By Brahma Muhurta Das
Dear Devotees,
Please accept our humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
The BBT would like to showcase some of the best short story (fiction), creative nonfiction, and poetry writing in ISKCON. Devotees are invited to submit their work for consideration.
The proposed book will be similar in size and binding to the Hidden Glory of India, published by the BBT. Because the book will be just under 200 pages, naturally we will be forced to be quite selective. Because we expect to get a lot of good material, we plan to publish the overflow of quality material on the BBT’s new Vaishnava Writers’ Community website (just now coming).
This book is not intended as an internal publication for ISKCON devotees but as a creative and cultural outreach to those interested in spirituality but who have not committed, particularly, to the Krishna conscious path. We are looking for real and honest expressions of Krishna consciousness – our spirituality, lifestyle, culture, values, or topics of general interest – that will resonate with readers and demand an emotional response from them. We are seeking to stimulate readers’ interest into looking at their spiritual lives more deeply and particularly at the path of bhakti. Pieces should offer readers a new look at the world in which they live; they should be engaging, thought-provoking, immediate, and deep. Well-done humor works too. We are not looking for “propaganda” pieces or philosophical essays for this book.
What to submit:
Creative Nonfiction:
* pieces should be a maximum of 4,000 words
* likely genres: the personal essay, memoir, travel writing, biography, literary journalism
* authors are responsible to ensure the accuracy of their facts and provide both sources and necessary permissions
* we will give higher consideration to work that has not previously been published
Short Stories (fiction):
* pieces should be a maximum of 4,000 words
* the work should be original, even if it includes some retelling from the shastra
* we will give higher consideration to work that has not previously been published
Poetry
* we prefer work that has previously not been published
* no more than 5 poems to be submitted by each author – 10 manuscript pages total
* we may publish a small selection, in translation, of poetry originally written in a language other than English. Please submit both the original and the translation for consideration.
The BBT is unable to pay royalties or for licenses. This is a preaching opportunity and a forum for publicizing your work.
How to submit your work:
* We will accept both electronic and mail submissions.
* Please save all electronic submissions as rtf files before sending them to us.
* Please name your file with your own name.
* Both electronic and mail submissions should have a cover page that contains the following information:
* title of your piece(s)
* spiritual name
* legal name
* both your physical and mailing address and your telephone number
* e-mail address
* number of pages (including the cover page)
PLEASE NUMBER YOUR MANUSCRIPT PAGES!
Send all electronic submissions to kaisori@pamho.net, and all mail submissions to:
Kaisori Dasi c/o BBT Korsnas Gard
147 92 Grodinge Sweden
No submissions will be returned.
All work must be the original work of the author submitting the work. Submissions will be accepted between April 1, 2010 and April 1, 2011.
For questions on the submissions process, please contact kaisori@pamho.net.
If your piece is selected for publication, to qualify for inclusion in the book you will be required to sign an unfettered license for reproduction only in this book (no geographic or temporal restrictions). The license will give the BBT permission to publish your work in any language edition of this book. The BBT will supply this documentation to authors for signing.
Devotees interested in illustrating this book with their graphic skills – woodcuts, silk screen prints, lithographs, etc. – please contact us at kaisori@pamho.net to discuss possibilities.
Thanks for your interest.
Your servants, Brahma Muhurta Das Kaisori Devi Dasi