2024 Guidelines for the Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Award

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Broadside Lotus Press is happily to accepting submissions for the

Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Award until March 24, 2023 Deadline

Winning Manuscript Announced Summer 2023

Book Published Winter 2024

  • This competition is open to African American poets only. If you have already had a book published by Lotus Press or Broadside Press, you are ineligible. However, inclusion in a Lotus Press or Broadside Press anthology does not disqualify you.
  • Any other serious African American poet, whether previously published or not, may submit a book-length manuscript for consideration. Do not include illustrations, essays, short fiction, or other material that is not poetry.
  • Poems submitted by another person, anthologies, or collaborations by more than one poet are not acceptable.
  • There is no reading fee; no payment is required.
  • The poems in the manuscript should total approximately 60-90 pages, exclusive of a table of contents or other optional introductory material. Begin each poem, single-spaced, on a new page, no matter how short it may be. If the poem is long, it may be continued on the next page(s).
  • Use an easy-to-read font such as Times or Times New Roman, size 12 point. Single-space except between stanzas.
  • Poems that have been published individually in periodicals or anthologies are acceptable, but we will not consider an entire collection (or a significant portion of an entire collection) that has been previously published, whether self-published or not.
  • Manuscripts entered in this competition may not be submitted to other publishers for general consideration, but may be submitted to other contests, as long as you notify us that you have done so or plan to do so. If you are notified that your manuscript has won another competition, you MUST inform us of this immediately.
  • Send two complete copies of your manuscript, typed or computer-generated, on white, letter-size paper, with the pages consecutively numbered, to the address below. Do not include your name on any of the pages.
  • Include with each copy a cover sheet that contains the title of the collection only and no other information.
  • On one separate sheet of paper, list: (1) the title of the manuscript; (2) your name, address, telephone number(s) and e-mail address, and (3) a brief statement signed with your legal name, indicating that (a) all the poems in the collection are original and uncollected (not appearing in a published volume of your work) and (b) you are an African American.
  • Keep a copy of your manuscript. Entries will not be returned. After the winner has been selected, all other manuscripts will be destroyed.
  • You may enclose a stamped, self-addressed postcard so that we may acknowledge receipt of your material.
  • Mail your manuscript to the address below using first class priority mail.
  • Award entries must be received by March 24, 2023. You will be notified of the winner’s and the judge’s names in June, 2023. The decision of the judge is final.
  • When the winner is notified, he/she must be prepared to submit the manuscript digitally upon request.
  • The award winner will receive $500 in cash and publication of the manuscript by Broadside Lotus Press within the first three months of 2023, as well as free copies and discounts.
  • Broadside Lotus Press reserves the right to declare no winner in any year that none of the manuscripts submitted meets Broadside Lotus Press literary standards.
  • Failure to comply with these guidelines may cause your entry to be disqualified without notification.
  • If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us for clarification.

Mail your submission to: BROADSIDE LOTUS PRESS c/o Dr. Gloria House, 8300 East Jefferson Avenue, Apt. 504, Detroit, MI 48214. Address inquiries to BroadsideLotus@gmail.com.

Except for entries for this award, Broadside Lotus Press is not considering unsolicited manuscripts.

We publish books of poetry only, not individual poems.

Broadside Lotus Press announces February 2020 release of amphibian by Jessica Lanay

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Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Award 2020

am.phib.ian by Jessica Lanay

…a daughter’s odyssey through a web of fractured relationships with lovers and kin… a spirit determined to survive….

Jessica Lanay holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Pittsburgh, and an MA in Latin American and Caribbean Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her poetry has appeared in many journals, including Sugar House Review, Fugue, A Bad Penny Review, and Indiana Review.

New Book Just Out: 2019 NLM Poetry Award Winner Jacquese Armstrong

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Jacquese Armstrong is a poet/writer residing in Central New Jersey. Her first poetry chapbook, dance of the shadows, was released June 2017. She has been published in For Harriet, A Gathering of the Tribes, The Rising Phoenix Review, Black Magnolias Literary Journal and Ourselves/Black. Ms. Armstrong was a 2015 recipient of the Ambassador Award from the State of New Jersey Governor’s Council on Mental Health Stigma for promoting wellness and recovery and reducing stigma through the arts.




Happenings
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Broadside Lotus Press Poets Theatre
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The Dudley Randall Print and Media Center, and, Broadside Lotus Press Presents 




 


BROADSIDE LOTUS PRESS POETS THEATER 


Broadside Lotus Press resumes its poetry writing workshops before our Sunday Poets Theater every third Sunday of the month.

We will be examining and discussing the work of our published poets, your poems, and, writing poetry.


 


TIME: 3:00 P.M. – 5:30 P.M


1. WRITING WORKSHOP  From 3:00 p.m.- 4:30 p.m.: Writing Workshop. Bring your work in progress and completed poems to read and get feedback.


2. POETRY TRIBUTE TO RON ALLEN, FARUQ Z BEY, AND OTHERS  4:30 – 5:00. bring your favorite poems by these authors, share how they inspired you!


 




3. OPEN MIC 5:00 -5:30








WHERE: GROUNDS COFFEE HAUS, LOWER LEVEL OF STUDENT UNION, UNIVERSITY OF DETROIT- MERCY

Enter at the Livernois entrance.Turn left, the Student Union will be on your right.


Contact: Rosemary Weatherston- weatherr@udm.edu, Aurora Harris- Broadsidelotus@gmail.com


Free and open to the public.


* See our website, Facebook page, and Twitter also!  http://www.broadsidelotuspress.org/

https://www.facebook.com/BroadsideLotusPress/




Twitter: https://twitter.com/broadsidelotus?lang=en








































Best Regards,


Aurora Harris


Poet, Activist, Educator


2015 “Unsung Heroes” Award- Michigan and Detroit National Lawyers Guild


2014 Howard Zinn Lifetime Achievement Award- Peace and Justice Studies Assoc.




2012 PEN-Oakland Josephine Miles Excellence in Literature Award for

Solitude of Five Black Moons (poetry)








































Honoring Dr. Naomi Long Madgett On the Occasion of the Broadside Lotus Merger
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Detroit Main Library





March 31, 2015





Widely esteemed for her grace and eloquence as a “Queen of Black Literature,” Dr. Naomi Long Madgett, founder of Lotus Press, has published several generations of African American poets over the last four-and-half decades. Under her direction, Lotus Press became a leading institution in the field of African American literature and culture.





Dr. Madgett’s achievements, as a scholar, writer, and poet, have been recognized by many honors and awards, including the Kresge Eminent Artist Award, the Furious Flower Lifetime Achievement Award, and the National Literary Hall of Fame.





This evening, Dr. Madgett, as we celebrate the merger of Broadside Press and Lotus Press, we honor you for:





  • Your tireless, often solitary years as publisher and editor;
  • Your steadfast belief in the value and necessity of African American literary production, and your insistence upon excellent literary standards;
  • Your strong promotion of poets, poetry, and a lively arts community during your tenure as Detroit Poet Laureate; and finally,
  • Your camaraderie with Broadside Press publisher, Dudley Randall, and your magnanimous spirit in seeking to merge Broadside and Lotus into one thriving African American institution moving into the future.





For all these reasons, we praise you and express our deepest gratitude.





Broadside Lotus Press Board of Directors


Bigger Than Life: Humble Detroit artist LeRoy Foster’s work projected a regal quality.
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BrooksGwendolynAlonessHis first name, LeRoy, translates as “the king” in French (le roi), and that’s how he pronounced it, with the accent on the second syllable.


That might strike some as an affectation. But by all accounts Detroit artist LeRoy Foster was as humble as they come. Foster may have lived more like a pauper than a prince or king, but his art often projected a regal quality.


“You would look at his art and it was monumental, with Michelangelo-type figures, the artist he most admired. But he was a small guy with a quiet voice and very gentle,” says artist and teacher Jerry Lemenu, who met Foster in the mid-’80s when they were teaching at Detroit elementary schools through the Omniarts program.


“In his paintings, he made people look noble and strong and fiery, the way he must have felt when he was painting them,” Lemenu adds. Read more


Naomi Long Madgett awarded 2012 Kresge Eminent Artist
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Detroit Poet Laureate Naomi Long Madgett.


The 2012 Kresge Eminent Artist Award goes to Naomi Long Madgett.


She’s an award winning poet, editor, and educator. She’s often called the godmother of African-American poetry.


Dr. Madgett says the award came as a complete surprise because she didn’t even know she was being considered for the award.


“So it means a great deal to me that I can be alive to realize that my life’s work has had some positive effect on other people’s lives,” she tell Michigan Radio’s Jennifer White.


According to Dr. Madgett, a lot people stay away from poetry because they don’t understand it. She says, “the wonderful thing about poetry is that it is open to many interpretations….poetry is a universal expression.” Read more >


Uof D Mercy Dudley Randall Broadside Press Collection
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5 Poems by Etheridge Knight
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“What I am saying is that through extension we are humanists in the beginning, but how are you going to love or speak to somebody else if you can’t speak to your own brothers and sisters?” – Etheridge Knight