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April 2022  |   Issue 20

Scottish BPOC Writers Network
Newsletter

About SBWN

Scottish BPOC Writers Network provides advocacy, literary events, and development opportunities for BPOC writers based in or from Scotland. You can visit our website for more info, contact us through e-mail, or catch us on Twitter. We also have an online Facebook group for Black and POC writers.
Two images of Black women with curly hair using laptops, and an image of a brown-skinned woman with long hair on a computer screen, against an orange background. Text: Open Call: Blog Pitches. Deadline: 6 May 2022. For Black writers & writers of colour based in Scotland (or normally based in Scotland outside of COVID-19).

Our first open call of 2022 is under way!


...and we want your blog pitches!

Writers are invited to pitch a blog idea on any topic of their choosing around the theme of ‘Roots to Grow’ by 6 May 2022. While all applicants must identify as writers of colour, there is absolutely no obligation to pitch ideas about race and diversity – although these topics are welcome! (If you’re looking for ideas, we’ve provided some suggestions below and in this Twitter thread.)

Each guest blogger will be asked to contribute one blog post. We will be publishing two posts per month.

This blog is part of our regular network programming and will continue through August 2022. 

We especially encourage submissions from BPOC writers who are disabled, D/deaf, blind, chronically ill, or neurodivergent; are over 45 years old; are from the LGBTQIA+ community; are a parent or carer; and/or have never been published.

Read on for more or check out these details on our website!
 

The Basics

  • Theme: Our programme theme this year is ‘Roots to Grow.’ Please interpret this in the format and topic that suits you best.
  • You will send a brief pitch (100 words maximum) on what your blog post will be about
  • We need at least one writing sample along with your pitch. These can be published, self-published (e.g. on a personal blog/website), or unpublished.

 

  • Access
    • We will accept blog posts as text, audio or video.
    • We have some bursaries for childcare/caregiver or data costs for people on low incomes who would be unable to participate otherwise.
  • You will be paid an artist fee of £135 for a blog post of at least 700 words or 5 minutes audio/video.
    • Please note this is classed as ‘self-employed’ or ‘freelance’ work.
    • The blog post will be posted on the Scottish BPOC Writers Network website.
  • Blogs will be posted intermittently. Together, we’ll decide a publication date that works for you.
  • An editor will be provided.
Apply by 6th May 2022 via this Google Form

We can't wait to hear from you!

 

Asian Writers Group - May


Next month our Asian Writers Group will be welcoming not one but three guest speakers: Annie George, Sanjay Lago, and Uma Nada-Rajah, sponsored by the National Theatre of Scotland! These theatre-makers will be delivering a panel on their experiences as Asian writers/drama practitioners in Scotland, answering your questions, providing insight into their career paths for aspiring playwrights and theatre-makers, and more. Join us on 18 May, 7pm for what's sure to be a great evening!


If you have questions that you'd like to ask them, you can send them to group facilitator Kelly Kanayama in advance at scottishbpocwriters@gmail.com.

Eventbrite link will be going up soon on our social media and website, so keep an eye out! 

 

Scottish Black Writers Group - Live


We are extremely excited to bring Scottish Black Writers together in person! For May's Scottish Black Writer's Group Dean Atta has invited us to join his writer's talk which he is headlining with along side Janette Ayachi and Kayo Chingonyi - two other brilliant Black British Writers.

This event runs from 6:30-7:30pm. Registration is Pay What You Can (suggested £5+), although we do have a number of free tickets available for low-income/low-waged attendees. 

Kayo Chingonyi ,who is bringing the poets together at Mitchell Library for the Aye Write Festival describes the group of poets as "his dream mixtape featuring a cross-generational span of well-known and new poets extending and inhabiting the spirits of the ancestors".

You can find out more about the event here.

Please book your ticket through SBWN - this allows us to ensure we maintain our visions for access. Please be in touch if you require childcare or travel support and/or if you are on a low income/low waged. If you would like to join from outside Scotland, please look forward to our June event! Unfortunately we cannot fund travel from outside of Scotland.


Book here via our Eventbrite! 
 

Submission and Job Opportunities

Here are some projects that have reached out to SBWN. Here you'll find places to submit work, as well as various events, like webinars, workshops and mentorships. This is not an exhaustive list. Apologies for what we miss!

6th May
Tribe Arts is offering 2 x £1000 commissions to South Asian writers with a story to tell or something to say about the Partition of India. This is part of a programme of work commemorating 75 years since the Partition. Details here.
12th May, 9am BST
Creative Dundee is seeking an Access Producer (4 days/week, fixed term: June 2022-Oct 2023) to address some of the social, economic and structural barriers that continue to exist for communities across the Tay region. Salary range: £26,638 – £28,698. Find out more about the role and how to apply here.
12th May, 25th May
The Space to Write project is offering a series of free virtual workshops and seminars to authors of colour who write commercial fiction. These are run by prominent industry figures focusing on specific topics including plot-building, editing and pitching, as well as offering insights into the industry as a whole. More here.
21st May, 8pm BST
The inaugural Kavya Prize, celebrating published work and new writing by Scotland's writers of colour, will be awarded at Mitchell Library, Glasgow during an in-person ceremony. Book here and learn more about the prize here.
23rd May, 5pm BST
The Scottish International Storytelling Festival is seeking performance proposals on the theme of 'Interpreting Scotland' for their 2022 festival (14-31 October). Performances can be presented in person, online, or both. Details here.
31st May (opens 1st May)
Verve Poetry Press is open for submissions for pamphlets and full-length collections of poetry, to be published in 2023/2024! Submissions must be full manuscripts or late drafts. Details here.
31st May (opens 1st May)
Crime/thriller writers of colour are invited to apply for the Mo Siewcharran Prize, hosted by Quercus Books. Entrants must be unagented and unpublished. 1st prize is £2,500 plus an opportunity for full publication. More here.
31st May
the other side of hope is seeking submissions on themes of migration: fiction and poetry submissions from refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants only, and non-fiction, book reviews, and author interview submissions from everyone. All published pieces are paid. Learn more here.
1st-21st June
The Good Literary Agency is offering six Submission Package Reviews (randomly allocated) to LGBTQ+ writers of colour that have submitted their work between 1st-21st June 2022. Details here.
1st June
Field Notes, a new print journal with a focus on practices that work between disciplines and against type, is seeking text and/or image submissions for their fourth issue. All published pieces paid. Learn more here.
10th June
The Scottish Book Trust wants your true stories inspired by the theme of 'Scotland's Stories'! Entries can be in any form you like – a story, poem, comic strip, play, video, audio file, or letter – and can be in English, Scots, and/or Gaelic. Learn more and submit here.
Mid-June
Spit It Out, which builds connections and provides a platform for discussions around trauma and healing through creativity, is seeking paid workshop leaders (with experience or not) for monthly Edinburgh meetups, held on the last Monday of each month between June and December. Pitches should include your idea for a workshop, your background and why you believe creativity can help the mind.

Email thespititoutproject@gmail.com to apply or for more details.
19th June (opens 26th May)
The Space to Write prize (following their free panel series; see above) aims to enable commercial fiction writers of colour 'to explore creative writing and to potentially write the next bestseller.' Submissions should include the first 5,000 words of a novel, as well as a synopsis of up to 1,000 words and an elevator pitch of up to 100 words. Learn more here.
1st July, 12pm BST
Haunt Publishing is open for submissions of Gothic, horror & dark fiction novels for their 2023 book list. They are particularly keen to hear from BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ authors as well as from people with disabilities and those from low-income backgrounds. Details here.
1st September
Fiction writers, graphic novelists, poets, essayists: Knight Errant Press, which publishes queer books & stories, wants to read your work! Submissions close on 1 Sept. Guidelines here.
No date
For Black Scottish poets & non-poets! The intent of The Mountains Between Us thesis project is to enlist in civil discourse, the Black poets of Appalachia (Affrilachians) and Black poets of Scotland. Employing poetry, “spoken word” performance, and personal interviews, as vehicles of dialogue and expression, I hope to join the two groups in constructive debate and conversation that connects us in our shared social challenges and lived experiences.
 
As a poet, researcher, and Affrilachian, I go in search of the common threads that connect me to my Scottish kinspeople whose historic past echoes my own. The product of these collaborations will culminate in a short film, highlighting photography, spoken word performance, personal interviews, and a compilation of “found poetry.”
 
I am seeking Black Scottish poets and non-poets as participants in 1-hour interviews about their poetry practice, shared life experiences, social justice, civil and human rights, and discrimination. Interviews may be hosted on Zoom, or I can meet with you in person. I am looking for opportunities to photograph participants, film interviews, and spoken word performances. This is an unpaid project offering opportunities for you to add to the narrative and research which addresses the scarcity of scholarly literature of our Black lived experience. Contact Elena Ward at nariny2009@gmail.com.
No date
True & Woke, a magazine for and by women of colour, is seeking submissions centred on women of colour’s lived experiences, the arts, and social impact. These can be blog posts, magazine articles, thought pieces, images, poetry, or short fiction. Guidelines here.
No date
Harper North is open for direct submissions of fiction manuscripts and non-fiction book proposals - no agent required. Details here. Commissioning editor Daisy Watt is also available to writers of colour to give feedback on an extract & synopsis of work in progress; details here.
No date
Portobello Literary, a new literary agency, is looking for submissions from fiction and non-fiction writers at any stage of their careers. These categories include anything from speculative fiction, crime novels, niche literary works, food writing, culture, nature writing, popular science, and much more. Find out more here.
No date
Children's and YA writers: if you have a book released in 2021/2022 and are interested in being featured as a Scottish Book Trust Children's/Young Adult Book of the Month, contact Anna Broomfield (anna.broomfield@scottishbooktrust.com) Sample feature here.
No date
Creative Scotland's Open Fund is seeking funding applications from freelance or self-employed artists and creative practitioners. Funding amounts range from £500 to £100,000. Details here.
No date
Love science fiction? Shoreline of Infinity are looking for book reviewers who have a good knowledge of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Reviewers get a copy of the book (if a printed book is reviewed), a copy of the Shoreline of Infinity issue that their review is published in, and 10% off at their online shop. Apply to be a reviewer here
We're also on Instagram! If you aren't already, do consider following us on our Instagram platform here where we share the latest about our events, showcase our amazing network members and keep you in the loop. :)

Thanks for reading!

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