Copies of the latest issue of Palabra Magazine have arrived!

This is Palabra's 4th issue and if you are new to Palabra, its a magazine of Chicano and Latino Literary Art, you can read more about them here. elena minor the editor of Palabra, would like to see more submissions of work from the Midwest, you can get the guidelines here.

And speaking of the country's heartland, I'm pretty excited because this issue includes familiar names from these parts. There are short stories from Paloma Martinez-Cruz and Aaron Michael Morales--both of which I had the pleasure of hearing at readings hosted at Tianguis. There is also new poetry from the most recent Montoya Prize recipient Paul Martinez-Pompa along with other Latino voices from the rest of the U.S.

Swing by Tianguis we have all four issues of Palabra available. Palabra Magazine, paperback, 116 pages, retail price $10.00.

submission call:new anthology focus on Mexican/Chicanos in Chicago and Midwest

Call for submissions for new anthology focusing on Mexicans/ Chicanos in Chicago and the Midwest.

Edited by: María A. Beltrán-Vocal, Paul Martínez Pompa,
and Irasema González

• Abstract: This anthology explores the experience of Mexicans/Chicanos in Chicago and the Midwest through their writing. By telling the stories of Chicano lives’, we create history and provide a foundation for those attempting to understand the needs and experiences of Chicanos. We also provide direction for self-empowerment.

• The purpose of this book is to record the social, cultural, political, literary experience of Chicanos/Mexicans from their own voice and perspective. This anthology will provide writers and scholars with first hand experience and perspective of Mexicans in Chicago and the Midwest. This anthology will provide Mexicans/Chicanos with the opportunity to explore the presence of Mexicans in Chicago and the Midwest from the end of the XIXth century to today. The writings will allow the reader to view the experience of workers in the railroads, the mills, and the activism of Mexicans in the sixties and seventies to the immigration marches in the XX1st centuries. These writings will give a new perspective of the presence and contributions of Mexicans in Chicago and the Midwest. It will examine the hardships, the struggles and triumphs of Chicanos/Mexicans and how their struggle has changed their perspective of life, politics, activism, education, and gender roles. We are accepting submissions in the forms of essay, poetry, short story, oral histories/testimonies, and autobiographies.

• Postmarked deadline for submissions is Saturday, March 22^nd, 2008.

• Two hard copies of the article, including endnotes and bibliography

§ Submissions should be double spaced, follow MLA format and must not exceed 20 pages.

§ Poets may submit up to five poems

§ Writers may submit up to two short stories no longer than 20 pages

§ Autobiography/testimony, creative, non-fiction/memoir no longer than 20 pages

§ All contributors must submit a brief biography and professional affiliation.

Please send submissions to:

María A. Beltrán-Vocal
Department of Modern Languages
DePaul University
802 West Belden Ave.
Chicago, IL 60614
(773)325-7000 ext. 51866

Writing our stories

Pushing, featuring, and celebrating books and literature by Latino, Latin-American, and Hispanic authors is part of the mission behind our business. So is nurturing future poetas y escritores, so we thought we'd share this submission calendar with you. All perfect excuses to polish up those cuentitos you've had brewing and get 'em out there.

Feeling a bit stumped when you crack open your journal? Feeling cheated by the muses when it comes to your fair share of creativity? Its okay, it happens to all of us sometimes. I recommend Demetria Martinez's, Confessions of a Berlitz-Tape Chicana to help shake you out of it. I was hooked and inspired before I even finished with the book's first sentence, "A long time ago I learned that if I were to stay sane, I had to jot down notes in the margins of the official story." Its a collection of essays, newspaper columns, speeches and poems and scattered throughout you will find little golden nuggets of info that any Latin@ writer will appreciate, along with small glimpses into Demetria's writing process. Our favorite is the essay, Sweet Revenge, where Demetria states that, "The best revenge is a book of poems." We agree and think that you can throw novels, memoirs, short story collections, etc into that mix.

I want to encourage you to write down your own official stories. Even if in the end they are only for you to read. If the desire is in you, its for good reason. You never know who your words may touch. We promise to make room on our shelves for your publications.

Submission Call: Stories of Hope and Survival

Portraits: Stories of Hope and Survival

Deadline: Feb. 28, 2007

“What Will It Take? Building the Safest State for All Women and Girls” is a year-long, anti-violence initiative headed by Chicago Foundation for Women. It is an effort to bring awareness to violence against women and girls, in all its forms, including: domestic violence, sexual assault, bullying, street harassment, prostitution, elder abuse and incest, as well as women and girls who are “trafficked” for sexual or labor exploitation.

While violence against women and girls affects all of us, too few people talk about it. And too often, the stories become invisible. “Portraits: Stories of Hope and Survival” is an effort to give a voice to those stories. We want to reflect the voices of people who have survived, family and friends who have lived through violence and those who may not have been able to talk about violence until now. We will collect original essays, stories, poems and observations about violence against women and girls. Some of the stories will be put on our website, some may be used for a theatrical production and some may be put in a book, a collection outlining the yearlong effort. (We are asking writers to give us limited use rights, since any profits from these efforts will be put back into community grants.)

Click here for submission guidelines.