Rhythm Divine Poets Poetry Chapbook Contest Guidelines 2017
1. The poetry chapbook contest is being organized by Rhythm Divine Poets, a Kolkata-based poets group co-founded by three poets (Dr. Amit Shankar Saha, Sufia Khatoon and Anindita Bose) for the promotion of poetry.
2. The length of the chapbook should be between 24-30 pages of poems.
3. The language should be English.
4. There is no theme.
5. There is no submission fee.
6. There is no restriction of nationality to enter the contest.
7. Entry is limited to one manuscript per poet. No simultaneous submission allowed.
8. Only poets who have no full-length book published in print (singly or co-authored) and not more than one chapbook published in print (singly or co-authored) are eligible for entry.
9. The manuscript should be formatted in Times New Roman with 12 size font and should have a content page.
10. The manuscript should be in MS Word document bearing the title of the chapbook and the name of the poet.
11. Manuscript should be submitted by email to rhythm.divine.asa@gmail.com with the subject line “Submission – Chapbook 2017 – (Name of the Poet)”
12. The email should have: (a) a short bio of the poet, (b) a declaration that the entire manuscript is an original work and the poet bears the copyright to it, (c) a declaration that the manuscript has not been published as a whole in any format before, (d) if individual poems have been published in any journals/ magazines/ periodicals/ anthologies (print or online) then those details should be provided, (e) full contact details of the poet, (f) any disclosures that may be relevant.
13. The winner and the runner-up will be provided 20 printed copies of their chapbooks. More copies can be bought from Rhythm Divine Poets. Postage to be borne by foreign/ outstation poets. Rhythm Divine Poets will list the chapbooks in their blog for print-on-demand orders and will also make copies available at their events for prospective buyers.
14. Additionally, the winner and the runner-up will be provided certificates.
15. The launch event of the chapbooks will be held in Kolkata.
16. The last date of submission of manuscript is 5th July, 2017. Date extended to 10th July 2017.
17. A panel of internal and external judges will be formed. At any stage of the contest (longlisting, shortlisting, finale) any two external judges from the panel will be engaged. The internal judges will be generally responsible for monitoring the technical aspects of judging and resolving contentious issues that may arise. Secrecy will be maintained regarding which judge is judging which part of the contest.
18. No participating poets will contact any external judge regarding this matter. Each manuscript will be provided a unique number and sent to the external judges without any identification mark of the poet.
19. After submission of your manuscript please be sure that you receive an acknowledgement email from Rhythm Divine Poets within a week. If you do not receive it then do email us.
20. Keep checking Rhythm Divine Poets blog (http://rhythmdivinepoets.blogspot.in/) and/ or Facebook page (http://facebook.com/rhythmdivinepoets/) for periodic updates.
21. Rhythm Divine Poets will try to maintain the expected timeline of the contest subject to contingencies.
22. By entering the contest the participating poet grants Rhythm divine Poets the exclusive right to publish the submitted manuscript as a chapbook.
23. The decision of the organizers will be final and binding and no disputes will be entertained.
24. Any violation of the guidelines will disqualify the participating poet.
25. Rhythm Divine Poets will maintain strict ethical standards in conducting this contest and will expect the same from the participating poets.
External Judges:
Sanjukta Dasgupta, Sharmila Ray, Kushal Poddar… and many more.
Internal Judges:
Amit Shankar Saha, Sufia Khatoon and Anindita Bose.
Chapbook and more...
A chapbook is a small book with not more than 36 pages at most and having a small print run and limited circulation. Chapbooks have a history behind them and form a narrative intrinsic to the development of print technology. It is especially poetry chapbooks that have made poetry, a predominantly oral art in its origins, into an art form that can be read at leisure. There are numerous small-time printing presses that produce chapbooks in Britain, USA, Australia, etc. Chapbook competitions are quite prevalent in the West and they are often highly esteemed. Some of these have substantial print runs like the competition run by Rattle. It is a mode of giving recognition to upcoming poets who may not have the visibility to be picked up by traditional publishers of poetry. Often publishers may not have the knowhow to judge the quality of a poet and thereby ignore publishing him/ her. Here the chapbook competitions play a major role to complement the poetry publishers by giving them a list of poets who have the quality to get published traditionally. This also causes an intervention in the ever increasing scourge of vanity publishing. Moreover, chapbooks themselves being print publications, give a boost to the poet by bringing his work in print and distributing it. Chapbooks also cause a break in the increasingly polarized sector of publishing where quality and respectability is closely allied with high economic factor. Chapbooks having low overhead costs of production reduce the importance of economic factor in giving recognition to quality work. Chapbook publishers like Black Rune Press run by Vali Poole in an Australian city is an example of how a good alternative can be had that can challenge the monopoly of behemoth publishers who publish established names or marketable genres. In India, especially in Kolkata, there are little magazine publishers who actually publish small books which are like chapbooks but they are inconspicuous and are often given a reserved section in a book fair and thereby reeking of a hierarchy. Rhythm Divine Poets by having this poetry chapbook competition will bring into focus and return respectability to chapbooks in India. It will also attempt to destabilize the monolithic poetry publication industry. Rhythm Divine Poets believe that monopoly breeds mediocrity and in turn extinguishes readers’ interests.
It was last year when in conversation with the co-founders of Rhythm Divine poets the noted poet Dr. Sharmila Ray mentioned her desire to revive her Art and Poetry project and publish chapbooks but unfortunately it did not go ahead. But under her encouragement Rhythm Divine Poets decided to take it forward in the form of a chapbook competition, which India does not have. When the guidelines were being framed other external judges, apart from Sharmila Ray, namely Prof. Sanjukta Dasgupta, Kushal Poddar and other eminent poets were consulted and a tentative timeline was posted in early May. It was done so because April being the global poetry writing month would see many poets with at least thirty poems ready, which is the maximum requisite number of poems that can be submitted for this competition. When the guidelines were announced on 30th May, quality manuscripts from India as well as abroad started pouring in. Since we have made the eligibility criteria whereby no poets with a book published or not more than one chapbook published can enter the competition, we have been getting inquiries whether a self-published book counts as a publication and we have said yes to that. This effectively discourages people from paying to get published because in a world of online networking sites like Facebook which gives a democracy of expression of one’s poetic creations a true poet has to ask himself/ herself whether he deserves putting a price to one’s poetic creation. And conversely, is that monetary value actually worth a brilliant creation? Poetry is not a painting where there is one original and numerous replicas. The original poetry is only in the head of the poet and therefore it is the poet who is the actual valued object of art. His creations are only imitations of his thoughts and expression concretized in words. These words may be given a flux of visible presence in stone slabs or Facebook page or chapbook or a full-length book. The external media that carry these words do not determine the value of the words. All that is required is aesthetic presentation of the compilation. In that sense a chapbook is worth gold-letters in expensive vellum. Rhythm Divine Poets, who pride themselves of their ethical standards, their zero-tolerance policy towards plagiarism, and honesty of purpose as embedded in their manifesto and evident in their actions, thinks this will be a shot in the arm for the poetry scene in India. Albeit from a limited domain of functioning in Kolkata we carve a prestigious niche in the world of poetry by administering poetic literacy to future poets. We thank all the judges who have joined us in this endeavor and put faith on us.
Chapbook and more...
A chapbook is a small book with not more than 36 pages at most and having a small print run and limited circulation. Chapbooks have a history behind them and form a narrative intrinsic to the development of print technology. It is especially poetry chapbooks that have made poetry, a predominantly oral art in its origins, into an art form that can be read at leisure. There are numerous small-time printing presses that produce chapbooks in Britain, USA, Australia, etc. Chapbook competitions are quite prevalent in the West and they are often highly esteemed. Some of these have substantial print runs like the competition run by Rattle. It is a mode of giving recognition to upcoming poets who may not have the visibility to be picked up by traditional publishers of poetry. Often publishers may not have the knowhow to judge the quality of a poet and thereby ignore publishing him/ her. Here the chapbook competitions play a major role to complement the poetry publishers by giving them a list of poets who have the quality to get published traditionally. This also causes an intervention in the ever increasing scourge of vanity publishing. Moreover, chapbooks themselves being print publications, give a boost to the poet by bringing his work in print and distributing it. Chapbooks also cause a break in the increasingly polarized sector of publishing where quality and respectability is closely allied with high economic factor. Chapbooks having low overhead costs of production reduce the importance of economic factor in giving recognition to quality work. Chapbook publishers like Black Rune Press run by Vali Poole in an Australian city is an example of how a good alternative can be had that can challenge the monopoly of behemoth publishers who publish established names or marketable genres. In India, especially in Kolkata, there are little magazine publishers who actually publish small books which are like chapbooks but they are inconspicuous and are often given a reserved section in a book fair and thereby reeking of a hierarchy. Rhythm Divine Poets by having this poetry chapbook competition will bring into focus and return respectability to chapbooks in India. It will also attempt to destabilize the monolithic poetry publication industry. Rhythm Divine Poets believe that monopoly breeds mediocrity and in turn extinguishes readers’ interests.
It was last year when in conversation with the co-founders of Rhythm Divine poets the noted poet Dr. Sharmila Ray mentioned her desire to revive her Art and Poetry project and publish chapbooks but unfortunately it did not go ahead. But under her encouragement Rhythm Divine Poets decided to take it forward in the form of a chapbook competition, which India does not have. When the guidelines were being framed other external judges, apart from Sharmila Ray, namely Prof. Sanjukta Dasgupta, Kushal Poddar and other eminent poets were consulted and a tentative timeline was posted in early May. It was done so because April being the global poetry writing month would see many poets with at least thirty poems ready, which is the maximum requisite number of poems that can be submitted for this competition. When the guidelines were announced on 30th May, quality manuscripts from India as well as abroad started pouring in. Since we have made the eligibility criteria whereby no poets with a book published or not more than one chapbook published can enter the competition, we have been getting inquiries whether a self-published book counts as a publication and we have said yes to that. This effectively discourages people from paying to get published because in a world of online networking sites like Facebook which gives a democracy of expression of one’s poetic creations a true poet has to ask himself/ herself whether he deserves putting a price to one’s poetic creation. And conversely, is that monetary value actually worth a brilliant creation? Poetry is not a painting where there is one original and numerous replicas. The original poetry is only in the head of the poet and therefore it is the poet who is the actual valued object of art. His creations are only imitations of his thoughts and expression concretized in words. These words may be given a flux of visible presence in stone slabs or Facebook page or chapbook or a full-length book. The external media that carry these words do not determine the value of the words. All that is required is aesthetic presentation of the compilation. In that sense a chapbook is worth gold-letters in expensive vellum. Rhythm Divine Poets, who pride themselves of their ethical standards, their zero-tolerance policy towards plagiarism, and honesty of purpose as embedded in their manifesto and evident in their actions, thinks this will be a shot in the arm for the poetry scene in India. Albeit from a limited domain of functioning in Kolkata we carve a prestigious niche in the world of poetry by administering poetic literacy to future poets. We thank all the judges who have joined us in this endeavor and put faith on us.
