Hi Friends:
Because writer’s block is neither conventionally nor unconventionally empowering, this issue includes:
A sip…
The biomythography of the muse includes alchemy, sarcasm, and a raging Fire on the Mississippi…
A shout out…
When the fundamental nature of what you think/feel about yourself no longer aligns with societal expectations, Audre(y) Lorde, would likely contend that you’ve allowed your mutual selves to marry, merge, or otherwise weave into your true identity.
An author, essayist, librarian, lecturer, poet, and professor, she created the biomythography genre by penning, Zami: A New Spelling of My Name, and was a feminist and LGBTQ+ rights advocate when both were considered more radical than politically correct.
The co-founder of the first US publisher for women of color, Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press (1980 – 1987), an alumnus of Hunter College (BA, 1959) and Columbia University (MSLS, 1961), she was the recipient of many awards and honors including the MacDowell Fellowship (1979, 1983), and remains noted for evocative imagery, rhetorical expression, and for emphasizing the intersection of oppression based on socialized identities.
Internationally recognized for her ability to galvanize across race, gender, class, ability and orientation, she helped found the Initiative Schwarze Menchen in Deutschland (ISD), is celebrated with a healthcare facility, a community organization, a crater on Mercury, literary awards and scholar programs named in her honor, and is inducted into both the Legacy Walk (Chicago, 2014) and the National LGBTQ Wall of Honor (New York City, 2019).
A sentence…
Prompts inspired by Zami: A New Spelling of My Name:
“A choice of pains. That's what living was all about.”
“It's difficult to talk about double messages without having a twin tongue.”
“I knew what it was like to be haunted by the ghost of a self one wished to be, but only half-sensed.”
“In a paradoxical sense, once I accepted my position as different from the larger society as well as from any single-sub-society--black or gay--I felt I didn't have to try so hard. To be accepted."
"Self-preservation warned some of us that we could not afford to settle for one easy definition, one narrow individuation of self. At the Bag, at Hunter College, uptown in Harlem, at the library, there was a piece of the real me bound in each place, and growing..."
A few useful tips…
On writing biomythography:
Critically challenge the collective perspective.
Critically challenge the mythology of your lived existence.
Observe and then explore the underlying and less-than-obvious.
Allow the phenomena of your perspective of the world to become ideal.
Allow yourself the latitude to appreciate and/or refute and release false notions.
Expect the truth to empower your representation of you and your evolving story.
A few contest opportunities…
BCLF Short Fiction Story Contest for Caribbean Writers
Changing Light Prize for a Novel-in-Verse
Preservation Foundation Contest: General Non-Fiction
Theatre503 International Playwriting Award
A few fellowship/grant opportunities…
PEN America: US Writers Aid Initiative
A few freelance opportunities…
Brainfacts seeks freelance science writers, journalists, and multimedia creators.
Gumshoe seeks complete mystery stories, in 1,000 words or fewer.
Jellybones seeks ambitious essays that explore a musical topic about which you're passionate within a higher lens of critical/theoretical/historical analysis.
The Kitchn is commissioning a personal essay for Juneteenth on food traditions or recipes famous among Black families.
Mecella Co. is hiring writers.
Reboot seeks pitches that “fit in the intersections of tech, materialism, ideology, climate, and culture.”
West End Phoenix is accepting pitches for stories.
A few submission opportunities…
Apparition Lit seeks submissions on the Anachronism theme.
Background Magazine seeks powerful stories of global adventure.
Good Tape is looking for pitches on celebrities in podcasting.
The Stinging Fly is open for fiction, non-fiction, and poetry submissions.
A few sessions & workshops…
May 29th
May 30th
May 31st
Around the Fire Experiments in Creative Writing
June 2nd
June 3rd
Ongoing
A few virtual book clubs…
Food for Thought: a Poetry Café
LoveLit Cruise Virtual Book Club
This Black Girl Reads Monthly Book Club
And a final thought…
This installment is a collaborative effort; the featured author and prompts were suggested by
, author of the forthcoming, Pansy: A Black American Memoir (October 2024), and host of JASPER, a Black Pansy Mag – the Substack filled with traits of hope, comfort, optimism, and reassurance -get a dose by subscribing here:It also contains an affiliate link; I earn commissions when you purchase books using that link, or you may please buy me a coffee.
Thanks for reading,
So glad to have collaborated on this piece with you, @C. Elyse! Audre Lorde is so inspiring—can't wait to share my version of a biomythography w/y'all.
A white, former lover gave me a copy of "Zami: A New Spelling of My Name," introducing me to Audre Lorde's writing. Well, he was useful for something. Also, thank you for giving me language to what I'm trying to create -- "biomythography." Beautiful, as always.