THE NOMANTINELS civic association has announced a literary competition called the “Queering of Ivan Požgai” which creative writers focusing on discrimination, xenophobia and homophobia issues can attend. The contest is named after an activist and co-founder of Ganymedes, the first civic association to protect homosexuals in Slovakia.
“The competition gives space to authors, who engage in politics, advocate scientific attitude and offer different opinions on current issues, to participate,” said Robo Pakan, project manager of NoMantinels, as quoted by the TASR newswire.
The aim of the competition is to support the creation of original Slovak queer literary and journalistic output.
The competition is open for professional as well as amateur writers older than 15. They will compete in two categories: literary and journalistic. The competitors will be allowed to send no more than three of their pieces, either poems, prose or other pieces, with one text having five or less standard pages. The jury will be presided by Hana Fábry, an LGBTI activist and journalist.
The participants will have to send their works by October 31, with the winners announced in December. The winning authors will receive €100 and their works will be published in the collection that is published within events and activities of the Rainbow Year, TASR wrote.
Alongside the competition, there will be two workshops of creative writing for beginners. The first will take place on September 20 at the Queer Centre in Bratislava.
