The MFA Program in Creative Writing at Chatham University and The Fourth River Literary Journal announce the first volume in the Jeffrey “Boosie” Bolden Series with a special anthology call for Black writers called BLACK VISIONS, conceived of and edited by MFA Emerging Black Writers in Residence, Cedric Rudolph and Caitlyn Hunter, as well as alums Samantha Edwards and Nicole Lourette.
Image Courtesy of City of Asylum
“Are you a Black writer, or a writer who is Black?”
Black artists everywhere are all too familiar with this question and label on their work. Why are Black artists always called upon to write about the Black experience, about Black pain? Where are the discussions about craft, form, and futurisms? This anthology was born out of the need to create more space for Black voices; all Black voices. We want to see how your medium amplifies your voice and who you are as an artist, without the limitations of formality, genre, or subject. We are looking for the musicality, depth, and vibrancy that is Black art.
Payment will be 1 copy of the book and a $50 honorarium per writer.
Please see the following submission guidelines:
Poetry:
No more than three (3) poems, or seven (7) pages total.
Fiction:
No more than 10 pages, or 5,000 words.
Creative Nonfiction:
No more than 10 pages, or 5,000 words.
Hybrid:
No more than 10 pages, or 5,000 words.
Visual Art:
No more than three (3) photographs, drawings, or other visual medium. Please submit as .jpg.
Please submit all writing as Word Documents (.doc or .docx).
Work must be original and unpublished elsewhere. We accept simultaneous submissions, but you must notify The Fourth River if your work is chosen for publication elsewhere.
Submissions will open on Monday, May 10, 2021 and close at 11: 59 pm EST on Friday June 18, 2021.
About Boosie Bolden:
Jeffrey “Boosie” Bolden was born in San Diego, CA, but he lived various places over the course of his life, from New Orleans to Tennessee to Hawaii. Bolden was an alumnus of the Chatham University MFA program. During his time at Chatham, he edited for The Fourth River and earned his MFA in Fiction. Boosie refused to write prose or poetry restricted by genre, and instead pushed himself to create hybrid flows fusing prose with rap. His mixtape-memoir Wolves was published by Tolson Books in November 2020. Bolden passed away in June 2020. This anthology, slated for print publication in Fall, 2021, honors Boosie’s legacy of producing the unexpected, fresh, and lyrical.