Pitches/submissions wanted (Memphis music) | $200 to $1,200 per article
Added 2024-07-22 18:36:34 +0000 UTCCOMPANY/PUBLICATION: OXFORD AMERICAN
Deadline: 1 August 2024
This year, the Oxford American’s annual Southern Music Issue and compilation will be dedicated to Memphis and its surrounding region—fertile ground that has arguably cultivated more genres than any place else in America: rock & roll, soul, Memphis rap, garage-punk, Delta blues, and many others.
We’re looking for refreshing and idiosyncratic work inspired by recognizable Memphis legends: Al Green, Three 6 Mafia, Big Star, Isaac Hayes, Elvis. But we’re also searching for stories about the region’s lesser-known trailblazers, like Beale Street regular and Memphis Jug Band collaborator Laura Dukes, or chitlin circuit saxophonist Evelyn “The Whip” Young (“They called me ‘The Whip’ because I used to blow that sax so hard it’d sound like I was whipping it,” the late B.B. King collaborator once explained). And at a time when the impact of regional scenes is often overlooked, we’re eager to learn more about the people at the heart of the city’s innovative spirit, like multi-instrumentalist and André 3000 collaborator V.C.R, or the amateur historians who maintain the Memphis Punk Archive. We’re looking for new work that investigates the films and cinematic albums that center Memphis sounds—like Shaft or Hustle & Flow, which both won Academy Awards for their music. Recognizing Memphis’s role as the unofficial capital of the Delta, we’re also seeking pieces that speak to the city’s outsize impact in the region.
What have we missed? Send us your idea.
We’re eager to consider well-crafted proposals and mature drafts of up to 5000 words. Enthusiasm, surprise, and originality are essential to an OA music piece. We are interested in publishing: personal essays, feature-length narratives, short stories, dispatches and meditations, Q&As, photo portfolios, and work that does not fit neatly into a specific genre or form. We also welcome short, liner-note-style essays of 250–500 words focusing on a specific Memphis song that ought to be featured on our vinyl accompaniment.
Please send submissions or pitches our way by August. The issue will be on newsstands in December. Compensation will depend on the length and complexity of the story; all writers will be paid. Generally, fees will range from $200 for short dispatches to $1,200 for feature-length work.
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CONTACT INFORMATION:
Submissions: Via Submittable
Website: https://www.oxfordamerican.org
TO HELP YOU CRAFT YOUR PITCH:
Learn more about the publication: The Oxford American is a nonprofit, quarterly literary magazine dedicated to featuring the best in Southern writing while documenting the complexity and vitality of the American South. More information here.
Read through a selection of recent music-related essays/stories here.
Check out our collection of pitch excerpts on this page and find more sample pitches at The Open Notebook Database and at SuccessfulPitches.com.
Do not forget to end your pitch with (1) a short introduction about yourself; (2) a few lines highlighting your writing experience, relevant credentials and publication credits; and (3) links to your strongest work or portfolio, and online profile.
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