E8: Diversity in Print: An Interview with Backbone Press

Managing Editor, Crystal Simone Smith has “a small press with a big vision.” Smith describes her transition from graphic designer to press editor and the importance of publishers who support ethnic minority writers. Podcast Notes: Crystal Simone Smith was raised in Prince George’s County, Maryland and educated in North Carolina at Bennett College, UNC-Greensboro, and Queens University of Charlotte. She is Managing Editor for Backbone Press and currently lives in Durham, NC, where she teaches Composition and Creative Writing. http://crystalsimonesmith.com Backbone Press http://backbonepress.orgbackbonepress.org Backbone Press Annual Lucille Clifton Poetry Prize The Lucille Clifton Annual Poetry Contest, held each spring, honors the prolific work of poet great Lucille Clifton. Widely celebrated for her unpretentious and unapologetic poems, Clifton’s unique free verse was free of punctuation, taut, and always recognizably her. When submitting think: humanness, struggle, adversity, resilience. “Her life, her way of seeing and walking in the world were the backbone of her work. I am her daughter. Her backbone is mine. And yours.” ~Sidney Clifton For further guidelines: http://www.backbonepress.org/contests Journals Mentioned African American Review: http://aar.slu.edu Callaloo: http://callaloo.tamu.edu Terms Chapbook “History of the Chapbook” by Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, University of South Carolina: http://library.sc.edu/spcoll/britlit/cbooks/cbook1.html Poetic Forms Sonnet Villanelle Free Verse Lyrical Poetry Books Mentioned Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine https://www.graywolfpress.org/books/citizen http://claudiarankine.com Queens University Masters in the Fine Arts (Charlotte, NC) http://www.queens.edu Upcoming Poetry Readings with Crystal Simone Smith May 4, 2015: Salem College, Winston-Salem, NC Produced by: Tate Street http://tatestreet.org Producers: Ray Crampton and Abigail Browning Music provided by: Jonathan Stout and his Campus Five featuring Hilary Alexander http://www.campusfive.com Podcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tatestreetorg Podcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/tatestreetorg Podcast Email: mailto:[email protected]