My Mind Words Paper [Search results for middle east literature] 

Deadline: 29 August 2011

We are inviting academic editorial contributors to a new four volume reference work organized by geographic region:

Volume 1: Middle East
Volume 2: Africa
Volume 3: East and Southeast Asia
Volume 4: West, Central, and South Asia

In our age of globalization and multiculturalism, it has never been more important for Americans to understand and appreciate foreign cultures-how people live, love, and learn in areas of the world unfamiliar to most U.S. students and the general public. The Cultural Sociology encyclopedia takes a step forward toward presenting concise information with historical and
contemporary coverage of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa, as four volumes of area studies illuminate the powerful influence of culture on society.

Each title comprises approximately 200 articles organized chronologically and alphabetically, addressing such academic disciplines as sociology, political science, women's studies, business, history, religion, law, health, education, economics, and geography. It is the intent of the encyclopedia to convey what daily life was/is like for people in these regions. Each article ranges from 600 to 3,000 words.

This comprehensive project will be published by SAGE Reference in 2012 and will be marketed to academic and public libraries as a print and digital product available to students via the library's electronic services. If you are interested in contributing to this cutting-edge reference, it is a unique opportunity to contribute to the contemporary literature, redefining sociological issues in today's terms. Moreover, it can be a notable publication addition to your CV/resume and broaden your publishing credits.

SAGE Publications offers an honorarium ranging from SAGE book credits for smaller articles up to a free set of the printed product for contributions totaling 10,000 words or more.

At this time the project is nearing completion and all articles have been assigned with the exception of a few entries. The final deadline for submissions is August 29, 2011. The remaining topics for the Africa Volume are as follows:

Time period: Prehistory-1400 - Ethnic Migration Patterns (900 words)

Time period: 1400-1900 - Fulani Empire (1000 words), Market Economies (Pre-European) (1000 words), Music (1000 words)

If you would like to contribute to building a truly outstanding reference with the Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa: An Encyclopedia, please contact me by the e-mail information below. Please provide a brief summary of your academic/publishing credentials.

Lisbeth Rogers
Author Manager
Golson Media
culturalsociology@golsonmedia.com

Contact Information:

For inquiries: culturalsociology@golsonmedia.com

For submissions: culturalsociology@golsonmedia.com

Website: http://www.golsonmedia.com/

Date: 19 June 2011

The art of literary translation is at the heart of World Literature Weekend. This will be marked in the 2011 festival through a programme of workshops led by a team of Britain’s most distinguished literary translators. This half-day workshop led by Paul Starkey focuses on the Arabic language and will be structured around close work on texts sent in advance to participants. Discussion will centre on the differences in approach evident in variant translations of the same texts. Participants should have a good working knowledge of the language and will be invited to prepare their own translations of the texts under discussion.

Paul Starkey is Professor of Arabic and Head of the Arabic Department at Durham University, England, and a Co-Director of the Centre for the Advanced Study of the Arab World. His research interests include Arabic literature of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, literary translation theory and practice, and travel to and from the Middle East. He is the author of Modern Arabic Literature (Edinburgh University Press, 2006) and was co-editor of the Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature (Routledge, 1998).

He is currently working on a study of the Egyptian novelist Sonallah Ibrahim. Paul teaches Arabic-English translation at Durham and has published English translations of Arabic novels by Rashid Al-Daif, Edwar al-Kharrat, Turki Al-Hamad, Mansoura Ezz Eldin, and Mahdi Issa al-Saqr. He has also translated a number of short stories and novel excerpts which have appeared in Banipal and other international journals. He is currently working on a translation of the Palestinian author Adania Shibli’s second novel, We Are All Equally Far from Love, which is due to be published by Clockroot Books later in 2011.

To book two workshops at the discounted prices of £110 (£70 concessions) please call Claire Williams on 020 7269 9030

Book here.

Sunday 19 June at 10.00 a.m.

Venue: London Review of Books offices

Contact Information:

For inquiries: call 020 7269 9030

Website: http://www.lrbshop.co.uk

Deadline: 1 June 2012

The SI Leeds Literary Prize is a new prize for unpublished fiction by Black and Asian women resident in the UK aged 18 years and over.

The prize aims to act as a loudspeaker for Black and Asian women’s voices, enabling fresh and original literary voices from a group disproportionately under-represented in mainstream literary culture to reach new audiences.

The inaugural prize will be awarded in October 2012, and will consist of:

• £2,000 to the winner
• £750 to the runner-up
• £250 as a third prize

HOW TO ENTER

The prize is open to Black and Asian women writers aged 18 or over, based in the UK and writing fiction in English. Only unpublished original work is eligible for the prize. The fee per entry is £15. To find out if you are eligible to enter, please check the eligibility section.

All entries must be made by post using the entry form and cover sheet, and have to be submitted before the closing deadline of 1 June 2012. All submissions must be made following the format set out in the rules, so please read these carefully before you apply. If you have any queries about the format or timescale for the prize, please contact us.

AM I ELIGIBLE TO ENTER?

The Award is open to published and unpublished women writers, over the age of 18, of Black or Asian descent who are resident in the UK. Ethnicity will be self-defined by entrants. As a guideline, Black or Asian descent in the context of the Award signifies any Black background.

The Award is open to unpublished novels and/or collections of short stories of any genre of no less than 30,000 words. Manuscripts that have been previously published will not be eligible. However, whilst the main body of the novel or collection of short stories should comprise unpublished work, submissions will be accepted where no more than 25% of the work has been previously published. Manuscripts currently available for sale online, either in full or in significant proportion (i.e. more than 50% of the total manuscript) will be ineligible. Manuscripts either partially or wholly available online for no charge will be eligible.

Memoirs, biographies and autobiographies are not eligible.

Entries must be in English.

TERMS & CONDITIONS

1. THE AWARDS

1.1 All entries will be read to create a long list of 12 titles for the judges. The best entries will be forwarded to the judges who will compile a shortlist of 6 outstanding works of fiction submitted for the SI Leeds Literary Prize 2012 (“the Award”), from which they will select a winner, a runner-up and a third placed entry.

1.2 The winning award is £2,000 and this will be presented to the author of the best
eligible novel or collection of short stories in the opinion of the judges.

1.3 There will be a runner-up award of £750 for the second placed novel or collection of short stories.

1.4 There will be a third place award of £250 for the remaining shortlisted novel or
collection of short stories.

1.5 In addition to the cash awards Peepal Tree Press will offer the winning, runner-up and third placed authors 2 one-to-one consultancy sessions in professional development support through its Inscribe programme. With the winner’s consent, the winning manuscript will be given serious consideration for publication by Peepal Tree Press.

1.6 In addition the winner, 2nd and 3rd prize winners will be invited to read short
extracts from their work at the 2012 Ilkley Literature Festival.

2. ELIGIBILITY

2.1 The Award is open to published and unpublished women writers, over the age of 18,
of Black or Asian descent who are resident in the UK. Ethnicity will be self-defined by entrants. As a guideline, Black or Asian descent in the context of the Award signifies

- any Black background, including:-
- Black African
- Black Caribbean
- any other Black background
- any Asian background, including
- Bangladeshi
- Indian
- Pakistani
- Thai
- Malay
- Philippine
- Vietnamese
- Chinese
- Japanese
- countries in the Middle East
- any other Asian background
- any mixed background, including
- Asian and White
- Black and White
- Any other background from more than one ethnic group.

Under the terms of Positive Action in the Equality Act 2010, these eligibility criteria are justified on the following grounds:

• That the Award Partners reasonably think that Black and Asian women writers suffer a disadvantage linked to their race and gender, and have a disproportionately low level of participation in the UK writing industry and bestseller lists

• That the action taken by the Award Partners encourages this group to overcome this disadvantage and encourages participation

• That the prize is a proportionate response to the issue.

2.2 The Award is open to unpublished* novels and/or collections of short stories of any genre of no less than 30,000 words.

2.3 *Manuscripts that have been previously published will not be eligible. However, whilst the main body of the novel or collection of short stories should comprise unpublished work, submissions will be accepted where no more than 25% of the work has been previously published. Manuscripts currently available for sale online, either in full or in significant proportion (i.e. more than 50% of the total manuscript) will be ineligible. Manuscripts either partially or wholly available online for no charge will be eligible.

2.4 Entrants must warrant that the entry is a complete original work of fiction and is entirely the author's own work; that it does not infringe any existing copyright, moral or other rights of any third party, contains nothing obscene, libellous, unlawful or defamatory of any living person or corporate body.

2.5 Memoirs, biographies and autobiographies are not eligible.

2.6 Entries must be in English.

2.7 Authors may submit more than one novel or collection of stories. An additional entry fee for each submission is required (see HOW TO ENTER below).

2.8 The Award is not open to employees of Peepal Tree Press, Ilkley Literature Festival and members of SI Leeds (the Award Partners) or anyone connected with the Award or their direct family members.

2.9 Entries that are submitted posthumously will not be eligible for the Award.

3. COPYRIGHT AND TERMS OF USE

3.1 By submitting a novel or collection of short stories to the Award the entrant acknowledges and agrees that excerpts (chosen by the Award Partners) of the winning, or other short-listed, novel or collection of stories may be read out or reproduced as part of the Award Partners’ promotion and documentation of the Award, including Award Partners’ marketing and publicity literature, events, and websites and as a feature of the 2012 Ilkley Literature Festival free of any fees or royalty payments.

3.2 The Award Partners undertake to ensure that copyright of all manuscripts entered for the Award is protected. Non short-listed manuscripts will be shredded.

4. JUDGING

4.1 The SI Leeds Literary Prize will be looking for the most original and engaging writing and will consider all entries on the basis of quality of prose and narrative voice. The Award aims to support and award excellence, creativity and originality.

4.2 Manuscripts will be judged anonymously, i.e. without knowledge of the author’s name, age or background. (Please see HOW TO ENTER below)

4.3 Judging of the Award will be as follows:

Stage 1: All entries will be read by a team of readers and will be sifted in accordance with the Award criteria. A long list of no more than 12 novels/collections of short stories will be put forward to the judging panel.

Stage 2: The judging panel will read all long-listed entries and will select a Short List of 6 outstanding novels/collections of short stories submitted for the Award.

Stage 3: The judging panel will further discuss and agree the winning, runner-up and third placed entries.

4.4 Shortlisted authors will be contacted personally by email or telephone.

4.5 The Judges’ decision is final and no correspondence can be entered into.

4.6 The judging will be fair and independent. The judging panel will be appointed by the Award Partners and will include a distinguished and experienced literary professional as its chair.

4.7 Any permitted reference to the Award by the shortlisted writers will be advised by the Award Partners.

5. HOW TO ENTER

5.1 Manuscripts must be sent by post together with the completed entry forms and entry fee. Manuscripts arriving by post without the completed entry forms or entry fee will not be eligible.

5.2 Manuscripts should be sent in their entirety, i.e. as a finished novel or a finished collection of short stories. Incomplete works are not eligible. Authors may not add to or alter their manuscript after it has been entered for the Award.

5.3 Manuscripts must be submitted printed in double-spaced lines of 12 point font on single-sided A4 paper. Pages must be numbered.

5.4 The author’s name should not appear on the manuscript. Use the form provided to enter your name, title of novel or collection of short stories and contact details. Your manuscript will be logged against your name but will be judged anonymously.

5.5 Manuscripts will not be returned. Authors requiring an acknowledgement of receipt of their manuscript should enclose a stamped addressed envelope marked SI Leeds Literary Prize Acknowledgement. Proof of sending is not proof of receipt.

5.6 The Entry Fee for each manuscript submitted is £15.00 payable by cheque to SI Leeds.

5.7 Entries must arrive by Friday 1st June 2012. Late entries will not be eligible.

5.8 The Award Partners reserve the right to cancel the Award at any stage, if deemed necessary in its opinion, or if circumstances arise outside of its control. If cancelled, the entry fee would be refunded.

5.9 The Award Partners reserve the right to refuse entry to the Award for any reason at its absolute discretion.

5.10 By submitting a manuscript the entrant agrees to attend the Award ceremony in the event of being shortlisted for the Award and also, in the event of winning the Award, to undertake a mutually acceptable limited programme of activities to promote the Award. Entrants are responsible for all reasonable costs associated with attending the Award ceremony.

5.11 The entrant agrees that she will contribute where possible to press and publicity activities for the Award and hereby grant the Award Partners all necessary rights in her contribution for press/publicity activities for the Award

Download entry form >>

Download cover sheet >>

CONTACT INFORMATION:

For inquiries: click here

Website: http://sileedsliteraryprize.wordpress.com/

Deadline: 1 June 2012

The SI Leeds Literary Prize is a new prize for unpublished fiction by Black and Asian women resident in the UK aged 18 years and over.

The prize aims to act as a loudspeaker for Black and Asian women’s voices, enabling fresh and original literary voices from a group disproportionately under-represented in mainstream literary culture to reach new audiences.

The inaugural prize will be awarded in October 2012, and will consist of:

• £2,000 to the winner
• £750 to the runner-up
• £250 as a third prize

HOW TO ENTER

The prize is open to Black and Asian women writers aged 18 or over, based in the UK and writing fiction in English. Only unpublished original work is eligible for the prize. The fee per entry is £15. To find out if you are eligible to enter, please check the eligibility section.

All entries must be made by post using the entry form and cover sheet, and have to be submitted before the closing deadline of 1 June 2012. All submissions must be made following the format set out in the rules, so please read these carefully before you apply. If you have any queries about the format or timescale for the prize, please contact us.

AM I ELIGIBLE TO ENTER?

The Award is open to published and unpublished women writers, over the age of 18, of Black or Asian descent who are resident in the UK. Ethnicity will be self-defined by entrants. As a guideline, Black or Asian descent in the context of the Award signifies any Black background.

The Award is open to unpublished novels and/or collections of short stories of any genre of no less than 30,000 words. Manuscripts that have been previously published will not be eligible. However, whilst the main body of the novel or collection of short stories should comprise unpublished work, submissions will be accepted where no more than 25% of the work has been previously published. Manuscripts currently available for sale online, either in full or in significant proportion (i.e. more than 50% of the total manuscript) will be ineligible. Manuscripts either partially or wholly available online for no charge will be eligible.

Memoirs, biographies and autobiographies are not eligible.

Entries must be in English.

TERMS & CONDITIONS

1. THE AWARDS

1.1 All entries will be read to create a long list of 12 titles for the judges. The best entries will be forwarded to the judges who will compile a shortlist of 6 outstanding works of fiction submitted for the SI Leeds Literary Prize 2012 (“the Award”), from which they will select a winner, a runner-up and a third placed entry.

1.2 The winning award is £2,000 and this will be presented to the author of the best
eligible novel or collection of short stories in the opinion of the judges.

1.3 There will be a runner-up award of £750 for the second placed novel or collection of short stories.

1.4 There will be a third place award of £250 for the remaining shortlisted novel or
collection of short stories.

1.5 In addition to the cash awards Peepal Tree Press will offer the winning, runner-up and third placed authors 2 one-to-one consultancy sessions in professional development support through its Inscribe programme. With the winner’s consent, the winning manuscript will be given serious consideration for publication by Peepal Tree Press.

1.6 In addition the winner, 2nd and 3rd prize winners will be invited to read short
extracts from their work at the 2012 Ilkley Literature Festival.

2. ELIGIBILITY

2.1 The Award is open to published and unpublished women writers, over the age of 18,
of Black or Asian descent who are resident in the UK. Ethnicity will be self-defined by entrants. As a guideline, Black or Asian descent in the context of the Award signifies

- any Black background, including:-
- Black African
- Black Caribbean
- any other Black background
- any Asian background, including
- Bangladeshi
- Indian
- Pakistani
- Thai
- Malay
- Philippine
- Vietnamese
- Chinese
- Japanese
- countries in the Middle East
- any other Asian background
- any mixed background, including
- Asian and White
- Black and White
- Any other background from more than one ethnic group.

Under the terms of Positive Action in the Equality Act 2010, these eligibility criteria are justified on the following grounds:

• That the Award Partners reasonably think that Black and Asian women writers suffer a disadvantage linked to their race and gender, and have a disproportionately low level of participation in the UK writing industry and bestseller lists

• That the action taken by the Award Partners encourages this group to overcome this disadvantage and encourages participation

• That the prize is a proportionate response to the issue.

2.2 The Award is open to unpublished* novels and/or collections of short stories of any genre of no less than 30,000 words.

2.3 *Manuscripts that have been previously published will not be eligible. However, whilst the main body of the novel or collection of short stories should comprise unpublished work, submissions will be accepted where no more than 25% of the work has been previously published. Manuscripts currently available for sale online, either in full or in significant proportion (i.e. more than 50% of the total manuscript) will be ineligible. Manuscripts either partially or wholly available online for no charge will be eligible.

2.4 Entrants must warrant that the entry is a complete original work of fiction and is entirely the author's own work; that it does not infringe any existing copyright, moral or other rights of any third party, contains nothing obscene, libellous, unlawful or defamatory of any living person or corporate body.

2.5 Memoirs, biographies and autobiographies are not eligible.

2.6 Entries must be in English.

2.7 Authors may submit more than one novel or collection of stories. An additional entry fee for each submission is required (see HOW TO ENTER below).

2.8 The Award is not open to employees of Peepal Tree Press, Ilkley Literature Festival and members of SI Leeds (the Award Partners) or anyone connected with the Award or their direct family members.

2.9 Entries that are submitted posthumously will not be eligible for the Award.

3. COPYRIGHT AND TERMS OF USE

3.1 By submitting a novel or collection of short stories to the Award the entrant acknowledges and agrees that excerpts (chosen by the Award Partners) of the winning, or other short-listed, novel or collection of stories may be read out or reproduced as part of the Award Partners’ promotion and documentation of the Award, including Award Partners’ marketing and publicity literature, events, and websites and as a feature of the 2012 Ilkley Literature Festival free of any fees or royalty payments.

3.2 The Award Partners undertake to ensure that copyright of all manuscripts entered for the Award is protected. Non short-listed manuscripts will be shredded.

4. JUDGING

4.1 The SI Leeds Literary Prize will be looking for the most original and engaging writing and will consider all entries on the basis of quality of prose and narrative voice. The Award aims to support and award excellence, creativity and originality.

4.2 Manuscripts will be judged anonymously, i.e. without knowledge of the author’s name, age or background. (Please see HOW TO ENTER below)

4.3 Judging of the Award will be as follows:

Stage 1: All entries will be read by a team of readers and will be sifted in accordance with the Award criteria. A long list of no more than 12 novels/collections of short stories will be put forward to the judging panel.

Stage 2: The judging panel will read all long-listed entries and will select a Short List of 6 outstanding novels/collections of short stories submitted for the Award.

Stage 3: The judging panel will further discuss and agree the winning, runner-up and third placed entries.

4.4 Shortlisted authors will be contacted personally by email or telephone.

4.5 The Judges’ decision is final and no correspondence can be entered into.

4.6 The judging will be fair and independent. The judging panel will be appointed by the Award Partners and will include a distinguished and experienced literary professional as its chair.

4.7 Any permitted reference to the Award by the shortlisted writers will be advised by the Award Partners.

5. HOW TO ENTER

5.1 Manuscripts must be sent by post together with the completed entry forms and entry fee. Manuscripts arriving by post without the completed entry forms or entry fee will not be eligible.

5.2 Manuscripts should be sent in their entirety, i.e. as a finished novel or a finished collection of short stories. Incomplete works are not eligible. Authors may not add to or alter their manuscript after it has been entered for the Award.

5.3 Manuscripts must be submitted printed in double-spaced lines of 12 point font on single-sided A4 paper. Pages must be numbered.

5.4 The author’s name should not appear on the manuscript. Use the form provided to enter your name, title of novel or collection of short stories and contact details. Your manuscript will be logged against your name but will be judged anonymously.

5.5 Manuscripts will not be returned. Authors requiring an acknowledgement of receipt of their manuscript should enclose a stamped addressed envelope marked SI Leeds Literary Prize Acknowledgement. Proof of sending is not proof of receipt.

5.6 The Entry Fee for each manuscript submitted is £15.00 payable by cheque to SI Leeds.

5.7 Entries must arrive by Friday 1st June 2012. Late entries will not be eligible.

5.8 The Award Partners reserve the right to cancel the Award at any stage, if deemed necessary in its opinion, or if circumstances arise outside of its control. If cancelled, the entry fee would be refunded.

5.9 The Award Partners reserve the right to refuse entry to the Award for any reason at its absolute discretion.

5.10 By submitting a manuscript the entrant agrees to attend the Award ceremony in the event of being shortlisted for the Award and also, in the event of winning the Award, to undertake a mutually acceptable limited programme of activities to promote the Award. Entrants are responsible for all reasonable costs associated with attending the Award ceremony.

5.11 The entrant agrees that she will contribute where possible to press and publicity activities for the Award and hereby grant the Award Partners all necessary rights in her contribution for press/publicity activities for the Award

Download entry form >>

Download cover sheet >>

CONTACT INFORMATION:

For inquiries: click here

Website: http://sileedsliteraryprize.wordpress.com/

Date: 6 - 10 March 2012

The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature is the Middle East’s largest celebration of the written and spoken word, bringing people of all ages together with authors from across the world to promote education, debate and, above all else, reading.

The Festival creates a wonderful opportunity for UAE nationals, visitors and residents to meet famous authors, attend literary debates, listen to readings, participate in workshops, and experience the exciting fringe and children’s events. With simultaneous translation in all events, the Festival is a meeting of minds where ideas are shared and friendships are formed – not least among the authors themselves, who whether festival veteran or novice have praised the lively atmosphere and the diverse, intellectually switched-on audience.

At its core, the Festival has a strong educational remit, through its Education Day, its Workshop programme and the close ties to schools developed through the Fringe Festival activities. The Festival's Patron, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Ruler of Dubai and Vice President of the UAE, has announced his vision of eradicating illiteracy from the Arab World. In our recent survey we found that more than 75% of our visitors felt they were more likely to pick up a book and read after attending the Festival. This alone is a huge endorsement of the power of a literary Festival to help foster a love of reading and thereby, over time, create a reading culture.

The Festival’s headline sponsor is Emirates Airline, in partnership with the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority. The Festival is a not-for-profit event supported by sponsorship and the voluntary efforts of Dubai’s dedicated reading community.

The 2012 Emirates Airline Festival of Literature will be held March 6-10 at the InterContinental Hotel, Dubai Festival City and the Dubai Cultural and Scientific Association, Al Mamzar.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

For inquiries: via their contact form here

Website: http://www.eaifl.com/

Deadline: 31 August 2012

African Cities Reader is open to multiple genres (literature, philosophy, faction, reportage, ethnographic narrative, etc.), forms of representation (text, image, sound and possibly performance), and points of view. The African Cities Reader insists on embodying the rich pluralism, cosmopolitanism and diversity of emergent urbanisms across Africa. Thus, the Reader invites and undertake to commission writing and art by practitioners, academics, activists and artists from diverse fields across Africa in all of her expansiveness.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS 2012

The African Cities Reader is a journal-like platform where Africans tell their own stories, draw their own maps and represent their own spatial topographies as our cities continue to evolve and adapt at the interstice of difference, complexity, opportunism, and irony. The intervention is premised on the fact that the cultural, livelihood, religious, stylistic, commercial, familial, knowledge producing and navigational capacities of African urbanites are typically overlooked, unappreciated and undervalued. The aim of the African Cities Reader is to bring their stories and practices to the fore through a variety of genres and experiments in criticality.

The third African Cities Reader will explore the unholy trinity of land, property and value-the life force of cities everywhere - especially in an era of late modernity marked by a speculative impulse that takes on a spectral character as it instigates adventures of city imagineering, deal-making, and symbolic reinvestment. The material effects of which is often displacement, violence, day light robbery and night time seduction. This incessant (re)making of the African city is a game that leaves few untouched or unmoved.

As too many demands are placed on too few infrastructural endowments, land and living space come at a premium. Ingrained differential standards of what constitutes "acceptable" or "adequate" levels of consumption create a grotesque reflection of class and other markers of hierarchy in the built landscape. And in the absence of widespread formal and regular sources of income, most city dwellers are forced to hedge every shred of connection, cunning, positioning and affiliation to retain a foothold or expand their room for manoeuvre. The third instalment of the African Cities Reader will bring these constitutive dynamics to life.

Specifically, we are looking for imaginative reflections on the recent phenomenon of investment in urban utopias for the global middle-class unmoored from the messy realities of emergent urbanisms. In fact, the investment, construction, marketing and governance dynamics of these experiments reflect a fascinating geography of rapidly changing geo-economics in an increasingly multi-polar world. At the other end of the spectrum, we are also curious about the enduring traces of autonomous artist colonies or spaces; often modest material interventions but with powerful symbolic effects. Asef Bayat draws our attention to what he calls "the quiet encroachment of the ordinary" - survival practices of urban majorities that involve the relentless occupation of resources at the expense of elites to simply get by, but which add up to a redefinition of land-use, settlement patterns and resource flows in the city. (Bayat, A. (2000) 'Social Movements, Activism and Social Development in the Middle East', Civil Society and Social Movements Programme Paper, Geneva: UNRISD). Stories, theorisations and illustrations that flesh out this proposition are invited.

Furthermore, the new and emerging forces of power and investment cannot but imprint themselves on the urban fabric. Their power and status demands a built manifestation. So, we are curious to better understand the changing visual landscapes and cultures as religious, commercial, ethnic, security and other forces announce their power and intentions. How might these symbolic economies be redeployed and ridiculed as ordinary people move in and out of their intentions of place-making?

Developmentalist discources on tenure security as a gateway to urban citizenship has been part of the mainstream for at least three decades. What has this resulted in? Why is there still such an abiding optimism about the magical powers of title and tenure security? Where might these discourses go to next? How can they possibly make sense of the vast peri-urban dynamics that now dominate the lived reality of most African cities?

Finally, since African cities and towns (including new ones) will have to accommodate at least another four hundred million people over the next two decades, what is the future of land, property and value? What alternative imaginaries are available to us to think about the bare fact of co-existence, being, and home? Is there even a horizon to be thought or imagined? What might the hue of that horizon be?

Submissions will be accepted until Wednesday, 31st August 2012, and should be submitted electronically in Word format and low-res jpg to the email address below. Submissions may vary in subject matter and will be assessed on their relevance to theme. All work should accompany a short abstract, biography and relevant contact details.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

For inquiries/ submissions: africancitiesreader@chimurenga.co.za

Website: http://www.africancitiesreader.org.za/

Updated:
June 5, 2011

The River Crosses Rivers: A Festival of Short Plays by Women of Color - Call for Submissions -06/06/2011

Word Warrior Creative WORDshop (South Africa) -06/07/2011

Job Opening: Junior Editor for Submerge Publishers (South Africa) -06/09/2011

"Mohammed — The Messenger of Peace" Essay Contest -06/10/2011

Call for Candidates: Bayeux-Calvados Awards for War Correspondents -06/10/2011

Introduction to Screenwriting Workshop (Auteur Film School, South Africa) -06/11/2011

Thinkers and Trouble Makers: Panel Discussion of Queer Women of Color Activists (California) -06/11/2011

Mixed Roots Literary Festival Opens June 11th at the Japanese American National Museum -06/11/2011

Umhlanga Life Short Story Competition (South Africa) -06/13/2011

The Guardian 2011 International Development Journalism Competition on Global Poverty -06/13/2011

Apply for the Intajour International Academy of Journalism Fellowship in Germany -06/15/2011

Call for Entries: Africa in the Picture Film Festival -06/15/2011

Call for Essays/ Creative Pieces - African Women in Motion: Gender and the New African Diaspora in the United States -06/15/2011

Call for Submissions from Poets of Color: "The Moment of Change" Anthology of Feminist Speculative Poetry (Aqueduct press) -06/15/2011

Call for Papers: Children’s Literature and Reading in and of Africa (IBBY Africa conference, Swaziland) -06/15/2011

Call for Submissions: The Black Barbie Anthology -06/15/2011

Call for Articles to be Included in the Book "Transformation of Islam in 21st Century" (University Press) -06/15/2011

Book Reviews on "Popular Fiction" and "Genre Fiction" for Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture -06/15/2011

Apply for the Cave Canem Fellowship (African American Poetry) at Vermont Studio Center -06/15/2011

Call for Papers: Fourth International Symposium of Printing and Publishing in the Language and Countries of the Middle East -06/15/2011

Reporting Regional Integration: Sponsored Course for SADC Journalists -06/17/2011

Arabic Literary Translation Workshop with Paul Starkey (London Review of Books) -06/19/2011

Amazwi Ethu South African Tales Creative Writing Contest -06/19/2011

Golden Baobab Prize (for African short story for children, top prize: $1000) -06/20/2011

Pulitzer Center Seeks West African Journalists to Report on Water and Sanitation -06/20/2011

For French/ English Writers: The Camac - Fondation Tenot Writers Residency in France -06/20/2011

Job Opening: Online Fashion Editor for 36Boutiques.co.za -06/25/2011

South African Literary Awards (SALA) 2011 -06/30/2011

Deadline: 15 June 2011

Matthew Schneider-Mayerson and Cameron-Leader Picone invite book reviews for a 2011 special edition of Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture, an open access, electronic, peer-reviewed journal devoted to publishing essays in cultural studies from emerging and established scholars worldwide. This theme of this issue is "Popular Fiction," and in addition to reviews of academic work that deal with the complicated questions of genre, gender, production, and consumption in and of popular fiction that we are interested in we welcome reviews of works of popular fiction (such as Charles Adai's Fifty-to-One). Please e-mail us at reconstructionpf@gmail.com by June 15th, 2011 with a proposal. The reviews will be approximately 500-1000 words. Examples of potential scholarly works to be reviewed are:Spies and Holy Wars: The Middle East in 20th-Century Crime Fiction, Reeva Spector Simon

• Encyclopedia of American Popular Fiction, Sarah Powell
• Haunted Heart: The Life and Times of Stephen King, Lisa Rogak
• Alcohol in Popular Culture: An Encyclopedia, Rachel Black
• Making the Detective Story American: Biggers, Van Dine and Hammett, J.K. Van Dover
• Ball Tales: A Study of Baseball, Basketball and Football Fiction of the 1930′s through 1960′s, Michelle Nolan
• Of Sex and Faerie: Further Essays on Genre Fiction, John Lennard
• Sisters, Schoolgirls, and Sleuths : Girls' Series Books in America, Carolyn Carpan

Contact Information:

For inquiries: reconstructionpf@gmail.com

For submissions: reconstructionpf@gmail.com

Website: http://reconstruction.eserver.org