sotto voce has long been in the business of publishing the work of talent, both new and established. Previously, we ran a publishing house called Lumen Editions (you can look this up on Amazon) and published work by Max Blagg, Marguerite Duras, Grace Dane Mazur, and many, many wonderful authors. Some of these authors were known, and for others this was their first publication. All authors received great critical attention for their work and sold well on their print runs.
While we have never before ran an e-zine, it's about time! To that end, we begin with a very Oulipo project that we've called Dinner Party Poems. If you are unfamiliar with Oulipo, we suggest you Google the word to find out a little bit about what we're about before submitting. In short, Dinner Party Poems are centered around strict word game rules: for example, you and a partner choose six random words and must use each word in a poem of any length. Other games including asking someone for a first line and then you finish the poem, using the first line. As you get better and better at this, you move on to sestinas with predefined words and so on.
We have no comment on any particular style; all styles are welcome. What we do ask is that poems are not pornographic or prejudicial. Express your opinion by all means, but if it is in either of those categories, there are plenty of other places for your work. All we want is the best you have to offer. Check out the site before submitting, then send your work if you are interested to Sadi Ranson-Polizzotti through the Contact Us link from tant mieux. With your work, be sure to include the six words you used for your poem, or any new word game you developed to help hone your craft - these details are important. Without them, your work will not be considered.
Since Dinner Party Poems is our first foray into the e-zine world, we expect this to grow into offshoots, and in the very near future, tant mieux and sotto voce will each have an e-zine for poetry and good short fiction or creative nonfiction (five page limit).
write, submit, venture forth, and be bold!
srp
october, 2004
