Detroiters need to get to know their neighbors better. Wait — maybe that should be, Detroiters should get to know their neighborhoods better. Because it seems like everybody thinks they know the neighborhoods here, but because there are so many, the definitions become too broad, the characteristics become muddled, the stories become lost.
We want you to tell your Detroit neighborhood story. Whether you currently live there or lived there in the past, this is an effort to tell every neighborhood story. Every corner store, party store and liquor store. Every corned beef joint, every playground, every schoolyard, every duck planter on every old woman’s porch steps. And not just where the lofts are being built — the stories from the bungalows, flats, ranches and apartments. This is The Detroit Neighborhood Guidebook from Belt Publishing, publishers of A Detroit Anthology and How to Live in Detroit Without Being a Jackass.
How do you want to tell your neighborhood’s story? We’re looking for essays, poetry, short fiction (yes, short fiction), photography and art about your neighborhood story. In addition to your story, tell us what stands out about your neighborhood: What bars to stumble out of, what schools everybody went to, what bakeries have the best sweets. And we want all the neighborhoods citywide; not just downtown and Midtown.
We are looking for up to 25 works. Contributors will be paid. Submissions must include the author’s full contact information (name, email, phone, address, 3-4 sentence bio). You may submit multiple pieces. Previously published pieces are acceptable, but the author must include the original publication information with the submission, and have the rights to the piece. Accepted submissions will likely be edited in coordination with the author.
TO SUBMIT: Email COMPLETE submission to [email protected]
DEADLINE: Friday, July 15, 2016
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Banner photo by VasenkaPhotography
The Detroit Neighborhood Guidebook follows Belt’s previous books about Detroit, Anna Clark’s A Detroit Anthology and Aaron Foley’s How To Live in Detroit Without Being A Jackass. Learn more about all Belt books here.
Hamtramck too? Or only Detroit?
Hamtramck and Highland Park, too.
You want the bad with the good? my stomping grounds ain’t so pretty. And I’m not just talkin bout scenery.
Just be honest.
would you be interested in impressions of someone who bought a house in Grixdale Farms 2 months ago? I love my neighbors, and hearing great stories about my block, yet it’s a very mixed bag here. I’m also passing this on to the oldtimers. thanks!
I just finished your book-really loved it. I’m of the older generation 50′-60’s so some of the experiences and your greats hints I couldn’t identify with because of being of my age. I’m was raised in North Rosedale and went to Redford HS. there is a large group of us, “I grow up in Rosedale park in the 60’s 70’s 80′” facebook page, and I’m going to spread the word that you need stories. Hope you don’t mind if older “white” people add to the stories. 🙂 Thinks so much for your “jackass” book
My father (Benjamin B. Silverberg) taught at Redford; he died in 1955. I have family photos from Detroit in the late 1940s, early 1950s. Wonder if they’re interested in those, too.
That MIGHT work if you still had a neighborhood. Mine is long gone … destroyed by scavengers and wastrels.
What is the word count and preferred format for the short fiction? Will you accept poems, flash fiction, excerpts from novels and/or screenplays?
Thanks,
ams