“Azahares,” a Spanish-language magazine sponsored by the University of Arkansas - Fort Smith, is calling for submissions for its spring 2014 issue, with a submission deadline of Jan. 18.

 

Mary Sobhani of Fort Smith, faculty member and managing editor of the magazine, said “Azahares” serves an important function in the Fort Smith Hispanic community, as the magazine seeks to reflect Hispanic culture in the region and act as a creative outlet for Spanish writers.

 

“Because ours is the only Spanish language creative magazine in the area, it provides a literary space that would otherwise be lacking,” she said. “We want to publish the voices that would go unheard without this arena for creative expression.”

 

All written submissions must be primarily in Spanish or have a Latino-related theme if written in English. All artwork and photography must reflect the culture of the Spanish-speaking world.

 

Sobhani said “Azahares” receives approximately 90 to 120 submissions per year, and the editorial board uses a blind-selection process to determine which pieces are accepted. The editorial board consists of Dr. Brenda Ross, Madeline Martinez, Dr. Rosario Nolasco-Schultheiss and Dr. Francesco Tarelli.

 

The magazine accepts submissions from local, national, and even international authors and artists.  

 

“In previous years, we have had phenomenal works contributed from our own student body, as well as from as far away as the Philippines,” she said. “It is always exciting to receive works that are so juicy and flavorful, possessing distinct narrative voices that are a joy to read.”

 

Poems must be no longer than 100 lines, and prose must be no longer than 3,500 words. All submissions must be saved as a .doc or .docx file, and authors must submit a 60-word biography written in Spanish and in third person and saved as a Microsoft Word document. Color and black-and-white artwork and photography are accepted and must be saved as a .jpg file.

 

Once published, the issue will be available free of charge in the Boreham Library at UAFS and the Fort Smith Public Library. Sobhani said readers can also access past issues of “Azahares” on the UAFS website.

 

All submissions must be emailed to mary.sobhani@uafs.edu with “AZAHARES 2014” as the subject line. For more information, visit http://class.uafs.edu/languages/azahares or contact Sobhani by email or by phone at 479-788-7979.