Call for Submissions

Our 100 capped submissions call is open from April 8th to April 30th 2023!

The Southern Esusú Endeavor  was founded in 2023 to help foster Black Diasporic poetry and hybrid CNF from the vantage point and place that many of us call home; the South. Our flagship event is our intimate, three day, digital conference where participants will both share and receive knowledge in workshops, presentations, a publishing panel, editor talks, networking, close reading, reading open mic, andmore! The Southern Esusú Endeavor Conference welcomes poetry and prose writing by members of the Black Diaspora, with our inaugural offering capped at twelve (12) seats in order to provide attention and care to each and every piece of writing, maintaining transparent communication, and making sure we are taking good care of our own digital mental health.

We are located in the South and are proud to espouse Southern aesthetics and homecoming for all Black writers from all walks of life, who have been incarcerated, come to writing late in life, who have or are applying for an MFA, have never gotten or plan to pursue an MFA, choose to drop out of school, etc. We are committed to fostering Afro diversity, and have reserved two (2) seats for Black Disabled writers and two (2) seats for Afro-Indigenous writers.

Please read the following information and then scroll down to the end of the document when you are ready to submit your application.

Application Materials

On Topics Proposals  

We believe that everyone has something to contribute to creating and fostering knowledge. To that end, all participants will give a 10-minute presentation on a topic they are passionate and educated on, whether that is formal academic learning, careful reading and personal study, or created exclusively for this conference.

We invite presentations in the following categories:

  • a Black Diaspora writer (famous, living, unsung, etc.)
  • a Black Diaspora form (Genesis, Gigan, Bop, Sweetelle, Mirror, Kwansaba, etc.)
  • Black writers working in genres of writing such as Ecopoetics/speculative/horror
  • Eras of writing such as Reconstruction, Harlem Renaissance, or
  • Geographic locations such as the Midwest, the Caribbean, Nuyorician, Affrilachian, etc.
  • Slam poetry, visual poetry, memorizing poems, stylistic similarities or inspiration to other forms of art such as music, painting, fashion, architecture, word evolution, methods of workshopping/revising, prison writing

Sample On Topics: Call and response forms

1. Censored in America: Maya Angelou

A 15-minute PP explains the story of how and why Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Still Sings was originally censored in Texas, controversy, and why being banned is a sign of honor.

Cites ALA, Maya Angelou's Oprah interview, and an article from newfricanmagazine.com, and provides the following writing prompts:

  • write a center aligned erasure poem of a topical article or a section of IKWCGS, and then write footnotes style comments for why the erased part was deemed too volatile.
  • write a poem about the first time you learned what censorship was
  • write a poem unearthing a time you felt you needed to censor yourself
  • write a poem on three levels or rows: what is taught in HS, what is known in Black families, and the true history of what happened in an event. This could be something small, like a micro aggression, something topical such as racism at sporting events or police interactions, family genealogy, or the history of a particular event or year like 1919, Philadelphia Bombing, or others.

2. Call and Response: Forms that Write How we Speak

If you understand the call and response spoken in your grandma's church, you can learn to write a Sweetelle poem! We'll study how and why Allison Josephs created the Sweetelle in order to spread awareness of contemporary forms by Black poets. I wrote a suite of Sweetelles last year, and I'm so excited to share how this form can be the perfect ode, or anti-ode! Cites: PoetryFoundation, Allison Josephs tweets. Prompts include:

  • writing a Sweetelle Ars Poetica
  • write a Sweetelle using a line from your favorite song

These presentations may make use of Power Point, short video clips, interviews, etc. We encourage creativity in your subject proposals!

On Topics should include a presentation title, brief explanation of which category is being explored, its personal relevance to you, why you can help educate others on this subject, and 2-3 prompts for other contributors to use in their own writing. We encourage creativity in topic subjects, as the Southern Esusú Endeavor  Conference's ideal schedule is a variety of subjects, not just the first or most well-known people/practices in Black literary history. Example, although we love Phyllis Wheatley, we do not want 12 On Topics about her. Please dig deep into the wealth and breadth of Black writers/writing to craft something that will get people curious and excited to learn this aspect of our literary history.

All accepted participants will be required to practice their presentations by themselves and at least once with a staff member/volunteer/director prior to the Conference as a tech rehearsal.

Creative Legacy Statement

The Creative Legacy Statement is part cover letter, part history of your connection to Black writing. We want to know, what Black Diaspora writers have you studied? Both well known and unknown, contemporary, historical, international? How have they contributed to your writing? Who have you studied outside the Black Diaspora and brought into your writing? Please answer these questions in 500 words or less.

Writing Sample

At the Southern Esusú Endeavor  Conference we will have small, intimate workshops to praise, ponder, and provide insight and suggestions for the next iteration of our piece. We ask that you submit 3 poems, in a range of needs a lot workshop, needs specific workshopping help, and needs only praise. Poems/CNF hybrid work may be single or double spaced, and on any topic, but must include Trigger Warnings/Content Warnings. Each poem must start on a new page, have page numbers, and be in Arial or Calibri size 12. Each individual poem may be of any length, with a maximum of three pages, and the total application sample must not exceed 9 pages of poems. Fiction writers may submit 5-10 pages of your best prose, in Arial, Calibri, or another easy to read font, size 12.

Please collect the On Topics proposals, Creative Legacy Statement, and Writing Sample in a single word document or PDF (preferred) and save it as LASTNAME_FIRSTNAME_SEE2023.

Application Link

The Southern Esusú Endeavor Digital Retreat is a collaborative learning, culturally affirming, and creative community space for members of the Black Diaspora. We will close read, generate new work, workshop in a variety of styles, and learn from one another in order to become stronger readers, writers, and members of the literary community.

We welcome applications from all Black writers throughout the globe to our inaugural offering—please note that we are located in the South, and our Retreat hours are in Central Time, which may be later or earlier than your local time.

We plan to cap our submissions at 100 entries in order to read and fully deliberate on our applicant pool, as well as maintain transparent communication with all applicants. We plan to select 30 semifinalists by May 7th, and from that pool our inaugural cohort of 12 members.

Applications will be accepted April 8 - April 30, 11:59 pm CST.

Apply Here: https://forms.gle/eVYbiaEnjoyXWmi46

If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to us here: thesouthernesesuendeavor@gmail.com