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This is just a note to wish you a Happy/Merry whatever-it-is you celebrate and hope you approach 2010 with a sense of adventure.

Also, as a reminder–if you are out getting gifts for others, please also consider a gift to the lgbt community in the form of a donation to a local program/nonprofit that services us. Donations are usually tax deductible and, in these times where everyone is cutting back, nonprofits are being hit hard.

Don’t know of any lgbt nonprofits in your area? Here are some suggestions…

If you are a writer or reader of black lgbt literature, you may send a coin or two to Fire & Ink.
If you want to add volume to our national voice, there’s the National Black Justice Coalition and the Zuna Institute.
If you are concerned about the plight of our youth, check out The Ruth Ellis Center, Fierce, and Smyal.

Let’s see, there’s also: The Audre Lorde Project, your local black pride, The Astraea Foundation….

If there is a lgbt nonprofit that you want to suggest, please feel free to shout it out in the comments section (with a link to the site).

We hope you and your families enjoy the holidays–and everyday. And know that the greatest gift you can give is your love.

-Tawanna & Martina

TONGUES AFIRE READING SERIES
featuring Cheryl Boyce Taylor
accompanied by Tongues Afire participants Lolan Sevilla, Charan Morris, Gail Dottin, and Poonam Srivastava

Thursday November 5, 2009
6:30-8:30pm
at the Audre Lorde Project (ALP)
85 South Oxford Street, Brooklyn, NY (see directions below)

Please join us for the inaugural event of our fall reading series that features Tongues Afire participants reading with established writers and cultural activists!

This event is FREE and open to the public.

Cheryl Boyce-Taylor – Born in Trinidad and raised in New York City, Cheryl Boyce Taylor is the author of three collections of poetry, Raw Air, Night When Moon Follows, and Convincing the Body.  She holds Master’s Degrees in both Education and Social Work, and has led writing residences for Urban WordNYC, Poets House, Poets & Writers and The New York Public Library.  Her texts Water and Redemption have been commissioned through Duke University, Jacob’s Pillow and the National Endowment for the Arts, for Ronald K. Brown/Evidence Dance Company.

The Tongues Afire Reading Series is sponsored, in part, by the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by the Brooklyn Arts Council, Inc. (BAC) and the Audre Lorde Project.

Tongues Afire is a free creative writing workshop for Queer Women, Trans and Gender Non-Conforming People of Color, facilitated by R. Erica Doyle, that meets weekly in the fall at ALP.

Future Events in the Tongues Afire Reading Series at ALP, all 6:30-8:30:

Thursday, November 19th: featuring Juanita Diaz-Cotto (Juanita Ramos), SINISTER WISDOM 74: Latina Lesbians (ed.), Chicana Lives and Criminal Justice, Companeras: Latina Lesbians (An Anthology) (ed.), and Gender Ethnicity and the State: Latino and Latina Prison Politics.

Thursday, December 10th: featuring Cheryl Clarke, author of Humid Pitch, Living as A Lesbian, Experimental Love, Narrative:Poems in the Tradition of Black Women, The Days of Good Looks, and After Mecca: Women Poets and the Black Arts Movement.

Wednesday, December 16th: Tongues Afire 4: 2009 Participant Reading:  Join us to celebrate the conclusion of the Fall 2009 TA workhop.

Directions
Audre Lorde Project
85 South Oxford St between Lafayette Avenue and Fulton Street
Brooklyn, NY 11217

C train to Lafayette Avenue; G train to Fulton Street; 2, 3, 4, 5, B, Q, D, M, N, R to Atlantic Avenue/Pacific Street

When Women Gather

Editor: Claudia Moss

Publisher: Logical-Lust Press

Deadline: December 31, 2009

Payment: $50/story and 1 copy of the book upon publication

Everyone—whether female or male—has stood, at some point in his life, in the presence of women and known authentic power and healing energy and the beauty of the erotic, and as a result of this experience, has been transformed, in some way, into a greater vision of self.  The forthcoming anthology, When Women Gather, will depict what this phenomenon feels like, tastes like and looks like, through a range of unique short stories, essays, personal accounts and poetry.

I am seeking well-written, literary submissions from women and men, young and old, from every corner of the globe, from the published and unpublished.  Although submissions can be erotic, sensual, romantic, political, spiritual or humorous, they must be true.  Ponder writing about refugee women and girls banning together in a strange land, a street of women who come together to rid the neighborhood of a crack house, women who pray together in drumming or humming circles to excise the world of negative energy, women who embrace the erotic in the taboo of loving one another, women who camp under the stars in North Georgia mountains at women’s festivals or female family and friends who meet in a nursing home to honor a matriarch.  I’m flexible but not taboo friendly, so please no incest, underage characters, or bestiality.

Stories should be unpublished, between 1,500 and 4,000 words, and submitted as a Word attachment.  Two (2) submissions are allowed per writer.  Please include a cover letter with a paragraph bio and full contact info (mailing address, phone number, and real name/pseudonym) when you send your submissions.  All submissions that fail to adhere to these directives will be deleted unread.

Payment will be $50/story and 1 copy of the book upon publication.  Contributors retain the rights to their stories.  The publisher has the final approval over the manuscript.

Send your submissions as a Word document to whenwomengatherbook@gmail.com.

If you have any questions about When Women Gather, please query whenwomengatherbook@gmail.com.

Deadline: December 31, 2009

Manuscripts will be accepted on a rolling basis, so writers are encouraged to submit early.  Email: whenwomengatherbook@gmail.com

***Permission to Forward to any and all Interested Parties is welcomed and encouraged***

Spank!
Edited by D. L. King
To be published by Logical Lust late summer or early fall 2010
Deadline: January 15, 2010
Payment: $25 and a copy of the book in available electronic formats, plus a copy of the print edition, if the book does well enough to go into print.

D. L. King is looking for hot spanking stories.

Sometimes all you need to get hot and bothered is a good bottom warming… Whether getting or giving is your passion, this book is designed to create the same blush on your face as the one found on your bottom after a few good, hard whacks.

What makes for a sexy spanking story? Short, plaid, Catholic schoolgirl skirts? Bent at the waist, a bare bottom with the boxers and pants down around his knees? A stern schoolmarm, or head master, standing in front of a blackboard, holding a rattan cane? A dungeon wall covered with all sorts of paddles, floggers and canes? A scolding? A punishment? A pert bottom settling over charcoal gabardine trousers? A ritualized display of dominance? The crack of a hand coming down on already heated flesh?
Send me something guaranteed to make naughty girls and bad boys, the world over, squirm in their seats when they read this book!

I envision this anthology as being primarily heterosexual, but I’ll happily consider GLBT stories, as well. Remember, no underage characters, please. Stories should be between 2,500 and 5,000 words, double-spaced, 12 pt Times New Roman or Courier New. Please indent the first line of each paragraph one-half inch and do not include extra lines between paragraphs. Please make sure your document contains no other pre-set formatting.

Send your story as a .doc (not .docx) attachment and include the title, pseudonym (if applicable) and your legal name and mailing address to spankantho@gmail.com. (If you are unable to send a Word attachment, I will accept an RTF.) Subject line should
read: Submission: TITLE. Please include, as a second attachment, a 50 to 75-word bio, along with ways you might help promote the book should your story be accepted for publication. Direct any questions to the same address. Original stories only. You must own all rights to any reprints.

October 2009 is Sippin On Ink‘s 1 year anniversary.

For a year, host Kat Williams has been interviewing writers/artists/songwriters/filmmakers/etc in our community and letting us listen in. If you enjoy being introduced to bright, creative lgbt folks o’color, I suggest spending time in the show archives where you will meet Lisa C. Moore, G. Winston James, Jolie du Pre, Sharon Bridgforth, Shine Louise Houston, and several others.

Thanks for a great year. 🙂

BLACK GAY & LESBIAN ARCHIVE AUTHOR SERIES

Monday, October 26, 2009, 7:00 PM
WRITING WHAT WE KNOW

Join us for a lively reading and discussion with four writers whose thought-provoking innovative works challenge conventional social and cultural norms. Readers include Pamela Sneed, Herukhuti, Curu Necos-Bloice, G. Winston James, and Cheryl Boyce-Taylor. Hosted by Steven G Fullwood, project director of the Black Gay & Lesbian Archive. Books will be available for purchase in the gift shop prior to the event.

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Monday, November 2, 2009, 7:00 PM
SONGS FROM THE PARADISE

Three esteemed writers read from their latest works and engage questions about being immigrants, creative artists, and pushing against the grain of social norms as queer artists of color. Featuring Staceyann Chin, Anton Niblett, and Curu Necos-Bloice. Hosted by Steven G Fullwood, project director of the Black Gay & Lesbian Archive. Books will be available for purchase in the gift shop prior to the event.

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
515 Malcolm X Boulevard
(212) 491-2200

Fire & Ink: Cotillion 2009 was a fantastic experience–a post about the whole weekend is coming in the future.

In addition to workshops and panels, F&I participants were treated to a night of wonderful performances…

delta dandi is the latest performance/theater production by Sharon Bridgforth, author of love/conjure blues and The Bull Jean Stories.

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E. Patrick Johnson’s Pouring Tea: Black Gay Men of the South Tell Their Stories is based on his book Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South (an oral history).

Check the website to buy the book, view additional clips, or see if the Pouring Tea tour is coming to your area. If it is, don’t miss it!

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Jomama Jones…and The Sweet Peaches

Get yourself a taste–you won’t be sorry.

Tongues Afire: A Free Creative Writing Workshop for Queer Women, Trans and Gender Non-Conforming People of Color*

Led by R. Erica Doyle
October 14 – December 16, 2009
Wednesdays, 6:30-8:30 pm

Workshops will take place at the Audre Lorde Project, 85 South Oxford Street; Brooklyn, NY 11217**

To Apply – Send an email to tonguesafire@gmail.com with the following information

• Your contact information (name, phone, email, mailing address),
• One paragraph that describes who you are and how you identify as queer woman/gender non-conforming person of color (be creative and definitive)
• One – two paragraphs for why you want to be a part of Tongues Afire, and
• A writing sample (1-3 pages of poetry, prose, fiction, or creative non-fiction)

The deadline to apply is Wednesday, October 07, 2009. Space is limited.

***All applicants will be notified by e-mail and accepted applicants must confirm their attendance upon notification.

About the Workshop

*Always want to write, but never seem to find the time? Looking for a supportive space to develop new work? This workshop, led by writer-teacher-performer R. Erica Doyle, is for writers of all levels. Sessions will incorporate readings along with in-class workshop exercises in literary memoir, poetry, and short fiction. Participating writers will develop methods of constructive critique and strategies for incorporating writing in their everyday lives. Information on publication, funding, and reading opportunities will be shared. This year, we will do a Reading Series in which present and past Tongues Afire participants will read alongside three established writers at the Audre Lorde Project.

About the Workshop Facilitator

*R. Erica Doyle is a writer of Trinidadian descent who lives in New York City. Her work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including Best American Poetry, Ploughshares, Callaloo, Bum Rush the Page, and Ms. Magazine. She has performed her work at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, Kennedy Center, Public Theater, St Mark’s Poetry Project, Bar 13, Bowery Poetry Club, and the Calabash Literary Festival in Jamaica. She has taught creative writing workshops at the 14th Street Y, the Brooklyn Public Library, Union Settlement, Sisterspace and Books, and in the New York City public schools. She is the recipient of awards

and fellowships from the Hurston/Wright and Astraea Foundations and the New York Foundation for the Arts. She is a fellow of Cave Canem, a workshop and retreat for African-American poets.

* Anyone who identifies as a woman of color is welcome, including people of color who self-identify as women, trans, butch lesbians, bois, drag queens, bi-gendered, two-spirited, drag kings, femme queens, A.G.s, genderqueer, non-gendered, andro, crossdressers, gender-benders, gender fluid as well as other identities of peoples who face gender oppression because of their non-conventional gender expression.

** Directions: C train to Lafayette Avenue; G train to Fulton Street; 2, 3, 4, 5, B, Q, D, M, N, R to Atlantic Avenue/Pacific Street

Tongues Afire is made possible by support from the Brooklyn Arts Council, Poets and Writers, Inc and the Audre Lorde Project.

Need More Info?
You may send questions to tonguesafire@gmail.com or call 718.813.7240. Click to http://www.alp.org/afire

Lisa C. Moore will read from the newly revised edition of does your mama know? on Friday, Sept. 11, 2009 at 6 p.m. at the Guthrie Theatre, Polhad Lobby (9th floor), 818 South 2nd St., Minneapolis. This event also features G. Winston James reading from his new book, Shaming the Devil, plus readings from talented local youth writers.