My Mind Words Paper [Search results for LIFE] 

Deadline: 15 June 2012

STUDENT ESSAY COMPETITION OVERVIEW

The New Cosmic Frontiers International Science Essay Competition On the Nature of our Universe and its Habitats is open to high school and college students. Its purpose is to inspire students to consider careers in science and to nurture their enthusiasm for the subject, and to engage young minds in creative, intellectual activities essential in scientific endeavors.

Winners will be awarded significant monetary prizes to support their education and given an extraordinary opportunity to meet today’s world-renowned scientists and scholars at a conference and award ceremony, held in Philadelphia, on October 12-13, 2012. The program will include presentations by winners of the New Frontiers in Astronomy and Cosmology Research Grant Program and the New Cosmic Frontiers Student Essay Competition; a banquet; a public event lecture related to the Big Questions; and panel of Templeton Prize winners and other original thinkers discussing the future of the Big Questions.

PRIZES

The top three essays in each category will be awarded significant prizes recognizing excellence, originality and creativity. The winners are encouraged to use the prize money for the purpose of furthering their career in science.

Category 1: High School Students or Equivalent

• First Prize – The top essay will be chosen for a $25,000 cash prize.
• Second Prizes – The next two essays will be chosen for a $10,000 cash prize each.
• Third Prizes – The next five essays will be chosen for a $5,000 cash prize each.

• First Prize – The top essay will be chosen for a $50,000 cash prize.
• Second Prizes – The next two essays will be chosen for a $25,000 cash prize each.
• Third Prizes – The next five essays will be chosen for a $10,000 cash prize each.

The Essay Competition Invitation, containing complete information about the program, is available here. Essays should be submitted using the online templates available on this website.

The essay contest has been organized in conjunction with the New Frontiers in Astronomy and Cosmology - An International Grant Competition, a research grant program that aims to advance our understandings in fundamental areas of astronomy and cosmology, which overlap with the following Big Questions.

Notification of Awards: September 2012

Awards ceremony, Philadelphia, PA, USA, October 12-13, 2012

CATEGORY 1: ESSAY THEME FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

Big Question IV

Are we alone in the Universe? Or, are there other life and intelligence beyond the solar system?

The recent, rapid advances in technologies that allow the detection of exo-planets in the “life zone” and potential signatures of life and intelligence in the universe raise hope that we are getting very close to the stage to be able to answer the age old question: “Are we alone in the universe?” Discovering life and intelligent beings outside our solar system will be among the greatest scientific discoveries of all time.

Students are encouraged to choose some aspects of this question, from which they may generate more focused essays. The following sub-questions are provided as exemplary questions. Applicants may choose their own research questions provided that such questions are directly or significantly relevant to the above Big Question.

Exemplary sub-questions:

• What are the signatures of the existence of life and intelligence in the universe? How may we detect them?
• Would the fine-tunings required for life in the universe also necessarily require that life be rare?
• To what degree are such other beings likely to be similar to humans? Are there features in nature which could limit the level of intelligence or the differences we may expect?
• How important is it for mankind to answer this Big Question and why?
• What will the implications be of the answer “yes” or “no” to this Big Question?
• Does our universe have features that limit the level of intelligence and/or the differences we may expect from them? What kinds of behaviour might we expect from them, if we ever meet them? Should we expect that they have learned how best to live with other beings as they must have survived their own conflicts long enough? What are the possibilities?
• Are there advanced intelligent beings out there in the universe that are not biological or are beyond biological (post-biological)? If so, what would be the signatures of the existence of such intelligence?

• Life in Space: Astrobiology for Everyone by Lucas John Mix
• Strange New Worlds: The Search for Alien Planets and Life Beyond Our Solar System by Ray Jayawardhana
• Are We Alone?: Philosophical Implications of the Discovery of Extraterrestrial Life by Paul Davies
• Intelligent Life in the Universe: Principles and Requirements behind Its Emergence by Peter Ulmschneider

Big Question III

What is the origin of complexity in the universe?

We are living in a wonderfully complex world. According to the known astronomical and cosmological theories, our universe has become more and more “complex” and produced more and more interesting phenomena in it. How did this happen? What were the key stages? What are the prerequisites for such emergent complexity? For instance, is the “Past Hypothesis” (the idea that the universe had the initial low entropy state) true? Through the process of becoming more and more complex, the universe generated conscious observers who contemplate the very meaning of existence of the universe as well as their own and ask the question: “Why are we here?” What are the origins of this amazing complexity in the universe? What are the origins and conditions of continuing complexity in the universe?

Students are encouraged to choose some aspects of this question, from which they may generate more focused essays. The following sub-questions are provided as exemplary questions. Applicants may choose their own research questions Ïprovided that such questions are directly or significantly relevant to the above Big Question.

Exemplary sub-questions:

• What are the conditions for the universe to evolve to a high degree of complexity?
• What are the key stages of increasing complexity in the universe? How do they come about?
• Will the complexity of the universe continue to increase? If so, how long?
• Or, are there any theoretical limits to the complexity of the universe?

• Complexity: The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos by M. Mitchell Waldrop
• Just Six Numbers: The Deep Forces that Shape the Universe by Martin Rees
• At Home in the Universe: The Search for the Laws of Self-Organization and Complexity by Stuart Kauffman
• The Anthropic Cosmological Principle by John Barrow & Frank Tipler
• Intelligent Life in the Universe: Principles and Requirements behind Its Emergence by Peter Ulmschneider

CONTACT INFORMATION:

For inquiries: bigquestions@oddjob.uchicago.edu

For submissions: submit online here

Website: http://www.newfrontiersinastronomy.org/

Deadline: 15 June 2012

STUDENT ESSAY COMPETITION OVERVIEW

The New Cosmic Frontiers International Science Essay Competition On the Nature of our Universe and its Habitats is open to high school and college students. Its purpose is to inspire students to consider careers in science and to nurture their enthusiasm for the subject, and to engage young minds in creative, intellectual activities essential in scientific endeavors.

Winners will be awarded significant monetary prizes to support their education and given an extraordinary opportunity to meet today’s world-renowned scientists and scholars at a conference and award ceremony, held in Philadelphia, on October 12-13, 2012. The program will include presentations by winners of the New Frontiers in Astronomy and Cosmology Research Grant Program and the New Cosmic Frontiers Student Essay Competition; a banquet; a public event lecture related to the Big Questions; and panel of Templeton Prize winners and other original thinkers discussing the future of the Big Questions.

PRIZES

The top three essays in each category will be awarded significant prizes recognizing excellence, originality and creativity. The winners are encouraged to use the prize money for the purpose of furthering their career in science.

Category 1: High School Students or Equivalent

• First Prize – The top essay will be chosen for a $25,000 cash prize.
• Second Prizes – The next two essays will be chosen for a $10,000 cash prize each.
• Third Prizes – The next five essays will be chosen for a $5,000 cash prize each.

• First Prize – The top essay will be chosen for a $50,000 cash prize.
• Second Prizes – The next two essays will be chosen for a $25,000 cash prize each.
• Third Prizes – The next five essays will be chosen for a $10,000 cash prize each.

The Essay Competition Invitation, containing complete information about the program, is available here. Essays should be submitted using the online templates available on this website.

The essay contest has been organized in conjunction with the New Frontiers in Astronomy and Cosmology - An International Grant Competition, a research grant program that aims to advance our understandings in fundamental areas of astronomy and cosmology, which overlap with the following Big Questions.

Notification of Awards: September 2012

Awards ceremony, Philadelphia, PA, USA, October 12-13, 2012

CATEGORY 1: ESSAY THEME FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

Big Question IV

Are we alone in the Universe? Or, are there other life and intelligence beyond the solar system?

The recent, rapid advances in technologies that allow the detection of exo-planets in the “life zone” and potential signatures of life and intelligence in the universe raise hope that we are getting very close to the stage to be able to answer the age old question: “Are we alone in the universe?” Discovering life and intelligent beings outside our solar system will be among the greatest scientific discoveries of all time.

Students are encouraged to choose some aspects of this question, from which they may generate more focused essays. The following sub-questions are provided as exemplary questions. Applicants may choose their own research questions provided that such questions are directly or significantly relevant to the above Big Question.

Exemplary sub-questions:

• What are the signatures of the existence of life and intelligence in the universe? How may we detect them?
• Would the fine-tunings required for life in the universe also necessarily require that life be rare?
• To what degree are such other beings likely to be similar to humans? Are there features in nature which could limit the level of intelligence or the differences we may expect?
• How important is it for mankind to answer this Big Question and why?
• What will the implications be of the answer “yes” or “no” to this Big Question?
• Does our universe have features that limit the level of intelligence and/or the differences we may expect from them? What kinds of behaviour might we expect from them, if we ever meet them? Should we expect that they have learned how best to live with other beings as they must have survived their own conflicts long enough? What are the possibilities?
• Are there advanced intelligent beings out there in the universe that are not biological or are beyond biological (post-biological)? If so, what would be the signatures of the existence of such intelligence?

• Life in Space: Astrobiology for Everyone by Lucas John Mix
• Strange New Worlds: The Search for Alien Planets and Life Beyond Our Solar System by Ray Jayawardhana
• Are We Alone?: Philosophical Implications of the Discovery of Extraterrestrial Life by Paul Davies
• Intelligent Life in the Universe: Principles and Requirements behind Its Emergence by Peter Ulmschneider

Big Question III

What is the origin of complexity in the universe?

We are living in a wonderfully complex world. According to the known astronomical and cosmological theories, our universe has become more and more “complex” and produced more and more interesting phenomena in it. How did this happen? What were the key stages? What are the prerequisites for such emergent complexity? For instance, is the “Past Hypothesis” (the idea that the universe had the initial low entropy state) true? Through the process of becoming more and more complex, the universe generated conscious observers who contemplate the very meaning of existence of the universe as well as their own and ask the question: “Why are we here?” What are the origins of this amazing complexity in the universe? What are the origins and conditions of continuing complexity in the universe?

Students are encouraged to choose some aspects of this question, from which they may generate more focused essays. The following sub-questions are provided as exemplary questions. Applicants may choose their own research questions Ïprovided that such questions are directly or significantly relevant to the above Big Question.

Exemplary sub-questions:

• What are the conditions for the universe to evolve to a high degree of complexity?
• What are the key stages of increasing complexity in the universe? How do they come about?
• Will the complexity of the universe continue to increase? If so, how long?
• Or, are there any theoretical limits to the complexity of the universe?

• Complexity: The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos by M. Mitchell Waldrop
• Just Six Numbers: The Deep Forces that Shape the Universe by Martin Rees
• At Home in the Universe: The Search for the Laws of Self-Organization and Complexity by Stuart Kauffman
• The Anthropic Cosmological Principle by John Barrow & Frank Tipler
• Intelligent Life in the Universe: Principles and Requirements behind Its Emergence by Peter Ulmschneider

CONTACT INFORMATION:

For inquiries: bigquestions@oddjob.uchicago.edu

For submissions: submit online here

Website: http://www.newfrontiersinastronomy.org/

Dates: 17 - 31 July 2011

Working with your Life Stories: A workshop on writing memoir facilitated by Dawn Garisch

Writing is a way of getting to know who you are, what you are feeling and how you relate to people and the planet. Writing memoir focuses this project on the themes or motifs in one’s own life. We each have a life motif that is more or less unconscious. Yet a distinctive and evolving pattern binds our journey from birth to death into a whole coherent piece.

We tend to live out of the structure of our egos and minds. We all need an identity and clear thinking in order to function effectively. Yet the way we see ourselves and our lives is blinkered, and ignores the symbolic aspects that run through our dreams and bodies. Reason, in our culture, is held in higher regard than the non-rational.

In writing memoir, even if extraordinary things have happened in our lives, if we stick to a rational, logical approach, the writing is likely to be dead on the page. If we write only out of what we are thinking and what we know, we will never do our best work. In this workshop, we will identify the central symbols and images that underlie and drive our lives and our creative projects. We will find ways to quieten the critic and the ego so that undercurrents can emerge from what James Hillman calls ‘the poetic base of the mind’.

Imagination is an extraordinary tool. In this workshop we will reclaim imagination as a means to release ourselves into awe and creativity, connectedness and purpose, awareness and pleasure. Through becoming conscious of and engaging with the images that shape our time on earth, we will engender ways to live a fleshed-out, creative and fully-fledged life, as well as finding refreshing ways of putting our personal stories down on the page.
Beginner writers are welcome.

Venue: The False Bay Rendevous, Muizenberg
Fee: R 1100 -00
Dates: 27th – 31st July
Times : 9am to 1pm daily

To bring: * Unlined, ring-bound A4 notebook and pen * A cushion and a blanket or rug.
* Two objects from the period of your life that you want to write about - one that represents something you loved about it, and one that represents something you disliked about that time.

To book: dawn.garisch@gmail.com

Dawn Garisch has had five novels, poetry and adult literacy books published. Her latest novel, Trespass, was shortlisted for the Commonwealth prize in Africa. She has had a short film and short play produced, and has written for newspapers, magazines and for television. She has run workshops on creativity at Dakini, the Mother City Book Fair and The Forge.

Her next book is a mix of memoir and popular science, and examines the two legs of her working life – writing and doctoring. It explores how science and art perceive the world and the truth, what the body has to do with this, and how the tools required to develop a creative project are also essential for living life creatively.

Contact Information:

For inquiries: dawn.garisch@gmail.com

For submissions: dawn.garisch@gmail.com

Deadline: 15 October 2012

Her Saturn Returns Anthology, a series in Queer Women of Color Life Transitions is seeking non-fiction essays, memoir, interviews, and other forms of documentary writing. Pieces are by or about women who are experiencing their 1st Saturn Return -turning 30, or their 2nd Saturn Return -turning 60. All women who identify as queer, lesbian, or bisexual, and of color with a story about their transitional life events may submit.

Perhaps after turning 26 you realized life moved at a different pace. As you approached 30, you may have…

• gained weight,
• fell in or out of love,
• landed into a surprising career,
• had a nervous breakdown,
• moved thousands of miles away from home,
• fought with a loved one,
• became newly diagnosed,
• purchased property,
• changed your gender-presentation,
• joined a degree program, or other cult-like entity like a coven or collective,
• started a business,
• lost a parent or grandparent,
• connected with your spiritual center,
• realized you were worthy, and beautiful, and sane.

Over the past year, Shawn(ta) Smith has collected stories of queer women of color, who in sharing their stories, realized that they have experienced (or were currently experiencing) the most tumultuous times of their lives. The interviews were featured on hersaturnreturns.com and inspired the continued collection of Her Saturn Return narratives for this current call for submissions.

Submission Guidelines: Email submissions in Times New Roman 12 point black font Word document (.doc) with pages numbered of 2,500 words or less to hersaturnreturns@gmail.com. Please include a cover page with your legal name (and pseudonym if applicable), a short 100 word or less bio in the third person, mailing address, email, title of the piece. For astrological classification, include your date of birth (to substitute your date of birth, please include your Sun Sign, Saturn Sign, and age).

Editor: Shawn(ta) Smith

Payment: A copy of the Anthology

CONTACT INFORMATION:

For inquiries/ submissions: hersaturnreturns@gmail.com

Website: http://hersaturnreturns.com

So you want to be a writer… Send Readers Digest South Africa your joke, anecdote or story, and if they publish it in the magazine they’ll pay as follows:

MY STORY R2500 - Personal stories beyond the call of daily life. They must be true, unpublished, original and 800-1000 words in length. Email your story to: mystory@readersdigest.co.za

KINDNESS OF STRANGERS UP TO R1500 - Inspiring acts of unexpected kindness and generosity: tell us how one made your day – or changed your life. 100-500 words. Email your story to: kindness@readersdigest.co.za

LIFE, LAUGH, WORK! R300-R600. SMART ANIMALS UP TO R600 - What made you laugh today? A crazy pet? A child’s comment? A colleague’s blunder? Send in your real-life gem for Life!, Work, Smart Animals or As Kids See It, or for use as a short filler. Got a new joke? Send it in for Laugh! It’s the Best Medicine. For Smart Animals email: smartanimals@readersdigest.co.za. For jokes, anecdotes, and everything else email: editor@readersdigest.co.za

IS IT JUST ME? UP TO R1500 - Can you be witty about the trials and mysteries of modern life? Get it off your chest in 500 words. Send your submissions to: isitjustme@readersdigest.co.za

CONTACT INFORMATION:

For submissions: see above contact e-mail addresses

Website: http://www.readersdigest.co.za

Deadline: 30 April 2012

Submitted: Women Finding and Leaving Extreme Religion tells the stories of women from a variety of religious backgrounds, ages and races who chose a religious path only to eventually reject or modify it in whole or in part.

Submitted: Women Finding and Leaving Extreme Religion asks the questions:

Why, in a time when women have more freedom than ever before, would a modern woman chose to follow a religious tradition that appears to distance her from those freedoms and take away her choices so coveted by societal norms?

How and why do we as women agree to join rigid religious groups, what happens once we do and what does it take to leave what we, at one time, accepted willfully?

Submitted: Women Finding and Leaving Extreme Religion explores the religious experience:

Getting In – Why did we agree to join such rigid, traditional life-styles? How, when and under what circumstances did we convert, join or otherwise submit to a theology and/or set of rules created by and enforced largely by men?

Life Inside – Why did we stay? What sacrifices did we make both in joining and in remaining? What does it look like from the inside? When did we have doubts about our choices? And how were these expressed or repressed? What particular burdens did we bear as women in our communities? What did we find valuable that we feared we couldn’t find on the outside?

Leaving – When did we discover we needed to leave? How did we leave? What do we miss? And are we allowed to admit that we miss it? What did we sacrifice in leaving? What did we gain? Are we ever tempted to return? How do we address/express our spirituality now?
Note for those interested in submitting:

What we, the editors, are looking to see are slice-of-life stories. For example, if you choose to submit for the “Staying in” section of the book (answering the questions about how and why women stay for so long in faiths that, in retrospect, have controlled and limited their lives), you might choose to let the reader see into one time when the elders came to correct you. What did you serve them? What were they wearing? How did they start the conversation? What were the implications of not doing what they asked you to do? In other words, you are the only one who can bring us right in to your experience and how and why you needed your particular religious community during that time in you life.

At this point, we are especially hoping to hear from women from Jewish and Islamic backgrounds, but are still considering stories from women of other religious backgrounds, as well.

Stories should focus on aspects of religious life which might include food, modesty, religious meetings, holidays, work, children, clothing, secrets, converting others, prayer, or marriage/sex.

The book will be divided into three parts: Conversion, Life Inside, and Leaving. Submissions should be around 3000 words in length.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

For inquiries/ submissions: contact the editors here

Website: http://submittedanthology.com

Deadline: 20 July 2011

From May 20 until July 20, we will accept essays and other writings to include in For Colored Boys. We are looking for inspirational stories centered around any one of the following four major themes: faith, family, love and work. Submissions should be between 1000 and 5000 words. Some of the essays published in the finished book will be long and some will be short. Send your submission to info@4coloredboys.com. Please include your name, email address, phone number, brief 1-paragraph bio and a jpeg photo with your submission.

Unlike traditional anthologies which tend to use established writers, we also want to tell the stories of real people (ordinary and extraordinary) who have dealt with, or are still dealing with, adversity in their lives. Of course we intend to include essays from gifted writers, published authors and well known public figures who have overcome obstacles. But we are also looking for college students, suicide survivors, and those who have faced bullying or harassment in their lives. It doesn't matter if you call yourself "same-gender-loving," "down low," "gay," "queer," or none of the above. We're not interested in labels. We are interested in well-told stories that will educate, entertain or inspire others.

Ideally, we would like to include the voices of Latinos, Asian-Americans and other people of color in this book. And we expect to include the voices of those who are straight, bisexual, transgender or questioning, so long as the stories are relevant to the purpose and the themes of the book.

Finally, we don't expect every story to finish with a happy ending. That's not the way life works. Nor do we expect every essay to deal with suicide, harassment or tragedy. We want this to be a balanced but inspirational book about real life. Your voice and your story are critical to make that happen.

The book will be published in March/April 2012.

Title: For Colored Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Is Still Not Enough (A collection of writings on living life, confronting obstacles and believing in yourself)

Editor: Keith Boykin

Publisher: Magnus Books

Background:

In 1974, playwright Ntozake Shange published a choreopoem called For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Is Enuf. The book/play/poetry would go on to inspire legions of women for decades and would later become the subject and title of a hugely popular movie in the fall of 2010. While the film was selling out movie theaters, young black gay men were literally committing suicide in the silence of their own communities. It was around that time when Keith Boykin, a New York Times bestselling author, and Magnus Books publisher Don Weise first discussed the possibility of working together on a book in response to the outbreak of suicides among young men of color.

In the same time period, a young Rutgers University student named Tyler Clementi took his own life after a roommate secretly videotaped him in an intimate setting with another young man. In response, syndicated columnist and author Dan Savage created a YouTube video with his partner Terry to inspire young people facing harassment. Their message, It Gets Better, turned into a popular movement, inspiring thousands of user-created videos on the Internet. Savage's project targeted people of all races, backgrounds and colors, but Boykin and Weise wanted to create something special "for colored boys." When they decided to create a new book, the title was obvious: For Colored Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Is Still Not Enough. It was almost the same title author E. Lynn Harris had once considered for his memoir. The new book responds to the crisis of youth development and suicide in the black community, and more specifically among young gay men of color.

Contact Information:

For inquiries: info@4coloredboys.com

For submissions: info@4coloredboys.com

Website: http://www.magnusbooks.com/

Deadline: 25 August 2011

The Delegation of the European Union, in partnership with the Department of Arts and Culture, is seeking proposals to empower youth in South Africa to improve their life skills through culture, arts and sports activities. The proposals should ideally engage with disadvantaged youth, include them in organising community life and open the way for youth to make a positive contribution to local development.

The full Guidelines for Applicants are available for consultation at the EU Delegation offices at 1 Greenpark Estates, 27 George Storrar Drive, Groenkloof PRETORIA and on the following internet sites:

https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/europeaid/online-services/index.cfm?do=publi.welcome

http://www.eusa.org.za/en/index.htm

http://www.dac.gov.za

The deadline for submission of proposals is 25 August 2011.

An information session will be held on 10 June 2011 from 10:00 to 12:00 at the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, 210 Queen Wilhelmina Ave, New Muckleneuk, Pretoria.

OBJECTIVES OF THE PROGRAMME AND PRIORITY ISSUES

As part of the Youth Empowerment Programme, the Youth Empowerment through Arts and Culture Call for Proposals aligns EU support with the partner country's policies through the integration of the Department of Arts and Culture priorities.

The EU and South Africa share a common vision that the full participation of youth can contribute to vibrant, confident, self-reliant, healthy societies. In this context, Arts, Culture, Sport and Recreation have the potential to harness youth as drivers and participants in economic and social development. This is recognised in the Trade, Development and Co-operation Agreement (Art 85), the over-arching framework for relations between the EU and South Africa as well as the EU-SA Strategic Partnership Action Plan. It is further confirmed in the EU-SA Country Strategy (2007-13).

The global objective of this Call for Proposals is to create opportunities for youth empowerment in the sector of culture, to include youth as drivers in social and economic development in South Africa.

The specific objective of this Call for Proposals is to empower youth in South Africa to improve their life skills through arts and culture activities which will engage with disadvantaged youth, include them in organising community life and open the way for youth to make a positive contribution to local development.

This call is launched in full cooperation with the Department for Arts and Culture (DAC) and supports DAC priorities for future engagement with donors, specifically targeting juvenile offenders, youth and arts, human settlement and beautification of public spaces, and persons with disabilities.

Particular attention should also be given to cross-cutting issues such as youth participation, Millennium Development Goals, good governance, HIV/AIDS, crime and violence prevention, gender, environment, collaboration with non-state actors, social cohesion and capacity building.

Young people aged 14 – 35 are the target group for proposals under this programme, with a particular focus on disadvantaged youth, including juvenile offenders, young persons with disabilities and those in rural areas.

Actions foreseen but not limited to are:

• Arts and culture productions with young people
• Arts and culture events targeting youth
• Arts and Culture projects linked to high schools
• Promotion of arts and culture in juvenile correctional facilities
• Art in public spaces
• EU-SA culture initiatives
• SA culture initiatives involving youth
• Professional/entrepreneurial training for young people on arts and culture
• Training on arts and culture administration
• Arts and culture research
• Capacity-building for national/provincial networks on arts and culture

The expected results of the programme of the Youth Empowerment through Arts and Culture Call for Proposals:

1) Youth in poor communities have improved access to cultural activities/heritage, including indigenous knowledge systems.
a) Arts and culture initiatives (music, theatre, dance, film, literature etc) in poor communities are supported.
b) EU-SA culture events/initiatives to showcase EU-SA collaboration are supported.
c) SA youth arts and culture events/initiatives are supported.

2) Training for youth in the field of arts and culture have been developed and implemented.
a) Culture sector training is delivered to disadvantaged youth.
b) Training for youth in the field of arts and culture are developed.

3) The capacities and networks of culture organisations targeting the youth are strengthened/established.
a) Coordinating mechanisms with communication capacity, covering all 9 provinces of South Africa are functioning.
b) Management and networking capacity of cultural organisations are developed.

Grant recipients will be obliged to provide information on project activities, actions, publications etc to the EU Delegation and/or the Department for Arts and Culture (DAC) for possible publication.

Grant recipients have to comply with the guidelines on communication and visibility as set out in the Communication and Visibility Manual for EU External Actions.
(http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/visibility/index_en.htm)

Download Guidelines for Applicants >>

Download application form >>

Contact Information:

For submissions: The Delegation of the European Union to South Africa, PO Box 945, Groenkloof 0027, PRETORIA, South Africa

Website: http://www.dac.gov.za/

Date: 31 March 2012

BOOK N GAUGE X: CALL IT WHAT YOU WANT. XPECT ANYTHING!

X is that figure in mathematical calculations that you have to find. X stands to be filled in by you. For the tenth edition of Book N Gauge, we leave you come for Book N Gauge X and decide what to call it, what to make of it. From our end, we are so sure that it is going to be about surprises. Who doesn't like that?

Book N Gauge X will feature conversations with two writers, Chuma Nwokolo and poet, Ralph Tathagata; Performance by Efe Paul Azino. It's going to be music, poetry, readings and more music. For Chuma to be reading a second time at BnG, you know there is a reason, you want to find out? Then, come!!!

WRITERS & PERFORMER

Chuma Nwokolo: Lawyer, writer and the publisher of African Writing magazine. He is author of the poetry collection Memories of Stone, the serial Tales by Conversation, and many novels, including Diaries of a Dead African, the Pulpfaction Club Book of the Month for October. He was writer-in-residence at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. Chuma’s writing has been termed as funny yet witty. We have featured him once; for this edition, he will read from his latest collection of short stories, The Ghost of Sanni Abacha.

"The Ghost of Sani Abacha tells the story of a man who climbed to the top of his political career only to become disillusioned about the grandeur of wealth. From these stories, Nwokolo brings to life various issues pertinent to life such as love, betrayal, jealousy, greed, power and pride. He weaves his stories around both the rich and poor, city and village life"--The Debonair Book Blog

Ralph Tathagata was born in Obiohia-Bende, Abia State. Presently, he lives in Lagos. He is largely self-educated: a poet, a writer, a journalist and a former general secretary of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Lagos State.

Endless Roads, his first collection of poems, is a profound portrayal of contemporary Nigeria. It is concerned with the State and resultant mental states. The collection shows an awareness of African, European and North American poetries and deals with its varied subjects through a rich variety of poetical forms. In spirit, Endless Roads is satirical and lyrical, to be savoured with a biting tongue. Seeing human life through a surreal kaleidoscope, these poems possess a visionary, even hallucinatory quality. They discover beauty in strange places, in ways that continuously enrich the imagination.

PERFORMER

Plumbline studied as a Geo-scientist, rather than digging oil pipes; he “mines” words. Influenced by poets like the late Mamman Vatsa and the late Ken Saro Wiwa, the songwriter and spoken word artist wrote poetry from his secondary school days. He performs Spoken Word Poetry at most Lagos Events like Wordslam, Anthill, Taruwa and hosts Chill and Relax. His words dash straight through the heart of the audience and leaving them with thoughts, little mementos to take home.

Auction Session: There will be an auction session. What do you get? Latest books that you can only find online. Hot CDs that are yet to be on the streets. There is also a surprise X auction item, come to find out. What are you waiting for? Let the bargaining begin.

ALSO:

• A one-on-one interaction between authors, performers and readers.
• A platform for book enthusiasts to meet, interact and network. (Members of PulpFactionClub on Facebook and followers on Twitter would have a grand opportunity to meet).
• Freebies, lots of it. Let’s start with this. Invite five friends, ensure they come for the event and win a free book.
• Live Musical performances by: Jeffrey Plumbline
• Book signing.

VENUE: Debonair Bookstore, 294, Herbert Macaulay Way, Sabo, Yaba.

Remember: Bring five friends and win a free book! Gifts are available for early birds too.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

For inquiries: pulpfactioner@gmail.com

Website: http://www.facebook.com/groups/pulpfactionclub/

Deadline: 30 July 2011

The US Embassy cultural affairs section is pleased to announce an Arabic language essay contest for young Egyptian people beginning July 8th.

This I Believe, is an international organization engaging people in writing and sharing essays describing the core values that guide their daily lives. More than 90.000 of these essays, written by people from all walks of life, are archived on this link, heard on public radio, chronicled through books, and featured in weekly podcasts. The project is based on the popular 1950s radio series of the same name hosted by Edward R. Murrow.

Beyond reflecting on and developing one’s own beliefs, This I Believe encourages “people to begin the . . . difficult task of developing respect for beliefs different from their own.” Example essays include: “I Believe in the Power to Forget”, “I Believe in Laughter”, and “I Believe in Being Cool to the Pizza Delivery Dude”.

We invite you to write you own "This I Believe" essay in Arabic. We will be holding a contest for the This I Believe essays. We hope you will consider writing your own personal belief statement!

Overview:

Are you interested in participating?

The contest will begin July 8th and end July 30th.

Write a short essay in Arabic (350-500 words). Reflect on the values and beliefs that drive you in your daily life. We encourage you to avoiding an opinion piece on a public issue and look beyond religion and politics in writing your essays. The essay should tell a story that ties to the forming of you core beliefs and the guiding principles by which you live.

Submission: Please submit your essay to this address on our webpage thisIbelieve@state.gov

All contest entries must be in written form and must adhere to the essay-writing guidelines. Please include your date of birth, education and profession.

Examples: For examples of essays, please see "This I Believe" examples page here.

Contest Winners: Contest winners will be invited to present their essays at a This I Believe event night at three different places:

- Diwan Heliopolis on August 7 No age limit

- Sawy Cultural Wheel on August 8 No age limit

- Maadi Public Library from 13:00 to 15:00 on August 9 for writers aged 13-18

The Embassy will contact the winners to notify them with the details of the event.

Essay Guidelines

We invite you to contribute to this project by writing and submitting your own statement of personal belief. We understand how challenging this is—it requires such intimacy that no one else can do it for you. To guide you through this process, we offer these suggestions:

Tell a story: Be specific. Take your belief out of the ether and ground it in the events of your life. Consider moments when belief was formed or tested or changed. Think of your own experience, work, and family, and tell of the things you know that no one else does. Your story need not be heart-warming or gut-wrenching—it can even be funny—but it should be real. Make sure your story ties to the essence of your daily life philosophy and the shaping of your beliefs.

Be brief: Your statement should be between 350 and 500 words. That’s about three minutes when read aloud at your natural pace.

Name your belief: If you can’t name it in a sentence or two, your essay might not be about belief. Also, rather than writing a list, consider focusing on one core belief, because three minutes is a very short time.

Be positive: Please avoid preaching or editorializing. Tell us what you do believe, not what you don’t believe. Make your essay about you; speak in the first person.

Be personal: Write in words and phrases that are comfortable for you to speak. We recommend you read your essay aloud to yourself several times, and each time edit it and simplify it until you find the words, tone, and story that truly echo your belief and the way you speak.”

All contest entries must be in written form and must adhere to the following guidelines:

· Limit your essay to approximately 500 words.

· Tell a story that illustrates how your personal belief was shaped.

· Refrain from writing a political/religious opinion piece or an editorial on a current event.

· Please no hate speech or discriminatory language in your essay.

· Tell us what you do believe, not what you don’t believe.

· Read and follow our essay-writing guidelines (link to the Essay Guidelines page).

· Proofread your essay carefully before submitting it.

By submitting an essay you affirm that this essay is original to you and that the essay does not violate the rights, copyrights, or privacy of any third party.

Contact Information:

For inquiries: lindsay.anglin@provost.gatech.edu or dana.hartley@carnegie.gatech.edu

For submissions: click here (submissions to open July 8th)

Website: http://www.thisibelieve.gatech.edu

CALL FOR MANUSCRIPTS

We are looking for authors to submit manuscripts in the following areas: Entrepreneurship, Sales & Marketing, Personal Growth, Health, Inspirational, Biographies & Autobiographies, Guidance and Counseling, Relationship, Marriage and Family Life, IT and Life Skills books for pre-school and Primary school etc.

GETTING PUBLISHED WITH QUEENEX PUBLISHERS

We are liberal publishers who appreciate originality and creativity. We welcome new ideas and manuscripts that address current and emerging needs of our society. If you have a manuscript and you feel it is addressing a specific need better than what is already in the market, come to us and you could be the next success story. We compete with excellence and uniqueness and that is why we don’t encourage duplication of what is already in the market.

The manuscript should be coherent and display mastery of language and knowledge of the subject matter in question. Ensure that the target group is clear and manifested in the choice of title, language, examples and illustrations.

You may submit your manuscript in soft copy but ensure it is followed by a hard copy. After submitting your manuscript an official acknowledgment note will be issued. Ensure that your postal address, telephone number and email address are clearly indicated on the script for easy communication.

After we receive your script, we will assess and decide on whether to publish it or not. If your script is accepted, we will discuss the terms of publishing contract, which may include one off payment, joint publishing, the traditional loyalty or any other method mutually agreed in writing.

In the event that we do not accept your manuscript, either because it does not meet our acceptance criteria, it cannot be fitted into our schedule, or we feel it has no commercial target group, we will return it to you, with advice on how it can be made better. If you work on it and meet the standard, you can resubmit it. However, the publisher reserves the right not to give reasons for rejection.

We are looking for authors to submit manuscript in the following areas: Entrepreneurship, Sales & Marketing, Personal Growth, Health, Inspirational, Biographies & Autobiographies Guidance and Counseling, Marriage and Family Life, Relationship, IT and Life Skills books for pre-school and Primary school and any other area that is unique and has a distinguished and viable target market.

We insist that the work must be original and never published before by any other major publisher.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

For inquiries: info@queenexpublishers.co.ke

Website: http://www.queenexpublishers.co.ke

Deadline: 16 December 2011

This is a call for materials for a biographical book on the life, work and legacy of David Kisule Kato the deceased Ugandan human rights defender for s3xual (and other) minorities. The biography is being developed and written by researchers in the Law, Gender and S3xuality Research Project of the Faculty of Law at Makerere University Kampala. We are interested in a range of materials including essays, fiction, poetry, web blogs, art, crafts, photographs, film, documentaries, speeches, diaries, letters and other correspondence, music, academic publications, etc. that reflect any aspect of the life and work of David Kato. We invite materials from family, friends, lovers, partners, colleagues, allies, students, other human rights defenders and advocates, social justice activists, s3xual minorities, academics, clerics, parliamentarians, journalists and anyone else with something (whether positive or negative) to say about David Kato�s life, work and legacy.

Materials about the different commemoration activities and memorial events held after David�s death are also welcome. The materials will be collected alongside interviews and focus group
discussions conducted in rural and urban Uganda among those who knew David Kato. Although the main language of the biography will be English, relevant materials written in Luganda, Kiswahili, French, Portugese, Spanish and any other African tongue will be translated for inclusion. The deadline for submission is 16th December 2011. All received materials will
be duly acknowledged.

Please send material to:

Stella Nyanzi,
Law, Gender and Sexuality Research Project,
Faculty of Law,
P. O. Box 7062, Kampala � Uganda.
Email: snyanzi@law.mak.ac.ug or
stellanyanzibah@googlemail.com

Contact Information:

For inquiries: snyanzi@law.mak.ac.ug or stellanyanzibah@googlemail.com

For submissions: snyanzi@law.mak.ac.ug or stellanyanzibah@googlemail.com

Date: 16 July 2011 (1-5pm)

Can a poem change your life? Angela Deutschmann is delighted to dare you into that possibility with my new workshop, which combines two of her deepest joys: poetry and spiritual growth.

Over the course of five Saturday mornings this Winter, you can join her to explore how poetry can become a doorway into the truth of yourself and what may be beyond yourself. The poets of our world have always expressed revolutionary, rich, dangerous and ecstatic ideas, using the discipline and music of language to peel back illusion and speak what is real. Yet much of this delicious knowledge and experience remains outside of the everyday life of most of us, either because we simply don’t know how to find it or because we presume it is boring, inaccessible, irrelevant or hard work.

In the Soul Poetry workshop we will:

• Expose you to eight extraordinary, transcendent, life-changing poets both modern and ancient
• Release you from intellectualising or grasping the poems, and instead simply be vulnerable to them
• Uncover what the poems reveal about your own truth
• Inspire - and assist - you to see and write the poetry of your own life

Preference will be given to those who have completed a Spiritual Growth Club with her but, if places remain, these are open to anyone.

Location: Cape Town

Contact Information:

For inquiries: admin@angeladeutschmann.com

Website: http://www.angeladeutschmann.com

Deadline: 19 February 2012

Farafina Books and The Life House have commenced the second phase of the New African Writing initiative, and are again calling for short stories from new African writers. We ask that you kindly help to publicize this via the Writers Afrika website. Please find the release below, and also attached is our e-flyer. Questions or inquiries can be posted as comments on our blog, or sent to shortstories@kachifo.com. Thank you for your continued support.

The first phase of the New African Writing initiative is closed, and fifteen of the best entries have been reviewed. We now announce the start of the second phase, and for writers who did not get a chance to submit the first time, this is another opportunity.

Emerging writers are once again requested to submit short stories no more than 5,000 words. Another fifteen entries will be selected and the writers will be invited to read seven minutes of their work during the reading on February 24, where our panel of distinguished writers will be on hand to critique the stories. The thirty selected short stories from both phases will be subject to further editing and review by both the panel and Kachifo Limited, and the top fifteen will be included in an e-book of short stories to be released later in 2012. The remaining fifteen stories not selected for publication in the short story collection will be published on the Farafina blog. The closing date for submissions for this second phase is midnight on February 19, 2012.

Submissions should be sent by email to shortstories@kachifo.com, and should include the name, phone number and email address of writers. Please note that nonfiction entries and stories over 5,000 words will not be considered. Also, writers are not allowed to send in more than one entry; where they do, we will accept the first and disregard any others. Writers who sent in submissions for the first phase but were not selected are free to participate again, provided they send in a different entry.

The second New Nigerian Writing reading will be held at The Life House, 33 Sinari Daranijo Street, off Ligali Ayorinde Street, Victoria Island, Lagos. The date is February 24; the time is 6pm.

New African Writing is aimed at promoting and showcasing new writing out of Africa, and as part of this initiative, Doreen Baingana will be hosting a session at The Life House on February 17, where she will talk about writing and give writing tips and lessons for emerging writers, read from her work and answer questions from the audience. Doreen won the 2006 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and the AWP Award in Short Fiction for her book, Tropical Fish. She was also a two-time finalist for the Caine Prize for African Writing.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

For inquiries: shortstories@kachifo.com

For submissions: shortstories@kachifo.com

Website: http://farafinabooks.wordpress.com/

Deadline: 30 June 2012

ATWS wishes to announce the formal request for submissions of books for the Cecil B. Currey Book Award for 2011-2012. This award is named in honor of one of the foremost experts on the war in Vietnam. Topics on any part of the Third World are acceptable. ATWS members are encouraged to have their works published and submit them for the book award. The award will not necessarily be given out each year, but only when the committee determines that a book of sufficient merit is submitted. Publications must be 2011 through May 31, 2012.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Only monographs and studies will be considered. Please do not submit anthologies or edited works.
• Should an individual wish to be considered s/he must send a letter of application to the committee chair, Dr. Paul J. Magnarella, Director, Peace Studies program, Warren-Wilson College, P.O. Box 9000, Asheville, NC 28815 E-mail: pmagnarella@warren-wilson.edu. Also, in order to enter the competition authors must submit a copy of their book to EACH member of the committee-please mail your books or have publisher send copies.

• Dr. Paul Magnarella, Director, Peace Studies program, Warren-Wilson College,P.O. Box 9000, Asheville, NC 28815 E-mail: pmagnarella@warren-wilson.edu
• Dr. William P. Head, Chief Center Historian, USAF Warner Robins ALC, Robins AFB, GA 31088. email;William@williamhead.com or William.head@robins.af.mil
• Dr. Philip Aka, Department of History and Political Science, Chicago State University, 9501 S. King Drive, Chicago, IL, 60628-1598. E-mail: Philip_aka@hotmail.com
• Dr. Paul A. Rodell,Department of History, P.O. Box 8054, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, Georgia 30460. email:rodell@georgiasouthern.edu

Membership is open to any person interested in Third World Studies. Membership benefits include an annual subscription to Journal of Third World Studies (JTWS), the ATWS Newsletter, and an invitation to participate in the annual meeting at a reduced registration rate.

MEMBERSHIP FEE LEVELS

* $30 for student membership
* $30 for third world resident
* $30 for retiree membership
* $60 for regular membership
* $90 for husband & wife membership
* $75 for sustainer membership
* $100 for patron membership
* $150 for third world resident life membership
* $400 for individual life membership
* $600 for husband & wife life membership
* $1000 for institutional membership

We will include your name in our membership directory once we receive your membership dues. Please make checks payable to: Association of Third World studies, Inc., and send to:

Dr. Doyin Coker-Kolo
Treasurer, ATWS
School of Education,
P.O. Box 1002,
Millersville University,
Millersville, PA 17551

CONTACT INFORMATION:

For queries: pmagnarella@warren-wilson.edu

For submissions: see list of committee members above

Website: http://apps.gsw.edu/atws

Deadline: 15 April 2012

LGBT people in Africa are often shown in the media as isolated, lonely voices. Often we also see ourselves like that.

The reality is that there are many gay and straight people who support us amongst our friends, families, and communities. In the fourth issue of Qzine, we highlight the voices of the many straight African people who support the LGBT people in their lives.

We know that our families, friends, colleagues, and neighbours sometimes struggle to come to terms with learning that a friend, loved one or co-worker is “different.” Others do not struggle at all – they are the ones who help us to come to terms. Either way, we would like to hear from you in this special oneyear anniversary issue of Q-zine co-edited by John McAllister and Keletso Makofane.

We invite you to write about how LGBT issues affect your life even though you are not LGBT yourself. How do you make sense of your sister’s love for women? Or your son wearing women’s clothes?

How does homophobia against your friend affect your life? Do you approve of your daughter’s girlfriend? Do you think your gay nephew is happy? How do your straight friends react when they find out that your son, daughter, friend, or cousin is gay? How did it affect your life when your loved one told you that he or she was LGBT? What struggles – in your family, workplace, neighbourhood, and in yourself – have you had to fight to arrive where you are?

Please share your story with us. We welcome your reflections in any format – essay, news story, memoir, commentary, fiction, poetry, photography, painting, drawing, or any combination. Help us all to see that LGBT people exist in families, friendships and communities, and that we are all African together.

Text submissions should be between 500 and 1,500 words. Art submissions (photos, paintings, drawings) should include a brief (100-300 word) commentary and a caption for each artwork submitted.

Submissions can be made online: http://www.gayn-center.org/call-for-submissions/ or to the editors: mkonommoja@gmail.com or keletso.makofane@gmail.com

CONTACT INFORMATION:

For inquiries: mkonommoja@gmail.com or keletso.makofane@gmail.com

For submissions: mkonommoja@gmail.com or keletso.makofane@gmail.com

Website: http://www.qayn-center.org/

Deadline: 25 - 26 August 2011

Calling all journalists & performing arts writers. Hone your skills and learn more about writing about HIV and the performing arts.

Writing about HIV has enabled journalists to ask pertinent questions about political leadership, service delivery and human rights. But HIV is also a story about the human spirit-one that is often told through the performing arts. Journalists who write about these creative processes can cover an entirely different side of the epidemic.

This year we once again team up with Drama For Life for the second Life Beats workshop taking place on the 25 and 26 August 2011 at the Wits Journalism Department. The two day workshop will be an exploration of the intersection of Arts Journalism and HIV and will also be hosted in conjunction with the annual dramaforlife festival.

Attendance to the workshop is free of charge. To RSVP for the event send an email to meyer@anovahealth.co.za by no later than the 23 August 2011.

Download the program here.

Contact Information:

For inquiries: call 011 715 5828

Website: http://anovahealth.co.za/

Date: 24 September 2011

The budding poet, Gimba Kakanda, takes his turn at the highly-acclaimed Guest Writer Session on September 24, 2011. An initiative of the Abuja Writers Forum (AWF), now in its third year, the event holds at the Pen and Pages Bookstore, White House Plaza, Plot 79, Adetokunbo Ademola Crescent, Wuse 2, Abuja and has featured an exciting array of emerging and established writers.

Kakanda who is is in his mid-twenties, and hails from the Kakandas who inhabit the banks of the River Niger especially the stretch that runs through Niger State, had his primary and secondary education at Minna and Suleja before enrolling in the University of Jos to study geology and aspires to delve into Planetary Science out of passion for the mysteries of creation.

But it is his other passion, creative writing, which has thrust his name in the limelight via his recent maiden poetry collection, Safari Pants. The poet Obemata in a review of the collection, states that “the complexity of his (Kakanda’s) poetry sure makes him one of the must read poets of his generation…. Divided into five parts: ‘Whistles of aches’, ‘The pain-beats sag into nothingness’, ‘We stitch the drum skin with the muscles of hunger’, ‘Taken away in the dance-past for rhythmic silence, we dancestep on one another,’ and ‘We plant furs on the sore of our depression’, “Safari Pants”, as songs to ‘appease the rage and love of those of those repelled and embraced by the magnetism of [this] writing life’, represents a significant offering to Nigeria’s contemporary poetry .”

The literary journalist, Henry Akubuiro, also observes that “Kakanda has a way with words. Here is an emerging wordsmith whose forge of semantics takes you unawares… His fine turns of expressions, the felicity of his symbols and his constancy of artistic purpose readily sells him as a poet for the sublime zone. This is a poet you read with a strudel by your side.” Kakanda says “Safari Pants, (was) born in ambiguity; I realized that when I was collecting the poems into a volume. The first concept of safari used in the book is created in thought of the usual safari expedition, used with the respiratory ‘pants’; so, safari pants are the hard breaths, nay struggles we take on our expedition through life. The second face of the title comes from the safari dress; here the safari pant which some of us wear is used to portray a dress that, accidentally, symbolizes troubled life by a particular experience of mine or simply, safari pant is metaphor of drudgery. Actually, the second side of the title came to me during a demonstration in which a lad dressed in safari pant was chased by a dog and had his pant torn by the beast. This quite pricked a poem in me because the safari pants I was used to weren’t a fashion that goes with haughtiness. Nonetheless, interchangeable images of Safari the expedition and Safari the dress is used in this collection; by this I have to say both sides of the meaning fits in, ambiguously, on occasions that the readers conjure their meanings.”

Kakanda who is currently putting finishing touches to a novel tentatively titled Night Book, hass had essays on literary criticism, review of books and trends, travelogues, poems and reactions to topical issues have published in variousnewspapers, local and international anthologies, andjournals and literary and social websites, including: Leadership, New Nigerian, The Guardian, People’s Daily, Sunday Trust, Tribune, Vanguard, Weekly Trust (Newspapers); Fireflies (2009), Voices from the Sun (2010) (poetry anthologies); Sentinel Nigeria, Prosopisia: An International Journal of Poetry and Creative Writing (Journals); gamji.com, switchedonnaija.com, halftribe.com (websites).

He is the literary/book analyst of Books & Hills Consultancy, a new literary agency that focuses on linking emerged and emerging writers up with internationally recognised publishers, and, the founding editor of Nupewood, a forthcoming magazine of the Nupe movie industry.

He was a panelist at the first Bayelsa Book & Craft fair (March, 2011), and won a slot to the 2011 edition of the annual Farafina Creative Writing Workshop facilitated by the novelist, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

The September 24 Guest Writer Session will include the usual side attractions of poetry performance, mini art exhibition, and a raffle-draw as well as live music. The Abuja Writer’s Forum meets three Sundays each month and hosts a reading on every last Saturday at the International Institute of Journalism and Pen and Pages respectively.

Abdullahi Abubakar

Contact Information:

For inquiries: abujawriters@fastermail.com

Website: http://www.abujawritersforum.com/

Deadline: 30 June 2012

The Toyin Falola Africa Book Award, in honor of Toyin Falola, one of Africa’s outstanding historians and intellectuals, will be given for the best book on Africa published in 2011-2012. Book submissions must be published 2011 through June 30, 2012. The deadline for submission of entries is June 30, 2012. The award will not automatically be given each year, but only whenever the committee decides that a book of considerable merit has been submitted. ATWS members are encouraged to enter their publications into the competition. The recipient will receive a plaque, citation, and a $500 cash award.

QUALIFICATIONS ARE:

• Only monographs and studies will be considered. Please do not submit anthologies or edited works.
• An individual who wishes to be considered must send a letter of application to the committee chair, Dr. Abdul Karim Bangura, The African Institution, 7532 Eighth Street, Washington, D.C. 20012 E-mail: theafricaninstitution@verizon.net
• Publishers are permitted to nominate an author’s book as long as the above rules are observed.
• An individual seeking the award is responsible for sending a copy of his/her book to each member of the committee.

Dr. Abdul Karim Bangura, committee chair, The African Institution, 7532 Eighth Street, Washington, D.C. 20012. E-mail: theafricaninstitution@verizon.net

Dr. James T. Gire, Department of Psychology, Virginia Military Institute, Lexington, VA 24450. E-mail: GireJT@vmi.edu

Dr. Jose Arimateia da Cruz, Department of Criminal Justice, Social and Political Science, Armstrong Atlantic State University, Savannah, GA 31419-1997. E-mail: dacruzjo@mail.armstrong.edu

Dr. Ishmael Munene, Center for Education Excellence, Northern Arizona University, Flagg Staff, AZ 86011-5774. E-mail: Munene@nau.edu

ATWS MEMBERSHIP

Membership is open to any person interested in Third World Studies. Membership benefits include an annual subscription to Journal of Third World Studies (JTWS), the ATWS Newsletter, and an invitation to participate in the annual meeting at a reduced registration rate.

MEMBERSHIP FEE LEVELS

* $30 for student membership
* $30 for third world resident
* $30 for retiree membership
* $60 for regular membership
* $90 for husband & wife membership
* $75 for sustainer membership
* $100 for patron membership
* $150 for third world resident life membership
* $400 for individual life membership
* $600 for husband & wife life membership
* $1000 for institutional membership

We will include your name in our membership directory once we receive your membership dues. Please make checks payable to: Association of Third World studies, Inc., and send to:

Dr. Doyin Coker-Kolo
Treasurer, ATWS
School of Education,
P.O. Box 1002,
Millersville University,
Millersville, PA 17551

CONTACT INFORMATION:

For queries: bangura@american.edu

For submissions: see the list of committee members above

Website: http://apps.gsw.edu/atws

Deadline: 15 October 2011

RULES FOR THE THIRTY-FIRST ANNUAL AWARD OF THE FERNANDO RIELO WORLD PRIZE FOR MYSTICAL POETRY sponsored by Fernando Rielo Foundation

Fernando Rielo Foundation is pleased to announce the Thirty-First World Prize for Mystical Poetry, which shall be governed by the following rules:

1. Previously unpublished works of poetry originally written in either Spanish or English or translated into one of these two languages shall be eligible for the Fernando Rielo World Prize for Mystical Poetry.

2. Each entry must be presented by its author. The minimum length for entries shall be 600 lines not to exceed 1300. A given work of poetry may be presented only once for this yearly award; winning works or those submitted to the Prize and awaiting the decision of the jury may not be presented for consideration to other Prizes.

3. The Prize shall be awarded for mystical poetry expressing the profound religious significance of the human person’s spiritual values.

4. The Prize shall consist of 7,000 euros and the publication of the entry selected. The Prize shall be awarded for a single entry. It may not be awarded in the absence of a suitable work.

5. The rights of author of the first edition of the winning work will consist in the monetary prize plus 100 books of this work.

6. The Jury may propose selected poems with significant mystical content from among all the works presented with a view toward their publication in an anthology by the Foundation, if the latter deems it appropriate.

7. The cover or first page of entries shall bear the title of the work and the author’s name, street address, telephone number, and email address, where applicable. The use of pseudonyms is thus prohibited. The submission of the work will be done using a PDF format to premiomundial@rielo.com. Another format will not be admitted.

Those who are unable to submit their work via email will send them to the following address:

Fundación Fernando Rielo
Jorge Juan, 82 - 1° - 6
28009 MADRID — Spain

In this case, a single bound copy of the work should be submitted, printed or typed. A copy of the work in disk or CD should be included as well, if possible.

8. The deadline for submitting entries shall be October 15, 2011, and all entries postmarked on or before this date shall be accepted.

9. The President of the Fernando Rielo Foundation shall constitute and chair the Jury.

10. The Jury’s decision shall be made on or before December 15, 2011, and both the winner and the media shall be immediately informed thereof.

11. There shall be no correspondence with the authors of entries. The entries themselves shall not be returned but shall be destroyed ten days after the Jury’s decision.

12. The decision of the Jury is final.

13. The submission of entries for consideration means full acceptance of these Rules.

I understand mystical poetry in two senses:

a) The specific or full sense, which consists of conveying, with sufficient poetic skill, the different modes of the soul’s intimate personal experience of union with God in love and pain. The Christian poet experiences this union in relation to the Most Blessed Trinity; the non-Christian poet, in relation to God alone. The fullest exclusive consecration to Supreme Love, insofar as possible in this life, is what distinguishes mystical poetry from other poetic genres. If religious poetry and, along with it, other poetic genres, are not formed by this union of love with the Absolute, they are reduced to a religere which is deformed, rather than merely formless. This deformation is the departure point for what I term “antimystical poetry” and “antireli-gious
poetry.” It is quite certain that this deformity cannot totally annihilate the transcendence which defines the poet: all poetry is openness to the mystery of suffering that is man.

b) The general or incipient sense, which consists of conveying, with supreme mastery, the intimate experience of love with the Absolute in the various modes of searching presented by the human being’s spiritual inquietum cor. In this regard, I consider mysticism to be open—that is, incipient in all human beings because of the ontological fact that, rather than rational, political, or symbolic animals, they are “mystical beings.” On account of their mystical or ontological status, human beings, from the first instant of their conception, are betrothed to God—that is, united, constituted, and related. Mystical life, in keeping with this definition of man, is the incrementing, by way of grace, of the immanent constitutive presence of the Divine Persons in
the human person. This is what the elevation of mystical life to its greatest possible intimacy consists of.

The aim of mystical poetry is to confess one’s faith. The human word, as the image and likeness of the divine word, with a mystical brushstroke must trace out a language of hidden perfumed essences, unevasively summoning up man’s heavenly destiny.

Mystical poetry is not at all reductive; eminently creative, it is capable of engendering new stylistic resources, new forms, and, in general terms, inexhaustible wealth for conveying the soul’s mystical union with the Creator by means of the aesthetic image. Mystical poetry is also a universal, transcendental vision of a humanity journeying towards its celestial goal. Nature and the cosmos are added to this mystical journey, offering themselves to human beings for the purpose of illuminating the noblest sense of their unitive experience of love.

Mystical poetry differs from religious poetry in that, unlike the latter, it possesses a vast horizon through which it passionately recreates the multiform values of human spirituality. So-called “religious poetry”—often confused with “antimystical or antireligious poetry,” which is ranting, brazen, condemnatory, and even blasphemous— generally exhibits the traits of searching and feeling on a cultural level, rather than creative inner experience. What poet has not posed the subject of religion, even if only tangentially? The property defining mystical poetry is not to deal with God as a topic, as an “existential” description, as a stylistic recourse, or as a kind of experimental choice, but rather to raise loving union with the Absolute to art, to such a degree that the constant of that poetry must evoke this mystical union in a most lofty manner.

The experience of the union of love with God is so intimate, so vital, and so definitive that the mystical poet, in contrast to the so-called religious poet, will never wonder about the existence or non-existence of God, not even as an aesthetic recourse, just as the existence or non-existence of the air one breathes is never questioned.

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