Toda clase de dulces: Sweets from My Childhood FlowerSong Press

CALL FOR POETRY SUBMISSIONS

Working Title: Toda clase de dulces: Sweets from My Childhood

Genre: Poetry

Format: Anthology

Publisher: ¡JUVENTUD!, the children’s and young adult imprint of FlowerSong Press

(https://www.flowersongpress.com) , Editor-in-chief: Edward Vidaurre

Editor: Rene´ Saldan~a, Jr.

This anthology is seeking poetry submissions by historically underrepresented poets about sweets from their childhoods.

I was on Twitter one evening and in response to our current First Lady reducing Mexican Americans to breakfast tacos, I posted the following: “We’re apparently very diverse. We’re also chalupas, tostadas, burritos, and flautas.” And moments later, the germ for the idea for this book appeared in the form of a Twitter-back-and-forth with one of my literary heroes, Margarita Engle, who responded with: “Pastelitos, empanadas, croquetas.” To which I responded: “Ai, empanadas. Por eso tu eres poeta, Margarita. You come up with the most brilliant image that goes directly to the belly.” And here it is, in Margarita’s next tweet: she wrote: “¡Gracias! Also, Cuban food is sugar, toda clase de dulces.” I challenged Margarita then to consider a collection of poems about Cuban sweets, maybe a picture book. And then she turned the challenge back on me: “Or, an anthology?”

By this time, I’d edited one other YA poetry anthology: I SING : THE BODY (Juventud/FlowerSong). I was in the middle of co-editing with Van Garrett another called FLY HEROES (Juventud/FlowerSong, 2023). Margarita knew my work as an anthologist, so it made sense: you do it, meaning me.

So, I’m asking for poems about sweets from our childhoods: any kind of sweet applies, the more diverse the better. Candies, sure, but what about fruits? What about homemade gum the kind my abuelo, Federico Garcia taught me how to make from the fruit of the coma bush? Drinks? Why not? A breakfast food? Bring it! If you remember it from your niñez, and you can write a poem about it, this call is for you.

If you’re interested in the project, please email up to three poems for consideration to René at [email protected]. Please attach your word document to your email as opposed to pasting the poems into the body of the email. Set the poems how you want them to appear on the page. Please also provide a brief 75-word poet’s bio on that word document. Payment will be one copy of the book when it is published in late-2023 or early-2024. Additional copies will be offered to published contributors at a discounted price.

Deadline for submissions: January 02, 2023.

Juventud Press is a sister imprint to FlowerSong Press, both headquartered in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas. Knowing first-hand how important it is that children of diverse cultural backgrounds have access to books in which they see themselves reflected, Juventud Press will be putting out children's, middle-grade, and young adult titles.

Its first title was Heartbeat of the Soul of the World, a short-story collection by Rene´ Saldan~a, Jr., author of books The Jumping Tree, A Good Long Way, and The Whole Sky Full of Stars. A vital book that explores the ins and outs of Latinx adolescence along the border, Heartbeat is a flagship publication that encapsulates the values and mission of Juventud Press.

In 2021, Juventud Press published I SING : THE BODY, poems about body image, an anthology for young adults edited by Saldaña.