Fire & Ink, Incorporated is devoted to increasing the understanding, visibility and awareness of works of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and same gender loving writers of African descent and heritage. As part of our mission, Fire & Ink sponsors a writers’ conference and we invite proposals for workshops and panel discussions from our communities’ writers, teachers, thinkers and critics.

ABOUT THE CONFERENCE

Fire & Ink IV: Witness will begin on Thursday, October 8th, 2015 and conclude on Sunday, National Coming Out Day, October 11th, 2015.

Fire & Ink IV: Witness will convene hundreds of LGBTQ and SGL writers of African descent whose work spans the genres, including: fiction, nonfiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, screenwriting, journalism, blogging, playwriting, multimedia arts and performance arts. Attendees will include writers, scholars, editors, publishers, curators, performers, students, teachers, thinkers, media professionals, readers and art lovers.

Generations do not cease to be born, and we are responsible to them because we are the only witnesses they have. —James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time

Fire & Ink IV: Witness will address the urgent question of what it means to bear witness as LGBTQ and SGL writers of African descent and heritage in the 21st century. Merriam-Webster offers these definitions of “witness”: One that gives evidence. One who is present at an event and can say that it happened. One who testifies in a cause. An attestation of fact. One who has personal knowledge of something. Public affirmation by word or example of usually religious faith or conviction. Thus we invite Black LGBTQ and SGL writers and artists to assay their own definitions of witness. How do we testify in this time of rapid local, national and global transformation (sometimes two steps forward, sometimes two steps back) around issues of race, gender, class, sexual orientation and expression, social justice and the culture of fear? How do we bear physical or psychic witness to and for characters and events we develop from our imaginations, the day’s headlines or the zeitgeist? What responsibility do writers have to be political, activist, broadly accessible or relevant? As writers, how do we leverage advancing technology to both gather and create evidence as well as disseminate art in a changing (perhaps shrinking/perhaps expanding) marketplace? Fire & Ink IV: Witness will raise numerous questions about the individual considered in light of the community, the social versus the political, the physical versus the digital and the established compared to the emergent.

Fire & Ink IV: Witness aims to:

•   Assemble and empower a body of writers dedicated to their craft and to nurturing, developing, expanding and exploiting arenas of creative expression, artistic marketplaces and literary and cultural trends.
•   Foster innovation and more closely bind our literary community.

•   Teach, inspire and encourage each other while creating lasting alliances.
•   Discuss the position and importance of black LGBTQ and SGL literature, culture and artistic expression in the context of national and world events, literature and art.
•   Develop and implement strategies to encourage universities, libraries, mainstream and independent bookstores and other venues to integrate more LGBTQ and SGL literature and artwork created by writers of African descent within and outside of traditional curricula and offerings.
•   Plan and share opportunities for professional and artistic growth.If you’re interested in being part of the conversation at Fire & Ink IV: Witness, submit an abstract not exceeding 1,000 words by February 15, 2015 to let us know what you’re thinking and ensure priority consideration. Abstracts should be e-mailed to fireandink2015@gmail.com.

  Please include the following in your Abstract Proposal:

•   Title of the Workshop, Panel or Plenary Session
•   Organizer
  o (including proposed participants)
•   Abstract (1000 words maximum)
•   Abstract Deadline: February 15, 2015.
•   Full Proposal Deadline: April 15, 2015.Possible subjects for workshops, panels and plenary sessions fall into three categories:

1. How-to workshops

Examples: memoir writing, the craft of poetry, screenwriting, song writing, the elements of short fiction, honing your YA fiction, chapbook production, starting a book club, finding voice, organizing readings. “Beginning” through “Advanced” workshops sought.

2. Publishing, publicity and marketing

Examples: manuscript review and the submissions process, electronic publication, blogging, print-on-demand, website development, book marketing, securing an agent, finding a publisher.

3. This historical moment—looking back, now and forward

Examples: Bearing Witness in “Post-Racial” America; Whither the Fear of AIDS; YA Fiction in the Age of Marriage Equality; Literature and Activism; The Transition Memoir; On the Disappearance of Books—For Whom Do We Write; New Writers/New Voices: What’s New Under the Sun; From Stage to Page and Back; Teaching Black LGBTQ and SGL Poetics and Literature; Gender/queering Genre; Writing Through Disease and the Spectre of Dying; The Literature of Iconoclasm and the Rupture of Taboo.

Please note that these are only examples; feel free to submit completely different ideas for workshops, panels and plenary sessions.

For Full Proposals:

Please title your workshop, panel or plenary and include a brief bio for each presenter, along with a one- paragraph description that includes the following information: what questions are you exploring, why is this conversation timely and necessary, how will the workshop, panel or plenary further the goals of Fire & Ink IV: Witness; how are you uniquely qualified to lead your proposed workshop, panel or plenary and any special audiovisual or technical requests for your presentation. (NOTE: Presenters should bring their own laptops.) If proposing a workshop, specify workshop duration; panel session length is 1.5 to 2 hours.

•   Include full contact information for applicant.
•   Abstract Deadline: February 15, 2015.
•   Full Proposal Deadline: April 15, 2015.
•   E-mail proposals to fireandink2015@gmail.com, with subject heading “RFP: Witness.”
•   We will acknowledge receipt of your proposal within 48 hours.
•   Each applicant is limited to three proposals.
  We will notify applicants about proposal acceptance by May 15, 2015. Travel and hotel may be covered byFire & Ink, Inc.
  For more information about Fire & Ink, Inc., visit www.fireandink.org.