Smashing Times International Centre for the Arts and Equality would like to invite submissions to the July 2024 edition of the Smashing Times Newsletter, which goes out on Thursday, 4 July. The theme is ‘Love’.

It doesn’t get more elemental than love. We experience it – in most cases as both giver and receiver – long before we can walk, talk, or express in any meaningful capacity. Love predates language. Through the millennia, it has come to be represented, for us English speakers, by four symbols in the English alphabet. These four symbols combine to form one of the most recognisable words in the language, a word which for any individual has a near-limitless assortment of associations. It is a word that extends back beyond our earliest memories. Perhaps ‘love’ was whispered to us in the womb. Love may have even been the reason we were conceived.

And yet love is the mother of grief. The objects of our love can die or go away, or hurt us. They can disappoint us, frustrate us, shock us. We can love what isn’t good for us. We can love the idea of someone, knowing deep down that that someone will never live up to the idea. We can love a country, a language. A political movement. A sports team. We can love for the wrong reason. We can love dead people (which is often easier than loving the living). We can love inanimate objects. Food, beverages. We can love people who aren’t real. We can love a leader, a God, an animal. Then there is self-love, perhaps the hardest love of them all.

Love, in all its varied manifestations, has been a central concern of artists since time immemorial. We can’t wait to see how you approached it. Please have a read of the guidelines below.

Artist Submissions

Artist submissions are welcome in any genre or form. International submissions are not just welcome – they are encouraged. A few notes:

• If submitting poetry, please send a maximum of two poems (of any length).
• If making a prose submission – a short story, non-fiction essay, or novel extract – please send no more than one piece, of no longer than 2,000 words.
• If submitting an article, please send one piece, of no longer than 1,500 words.
• If submitting a written excerpt from a play or screenplay, please send no more than one piece, of no more than 1,000 words.
• If sending a photograph, or an image of a painting, sculpture, or architectural work, please submit no more than two. Please ensure that the images are of a high quality, and provide the work’s label: material(s) used, dimensions, and year. Please include a few lines contextualising your piece and explaining how it relates to the theme. Lastly, please remember to state the title of the piece.
• In the case of videos, or video excerpts, of plays, please submit no more than two, with neither submission running longer than 20 minutes. Please ensure that the video is of a high audiovisual calibre.
• If submitting a song, a short film, a video artwork, a feature-film excerpt, or a dance piece, please send no more than two, and ensure neither runs over 20 minutes. Likewise, please make sure that they are of a high audiovisual calibre.
• If submitting in multiple artforms, please send no more than two artworks overall. For example, you may send one short story together with one article. As explained above, lease do not submit two short stories, two non-fiction essays, two novel extracts, two articles, two play excerpts, or two screenplay excerpts.
• Submissions may have appeared elsewhere before, though new work is especially welcome. (If a submission has appeared elsewhere before, please state this and include the publication details.)
• Submissions can be made in English, Irish, or in translation. For Irish language submissions, our preference is that they be submitted alongside English language translations, though this is in no way compulsory. For translations of the work of another author, all relevant permissions must be obtained beforehand. We may also look to publish the original alongside the translation.
• Themes are always flexible; any subjective response is considered valid.
• Please submit to communications@smashingtimes.ie by midnight on Sunday, 23 June, 2024. Subject lines should read: ‘Artist Submission, July 2024’. Please include a max two-line biography to accompany your piece, making reference to your previous publications (if applicable); any social media/website links you would like to be included in case of publication; a headshot or photograph; whether you would like to be signed up to the newsletter (so that, if selected, you receive the edition in which your work appears); and how exactly you heard of this submission opportunity. In order to ensure your submission’s eligibility, please make sure that you have included everything we have requested.
• Our preference for written pieces is that they be sent in a Word document. Please do not send them in a PDF.
• If we accept a written piece, the editor will contact you with at least one round of suggested edits, so please monitor your email closely.
• Furthermore, if your work is accepted, it will appear not only in the newsletter but on the Smashing Times website and possibly across our social media channels.
• Not all submissions will be accepted, unfortunately.
• The newsletter goes out on Thursday, 4 July, 2024.
• Publication is unpaid, regrettably, as we are a small charity with limited resources. The newsletter reaches around 1,250 people, however, including a range of major organisations in the areas of arts and human rights, both in Ireland and across Europe. Previous newsletter contributors include poets Jessica Traynor and Fady Joudah, Senator Lynn Ruane, 2023 Nobel Peace Prize-winner Narges Mohammadi, rapper-singer Saint Levant, visual artist Erika Diettes, and many more.
• Submissions are especially welcome from individuals who have been underrepresented historically, such as ethnic minorities, persons with disabilities, members of the Traveller community, the LGBTQI+ community, and women. Please let us know when submitting if you belong to any of these or suchlike minorities.

News Item Submissions

News item submissions are welcome from any organisation or individual either working in the arts, or in human rights, equality, or similar areas. Some notes:

• News items should be 150 words or less. They may be written in either English or Irish. They do not need to have any relevance to the theme. Furthermore, please note that a promotional piece about you or your organisation, or a specific project, with no reference to recent activities or events, is not eligible. For an item to qualify as news it must be based on you or your organisation’s recent, ongoing, or upcoming work, event, or activity in the areas of the arts, human rights, equality, or social justice.
• Please include a photo to go with your news item and ensure it is of reasonably high quality. If there is no relevant photo, please send on your organisation’s logo.
• Any links should be included as hyperlinks.
• Please double-check for spelling, grammar, accuracy, and clarity.
• We will endeavour to include as many submissions as possible – though this of course depends on the number we receive. (In the event of a surplus, we will hold onto any items which would still be relevant in the following month’s edition, with your permission.) We will prioritise submissions from Smashing Times members. Sign you or your organisation up as a Smashing Times member here.
• The newsletter reaches around 1,250 people, including a range of major organisations in the areas of arts and human rights, both in Ireland and across Europe.
• Please submit in a word document to communications@smashingtimes.ie by midnight on Sunday, 23 June, 2024. Subject lines should read: ‘News Item Submission, July 2024’.
• The newsletter goes out on Thursday, 4 July, 2024.
• Submissions are especially welcome from individuals who have been underrepresented historically, such as ethnic minorities, persons with disabilities, members of the Traveller community, the LGBTQI+ community, and women. Please let us know when submitting if you belong to any of these or suchlike minorities. Likewise, we welcome submissions from organisations that advocate for any of these, or similar, causes.

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