Motorcitysixty

In 1965, British audiences got to hear Motown magic for the first time, a whole episode of Ready Steady Go! featuring the Sound of Young America, the first ever tour of the Motown Revue outside the US.

Were you weaned on Motown – the Four Tops, The Supremes or Marvin Gaye? Were you stirred by the words of Stokely Carmichael, Dr Martin Luther King Jnr or Ossie Davis? Did your weekends involve scooters, flares and psychedelic dresses? Roll on a decade or two and maybe Reggae or 2 Tone (Jerry Dammers vision of an English Motown) was the soundtrack to your weekend? Perhaps you met the love of your life, dancing to great soul and funk in the seventies and eighties, the hip hop of the nineties and beyond – the Commodores, Rosie Gaines, Boyz II Men, Shanice, Young Boy, Lil Baby…

Maybe Atlantic and Stax was your bag, Ska or Reggae. Perhaps you were into the blues or psychedelia? Were you stirred by the great emancipating movements of the sixties, for people of colour, for women or gay rights? You may have spent your Saturdays demonstrating, or maybe you just stayed home, got turned on, tuned in and dropped out! Whatever it was, we want you to tell us about it.

Clevedon LitFest is delighted to have recruited Grammy-nominated Adam White as our guest judge for this competition. Adam has been in the business for more than 50 years, a frequent contributor to Music Week, NME, Melody Maker, Rolling Stone and Mojo. Previously, Adam was editor-in-chief of Billboard magazine, historical consultant for the BBC-TV documentary, When Motown Came To Britain. He is best known for Motown: The Sound of Young America (Thames & Hudson, 2016), written with Berry Gordy’s right-hand man, Barney Ales.

Submit up to three poems for £10 (max 50 lines, multiple entries allowed) – First Prize £1000; publication of the top 50 shortlisted entries in an anthology and a stellar prize giving night, as part of our summer festival. For more details and how to enter, visit www.motorcity.com