4th Annual Writivism Short Story Prize Winner Announced

The winner of the 4th Annual Writivism Short Story Prize has just been announced at a ceremony held in Kampala, Uganda. The announcement crowns the end of yet another Writivism festival.

The 2017 Commonwealth Short Story Prize: Entries Open 1st September 2016

The Prize is awarded for the best piece of unpublished short fiction (2,000–5,000 words) in English written by a citizen of a Commonwealth country.

Regional winners receive £2,500 and the overall winner receives £5,000.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: SMALL ISLAND ANTHOLOGY

Deadline Wednesday 5 October (11.59pm in any time zone)

We’re inviting writers from islands in the Commonwealth* to submit stories for a new anthology.

 The anthology will include poetry, short stories, and nonfiction – which can include creative non-fiction, memoir, and photo or narrative essays – from an island perspective. 

Call for Nominations: African Literature Association 2016 Award

ALA 2017 Annual Conference will take place in Yale. Image courtesy of africanlit.org

The African Literature Association is currently accepting nominations for the following awards. Please note the deadlines and the specified individual to whom and all nominations and materials should be addressed. The awards will be presented at the ALA 43rd Annual Meeting and Conference, June 2017, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.

Return of The Guardian literary series

• Submission of articles begins

The 1980s was a momentous decade for Nigerian literature and one of the enabling factors for the literary effulgence of that era was the robustness of the critical enterprise woven around the literary productions.

The Guardian newspaper provided a significant platform for the critical engagement of writers, literary works and their raison d etre vis a vis literary trends which ended up evolving into a national literature. Through the famous, but now rested “The Guardian Literary Series”, the newspaper provided scholars and critics a formidable site for engaging Nigerian literature from different perspectives spanning from the oral tradition to contemporary writings.

 

More Than 6 Months On, Novelist Ahmed Naji Awaits Scheduling of Appeal — Arabic Literature (in English)

“We invite all writers, journalists, and those interested in freedom of expression and creativity to attend the Bulaq Abu Al-Aila Misdemeanour court session scheduled for Saturday, August 27 to hear the defense’s motion for a stay of the two year sentence issued against writer#AhmedNaji[.]”

via More Than 6 Months On, Novelist Ahmed Naji Awaits Scheduling of Appeal — Arabic Literature (in English)

CALL FOR WRITERS: ADDA

Call for Writers

Deadline: Monday 29 August (11.59pm in any time zone)

adda is Commonwealth Writers’ online gathering of stories, a place where writers and readers can talk to each other across global and geopolitical divides.

Call for Abstracts: EFURU@50- A Celebration of Flora Nwapa, the pioneer of African Women Literature

The Flora Nwapa Foundation invites abstracts for 15 – 20 minute presentations during the National Conference to celebrate the 50th anniversary of EFURU under the theme; EFURU@50; A Celebration of Flora Nwapa the pioneer of African Women Literature. The conference will be held at Lagos, Maiduguri, Abuja, Oguta and Enugu between 29th November and 11th December 2016.

Call for Submissions: Lagos Theatre Festival Playwriting Competition

Our annual playwriting competition is seeking submissions from playwrights for plays to be produced at the Lagos Theatre Festival 2017 with the theme ‘Rhythm of the City’.  Lagos Theatre Festival (LTF) is the largest performing arts festival in Nigeria and indeed West Africa. It was created to promote theatre in unconventional spaces. Through the festival, theatre makers and producers are supported to expand their practice beyond traditional theatre spaces by creating work that responds to any given space. LTF has commissioned 8 plays since 2014 through similar playwriting competitions.

Call for Submissions: New Orleans Review

PRINT ISSUE

* The African Literary Hustle*

Guest Editors: Mukoma wa Ngugi and Laura Murphy

When African literature is published in the West, it is too often realist, in English, and always in the spirit of Chinua Achebe. But romance, science fiction, fantasy, epic, experimental poetry, satire, political allegory all find expression in Africa, though not necessarily publication. Those who are called to write often have to hustle to get recognition by writing a coming-of-age colonial encounter tale or hustle even harder to have their unique voices heard.