Random House India is launching a desi historical romance series this year, called Kama Kahani, and are looking for writers for their titles next year. If you are interested in the genre and love a good romance, write to Milee Ashwarya, Commissioning Editor, at mashwarya@randomhouse.co.in
Deadline Friday April 17, 2009 - 4PM
Are you a singer/songwriter with a social conscience? Are you a young visual artist who wants to effect positive change? Are you a spoken-word artist with a message to share about the quality of the air we breathe and pollution in our city? The Mississauga Arts Council is now accepting applications from artists between the ages of 13 and 24 to participate in the Green Youth Showcase. The event is an evening of visual and performing arts exploring environmental awareness in Mississauga.
The Green Youth Showcase takes place on Thursday, May 7, 2009 at the Clarke Hall in Port Credit. The evening kicks off with a visual art exhibition at 7 p.m. followed by a performing arts showcase at 8 p.m.
Submissions for the showcase must be dropped off at the Mississauga Arts Council office by Friday, April 17, 2009 at 4 p.m. For application forms and additional information, please visit www.mississaugaartscouncil.com or call 905-615-4278.
Recovering The Self : A Journal of Hope and Healing is actively seeking submissions of previously unpublished material in the form of informative articles, poetry, artwork, short stories, and commentary. Article lengths are suggested to be from 1,000 to 4,000 words, although we are willing to be persuaded to other treatments if the story needs it.
We are tracking the following subject areas with respect to adults, children and elders in America and abroad:
- Personal growth
- Relationships and family
- Trauma recovery
- Living with disabilities
- Substance abuse recovery, co-dependence, and addiction
- Military veterans’ issues
- The struggle for cultural or gender identity, and
- Bereavement
For more details, please visit the website.
Noted as "Word Artist" by critics, Shaila Abdullah is an award-winning author and designer based in Austin, Texas. Abdullah's new novel Saffron Dreams, released in February of 2009, explores the tragedy of 9/11 from the perspective of a Muslim widow. Her debut book, is a collection of stories about Pakistani women. She maintains a fairly active blog online by the name of Beyond the Cayenne WallCayenne Lit around the literary work of diverse authors. More information is available at www.shailaabdullah.com.
An excerpt from Saffron Dreams...
A housekeeper’s nightmare.
An artist’s haven.
There was no other way to describe my turpentine-reeking workroom.
For the longest time, I thought my life was like the canvas of a barmy artist who knew when to begin a project but not when to stop.
I looked at the tubes of color around me. They spoke volumes about my house management skills. They were all over the floor, squished, twisted, folded back, some oozing paint, others with rainbow-colored thumb imprints. I plastered the colors all over the canvas with no subject matter in mind, and gradually frenzy overpowered me. The brush in my hand took on a life of its own, and I bent to its whim. The frantic slish-slosh on canvas was deafening in the quiet room; the errant brush had its own mood. I looked at the hopeful blues on the canvas that with repeated strokes had turned the brilliant orange to sad murky brown. In the end, the hodgepodge of colors that dripped off the canvas all bled into one: scorching black, the only color I wanted to forget.
In all fairness, colors define me. Red reminds me of my marriage, the color of the heady, fragrant mehndi or henna, intricately tattooed on my palms in the ways of tradition; the crimson shimmering wedding dress called sharara I wore the day I married Faizan; yellow, the color of ubtan, a paste I applied religiously to my face twenty days before my wedding in the hopes of getting the coveted bridal glow; and orange, the color of saffron, dusty powder that with the right touch added flair to any dish. It was also the color that Faizan dreamed of having on the cover of his unfinished book, a project he thought would make him a famous writer one day.
But black reminds me of all that is sad and wrong in my life. Ironically, in this country, it validates my state of being a widow. It is also the color of my hijab—the dividing line between my life with Faizan and the one without him. How different lives are from continent to continent. White, the bridal color in the West, is the color a widow is expected to wear in the East, the color the body is shrouded in before being buried in the earth.
The brush fell from my guilty hands, landing on the floor with a tired thud. I stepped back as if struck and looked at the picture in mad fixation. Staring back at me from the canvas, behind the dull last strokes that failed to hide the subject, were entwined towers engulfed in reddish blue smoke. And in the midst of the smoldering slivers was the face of a forlorn and lost child.
Links to the author
Buy Saffron Dreams
Visit the author's website
Visit the author's literary blog
TSAR Publications would like to invite short-story submissions by women of South Asian origin in the United States and Canada, for an upcoming anthology to be published in Fall 2009. The maximum length of a submission should be 4000 words. Their previous anthologies, titled Her Mother's Ashes, and Her Mother's Ashes 2, have both done quite well, and for the new anthology they would especially like to encourage younger writers to submit. More information about their press can be found on their website at www.tsarbooks.com.Submissions should be sent along with brief bios as email attachments to: inquiries@tsarbooks.comThe deadline for submissions is May 15, 2009.More details can be found at www.tsarbooks.com/CallforSubmissions.htm
Reena Bawa was born in Ambala Cantt, India. She was born into a Sikh family and practices spirituality. She graduated from Thapar Insititute of Engineering and Technology in India, with Bachelors in Engineering. She migrated to the United States in 2002 after her marriage and since then, has been living in Austin, Texas with her husband. At present, she is an IT analyst at Austin Energy. Reena Bawa has recently started venturing into writing. She is trying to put her creative side to work and for her writing is the most viable outlet. Currently, the focus of her writing is on feminine subjects and spirituality. She has recently become a member of the Writers League of Texas. Her hobbies include staying pretty active physically as she strongly believes that a healthy mind can only rest in a healthy body.
My Morning Prayer
By Reena Bawa
Should I fold my hands and close my eyes
Should I start my laundry list of things that I ask Thee to bless me with?
Should I rote out those lines from my sacred text
Should I follow the rituals in order to please Thee
Should I condition my mind to accept Thy will
Should I have a conversation with Thee?
Should I thank Thee for the countless bounties bestowed upon me
Should I seek Thee
O Dear mind
Forgive me for I do not know how to pray to Thee
I try to seek Thee in all little things that I see
I try to feel Thee like the wind that brushes my skin
I try to experience Thee in all living things that I interact with
I try to love Thee like I have never loved one
I try not to wander aimlessly in Thy’s world
I try not to seek answers to Thee’s mysteries
I try to curtail my quest for Thee
For I know Thee that you are a part of me
O Dear mind
Forgive me for I do not know how to pray to Thee
I ask Thee to bless me with enough wisdom
I ask Thee to bless me with what HE thinks is best for me
I ask Thee to show me my path
I ask Thee to bless me with courage to accept Thy will
I ask Thee to bless me to be at peace with Thyself
I ask Thee to bless me with enough love so that I can forgive
I ask Thee to bless me so that I may seek to be humble and modest
I ask Thee to bless me so that I can find happiness in little things that life brings my way
O Dear Mind
Forgive me for I do not know how to pray to Thee.
Conversation with the poet
What is the inspiration behind your work?
When I realized how little time we have on earth, I started questioning my existence and my reason to be here on earth. I thought the best thing I can do here is to be creative and for me that outlet was in writing. This is perhaps the best way I can channelize my energy and feel good at the end of the day that I did something meaningful. This is my way of connecting with HIM.
Tell us about your creative journey. Did you receive any formal training?
My creative journey has just begun and there are miles and miles to go. No I haven’t received any formal training so far.
Describe your style?
I am more of a fiction writer. I also dabble in poetry and write memoirs. I am still figuring out my style. I think it’s too early for me to nail down on one particular thing.
What would you consider your biggest success?
Success is very tangible and materialistic in my mind. And am no where close to anything that I can claim to be proud of so far that I can consider as a benchmark for success in writing as of now.
How has you work been received by the world and what is next for you?
I am pretty much on the tip of the iceberg in writing and so far I haven’t got any of my works published. So probably this question is not applicable for me right now. I wish someday I reach a stage where I can get my work published. That is something I would want to happen in the near future.
One of the primary goals of this site is to bring the works of diverse artists to a broader audience and as such we would like to have artists of some fame and recognition review the works of featured artists of Hyphenated Spirit and provide constructive feedback to them. Tasks would include reviewing the works posted (requiring maybe 10-15 minutes of time weekly) and then supplying commentary on the pieces posted. Comments should focus on the style, method, and creativity of the creative pieces.
If you are an artist who has been widely featured and recognized, please submit a bio, picture and your availability to shailaabdullah@gmail.com.
Even if you are not a designated reviewer, please remember that your comments are always welcome.
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