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Jasper Project announces call for BIPOC poets

The Lizelia Augusta Jenkins Moorer Poetry Chapbook Prize

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: Monday, February 28, 2022

In honor of the eponymous 20th century poet, the Jasper Project is delighted to announce a new project: the Lizelia Augusta Jenkins Moorer Poetry Chapbook Prize for South Carolina BIPOC poets.

Lizelia Augusta Jenkins Moorer (1868-1936) was a teacher and social activist in Orangeburg. Born in Pickens, she taught at the Normal and Grammar Schools at Claflin College for 40 years. Her published anthology of poems Prejudice Unveiled and Other Poems (1907) examined the Jim Crow South’s propensity for lynching, racism, and social injustice. Moorer was also an advocate for women’s suffrage in South Carolina, especially in the Methodist Church. The purpose of the Lizelia August Jenkins Moorer Prize, affectionately called the Lizelia Prize, is to offer a first-time BIPOC poet from South Carolina a publishing contract with Muddy Ford Press to publish their debut chapbook under the guidance of an established poet. The brainchild of Dr. Len Lawson, who is a member of the Jasper Project board of directors and the author, editor, or co-editor of four books of poetry, Lawson will also serve as project manager as well as editor of the winner’s chapbook and will collaborate with the winner on the construction of the book. South Carolina BIPOC poets who have yet to publish a book of poetry are invited to submit 30-40 single spaced numbered pages in Times New Roman 12-pt. font and include a cover sheet with your name and manuscript title. Your name should not appear on the manuscript. The winning submission will receive publication via Muddy Ford Press, a cash prize of $250, and ten author copies of the book. Submissions should be in MS Word format and should be sent to lizeliapoetry@gmail.com no later than Monday, February 28, 2022.  

Jason Rapp

Poets and writers invited to submit work to Fall Lines – a literary convergence

Poets and writers are invited to submit previously unpublished poetry, essays, short fiction and flash fiction to volume two of Fall Lines -- a literary convergence. While the editors hope to attract the work of poets and writers from the Carolinas and the Southeastern U.S., acceptance of work is not dependent upon residence. Submissions will be accepted through March 1, 2015. Fall Lines is a literary journal based in Columbia, S.C. and presented by Jasper Magazine in partnership with the University of South Carolina Press, Muddy Ford Press, Richland Library and One Columbia. With a single, annual publication, Fall Lines is distributed in lieu of Jasper Magazine’s regularly scheduled summer issue. Please limit short fiction to 2,000 words or less; flash fiction to 350 – 500 words per submission; essays to 1,200 words; and poetry to three pages (Times New Roman 12 pt.) While you are invited to enter up to five items, each item should be sent individually as a single submission. Please include with each submission a cover sheet stating your name, e-mail address, and U.S. Post Office address. There is a $3 reading fee for each short story; for up to three poems; for up to three flash fiction submissions; or for each essay. Submit work online at https://jaspermagazine.submittable.com/submit. Publication in Fall Lines will be determined by a panel of judges. Accepted authors will be notified in May 2015, with a publication date in June 2015.  Accepted authors will receive two copies of the journal.

Muddy Ford Press raising the literary bar in the Midlands

Cindi Boiter, editor of Jasper Magazine and winner of the 2014 Elizabeth O'Neill Verner Governor's Awards for the Arts (individual category) and her husband, Bob Jolley, are co-founders of Muddy Ford Press. From The State. Article by Susan Levi Wallach

There are two sure ways to lose your shirt: Bet your net worth at the roulette table and start a small literary press. Cindi Boiter and Bob Jolley of Chapin chose the latter. Thanks to Jolley’s salary – he’s Boiter’s husband and an emergency-room doctor in Mullins – they still have shirts aplenty. They also, as Muddy Ford Press, have a small list of local authors, which they hope to grow one carefully vetted book at a time. “Once the girls were grown” – the couple, who met in high school in Duncan, have two daughters – “we decided we wanted to do something that is meaningful to us because we parented ours a---- off,” said Boiter, who was among this year’s recipients of the Elizabeth O’Neill Verner Governor’s Award for the Arts for her work in the field of dance. “We started Muddy Ford Press for two reasons. The first was to help grow the literary-arts community in South Carolina. The second was to help underwrite the cost of publishing Jasper magazine. It is an extensive of the greater mission of Jasper – part of the whole idea of nurturing community within arts disciplines and between arts disciplines. “Which is why, for example, when we release the book ‘Setting the Stage’ in the fall, we’ll do that in conjunction with a big theatre event, and when we release ‘Art from Ashes,’ it will be in conjunction with a 12-person visual art exhibition.” Added Jolley, “Right now, we’re doing it because it’s fun. And we’re not plowing money, as long as we don’t factor our time into the costs.” A couple with a different mindset might have started an art collection or taken up golf. “To start with, we were both involved in Jasper magazine,” said Jolley of the literary magazine that distributes in the Midlands. “Cindi took on the creative and editing aspect, with my input being really more financial economic, nuts and bolts. As we got the first book or two out, what we did evolved into promoting authors from the Columbia area. There are a lot of writers in this town. We began to approach some people. From word of mouth, other people approached us. If you go to the website muddyfordpress.com, they all are listed with little blurbs. The fall line is not up there yet, but there should be eight or nine books.” Muddy Ford’s first two books were a poetry chapbook called “Download,” edited by poet Ed Madden, and Boiter’s short-story collection “Buttered Biscuits.” The company’s roster includes Kristine Hartvigsen, Debra A. Daniel, Laurie B. McIntosh, Alejandro García-Lemos, and James D. McCallister, whose novel “Fellow Traveler” has become a surprise success. “‘Fellow Traveler’ has received international recognition,” Boiter said. “That I didn’t expect. The subject matter, a fictionalized account of following the Grateful Dead, has an amazingly far reach.” The first edition of “Fall Lines,” a literary journal on which Muddy Ford collaborated with Richland County Public Library, One Columbia, and The University of South Carolina Press, came out earlier this month. A new anthology, “The Limelight: A Compendium of Contemporary Columbia Artists, Volume Two” and a poetry chapbook by Al Black will be released later this year. “Things work better on a smaller scale for some people,” Jolley said. “We don’t have to worry whether the book is going to have a broad national appeal to make it worth our while to invest in it. We can take a chance on a book that will have a local interest and publish that and not worry about national numbers.” To Boiter, what lures the authors is “the hands on. We’re not kidding anybody. We don’t have outreach of large publishing houses.” And they don’t always see eye to eye when it comes to what to publish. “Eventually we approach that,” said Jolley. “We’ve wanted to do different things, then settled on the same thing. For the most part, we’re in agreement. And we’re able to print only as many copies as we think will sell. We can always go back and print more. That’s one way we can control costs and not tie up money. Muddy Ford Press is a small press. There are a lot of people out there who want that.”

Midlands writers! Deadline extended for anthology submissions

Muddy Ford Press is looking for a few more poems, essays or short fiction to finish up the anthology, A Sense of the Midlands. The deadline has been extended -- you now have until Oct. 15 at midnight. Call for submissions details Muddy Ford Press is accepting submissions of poetry, essays, and short fiction exploring the sensory world of the South Carolina Midlands for an anthology titled A Sense of the Midlands. Submissions should deal with how the sensory experiences (taste, touch, sight, sound and smell) of living in the South Carolina Midlands grounds, changes, challenges and enriches us. Submission is open to residents of Richland, Lexington, Newberry, Fairfield, Calhoun, Saluda, Orangeburg, and Kershaw counties.

  • Short fiction – no more than 2,500 words
  • Essays – no more than 1,200 words
  • Poetry – no more than 5 pages
Submit in a standard 12 pt. Word document to Publisher@MuddyFordPress.com and include a cover sheet with your name, address, email, phone and the title of your work. A little more information is available on the Jasper Magazine website. Questions? Contact editor@JasperMagazine.com Via: Jasper Magazine

Milly