48 percent of them foreign-born. Queens County also is the second most populous county in the U.S. state of New York, behind Brooklyn, which is coterminous with Kings County. Queens is the fourth most densely populated county among New York City’s boroughs, as well as in the United States. If each of New York City’s boroughs were an independent city, Queens would be the nation’s fourth most populous, after Los Angeles, Chicago, and Brooklyn. Queens is the most ethnically diverse urban area in the world.

8:00 to 9:00pm
Literary Appetites: Women on Food
Malai Ice Cream, 268 Smith St.

Charlotte Druckman’s Women on Food is a “variety show of previously unpublished essays, interviews, and ephemera from women working in the world of food.” We bring the show to life with Charlotte and two of her contributors who will discuss their roles in the book, and chat about the literary aspect of food writing and the impact gender, race, and socioeconomics have had on that tradition and in shaping their own work. Moderated by Sabrina McMillin of Grey Horse, and featuring Charlotte, novelist and food writer Monique Truong, and author, journalist and culinary historian Dr. Jessica Harris. Presented by Grey Horse.

October 29, 2010 publication date

Literary Appetities

Women on Food unites the radical, diverging female voices of the food industry in this urgent, moving, and often humorous collection of essays, interviews, questionnaires, illustrations, quotes, and ephemera.

Edited by Charlotte Druckman and featuring esteemed food journalists and thinkers, including Soleil Ho, Nigella Lawson, Diana Henry, Carla Hall, Samin Nosrat, Rachael Ray, and many others, this compilation illuminates the notable and varied women who make up the food world. Exploring issues from the #MeToo movement, gender bias in division of labor and the workplace, and the underrepresentation of women of color in leadership, to cultural trends including food and travel shows, the intersection of fashion and food, and the evolution of food writing in the last few decades, Women on Food brings together food’s most vital female voices.

This post is courtesy of Pen America and Wikipedia.

PEN America stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect open expression in the United States and worldwide. It champions the freedom to write, recognizing the power of the word to transform the world. Its  mission is to unite writers and their allies to celebrate creative expression and defend the liberties that make it possible.

Jamie Dedes. I’m a freelance writer, poet, content editor, and blogger. I also manage The BeZine and its associated activities and The Poet by Day jamiededes.com, an info hub for writers meant to encourage good but lesser-known poets, women and minority poets, outsider artists, and artists just finding their voices in maturity. The Poet by Day is dedicated to supporting freedom of artistic expression and human rights.  Email thepoetbyday@gmail.com for permissions, commissions, or assignments.

About / Testimonials / Disclosure / Facebook

Recent and Upcoming in Digital Publications Poets Advocate for Peace, Justice, and Sustainability, How 100,000 Poets Are Fostering Peace, Justice, and Sustainability, YOPP! * The Damask Garden, In a Woman’s Voice, August 11, 2019 / This short story is dedicated to all refugees. That would be one in every 113 people. * Five poems, Spirit of Nature, Opa Anthology of Poetry, 2019 * From the Small Beginning, Entropy Magazine (Enclave, #Final Poems), July 2019 * Over His Morning Coffee, Front Porch Review, July 2019 * Three poems, Our Poetry Archive, September 2019

“Every pair of eyes facing you has probably experienced something you could not endure.”  Lucille Clifton

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Opportunity Knocks for poets, writers, artists, and photographers: The BeZine, Diaphanous Micro, and YOPP! Voice

“I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.” Douglas Adams, The Salmon of Doubt

The Poet by Day: The current Wednesday Writing Prompt is still open for participation.  Poems on theme will be published next Tuesday.

CALLS FOR SUBMISSIONS

The BeZine is published quarterly on the fifteenth of the month: March, June, September and December.

We suggest that you read our Intro and Mission Statement and at least one back issue of The BeZine before submitting work for possible publication.

Please be mindful that our core team (The Bardo Group Beguines), guest contributors and readers represent the world’s diversity. Nonviolence, respect, and inclusion are core values at The BeZine. 

WE SEEK A RANGE OF SUBMISSIONS:

  • fiction, nonfiction, creative nonfiction, essays, poetry, art and photography, cartoons, music videos, reviews and interviews, and documentary videos.
  • Feature articles should include sources.
  • Poems based on news should include sources if possible.

THE BeZINE THEMES AND READING PERIODS:

  • March: Waging the Peace (January 1 -February 20)
  • June: SUSTAINability (April 1- May 20)
  • September: Social Justice  (July 1 – August 20 / no simultaneous submissions in September)
  • December: A Life of the Spirit (October 1 – November 20)

PLEASE SEND SUBMISSION TO: bardogroup@gmail.com

  • Prose, poetry, and links to videos: submit in the body of the email
  • Photographs or artwork: submit as an attachment
  • By submitting work to bardogroup@gmail.com, you are confirming that you own and hold the rights to the work and that you grant us the right to publish on the blog or in the Zine if your submission is accepted.
  • Please include a three-hundred word bio in the email and – if you’re comfortable doing so – a photo as an attachment.

THE BeZINE BLOG:

  • There are no themes for the blog except for poetry in April and climate action in September.
  • Submissions to the blog are open all year and reviewed on a rolling basis.

SPECIAL ISSUES AND EVENTS:

  • Occasionally we publish a unique issue and at the time of this writing we are considering an issue on disability for February.
  • We also host events, most notably Virtual 100,000 Poets and Others For Change on the fourth Saturday in September.

BEST PRACTICES: We have a strong interest in learning about peace, sustainability and social justice initiatives that are working no matter where in the world. These will be considered for both blog and Zine. We encourage work that doesn’t just define or highlight a problem but offers solutions, especially when those solutions are already in place somewhere, proving productive, and might reasonably be implemented elsewhere.

COPYRIGHT: You retain the copyright for work published in The BeZine.

SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS:

  • Please let us know that you have submitted the work to other publications and advise us immediately when and if the work is accepted elsewhere. From our perspective this does not preclude publication but we need to know if another publisher has contracted for first-time or exclusive rights.
  • We do not accept simultaneous submissions in September.

THE NO-NOs

  • Work that expresses distain for a specific person or group of people.
  • Work that advocates hate or violence.
  • Poetry with a complicated or eccentric layout.
  • Odd fonts.
  • Whole works in italics.
  • Prose or poetry submitted against a colored background.
  • Submitting more than three poems at a time.
  • Submitting more than once in any given month.

Work must be submitted in English and properly edited. Submissions in other languages are encouraged. Please forward with an English translation.

PAYMENT: We regret that we are unable to offer payment or editorial feedback. While we don’t offer payment, neither do we charge for submissions or subscriptions.

The BeZine is a volunteer effort with a peace and justice mission.

On behalf of The Bardo Group Beguines
and in the spirit of love (respect) and community,
Jamie Dedes, Founding and Managing Editor

Submission Guidelines updated: September 28, 2019

DIAPHANOUS MICRO, Krysia Jopek’s journal of literary and visual art,  is seeking to induct new members of the diaphanous micro family!; in search of VERY SHORT FICTION [under 750 words]: poetic fiction, hybrid, sequences of micro [under 50 words, each micro]. flash; VISUAL ART [digital and analog]: on the experimental / postmodern / non-representational spectrum, including collaborative text-based art, poem collages and videos; and EXPERIMENTAL POETRY: prose poetry, hybrid, line-break poetry that challenges the poet page as form; “open-field” poetics, etc. [forthcoming diaphanous micro 3.13 will feature the hinge poetry and hinge theory of Heller Levinson; 3.14, the ether-spiralism poetry and poetics of Heath Brougher along with his amazing asemic visual art!]

PLEASE NOTE: seeking more submissions from WOMEN [comitted to equitable gender representation; non-binary, encouraged as well] and INTERNATIONAL literary and visual artists, including literary texts in languages other than English, provided there are English translations.

Super excited about the upcoming issues of diaphanous micro! feeling very blessed to know so many talented writers and artists and to continue to meet new talent through [my diaphanous angels’] word of mouth.

If so inclined, please spread the word about the diaphanous open submission period now and, as always, keep sharing the the diaphanous love! almost 2,500 followers of this page! those interested can INVITE FRIENDS [all your facebook friends], to like the diaphanous micro page with one simple click! would love to hit 4k likes like Into the Void! gotta dream! Submission guidelines HERE.

YOPP! is a social justice blog dedicated to civil rights education, elevating voices of marginalized people, and reducing oppression through the publication of opinion pieces, media critiques, creative non-fiction, narratives, interviews, content reviews and recommendations, compilations of resources, opportunities to help others, advanced activism theory, humor, grief, empathy, Your Story. No submission fee.  Details HERE. Read an interview with Yopp! founder/editor/curator, Kella Hanna-Wayne:  Putting the “Active” in Activism

Jamie Dedes. I’m a freelance writer, poet, content editor, and blogger. I also manage The BeZine and its associated activities and The Poet by Day jamiededes.com, an info hub for writers meant to encourage good but lesser-known poets, women and minority poets, outsider artists, and artists just finding their voices in maturity. The Poet by Day is dedicated to supporting freedom of artistic expression and human rights.  Email thepoetbyday@gmail.com for permissions, commissions, or assignments.

About / Testimonials / Disclosure / Facebook

Recent and Upcoming in Digital Publications Poets Advocate for Peace, Justice, and Sustainability, How 100,000 Poets Are Fostering Peace, Justice, and Sustainability, YOPP! * The Damask Garden, In a Woman’s Voice, August 11, 2019 / This short story is dedicated to all refugees. That would be one in every 113 people. * Five poems, Spirit of Nature, Opa Anthology of Poetry, 2019 * From the Small Beginning, Entropy Magazine (Enclave, #Final Poems), July 2019 * Over His Morning Coffee, Front Porch Review, July 2019 * Three poems, Our Poetry Archive, September 2019

“Every pair of eyes facing you has probably experienced something you could not endure.”  Lucille Clifton

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Go-To Digital Guide to Campus Free Speech

Permanent Free Speech Wall in Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S. courtesy of Daniel Rothamel under CC BY 2.0

“It’s now very common to hear people say, ‘I’m rather offended by that.’ As if that gives them certain rights. It’s actually nothing more… than a whine. ‘I find that offensive.’ It has no meaning; it has no purpose; it has no reason to be respected as a phrase. ‘I am offended by that.’ Well, so fucking what.” I saw hate in a graveyard, Stephen Fry, The Guardian, 5 June 2005”

As the U.S. lurches into what promises to be a vitriolic campaign season, battles over free speech on campus are simmering again. Students, administrators, and faculty are certain to find themselves at the vortex of a national conversation on threats to free speech and how to address them.

To avert censorship on campus and prevent free speech controversies from causing turmoil, PEN America just published a first-of-its-kind digital resource, the PEN America Campus Free Speech Guide. The guide provides step-by-step instructions for scenarios involving invited speakers, academic freedom, hateful expression, and campus protests, among other topics. The online resource is rooted in PEN America’s own Principles on Campus Free Speech and the organization’s extensive research on campus free speech issues. The guide provides a concrete, accessible reference for how to cope with speech-related challenges in the classroom, on the quad, and online.

“Now more than ever, university leaders and students need a go-to resource to understand how to protect free speech and keep their communities open and thriving,” said Jonathan Friedman, director of PEN America’s campus free speech project. “For the past three years, PEN America has been working with administrators, faculty, students, and staff across the country. This guide brings together their collective wisdom, and aims to fill their need for detailed, actionable guidance on how to balance protections for free speech on campus with efforts to advance diversity and inclusion. We hope the guide serves as a starting to place to inform campus stakeholders not only about the law, but also about best practices for how to promote dialogue, encourage the free exchange of ideas, and ensure an inclusive environment where all community members have opportunities to be heard.”

PEN America’s Campus Free Speech Guide walks users through some of the thorniest campus speech scenarios. It offers case studies on how to address hateful speech; a legal roadmap for public and private universities to adhere to the First Amendment and uphold precepts of academic freedom; a resource library stocked with advice, sample policies, and sample statements; and FAQs specifically designed to answer the questions of administrators, faculty, and students.

“Since we began our campus speech work, educators across the country have been crying out for a roadmap to help them navigate clashes that can erupt into violence and destroy careers,” said PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel. “Our university campuses are crucial breeding grounds for the broadest range of ideas and opinions. This guide offers concrete tools and methods to help them stay that way, while dealing constructively with inevitable clashes of opinions and values. Building on years of research and consultation, we are moving beyond finger-pointing over curbs on speech to advance concrete solutions that enable everyone on campus to have their say.”

EVENT THIS EVENING  / 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time / New York / Free and Open to the Public but seating is limited / Registration Required

The launch of this new resource coincides with a panel event at NYU on September 26, “Campus at a Crossroads: Free Speech, Truth, and Democracy in an Election Year.” Co-sponsored by PEN America and New York University’s Center for the Humanities and Institute for Public Knowledge, the panel will bring together academics, writers, and students for a discussion of debates over free speech, truth, and the university. Read more about the event here.

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This post is courtesy of PEN America, The Guardian, Wikipedia, and my bookshelf.  The Poet by Day actively supports freedom of speech and artistic expression and human rights.

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PEN America stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect open expression in the United States and worldwide. It champions the freedom to write, recognizing the power of the word to transform the world. Our mission is to unite writers and their allies to celebrate creative expression and defend the liberties that make it possible.