Quiddity International Literary Journal and Public-Radio Program

25/10/2021

27/11/2020

We are ever-grateful to the writers who give contemporary literature its quiddity—the many voices who make it what it is.

When we made the call for submissions for the forthcoming special collection, MMXX CE: 2020 in Poetry, we hoped for considerable variety and have found it in abundance.

Thank you to all who answered the call. We are grateful and humbled by your work, your talent, your minds, and your hearts.

While still in deliberation over the final selections for the print edition, we are honored to have the opportunity to consider such work!

Thank you…Unending thanks to all the writers, readers, poets, and listeners this world has held. You are a marvel. ❤️

Photo credit: Dmitry Osipenko

14/10/2020

In case you missed Taylor Supplee's pitch-perfect reading of his poem, "Séance, with reliquary," here it is. You won't want to miss another one—We sure don't!
https://cocolit.org/q-12-2/f/taylor-supplee-%7C-s%C3%A9ance-with-reliquary

If you have a poem that possesses this kind of effect both on the page and out loud, we definitely want to read it. Our submission deadline is EOD tomorrow: cocolit.org/quiddity

Taylor Supplee, Donald Everett Axinn Fellow, is a gay poet originally from the Midwest. He earned his MFA from Columbia University where he serves as the Lucie Brock-Broido Teaching Fellow. A semi-finalist for the 92Y Discovery Award in Poetry in 2019, his poems are forthcoming and have appeared in Hotel Amerika, Midwestern Gothic, The Moth, Rattle, SLAB Literary Magazine, and elsewhere. He lives in Brooklyn, NY.

13/10/2020

Two fabulous poems by Sandy Marchetti!
And only 2 days left to send work!

Marchetti’s “The Book” and “Fall at Lake Ontario“ are featured in our current volume and can be read and listened to here: https://cocolit.org/q-12-2/f/sandra-marchetti-%7C-two-poems. Don’t miss this remarkable poet reading her work at the link. ❤️

You can send work for Quiddity’s upcoming print volume, 2020 in Poetry, here: https://cocolit.org/quiddity.

Marchetti is the author of Confluence, a full-length collection of poetry from Sundress Publications (2015). She is also the author of four chapbooks of poetry and lyric essays. Sandra’s poetry appears widely in Poet Lore, Blackbird, Ecotone, Southwest Review, River Styx, and elsewhere. Her essays can be found at Mid-American Review, Barrelhouse, Pleiades, and other venues. She earned an MFA in Creative Writing-Poetry from George Mason University and now serves as the Coordinator of Tutoring Services at the College of DuPage in the Chicago area.

Fall at Lake Ontario

13/10/2020

3 days left to submit your work! Our current call for submissions for the forthcoming print volume—MMXX CE: 2020 in Poetry—is here: https://cocolit.org/quiddity.

Send poems that remind us our bone centers are liquid, like this one did—from Michael T. Young, featured in Quiddity’s current issue:
https://cocolit.org/q-12-2/f/michael-t-young-%7C-diagnosis?blogcategory=Quiddity+12.2

Young’s third full-length collection, The Infinite Doctrine of Water (Terrapin Books), was longlisted for the Julie Suk Award. He received a fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts and the Jean Pedrick Chapbook Award. His poetry has been featured on Verse Daily and Writer’s Almanac and in such journals as Atticus Review, Gargoyle, One, RATTLE poetry magazine, and VPR: Valparaiso Poetry Review.

Be sure to listen to Young reading his work at the link. You can read more about the poet here: michaeltyoung.com.

Not bronchitis, not asthma, but an ailment of memory

10/10/2020

Congratulations to Fiona Sze-Lorrain on her forthcoming poetry collection, Rain in Plural, from Princeton University Press!

Quiddity was honored to feature Fiona's work in volume 11, when editor Lisa Higgs interviewed the poet about the nuances of translating image and silence, as well as poetic sincerity and the spirit.

Fiona is a poet, translator, editor, and zheng harpist. She is the author of three previous poetry collections, including The Ruined Elegance, which was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. She has also translated more than a dozen books of contemporary Chinese, French, and American poetry. She lives in Paris.

You can read more about Rain in Plural here: https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691203560/rain-in-plural

10/10/2020

We are delighted to feature the work of Sara Moore Wagner, 2019 Sustainable Arts Foundation winner and author of Hooked Through (Five Oaks Press). Read and listen to “Ball and Chain" in Quiddity’s current issue: https://buff.ly/34Ez8Nv

Quiddity’s call for submissions for the forthcoming print edition—MMXX CE: 2020 in Poetry—is here: https://cocolit.org/quiddity

06/10/2020

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS—Please share: Quiddity is seeking creative work for a special print edition, MMXX CE: 2020 in Poetry.

We invite emerging and established writers around the world to submit poetry that encompasses any aspect of the quiddity inherent in the 2020 human experience.

Submit up to 3 poems (5-page maximum). Please do not exceed 250 words for prose poems.

Simultaneous submissions, previously published, and co-written works encouraged!

Audio will be requested for broadcast (but not required for acceptance) for pieces that are selected for publication in the print volume.

Upload submissions here: https://buff.ly/36K6bCa
Deadline is October 15 at 11:59 pm CT.

Additional information about Quiddity can be found here: https://buff.ly/365mOrZ
~quiddity—the real nature or essence of a thing; that which makes it what it is~

06/10/2020

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS—Please share: Quiddity is seeking creative work for a special print edition, MMXX CE: 2020 in Poetry.

We invite emerging and established writers around the world to submit poetry that encompasses any aspect of the quiddity inherent in the 2020 human experience.

Submit up to 3 poems (5-page maximum). Please do not exceed 250 words for prose poems.

Simultaneous submissions, previously published, and co-written works encouraged!

Audio will be requested for broadcast (but not required for acceptance) for pieces that are selected for publication in the print volume.

Upload submissions here: https://buff.ly/36K6bCa

Deadline is October 15 at 11:59 pm CT.

Additional information about Quiddity can be found here: https://buff.ly/365mOrZ

~quiddity—the real nature or essence of a thing; that which makes it what it is~

25/09/2020

With offices in St. Louis, MO (High Low) and Springfield, IL, our base of operations is located just west of Murphysboro Main Street on beautiful Kinkaid Lake. 2020 Residency Recipients have been notified, and 2021 applications are forthcoming. In the meantime, look for our call for submissions for the upcoming special print issue: MMXX CE: 2020 in Poetry. cocolit.org/quiddity

Joanna Beth Tweedy & Amy Sayre Baptista

21/09/2020

Once, Chittaranjan Park’s summer nights, were darkened

18/09/2020

Quiddity encourages poets to send work for a special print edition, MMXX CE: 2020 in Poetry: cocolit.org/quiddity.

This weekend, we are celebrating the work of Dipika Mukherjee: Read and listen to "K Block, Chittaranjan Park," in our most recent issue: https://buff.ly/3cjlORZ.

Mukherjee’s work, focusing on the politics of modern Asian societies, includes the novels Ode to Broken Things (longlisted for the Man Asia Literary Prize) and Shambala Junction (which won the UK Virginia Prize for Fiction). She is a contributing editor for Jaggery and frequently writes for World Literature Today, Asia Literary Review, and Chicago Quarterly Review as well as a literary column for The Edge. She has taught in the United States, India, China, Netherlands, Malaysia, and Singapore, and is now core faculty at StoryStudio Chicago and teaches for the Graham School at The University of Chicago.

17/09/2020

It is day 3 of Quiddity’s call for submissions for the upcoming special print edition, MMXX CE: 2020 in Poetry—and we are excited about what we are seeing. To have work considered, submit here: cocolit.org/quiddity.

Today we are spotlighting Dion O'Reilly's work, “Eyes Round Sockets With No Light,” from our most recent issue. Don't miss O’Reilly reading her work at the link—and be sure to check out her debut full-length collection of poetry, Ghost Dogs, recently released from Terrapin Books! ❤️ https://cocolit.org/q-12-2/f/dion-o%E2%80%99reilly-%7C-eyes-round-sockets-with-no-light?blogcategory=12.2+Quiddity

O’Reilly has spent much of her life on a farm in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Her poems and essays have appeared in The Massachusetts Review, New Letters, Sugar House Review, Rattle, The Sun Magazine, Bellingham Review, Atlanta Review, Grist: A Journal of the Literary Arts, and a variety of other literary journals and anthologies.

Again, it’s diode hot in California,

16/09/2020

Quiddity is seeking poetry for an upcoming special print edition, MMXX CE: 2020 in Poetry. Submit here: cocolit.org/quiddity.

Today we are spotlighting poet Christian J. Collier from Quiddity's current issue. Collier is a 2015 Spoken Word Immersion Fellow at The Loft Literary Center and an educator who has shared the stage with members of HBO’s Def Poetry cast, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame members The Impressions, and Grammy-nominee Minton Sparks.

Collier’s work has also been featured by The Guardian and published in The American Journal Of Poetry, TAYO Literary Magazine, Seven Hills Literary Review, and Apogee Journal, among others.

Don't miss hearing Collier read his work at the link!
https://cocolit.org/q-12-2/f/christian-collier-%7C-sight-unseen?blogcategory=12.2+Quiddity

~after viewing Hank Willis Thomas’ “From Cain't See in the Mornin' till Cain't See at Night”

16/09/2020

What have you written this year about this year?

Quiddity is seeking exceptional creative work for a special 2020 print edition, MMXX CE: 2020 in Poetry.

We invite emerging and established writers around the world to submit work that encompasses any aspect of the quiddity inherent in the 2020 human experience.

Specifically, we are inviting poetry in all forms for our upcoming print volume.
Submit until October 15: https://cocolit.org/quiddity

Previously published work will be considered as long as the writer can grant reprint rights. Simultaneous submissions considered and encouraged. We look forward to reading your work!

Read and listen to poets and writers from the current issue here: https://cocolit.org/q-12-2

Photo credit: Fateme Alaie

18/03/2020

Poets and lovers of poetry! Would you like to post a short video/audio clip where you share your favorite poem from your school years (elementary, middle, or high school) with students who are now at how practicing distance learning? Confluence Collaborative will publish a collection of curated posts for teachers, students, parents, and poetry lovers at its site: cocolit.org.

A general outline for posts (where to submit below):

* read a beloved poem from your school years (published before 1923 so we don't have to deal with copyright issues, please)

* make a few BRIEF observations about 2 or 3 specific elements that make you love the poem (i.e. sound, surprise, image, metaphor, wordplay, tone, etc.)

* AND (if you want) offer an AGE-APPROPRIATE writing exercise based off the poem and your observations. The exercise could be creative or critical in nature - you could encourage someone to write a paragraph about the use of simile in a poem OR encourage someone to write a poem using simile in some specific way. For elementary poems, perhaps suggest they draw a picture about the poem, memorize the poem (if shorter), or recite the poem to a friend of family member by phone or Skype/Facetime?

* When submitting, remember this content is intended for elementary-high school students. Avoid material that includes cursing, adult content (think G-PG ratings), and in general anything that might make your grandmother blush or feel uncomfortable at a holiday table.

* Indicate if you think your post is best for elementary, middle school, or high school students, or if you think it would be great for all ages.

You can submit your video/audio to FB right here at Quiddity, or tag if you post on your own page.
Likewise, you can post to Twitter or Instagram and tag .

A community giving rise to an inclusive world through cohering the arts-&-sciences and bolstering connections

25/01/2020

Quiddity is delighted to announce that James McKee's poem, “A Change of Sky,” published in Quiddity 12.2 (https://cocolit.org/q-12-2), will appear in his debut poetry collection, The Stargazers (forthcoming February 2020).

Congratulations, James! We look forward to reading The Stargazers.