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Want a chance to win $2500 with words and music?

© Sandra Linville

Summer doldrums hit yet? Why not put a little sparkle in your summer days at home and write a song? You might just win $2500 and help people learn to read at the same time.

In June, the SIBL Project, the San Francisco non-profit organization that promotes reading and adult literacy through music inspired by literature, announced the launch of its second international songwriting contest. There’s still plenty of time since the contest deadline is September 6th. The organization would really like to receive entries from high school students.

All you have to do is write a song based on a book, poem or play. Sixteen songs will be included on the CD Songs Inspired by Literature Chapter Two. Submit your entries to The SIBL Project online at www.siblproject.org. Winners will be notified by November 15th. Be sure to read the complete rules and instructions at the site before you send off your entry. You can enter online or by mail. The registration fee is $20 US for each entry.

SIBL will award a $2500 grand prize and 5 category prizes for the best song inspired by African American, Latin American, World, women and children's literature.

The next SIBL CD will again feature songs written by well-known artists including "A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Tom Waits (from his new release "Blood Money") inspired by the Flannery O’Connor novel. For more information on The SIBL Project, how to purchase a CD and how to submit a song for the contest, visit the website at www.SIBLproject.org.

SIBL Project Partners Organizations throughout the U.S. have partnered with the SIBL Project. These include The California State Library (www.library.ca.gov), Balit Bay Area Literacy (www.literacynet.org/balit/), Center for the Book in the Library of Congress (www.loc.gov/cfbook), KQED Education Network Adult Learning Project (www.kqed.org), Friend of the Library USA and the California Council for the Humanities (www.calhum.org).

Songs Inspired by Literature - Chapter One is available for purchase online at www.SIBLproject.org; at independent bookstores nationwide, Barnes & Noble (July 16th) and at public libraries. Retail Price: $15. For more information visit the website at www.siblproject.org.

While at the site, check out the famous sibls. You'll learn that the inspiration for the Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows" was the "Tibetan Book of the Dead"; Brave Combo's "Mystery Spot Polka" was inspired by "Selected Poems" by E.E. Cummings; Elvis Costello's "A Drunken Man's Praise of Sobriety" was inspired by W.B. Yeats; Kate Bush's "The Sensual World" was inspired by James Joyce's "Ulysses" and Lou Reed's "Doing the Things That We Want To" was inspired by Sam Shepard's play, "Fool for Love."

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