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…..The prominent English poet Isabel White – whose work has appeared within Jerry Jazz Musician on several occasions – informs me of an interesting poetry competition she is involved with that is framed around the upcoming 60th anniversary of the 1965 Motown Revue arriving in the United Kingdom. The competition invites writers to tell their own Motor City stories in poetry.
…..I couldn’t help but think this would be of interest to many of the poets who contribute their work here. So, here is the press release regarding the competition:
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In 1965, British audiences got to hear Motown magic for the first time, a whole episode of Ready Steady Go! featuring the Sound of Young America, the first ever tour of the Motown Revue outside the US.
Were you weaned on Motown – the Four Tops, The Vandellas or Marvin Gaye? Were you stirred by the words of Stokely Carmichael, Dr Martin Luther King Jnr or Ossie Davis? Or maybe your weekends involved tripping out in flares and psychedelic dresses?
Motown continued to be the soundtrack to our lives, through the great soul and funk in the seventies and eighties, the hip hop of the nineties and beyond – the Commodores, Rosie Gaines, Boyz II Men, Shanice, Young Boy, Lil Baby…
Maybe Atlantic and Stax was your bag, Ska or Reggae? Perhaps you were into the blues or psychedelia? Were you stirred by the great emancipating movements of the sixties, for people of colour, for women or gay rights? You may have spent your Saturdays demonstrating, or maybe you just stayed home, got turned on, tuned in and dropped out! Whatever it was, we want you to tell us about it.
Clevedon LitFest has launched a competition to mark this anniversary but has kept the criteria flexible as we know that for some of you, Motown may not have been your go to musical choice and that’s ok too. The competition is open to submissions worldwide and we are delighted to have recruited Grammy-nominated Adam White as our guest judge for this competition. Adam has been in the business for more than 50 years, a frequent contributor to Music Week, NME, Melody Maker, Rolling Stone and Mojo. Previously, Adam was editor-in-chief of Billboard magazine, historical consultant for the BBC-TV documentary, When Motown Came To Britain. He is best known for Motown: The Sound of Young America (Thames & Hudson, 2016), written with Berry Gordy’s right-hand man, Barney Ales.
Submit up to three poems for £10 sterling (max 50 lines, multiple entries allowed) – First Prize £1000; publication of the top 50 winning and shortlisted entries in an anthology and a stellar prize giving night, as part of our summer festival. For more details and how to enter, visit www.motorcitysixty.com.
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Click here to watch a 1965 video of Dusty Springfield (of “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me” and “Son of a Preacher Man” fame) introducing Motown acts to a British audience during their Motown Revue tour.
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Click here to access the collections in which Isabel White’s poetry appears on Jerry Jazz Musician
Click here to read my interview with Laura Flam and Emily Sieu Liebowitz, authors of But Will You Love Me Tomorrow?: An Oral History of the 60’s Girl Groups
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Click for:
More poetry on Jerry Jazz Musician
“Bluesette,” Salvatore Difalco’s winning story in the 67th Jerry Jazz Musician Short Fiction Contest
More short fiction on Jerry Jazz Musician
Information about how to submit your poetry or short fiction
Subscribe to the (free) Jerry Jazz Musician quarterly newsletter
Helping to support the ongoing publication of Jerry Jazz Musician, and to keep it commercial-free (thank you!)
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Jerry Jazz Musician…human produced since 1999
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