Welcome to the launch page of the Aurora Speaks Project!

Do you have a favorite spot, fond memory, or rich history located here in Aurora? Maybe your family has been here for generations? Maybe you just moved here and are wondering if this is a home? Quite possibly you also spent Wednesday afternoons in an El Chubby's booth with your father?  Say, who truly has the best burritos, burgers, pizza or wings in town? 

What was the name of that trail you found yourself wonderfully lost on? In which park or at which crossroads did you have your first crush…on the moon, or on the everyday stars among us? Where was it that you said ´this is the place´? Where was it you first or lastly discovered art?

The Aurora History Museum and Aurora Poet Laureate, Ahja Fox, don't only want to hear it, but would like to consider it for inclusion in a community-made art exhibit set to open December 10th, 2024 through February 9th, 2025!
The Aurora Speaks Project will be a collage, or anthology of sorts, composed of Aurora-based stories, which will be showcased on the walls of AHM for the public to consume. This is an opportunity to know the community on a more intimate and personal level by experiencing the various voices found within it! 

With an emphasis on storytelling and creative writing, this is open to any form of written work (poetry, prose, experimental, etc.). This opportunity is for any writer (or non-writer) of any background, level or age.

Full submission guidelines are as follows:

• Submit up to 2 pieces of written work, each only amounting to a single page, in a single document.
  You don't have to number your pages but please do put your name( First and/or Last) in the header of the document OR include your name in the file name

• Feel free to be creative structurally on the page just make sure it is in a legible font/color, etc.
  It is strongly suggested that if you choose to submit prose (prose poetry included) that you use a spacing range of 1.15 to 2.
  Also, if you do something creative structurally we suggest submitting it as a PDF to maintain the integrity of that structure.

• Written work can be about anything, as long as it is placed in or about Aurora specifically. It can even be fiction or a story/poem that just goes on to describe the scene or impact.

• You do not have to be or ever have been a resident of Aurora to submit, but priority may be given to those voices.

• We encourage you to take any perspective, stance or opinion you would like but please be aware that Aurora History Museum is a family-friendly environment and that, should your work be selected, it will be in the public's face even more than if it was printed in a book.

• No cover letter required, but feel free to leave one if you are so inclined.

• You will need to provide: your name (pen names or anonymous are fine), your pronouns (optional), the title of your piece(s), and a 1 sentence bio.

• Provide an email address and/or phone number to contact you with should you be accepted.

• Submissions close October 27 and submitters will be contacted in the months leading up to the opening which is expected to be by late Nov./early Dec.

Submission Checklist:

1. Portfolio (up to 2 pieces total, one page each)

2. Inclusion of information bolded above, including contact information

Other things to know:

• We are asking for modified first serial rights which means that after the work is published/showcased, all rights revert back to the author. These rights are modified in that we are asking for temporary rights between the date of acceptance and the last date of release to include: 

• The right to alter the work, add to the work, or update the content of the work with author permission.

• The right to be informed of any uses, reproductions, or distributions of the work.

• The right to perform or display the work.

• The right to use or publish an excerpt or section from the work for advertising and marketing.

• In addition, we may also ask for future rights to archive and preserve the work as part of an institutional initiative/ institutional repository.

• There will likely be an opportunity to perform your work at an opening ceremony or other future events. You will be notified of this and any other relevant information via the contact information we have on file for you.