Certain Days calendar: Call for contributions

veronza-bowers-plays-shakuhachi-flute-to-heal-fellow-prisoners-1400x969, Certain Days calendar: Call for contributions, News & Views Opportunities
Veronza Bowers, one of the beloved political prisoners supported by Certain Days, plays the deep, mellow tones of his shakuhachi flute to heal the bodies and spirits of fellow prisoners. Write to him: Veronza Bowers, 35316-136, FCI-2, PO Box 1500. Butner, NC 27509, and learn more at www.veronza.org

The Certain Days: Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar collective will be releasing our 24th calendar this coming autumn. We are doing an open call for abolition-related art and article submissions to feature in the calendar, which hangs in more than 6,000 homes, workplaces, prison cells and community spaces around the world. We encourage contributors to submit both new and existing work. We especially seek submissions from people in prison or jail, so please forward this call to any prison-based artists and writers. Deadline is Friday, May 31, 2024.

Format Guidelines

ARTICLES

Due to space limitations, submissions may be lightly edited for clarity and concision,

with no change to the original intent.

• 400-500 words max. If you submit a longer piece, we will have to edit for length.

• Poetry is also welcome but needs to be significantly shorter than 400 words to accommodate layout.

• Please include a suggested title.

ART

• The calendar is 11” tall by 8.5” wide, so art with a “portrait” orientation is preferred. Art need not fit those dimensions exactly.

• We are interested in a diversity of media.

• The calendar is printed in color and we prefer color images.

Submission Guidelines

1. Send your submissions and brief bio by May 31 to info@certaindays.org.

2. ARTISTS: You can send a low-res file as a submission, but if your piece is chosen, we will need a high-res version of it for print (600 dpi).

3. You may send as many submissions as you like. Chosen artists and authors will receive a free copy of the calendar and promotional postcards. Because the calendar is a fundraiser, we cannot offer money to contributors.

Prisoner submissions are due June 14 and can be mailed to: Certain Days, c/o Burning Books, 420 Connecticut St., Buffalo, NY 14213.

About the Calendar

The Certain Days: Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar is a joint fundraising and educational project between outside organizers across North America and current and former political prisoners, including currently imprisoned Xinachtli (s/n Alvaro Luna Hernandez) in Texas. We were happy to welcome founding members Herman Bell and Robert Seth Hayes (Rest in Power) home from prison in 2018, and David Gilbert in 2021, each of whom spent over 40 years behind bars. All of the current members of the outside collective are grounded in day-to-day organizing work other than the calendar, on issues ranging from legal aid to community media, radical education to prisoner solidarity. We work from an anti-imperialist, anti-racist, anti-capitalist, feminist, queer- and trans-liberationist position. All proceeds from the calendar go to abolitionist organizations working for a better world.

If for some reason you do not yet have a 2024 Certain Days calendar, you can order one at

Learn more about Certain Days – Freedom for Political Prisoners & Prisoners of War Calendar at http://www.certaindays.org. Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/certaindays/. Follow us on twitter: @certaindays. Follow us on instagram:  @certaindayscalendar.