THE PANIC IS REAL. WHAT IN THE WORLD IS A “BRIEF PUBLICATION HISTORY / BIOGRAPHY”?
It has come to our attention that some of our writers are struggling with understanding what is expected when writing a publication history or biography about themselves. This is a loaded question is it not? You must wonder if you have been placed under a microscope. You may wonder if you are risking denial if you do not nail this public exploitation of yourself.
Yourself. You. It is all about you. Feeling nervous? That’s okay. It is perfectly natural for writers to be introverted and struggle with boasting about ourselves in public. Some of us may feel that we are been haughty or even lying. This is not the case and let me explain to you why this is not a big deal and why it is a big deal.
I would like to begin by assuring our readers that your publication history or biography does not determine if we publish your work. We are not interested publishing someone based on their credentials. This is not a job interview. As writer’s we live in a different world than the rest and it is not about selling ourselves based on what we have done; it is about selling ourselves within the content of our work.
Your publication history/biography is not a big deal. It does not determine whether or not you get published.
However, your publication history/biography is a big deal for other reasons. We publish writer’s work who are either from the Sudbury area or have connections to it. Your publication history and/or biography tells us just that – how are you connected to our community? What do you want people to know about you?
Now, let’s dig in to what we want from you. If you do not send us a publication history or brief biography, it will not stop us from publishing your work. However, if you do, please consider these things:
- Do not exceed more than two sentences.
- If you have been published before and you want the public to know, please tell us when and where.
- You should tell us where you are from or how you are connected to the Sudbury area.
- Add anything else that tells us about who you are.
- Keep it professional.
- Speak about yourself in the third-person.
- Do not lie. Publications will be verified.
Let me give you some examples. Please note, you may use these as an outline, but do not copyright. All names and events below are fictitious.
- Jane Smith grew up in Naughton, ON and enjoys snowmobiling outdoors. Jane has various publications and has been seen in Sulphur in 2010 for her work, “Time’s Enemy.”
- Theodore Beaudin is a children’s writer from Sudbury and has been a Miner with Vale since 2003. During his down time, Theodore enjoys spending time with his wife and children.
- Carol Young is a third year student with Laurentian University. Carol is working toward a career in Psychology.
I hope this helps you navigate the world of literary submissions a little bit better. We are excited to see your work!
Warm Regards,
Laurie Morin
Managing Editor
Sulphur XI Welcome Back!
Welcome back to our page! It has been some time since Sulphur has updated this website. If you follow us on Facebook, you know we haven’t actually gone anywhere and have been out there publishing your work year after year. This website is back in business and we serve our Northern Ontario community by publishing YOUR wonderful works of art in this peer-reviewed literary journal.
“Who are you?” the Caterpillar asked Alice.
I am Laurie Morin, Managing Editor of Laurentian University’s Sulphur Literary Journal. If you are from the Sudbury area and are either an established writer or an aspiring one, we invite you to send us your work. Show me who you are.
This year, Sulphur will be honoring our Indigenous community. We are dedicating a portion of our journal to the writings of our community members who have been affected by recent events. Whether you are Indigenous or not, we at Sulphur feel that your thoughts and feelings have a right to be heard. Send me your work. Let the world heal through reading and coming together as a community because EVERY CHILD MATTERS.
Submissions for 2022’s Sulphur XI is now open until February 14, 2022. Please see our Manuscript Guidelines for further information about how to submit. This is a competitive journal. We thank all those who send us their work. Those who have been selected will be notified by email in the Summer of 2022.
All the best,
Laurie Morin
Managing Editor
Reflections on Resistance
Volume VI of Sulphur is going to include some pretty exciting stuff. To get y’all amped for the newest edition, we will be doing some reflections on the issue’s theme: resistance. This will be done weekly with a poem. Here’s what we have so far:
Women Whose Lives are Food, Men Whose Lives are Money by Joyce Carol Oates
Ballad of Birmingham by Dudley Randall
the right way to speak by Jacqueline Woodson
Young Man by John Haines
The Relics by Sharon Olds
Horns by Kwame Dawes
Feeding the Editors
A novelty for Sulphur and the English Arts Society: editing cake. Did we edit the cake? Or is Volume IV now looming sweetly on a sugary horizon?
Memories from Wordstock
June has been a busy month, but we couldn’t let it end without confirming that Wordstock was a great success. Many thanks to Vicki Gilhula, Heather Campbell, the Sudbury Arts Council, the writers, and of course, everyone who attended the festival and gave the festival’s literature an audience.
We had a great time meeting other authors, other editors, and the readers that keep us alive, and managed to sell a few copies of the reprinted Volume III in the midst of it all (there are still many left–contact us at eas@laurentian.ca for your copy)–all in all, a lovely day, and we look forward to the next Wordstock festival in 2015!
Here’s a photograph from Sulphur’s readings, as poet Bruce Meyer started us off…
Wordstock Starts Tomorrow!
Sudbury’s first Wordstock Festival starts tomorrow, and the freshly printed second run of our sold-out Volume III is ready to find several new homes. The journal will be for sale in the lobby of the STC, at the independent book sales table, for $15 per copy. Bonus: be sure to pick up a free Sulphur bookmark!
Tomorrow at 7:30, celebrated author Tomson Highway and the multi-talented Patricia Cano perform a cabaret of selections from some of their recent theatrical collaborations to kick off the festival. The Sulphur team will be there with bells on, and some of us will likely be tempted to sing along. We hope you’ll join us.
Saturday at 3pm (not 11am, as previously stated), the writers of Sulphur take the Cafe Lounge stage for an hour of readings from the journal. Join us for a taste of Sulphur’s diverse range of voices, featuring eleven poets and fiction writers from Volumes I through III.
Sulphur’s Wordstock Lineup
A drumroll please, as we present Sulphur’s reading lineup for this weekend’s Wordstock Festival…
Poetry: Bruce Meyer, Daniel-Wilfrid Rhéaume, Irene Golas, Blair Trewartha, Ernst Gerhardt, Catherine Jaftha, Emmett Turkington
Fiction: Margo Little, Chantal Poitras, Alexander Harasymiw, John Kelly
Come join us and support your neighbours, friends, family, and fellow writers! Sulphur poets, and Sudbury poets laureate Daniel Aubin and Roger Nash will also be reading at the festival later that day.
Wordstock Festival
Have you heard of Sudbury’s Wordstock Festival?
Come join Sulphur for a round of readings at 11am the morning of June 8th, at the Sudbury Theatre Centre, and definitely check out the workshops, cabarets and discussion panels by other Northern Ontario writers and publishers!
More news to follow about Sulphur’s involvement in the festival… and perhaps, perhaps the chance to find a copy of our sold out Volume III…
Find more information on the festival here.
Call for Submissions: Volume IV
Many great thanks to everyone who came out to the launch party for Sulphur Vol. III, and to those who have shown such interest in the journal–up to date, we have sold all but three copies!
Would you like to be published in another “bestselling” volume of Sulphur? If so, we invite and encourage you to submit to Sulphur, Vol. IV. Gracing the pages of our first three volumes are established poets, university faculty, members of the community, current and former Laurentian University… and while we still seek to represent emerging literary voices from Northern Ontario, the range of experience and background of our authors is rapidly becoming more diverse with every issue.
The deadline is April 25th, so there is still time to submit; send us your poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, drama and more. Please check our submissions page for guidelines (these guidelines are flexible and currently under review, so contact us if you have any questions).
The call for submissions is also on Facebook.
Email us for more information at eas@laurentian.ca
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