Book of Doors

Book of Doors 

Call for submissions

This is a call for action to all authors to create a short literary piece inspired by an art work.  Any aspiring writer or poet can choose up to five art works from preselected images by Artem Mirolevich and submit up to five individual literary pieces.  The format is up to one written page (500 words maximum) per art work.

You are invited to submit short stories, poems, essays, scripts or any other type of creative writing.  One submission per each art work will be selected by a jury to be published in the Book of Doors.  The book will feature over 50 stories by various authors and over 50 art works by Artem Mirolevich.

Submissions will be judged based on their literary quality and its relevance to the art work. Prizes of $300, $200, $100 will be awarded for the top 3 submissions. Winners will be announced by September 1st.,2018.  All co -authors chosen for the printed format will receive a free copy of the book and a limited edition print of an art work.  All participating authors will be featured in the Book of Doors blog. The aim of the book is promoting creative collaborations between writers and artists.  

From the artist:

Literature is one of my primary sources of inspiration. Tolkien, Dante, Tolstoy, Asimov and numerous other writers and poets helped me shape my own vision  as a visual story teller.

My story starts with a protagonist Goggle Man, who travels through time and Space using his goggles.  He visits numerous worlds, makes friends and enemies , learns secrets of the universe and finds his true love. 

The art work selected for the book is divided into five worlds or chapters. Each chapter has a brief introduction, describing what inspired me to create it. You are definitely not obliged to follow it and are encouraged to use your imagination freely. The only condition for successful collaboration is relevance between the visual and verbal components. 

Each chapter represents a milestone in the development of humanity. From the birth of life itself (CH. 1 Tree of Life) to the very first story tellers that created religion and mythology (CH. 2 Elephants), which inevitably led to the development of thriving civilizations from Babylon to New York City (CH 3. Metropolis) to its it’s probable self destruction (CH. 4 Sunken City) and ultimate redemption (CH 5 Cosmic Love). I can’t help but look at the collapse of history’s greatest civilizations and wonder what the future holds for our own. If Rome didn’t make it, what chance do we have? Is there anything that could unite us as a species or is it too late to destroy all the borders we’ve built?

Book of Doors format: 10”x 12” Hard cover, premium paper,museum-quality binding, full color, 160 pages. 

Open Call June 1 - August 31, 2018

Jury:

Christopher Cahill is a writer, editor, and the director of a cultural organization and archive who lives in New York City, where he was born. He is the author of a book of poems, The Drug of Choice (2012), a novel, Perfection, published in Paris by L’Age d’Homme (1996), and is the editor of Gather Round Me: The Best of Irish Popular Poetry, published by Beacon Press (2004 hardback, 2005 paperback). His edition of Thomas Flanagan’s essays, There You Are: Writings on Irish and American Literature and History, with a preface by Seamus Heaney, was published by New York Review Books (2004) and in London by Granta Books (2005). He has also recently completed a version of Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin.

Alexandra Connor is a writer and artist, who lives in UK. She has published over twenty books - ten of these about the Old Masters - which have been published in eleven different countries and translated into many different languages.

The Caravaggio Conspiracy reached No 1 in Italy. The Rembrandt Secret was published across Europe and USA.  Her novel, The Isle of the Dead, won the Rome Prize in 2017.

Alexandra is also a television presenter (for the BBC and other channels,) gives talks on art and literature, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Stephen Gaskel has published fiction in many of the world's top speculative fiction venues, including Writers of the Future, Interzone, Cosmos, Nature Futures, and Clarkesworld, Stephen has an MPhys (Hons) degree in Physics from University College, Oxford, and an MSc in Evolutionary and Adaptive Systems from the University of Sussex.  He recently finished working on his  novel, a post-apocalyptic thriller set in Lagos, Nigeria.  More of his work and thoughts can be found at stephengaskell.com.

Questions 

1.  Can I submit a pre written poem or a story?

Yes you can if you feel that it fits with the chosen art work  and you own the rights to publish.

2.   Can I choose 5 images and write 5 related stories that intertwine?

You sure can and I’m thrilled to see how it works out but please keep in mind that individual stories must be able to stand on their own, in case not all of them are selected to be published.

3. With only one author’s submission per each art work chosen for the printed format,  what’s the maximum submissions per author allowed into the printed format?

Authors are permitted to submit up to five stories and hypothetically all five can be chosen for the print.

4. Can I wrote a poem that encompasses more then one art work ?

Yes you can , please include the list of art works that inspired your poem most.