A Christmas Gift to the Youngsters & All - Debbie Guzzi's Blog

There are so many Christian writers on Soup, and it IS Christmas time, so, I wanted to forward this to ALL of you ESPECIALLY THE UNDER 15 POETS ... This letter is a call for SUBMISSIONS [I have submitted and that is why it was sent to me. I write of faith often.]

Dear Deborah,

The last time I wrote with a call for submissions I mentioned that we were also seeking poems written by young people. I have a new call for submissions now, but we are so proud of the new Young Poets Anthology that I can’t resist taking a moment to share this with you first. The annual anthology is a stand-alone collection of poems written by poets age 15 or younger—several of them as young as three and I owe it to them to make sure they have the audience they deserve.

The goal of this project isn’t to encourage young writers—though that’s a great bonus.  The goal is to give voice to the intensity of childhood, and to remind adult poets and readers of the compelling honesty and inhibition of that age. Compiling this anthology was the highlight of the year—we saved the poems for last at our editorial meetings, like dessert, because that is often how they felt. As someone on Twitter just wrote, the Young Poets Anthology “has some of the most lovely, heartening work I have read in a long time.”  We laughed and we cried—all of us—in putting this together.

It’s such powerful poetry that I literally don’t know how to express it to you.  For more information on the anthology, visit its page, http://www.rattle.com/poetry/children/y2014/.  I’ve just added a sample poem by Kofi Edufo, age 7, of Ghana—just 1 of 60 poets in the anthology.

It’s available to order, of course, and blah, blah. However, even if you don’t want to read a print copy, I still encourage you to keep an eye on Rattle.com throughout 2014—I’ll be adding work from the anthology as part of our regular poem-a-day content, often with audio of the children reading their poems themselves, like Kofi on the page above. I promise it will be worth your time.

As for the submission call, we’re currently seeking work by “Poets of Faith” for next fall’s issue—that means poets for whom faith is a central part of their life and/or their writing. To submit, all you have to do is follow the regular guidelines, but explain how you’re a “Poet of Faith” with a sentence or two in your cover letter. Deadline: April 15^th.

**This is a further explanation I found on their site.

The poems may be any style or length, but must be written by someone for whom religious faith is a central aspect of their writing and their lives, with a special emphasis on members of the clergy. Please explain why this is true for you. The poems should also relate to faith in some way, even if only subtly. This is a self-selecting theme; we won’t be vetting anyone’s religious credentials, but each contributor will be labeled as a Poet of Faith and will have to explain that faith in the contributor notes.

 We are still looking for cover  art—so if you happen to be an artist who has a colorful piece that makes  you think “love,” let me know.

In  addition, don’t forget that we have open issues every summer and winter, so even  if you’re not a “Poet of Faith,” we’re always open to reading more of your work  at any time.

That’s all for now. I hope you and your family has a  wonderful holiday, and a
vibrant New Year!

Best wishes,
Timothy  Green
Editor / Rattle
12411  Ventura Blvd
Studio City, CA 91604
tim@rattle.com
www.rattle.com

Please accept this information [and ASSISTANCE if needed] as my Christmas gift to you.

Just let me know if you need help during the submission process.

Merry Christmas

Debbie