In an effort to support writers during this time of uncertainty and reading cancellations, Poets in Pajamas (PiP), a biweekly Sundress Publications reading series, would like to offer to support even MORE readers than we already have slated for 2020. Submissions for this call will focus solely on those whose book is slated for release between February and April, 2020 and/or those who are most at risk due to COVID-19.
Poets in Pajamas is an online reading series run through Facebook Live, which prides itself on producing high-quality poetry readings for an online audience. Readers read from their own work for fifteen minutes and then field questions for an additional ten or fifteen.
We are interested in hearing from ALL writers (we accept both poetry and prose readers) but we also particularly want to welcome writers who identify as being a part of disenfranchised communities (such as but not limited to, people of color, immigrant populations, Native and indigenous people, LGBTQ+, D/deaf and Disabled, non-binary people, members of non-dominant religious groups, current or former sex workers, all women, Dreamers, formerly incarcerated, and more). We want to host you and promote your work.
To apply, send three poems or up to five pages of prose and a short video clip of you reading (NOT a recorded reading in front of a crowd, this should be an ad-hoc and recent video that shows your presence and your work in a good light). Please send a new video of you reading at home or in your garden, in front of your computer, or in your living room. (Again, this is NOT a call for produced sessions). Read for no more than 1 to 3 minutes (less is more), and please also attach a bio and author photo in one email to poetsinpajamas@gmail.com. Submissions close March 26, 2020, and new readings will be scheduled shortly thereafter.
Note: We are NOT concerned with audio/video quality here, nor your appearance—don’t stress, just use your phone or a laptop and show us that you have a good audio/video presence, and a good sense of a digital audience. We are NOT judging you based on your appearance or what you’re wearing or whether you did your hair. We are looking for that magical combination wherein the poet writes wonderful words we want to hear AND is willing to engage with a camera AND knows how to give a good reading. Really, one to three minutes, read as you would at any reading, one poem, or one paragraph, don’t overthink. Please apply!
A 501(c)(3) non-profit literary press collective founded in 2000, Sundress Publications is an entirely volunteer-run press that publishes chapbooks and full-length collections in both print and digital formats, and hosts numerous literary journals, an online reading series, and the Best of the Net Anthology.
Sundress Publications is pleased to announce the release of the 2019 edition of Best of the Net. This year’s anthology includes poetry, fiction, and nonfiction published in thirty-two different journals and features work by Jane Wong, K Ming Cheng, Leila Chatti, Gabriela Garcia, Sarah Eliza Johnson, and many more.
This year’s judges were Eloisa Amezcua, Megan Giddings, and Hanif Abdurraqib
Eloisa Amezcua is from Arizona. Her debut collection, From the Inside Quietly, is the inaugural winner of the Shelterbelt Poetry Prize selected by Ada Limón. A MacDowell fellow, she is the author of three chapbooks and founder/editor-in-chief of The Shallow Ends: A Journal of Poetry. Her poems and translations are published in New York Times Magazine, Poetry Magazine, Kenyon Review, Gulf Coast, and others. Eloisa lives in Columbus, OH and is the founder of Costura Creative.
Megan Giddings is a fiction editor at The Offing and a features editor at The Rumpus. She’s been included in the 2014 and 2018 Best of the Net anthologies. Her short stories are forthcoming or have been recently published in Catapult, Gulf Coast, and The Iowa Review. Megan’s debut novel, Lakewood, will be published by Amistad in 2020. More about her can be found at megangiddings.com.
Hanif Abdurraqib is a writer from the east side of Columbus, Ohio.
A 501(c)(3) non-profit literary press collective founded in 2000, Sundress Publications is an entirely volunteer-run press that publishes chapbooks and full-length collections in both print and digital formats, and hosts numerous literary journals, an online reading series, and the Best of the Net Anthology.
As part of Sundress Publications’ ongoing commitment to providing a platform for marginalized and underrepresented voices, we are now accepting submissions of published collections (full-length or chapbook-length) by women and non-binary authors that honor the following months:
April 2020—Autism Awareness Month
April 2020—Sexual Assault Awareness Month
May 2020—Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month
June 2020—LGBTQIA Pride Month
June 2020—Brain and Alzheimer’s Awareness Month
We at Sundress hope to champion writers whose work highlights human struggle and challenges misconceptions. We are looking for work to shed some light on the various topics encompassed above.
Authors or publishers of books published in the past twelve months may submit to The Wardrobe. To do so, please forward an electronic copy of the book (PDFs preferred), author bio, photo of the cover, and a link to the publisher’s website to wardrobe@sundresspublications.com with the topic of your choosing in the subject line. In addition, we request that one print copy be mailed to Sundress Academy for the Arts, ATTN: The Wardrobe, 195 Tobby Hollow Lane, Knoxville, TN 37931.
Submissions to The Wardrobewill remain eligible for our “Best Dressed” selection for one year. Hard copies will become a permanent part of the Sundress Academy for the Arts library and be made available for review by our editors and/or affiliate journals.
For the complete details and rules, please see The Wardrobewebsite.
I never dreamed of being a writer, yet here I am: writing. Growing up, I daydreamed while taking bus rides home from school about having superpowers. I played outside on historic military weaponry like military brats living on base typically did back then. I also played inside, but only with my younger sister, who’s five years my junior—she was the only one who understood the importance of maintaining societal standards that reflected High School Musical.
I especially loved to pretend I was going to become a mega-rockstar. Maybe I still have time to fulfill that dream despite my complete lack of musical talent.
Until the day comes when I absorb superpowers or musical prowess, I enjoy writing: I want to write no matter if I attain any of these seemingly unrealistic qualities.
In my own right, I feel like a rockstar. My experience as a writer in middle school and high school was nonexistent outside of papers for class. I didn’t think much about those papers. I thought more about the books I read in school and in my free time.
Each English class I took throughout my years in high school typically ended up being my favorite class. I annotated, took notes, and participated in class—giving my take on how I thought Romeo and Juliet were more desperate than star-crossed and how drawing comparisons between characters like Heathcliff and Edward Cullen weren’t as applicable as my peers believed.
I had no idea where I wanted to go for my higher education experience. I didn’t even know what I wanted to do or become. My dad, my forever peer-reviewer, pointed out I was always reading and writing. Sure, I wrote rough drafts of story ideas on my laptop: I even dreamed about publishing a novel, one that could surpass the likes of John Green, whom I later discovered would be the center of some UTK Creative Writing Club jokes (Apologies Mr. Green, we mean well and admire your success).
I only applied for two schools and only for their writing programs. I got into both, but I picked the University of Tennessee. It wasn’t the bright orange beckoning me or because my dad graduated from the university in 1989 that I chose to come here. I came to discover myself.
If someone from today’s present went back to tell college freshman me that I would become motivated to join a lot of organizations thanks to the empowering music by seven men from South Korea, I would have no idea what to think.
Today, I still write more for class than anything else, but I love writing more than ever. As an English Major with a double concentration in rhetoric and creative writing, I’m learning about various forms of writing, challenging myself to write within multiple disciplines.
Since freshman year, I’ve been a member of UTK’s Creative Writing Club. Without my friends, I wouldn’t have the bravery to share my work. In the following year, I joined Honey Magazine in its first semester. Now I’m the Editor-in-Chief and hope to finalize our first publication by the end of the 2020 spring semester.
During the same year, I became a member of Sigma Tau Delta and ran for the Executive Board. In the year I’ve been a member, I will get the opportunity to present my rhetorical research on K-Pop group BTS and their fandom BTS ARMY at an international conference that focuses on literature. It’s crazy and a wild dream come true.
Another dream come true is getting to intern for Sundress. I might’ve never grown up dreaming of becoming a writer, but learning how to become a writing rockstar sounds amazing to me.
Emma Hudson is currently a third year student at the University of Tennessee working on her double concentration BA in English: Rhetoric and Creative Writing, along with a minor in retail consumer science. She’s a busy bee; she is the Editor-in-Chief of the up-and-coming Honey Magazine. Emma is also a long-time member and leader in UTK’s Creative Writing Club and on the Executive Board for UTK’s Sigma Tau Delta, Alpha Epsilon chapter. In her free time, she figures out how to include K-Pop group BTS into her research projects and watches “reality” tv shows.
Welcome back to Lyric Essentials! In this latest installment, Amy Watkins, author of Wolf Daughter, reads two poems by one of her favorite living poets, Carl Phillips. Amy discusses the act of reading poetry out loud, Phillips’ poetry’s intricate complexity, and Watkins’ new chapbook.
Of special note to regular readers: Sundress would like to welcome former intern Erica Hoffmeister to our staff as the new editor of LE. We’re excited to have her rejoin the team and know she will create fantastic episodes for the series. Thanks for reading!
Erica Hoffmeister: Why did you choose to read these two poems by Carl Phillips for Lyric Essentials?
Amy Watkins: I wanted to read something by a living poet. Carl Phillips is one of my favorites, and I had just read his new chapbook, Star Map with Action Figures from Sibling Rivalry Press. I chose these particular poems because I love them; “Sea Glass,” in particular, is one I read over and over. Like a lot of Phillips’s poetry and a lot of my poetry, they’re about love and death, but they’re quiet, controlled. I love that calm, thoughtful voice. I love the metaphorical leaps he makes, and the way the careful syntax and punctuation and line breaks hold it all together.
I also chose these poems because, in spite of the heavy themes, they have a little thread of lightness. In “Sea Glass,” when he says, “some things maybe still a little bit worth being sorry for,” it’s not funny exactly, but there’s a little humor in that wry take on regret.
EH: You said in our discussions that you love reading poetry out loud (and your readings of these poems are beautiful!) – how do reading these particular poems express that love?
AW: These poems are not easy to read out loud because Phillips writes such complex sentences, and he uses line breaks and punctuation so masterfully. I don’t know if you can hear it in my reading, because I tend to read through line breaks a bit, but “Words of Love” has short, choppy lines—some only one word long—and if you read some of the stanzas alone, they momentarily contradict the meaning of the sentence as a whole.
For instance, the middle of the poem without line breaks goes, “I might have added that not only do I respect, I require mystery. Less and less am I one of those who believes to know a thing, first you touch it…” But there’s a stanza break after “Less and less.” For just a second in the middle of saying something, he subtly suggests its opposite. The form and punctuation are all in on the existential reflecting and reassessing the speaker is doing, so you have to read carefully. It’s a beautiful poem to hear, but also really rewarding to read on the page.
I’m a page poet more than a performer, but I do love reading out loud. I used to host a podcast poetry “magazine” called Red Lion Sq. I enjoyed reading the poems myself, but It was better to have a variety of voices. Sometimes poets would submit recordings, or I would ask other writers or actors to read. I prefer a heightened natural reading voice, but every reader has to find their own sweet spot. Making fun of “poet voice” just makes people self-conscious; however, I don’t think you could convey the meaning of a poem like “Words of Love” with a really affected performance—dramatically pausing and up-turning at the end of every line. My unsolicited advice for reading out loud is to remember that the point is to communicate; speak slowly and clearly, and focus on the poem. And if you’re giving a live reading, practice once or twice, have your material ready so you don’t have to fumble for it when it’s time, and pretend you’re not nervous.
EH: Has Carl Phillips’ poetry influenced your own writing?
AW: I’m sure it has; I’ve read a lot of it! His book The Art of Daring is the craft book I recommend to my smart friends. But I don’t think my poetry is much like his. My poems are more straightforward. Syntactically they’re a lot simpler than Phillips’s poems. Reading him does make me more aware of punctuation and line breaks. It makes me think more about what a powerful tool grammar is. And we both like similes.
EH: Is there any elements in your newly released chapbook, Wolf Daughter, that you find especially connected to what you’ve talked about here?
AW: Like “Sea Glass,” Wolf Daughter is both heavy and light. It’s about parenting an adolescent girl at this moment in America, only my girl has turned into a wolf. It talks about gun violence and fear of the “other” and alludes to sexual assault, but it also talks about radical confidence and self love, singing in the car, making art—many small joys. There are even two poems about reading out loud together!
Carl Phillips is a one of America’s most celebrated living lyric poets and the author of more than a dozen books of critically acclaimed poetry and criticism. Known as an accidental poet, Phillips earned an M.F.A. from Boston University after studying biology and math at Harvard University. A biracial, queer poet, Phillips’ writing explores themes of dual identities, and has garnered numerous awards and honors. He currently serves as a professor of English and Creative Writing at Washington University in St. Louis and was elected chancellor of the Academy of American Poets in 2006. His latest collection of poetry Wild Is the Wind (2018) won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.
Further reading:
Purchase Carl Phillips’ newest book, Wild is the Wind Read a feature about Phillips in the New Yorker Listen to an interview with Phillips on NPR
Amy Watkins is the author of three poetry chapbooks (Milk & Water, Lucky, and Wolf Daughter), a graduate of the Spalding University MFA in Writing, and a parent of a human girl. Find her online at RedLionSq.com or @amykwatkins on Twitter. She lives in Orlando, Florida
Further reading:
Follow Amy Watkins on Twitter Listen to Amy read more poetry on Red Lion Square podcast Download and read Wolf Daughterfrom Sundress Publications
Erica Hoffmeister is originally from Southern California and earned an MFA in Creative Writing and an MA in English from Chapman University. Currently living in Denver, she teaches college writing across the Denver metro area and is an editor for the literary journal South Broadway Ghost Society. She is the author of two poetry collections: Lived in Bars (Stubborn Mule Press, 2019), and the prize-winning chapbook, Roots Grew Wild (Kingdoms in the Wild Press, 2019) and writes across genres.
Sundress Academy for the Arts Announces Winners of Summer Residencies
The Sundress Academy for the Arts (SAFTA) is pleased to announce Marina Carreira, Jung Hae Chae, Joshua Nguyen, Cy Ozgood, and JM Wong as the winners of their five summer residency scholarships. These residencies are designed to give writers time and space to complete their creative projects in a quiet and productive environment.
Marina Carreira is a queer Luso-American writer and multimedia artist from Newark, NJ. She is the author of Save the Bathwater (Get Fresh Books, 2018) and I Sing to That Bird Knowing It Won’t Sing Back (Finishing Line Press, 2017). She has work featured in Queen Mob’s Teahouse, Paterson Literary Review, The Acentos Review, Pittsburgh Poetry Review, Green Mountain Review, Hinchas de Poesia, wildness journal, and Harpoon Review. Marina has exhibited her visual art in group exhibitions and festivals at ArtFront Galleries, West Orange Arts Council, Hahne & Co., Gallery 211, and Living Incubator Performance Space {LIPS} in the Gateway Project Spaces in Newark, NJ. She is a founding member of Brick City Collective, a Newark-based multicultural, multimedia group working for social change through the arts. She lives in Union, NJ with her partner and kids.
Jung Hae Chae is a writer based in New Jersey. Her work has been published in AGNI, Ploughshares, Calyx Journal, Crab Orchard Review, Third Coast, and elsewhere, as well as anthologized in the 2019 Pushcart Prize XIII: Best of the Small Presses. Most recently, she won Ploughshares‘ 2019 Emerging Writers’ Contest in nonfiction.
Joshua Nguyen is Vietnamese-American, a collegiate national poetry slam champion (CUPSI), and a native Houstonian. He has received fellowships from Kundiman and the Vermont Studio Center. He has been published in The Offing, The Acentos Review, Rambutan Literary, Button Poetry, The Texas Review, Auburn Avenue, Crab Orchard Review, Gulf Coast, and Hot Metal Bridge. He is currently an MFA candidate at The University of Mississippi. He is a bubble tea connoisseur and works in a kitchen.
Cy Ozgood is a queer poet and witch with a degree in text and media arts from The Evergreen State College. They are the author of several chapbooks including Girl Tramp (Horse Less Press, 2016) and Day (MOLD Editions, 2018). Their work has been featured or is forthcoming in Twang Anthology, baest journal, Gritty Silk, The Operating System, and Horse Less Review. They are a tarot reader, astrologer, farmer, educator, and a seasoned performer who has shared their poetry, music and performance art in basements, living rooms, storefronts, puppet theaters, coffee shops, repurposed churches, wineries, county fairs, riverside docks and clearings in the woods since 2011.
JM Wong (they/them) is a queer child of the Chinese diaspora living on Duwamish lands (Seattle) via Malaysia/Singapore and many cities in between. They write about movements, desire, and longings across distances and bordered spaces. Of diaspora, of the logistical supply chain stretching over ocean waters, of connections transcending prison walls, of crossings over to the ancestral realms. What we each journey through matters, and the futures we imagine begin from now.
Finalists for this year’s fellowships were Bailey Moorhead, Stacey Balkun, Rachel Holbrook, Kathry Leland, Stephen Hundley, Mary Leauna Christensen, Sabrina Sarro, Maya Williams, and Heather Leigh Maher.
The Sundress Academy for the Arts is now accepting applications for our fall writers residencies. Find out more at our website.
Pittsburgh, PA –– Pretty Owl Poetry (POP), an online feminist literary journal based in Pittsburgh, is one of ten newly selected organizations that will participate in Prototype PGH’s 2020 Incubator. Prototype PGH is a nonprofit devoted to promoting gender and racial equity in technology and entrepreneurship. It will provide resources, workshops, and consultation to assist in the growth of the journal, which seeks to establish a chapbook press called Pretty Owl Press.
POP will begin publishing two chapbooks a year in conjunction with the quarterly journal issues starting in 2021. Like the literary journal, Pretty Owl Press will also publish socially conscious work from marginalized voices; however, this new venture will also help build authors’ careers through online advertisements, book launch celebrations, and sales facilitation. POP is excited to continue giving back to the literary community by joining the Prototype incubator cohort, the range of which—according to Prototype founder Erin Gatz—“underscores the true richness of Pittsburgh’s communities and cultures.”
Founded in 2013, POP is dedicated to uplifting underrepresented voices, especially those belonging to people of color, LGBTQIA+, neurodiverse individuals, as well as womxn, non-binary folx, and trans folx. POP publishes poetry, flash fiction, and art on a quarterly basis. Over the past seven years, POP has become an integral part of the Pittsburgh literary scene by hosting readings with established authors on tour as well as local Pittsburgh writers on a regular basis.
Additionally, the journal runs a bi-weekly writing prompt series inspired by the mystery and magic of the tarot called POPcraft, and it also produces POPcast, a podcast centered around publishing and the world of writers. In its monthly newsletter and social media feeds, POP promotes its sister Sundress publications and past contributors—affectionately referred to as “Pretty Owlers.” Because the contributors make the journal possible, POP seeks to expand its support for writers and grow its audience through the creation of Pretty Owl Press.
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A 501(c)(3) non-profit literary collective founded in 2000, Sundress Publications is an entirely volunteer-run press that publishes chapbooks and full-length collections in both print and digital formats, and hosts numerous literary journals, an online reading series, and the Best of the Net Anthology.
Sundress editorial intern Sabrina Sarro asked new Poets in Pajamas (PiP) curator, Jacquelyn Scott, to discuss her thoughts on the new role she’s taking over from Sundress Staff Director, Anna Black. Topics ranged from how Scott’s personal identities will inform her to work to how her journey has brought her to Sundressvia this position.
JS: I love the accessibility of PiP. In-person readings are great, but there’s a location aspect to them. You have to be available at that certain time and present in that certain space. This is challenging for people who want to go, but who live in a different state or have to work or have a disability that precludes them from attending. I love that PiP fills in this gap and gives people the opportunity to attend readings from the comfort of their home, whenever it is convenient for them.
SS: What do you think PiP’s role in the community is?
JS: I think our role is to fill in that accessibility gap and to set up a platform for the poets to garner a bigger audience. The poets that read for us are so amazing, and for their work to be able to reach people on the other side of the world is just incredible. We’ve only had two readings this year so far, and already there are readers who have been introduced to new poets and work. They send us emails and Facebook messages asking us where they can get more of that person’s work, and that, to me, is fulfilling our role in this community.
SS: How did you become PiP’s new curator?
JS: I came to PiP through my editorial internship with Sundress Publications. As an intern, I was lucky enough to be able to help Anna Black, the Staff Director and (phenomenal) former curator, with reader submissions and see the selection process for the line-up, and through my time there, I learned the ins and outs of the PiP program. At the end of my internship, Anna asked if I would like to take over, and I, of course, said absolutely.
SS: What is something unique you are going to bring to this position?
JS: I don’t come from a poetry background. Before Sundress, I was pretty entrenched in nonfiction and fiction work, so I think I bring a fresh ear to this position.
SS: What challenges do you anticipate about this new position?
JS: It may not seem like it when people attend readings, but there is a ton of behind the scenes work to put on a live event. I guess a challenge for me will be keeping up with everything, but Anna did a great job explaining things. I also have checklists and spreadsheets to work with, so I feel prepared.
SS: What are some things you are most looking forward to about this position?
JS: The readings! I love watching the poets read their work and listening to them answer smart questions from their audience. I look forward to our readings every other Sunday.
SS: How do some of your own personal identities inform how you will approach this position?
JS: I’m a pretty big ecofeminist, so I imagine I’ll be keeping my ear out for this kind of work. That’s not to say that it is the only kind of work I get excited about because it certainly isn’t. That’s just to say that ecofeminism work is what hypes me up when I come across it. I also try to be conscientious, though I suppose that’s more personality than positionality. I did read somewhere that personality is a new positionality, whether you believe that or not, I don’t know. But for this position, I think my conscientiousness plays a big factor in seeking out diverse voices. I’m not interested in the same old, same old. I’m interested in those stories that have been silenced or pushed in the background.
SS: What qualities do you think a new PiP creator should possess?
JS: Organization and a willingness to serve. As I said earlier, there’s a ton of behind the scenes work, so organization is huge.
SS: What do you love most about this role?
JS: Beyond the readings, I really love communicating with the authors. They’re so smart, and I’ve already met so many amazing people because of this position. I look forward to meeting many, many more.
Jacquelyn Scott is the curator of Poets in Pajamas. She is an MFA candidate at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville.Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in december mag, Blue Mountain Review, The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature, and The Write Launch. Find her on a hiking trail or on Twitter @jacquelynlscott.
Sabrina Sarro is a current social worker in the state of NY. They hold an LMSW from Columbia University and are currently pursuing an MFA from the City College of New York—CUNY. As a queer non-binary writer of color, they are most interested in investigating the intersectionalities of life and engaging in self-reflection and introspection. They are an alumnus of the LAMBDA Literary Emerging Voices for LGBTQIA* Writers Retreat, the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, the Yale Writers’ Workshop, and many others. They have received scholarships from The Martha’s Vineyard Institute for Creative Writing and the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley.
Sundress Academy for the Arts Announces 2020 Summer Poetry Writing Retreat
The Sundress Academy for the Arts is thrilled to announce its Summer Poetry Writing Retreat, which runs from Friday, May 29th to Sunday, May 31st, 2020. The three-day, two-night camping retreat will be held at SAFTA’s own Firefly Farms in Knoxville, Tennessee. All SAFTA retreats focus on generative poetry writing, and this year’s poetry retreat will also include break-out sessions on: writing about writing the self; kicking writer’s block; publishing; and more.
A weekend pass includes one-on-one and group instruction, writing supplies, food, drinks, transportation to and from the airport, and all on-site amenities for $250. Tents, sleeping bags, and other camping equipment are available to rent for $25. Payment plans are available if you reserve by March 31, 2020.
The event will be open to writers of all backgrounds and provide an opportunity to work with many talented, published poets from around the country, including workshop leaders Amorak Huey and Hali F. Sofala-Jones.
Amorak Huey is author of the poetry collections Dad Jokes from Late in the Patriarchy (Sundress, forthcoming in 2021), Boom Box (Sundress, 2019), Seducing the Asparagus Queen (Cloudbank, 2018), and Ha Ha Ha Thump (Sundress, 2015), as well as the chapbooks The Insomniac Circus (Hyacinth Girl, 2014) and A Map of the Farm Three Miles from the End of Happy Hollow Road (Porkbelly, 2016). A 2017 NEA Fellowship recipient, he is co-author with W. Todd Kaneko of the textbook Poetry: A Writer’s Guide and Anthology (Bloomsbury, 2018) and teaches writing at Grand Valley State University in Michigan.
Hali F. Sofala-Jones is a Samoan American writer. Her debut poetry collection, Afakasi | Half-Caste, was published in March 2019 from Sundress Publications. She holds an MFA in Poetry from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Her poems appear in Nimrod International Journal, The Bitter Oleander, CALYX, Blue Mesa Review, The Missouri Review, and her poem “Fractured” was featured in the Academy of American Poets Poem-a-Day series in October 2019. She is the recipient of the Vreeland Prize in poetry, two Academy of American Poets prizes, a Pushcart Prize nomination, and several other honors and awards.
We have one full scholarship available for the retreat as well as limited 20% scholarships for those with financial need. To apply for a scholarship, send a packet of no more than (8) pages of poetry along with a brief statement on why you would like to attend this workshop to Erin Elizabeth Smith at erin@sundresspublications.com no later than March 15, 2020. Winners will be announced in early April.
The Sundress Academy for the Arts (SAFTA) is an artists’ residency that hosts workshops, retreats, and residencies for writers, actors, filmmakers, and visual artists. All are guided by experienced, professional instructors from a variety of creative disciplines who are dedicated to cultivating the arts in East Tennessee.
Sundress Publications announces the twelfth episode of the podcast, Shitty First Drafts. A podcast made for and by writers, this show playfully investigates the creative processes of different artists to determine how a finished draft gets its polish.
He tells Brynn and Stephanie about his many names, how his love of retro comic books and hip hop lead him to poetry, and the audacity and vulnerability of slam.
Listen to hear two original spoken word poems as well as one of Black Atticus’ songs! Find him performing in and around Knoxville, TN with a show that rocks, raps, flows, & vibrates with every principal of Hip Hop culture: peace, fun, love, and unity.
Black Atticus hails from Knoxville, TN with a show that rocks, raps, flows, & vibrates with every principal of Hip Hop culture: peace, fun, love, and unity. His songs and lyrics are geared to heal and connect, and his poetry provides thoughtful insight and inspiration for all who listen.
