Accents Publishing 2011 International Poetry Book Contest

Accents Publishing is happy to announce its 2011 International Poetry Book Contest. Two winners will be selected – one by an independent judge, Lisa Williams, and one by the Senior Editor and founder of Accents Publishing, Katerina Stoykova-Klemer. Each winner will have his/her submission published and will receive a $500 cash prize. Additionally, the winners will be invited for a featured reading at a book premiere celebration event. All contest entries will be considered for regular publication with Accents Publishing, as well.

The entry fee is $20.00. Multiple submissions are allowed, as long as each one is accompanied by a separate entry fee and submission form. Winning books may be pre-ordered at the time of submission for $10.00 each.

A complete submission should include the following:

A completed submission formYour manuscript, including:
--An acknowledgement page, if necessary
--Two title pages – one with name and contact information, one without
--Your biography or CV
--A check or a confirmation of payment via Paypal covering the $20 entry fee, plus any optional book preorders

Please do not include a SASE, as notification will be made by email only.

We will accept submissions between February 1st and July 31st. Winners will be announced in August. The contest is open to any poet writing in English. Employees of Accents or family members of judges are ineligible to participate. Simultaneous submissions will be accepted, but please notify us immediately if your manuscript is accepted for publication elsewhere.

Manuscripts should conform to the following guidelines:

--60 to 120 pages of poetry
--Table of contents
--Single spaced
--Numbered pages
--11 pt font minimum

Your name should not appear anywhere within the manuscript. Please do not send your only copy of your work, as manuscripts will be recycled.

Entries should be mailed to:

Accents Publishing

Attn: Katerina Stoykova-Klemer

P.O. Box 910456

Lexington, KY 40591-0456

U.S.A.

Accents Publishing is an independent press for brilliant voices. For more information, or to download the submission form, please visit us at Accents Publishing.

Call for Submissions

Nomadic Ink (The Community of Mercer County Writers) is looking for submissions of poetry or prose for our annual chapbook, "Prose and Poetry for Pets." Submissions need to be received before the end of April. Prose and Poetry for Pets will be held in conjunction with the Bark in the Park event on May 14th at Old Fort Harrod State Park.

All the proceeds from the sale of this book will be going to the Mercer County Humane Society. The submissions should be pet related and we will give high priority to submissions about rescued animals or pets adopted from a Humane Society. Send all submissions by email to:

nomadicinkmercer@gmail.com

Bianca Sriggs

Press Release April 6, 2001:

Accents Publishing is proud to announce:

How Swallowtails Become Dragons

by Bianca Spriggs is now available from Accents Publishing. How Swallowtails Become Dragons is part of the Accents Publishing Winged Series, which features selections from Accents Publishing chapbook contests.

"In How Swallowtails Become Dragons, Bianca Spriggs proves herself to be a poet of metamorphosis - a shape shifter, a medium for the dead and imagined. She speaks for those long silenced and for those who remind us to never make a pact with our own silence. In these pages we meet Sweet Evenin' Breeze; Orfeu Negro; the Boabab Girl; and even Eurydice Thomas, a lazarus slave sold dead for parts. But in these pages we also meet a poet who is willing to welcome the wild into her own house, and even into her sleep - a poet willing to reach deep into the dark depth and mine that bit of light last remaining." - Rebecca Gayle Howell, Author of The Hatchet Buddha Perfect Bound.

Last night I dreamt you loved my earrings. They were simple: silver shells hinged by iridescent plastic beads. You wanted to see them up close, fascinated by whatever made them shine that way in fluorescent light. So you tugged too hard when I let you pull on my left lobe. Still laughing, I awoke wanting to call you and to know what your favorite candy is, what music you like to listen to while walking the dogs. I wanted to be closer to you than pages cleaving to a spine.

Affrilachian Poet and Cave Canem Fellow Bianca Spriggs is a freelance instructor of composition, literature, and creative writing. She holds degrees from Transylvania University and the University of Wisconsin. She is a Kentucky Humanities Council Lecturer and the creator and programmer of the Gypsy Poetry Slam featured annually at the Kentucky Women Writers Conference. Heralded as "the new standard bearer for the Affrilachian Poets" by founding member Frank X Walker, Bianca is the author of Kaffir Lily (Wind Publications) and her work may also be found in the anthologies New Growth: Recent Kentucky Writings and America! What's My Name? and the journals Union Station Magazine, Appalachian Heritage Magazine, TORCH, Pluck!, Alehouse, and others.

Bianca Spriggs's How Swallowtails Become Dragons has a 90-second YouTube book trailer, in which she reads the title poem from her new book, How Swallowtails Become Dragons.

Accents Publishing 2011 - $5.00 ISBN: 978-1-936628-01-8

Order directly from the publisher at Accents Publishing.

Maureen Morehead as Poet Laureate

Kentucky Arts Council News Release Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet April 1, 2011 Contact: Ed Lawrence, Communications Director at ed.lawrence@ky.gov 502-564-3757, ext. 473 Kentucky Arts Council inducts Maureen Morehead as Poet Laureate at Kentucky Writers’ Day

FRANKFORT, Ky. — The Kentucky Arts Council will celebrate Kentucky Writers’ Day at 11 a.m. EDT, April 25, 2011, in the Capitol Rotunda, Frankfort. Poet, writer and teacher Maureen Morehead of Louisville will be formally inducted as Kentucky Poet Laureate for the two-year term of 2011 – 2012. Morehead was appointed to the honorary post by Gov. Steve Beshear to promote the literary arts in Kentucky through readings and public presentations at meetings, seminars, conferences and events, including Kentucky Writers’ Day. Morehead will be joined by former Kentucky Poets Laureate Gurney Norman, Jane Gentry, Sena Jeter Naslund, Joe Survant and Richard Taylor in presenting readings of their work. Kentucky state Poetry Out Loud National Recitation Contest first-place winner Torie DiMartile of Beechwood High School in Ft. Mitchell and second-place winner Tyler Poteet of Butler Traditional High School in Louisville will recite selected poems. Lindy Casebier, deputy secretary, Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet, will present DiMartile and Poteet the official awards for their accomplishments. A special reception to honor all Kentucky writers will follow at noon on the mezzanine level of the Capitol. This is an opportunity to congratulate Morehead, talk with Kentucky’s poets laureate and mingle with other readers and writers. This event is free and open to the public. The Kentucky Arts Council, the state arts agency, creates opportunities for Kentuckians to value, participate in and benefit from the arts. Kentucky Arts Council funding is provided by the Kentucky General Assembly and the National Endowment for the Arts. Maureen Morehead Kentucky Poet Laureate 2011-2012