[Open] 9 Opportunities for African Writers
Up to $200, Digital Publication etc
This newsletter is published every Wednesday at 5pm WAT.
1. Submit to Torch Magazine
Torch Literary Arts seeks original creative work by Black women writers. They are interested in work that challenges and disrupts preconceived notions of what Black women’s contemporary writing should be. Accepted submissions will be published in their Friday Features.
Deadline: Rolling basis | Pay: $150
Things to note:
Include a one (1) page cover letter noting the title(s) of the work(s) submitted and a brief bio. The cover letter page does not contribute to the overall page count.
Note: Submissions without a cover letter may not be read.
Upload your text submission as a Word (DOC, DOCX) or portable document format (PDF).
Typed, double-spaced (poetry may be single-spaced) pages.
Numbered pages.
Margins should be between 1” and 1.5”.
Poetry: submit up to five (5) poems totaling no more than eight (8) pages.
Fiction, Creative Nonfiction: 12-point font. No more than fifteen (15) pages or 3500 words (whichever is achieved first). Excerpts of longer works are welcome if self-contained.
They want CNF that is thought-provoking, engaging, and personal. Please see the following examples for the type of creative nonfiction we publish:
Brittany Rogers, “Before Uses of the Erotic”
Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton, “Two Traumatic Births Changed My Experience of Motherhood”
Drama/Screenwriting: submit one act or a collection of short scenes no longer than fifteen (15) pages. Excerpts of longer works are welcome if self-contained. Indicate if a performance video or dramatic audio reading will be available with the text submission if selected.
2. Get Featured by Fictive Dream
Flash Fiction February, now in its eight year, is an annual event during which Fictive Dream features a new piece of flash fiction throughout the entire month. “We’re interested in stories with a contemporary feel that give an insight into the human condition. They may be on any subject. They may be challenging, unsettling, playful, cryptic but above all, they must be well-crafted and compelling.”—FD
Deadline: 15th December 2024 | Pay: Award Nominations
Things to note:
Submit your story as an attachment to fictivedream@gmail.com with ‘FFF 2025’ in the subject line of your email. No PDFs.
Word count 200–850 words.
Please include a bio of no more than 75 words written in the third person with links that you would like to be included.
Simultaneous submissions are welcome but please let them know straightaway if your story is accepted elsewhere.
They do not accept multiple submissions. Please submit only one story during this submissions window.
Your submission must not have been previously published, either in print or online (including your own blog or social media).
3. Submit to AngelFood
Angel Food Magazine is an online literary project that aims to publish writing that would nourish and sustain the ‘angels living among us’. In February 2025, they will publish a love-themed supplement. They’re open to essays, short stories, and poetry. They can be sweet or sour, epic love stories or humiliating disasters, personal anecdotes, cultural criticism, or theoretical reflections.
Deadline: 15th December 2024 | Pay: Unstated
How to Sumbit:
Please send all submissions in Word doc format to angelfoodmag@gmail.com
4. Submit to The Offing
The Offing is an online literary magazine publishing creative writing in all genres and art in all media. They publish work that challenges, experiments, provokes — work that pushes literary and artistic forms and conventions. They are currently seeking creative nonfiction under the theme Insight.
Deadline: 16th December 2024 | Pay: Up to $100
Things to note:
Creative nonfiction (usually personal essay) that centers one’s personal experience against the backdrop of art, literature, and culture. Insight essays generally fuse together two topics that don’t typically belong together, weaving—and investigating—what is perceived versus what is true.
Word limit= 5000
All pieces should be original, and previously unpublished in any format in English.
The Offing acquires first serial rights worldwide in English and non-exclusive anthology rights.
Simultaneous submissions are accepted; please be sure to withdraw your piece promptly if it’s accepted elsewhere.
Please direct all inquiries and comments to info@theoffingmag.com.
Their Fiction department is also happy to consider excerpts from novels and short story collections, especially from small presses. If you have something you would like considered, email excerpts as a Word .doc to mary@theoffingmag.com. But submit creative nonfiction in the link below.
They try to respond within six months, but due to the volume of submissions that may not always be possible.
Fill this form to submit to the Insight issue.
5. Send Longform Fiction to WaxWing
Waxwing is published three times a year in February, July, and October. They strive to promote the tremendous cultural diversity of contemporary American literature, alongside international voices both in English and in translation. For their February issue, they are now accepting longform fiction.
Deadline: 31st December 2024 or after 300 submissions | Pay: Unpaid
Things to note:
Please send only one story
1000 to 10,000 words. Double-space your manuscript and include page numbers.
Simultaneous submissions are acceptable and encouraged but please let them know if your story is accepted elsewhere.
Please include a cover letter with your submission that tells them what you are submitting (titles and genre are helpful) and a short third person author bio.
6. Submit to Vagabond City
Vagabond City is seeking Creative Nonfiction, Fiction, Interviews, Poetry and Reviews. New issues drop on the third Monday of every month. Please allow 4-6 weeks for a response and please wait to hear back before submitting something new.
Deadline: Rolling basis | Pay: Unpaid
Things to note:
Book Reviews: they accept book and chapbook reviews of works. Check their Books Available for Review list or submit a review for an unlisted book or chapbook as long as it’s written by a marginalized author and/or an author of color. You can check out their review style and format here.
Please limit Review submissions to 1500 words or less. Send book reviews to Alana at vagabondcityliterary@gmail.com
Creative Nonfiction + Fiction + Poetry: Submit up to 5 previously unpublished pieces via email with your name and the type of submission subject line.
Please include a third-person bio, any social media handles, and where you learned about us in the body of the email. They prefer the work to be attached as a .doc or .docx file.
Simultaneous submissions are fine. If you need to withdraw your work, please let us know ASAP in the same email thread as your submission.
Send CNF to Jessica at vagabondcitycnf@gmail.com
Send Fiction to Nicole at vagabondcityfiction@gmail.com
Send Poetry to Clair at vagabondcitypoetry@gmail.com
7. Call for Commissions and Pitches: African Feminisms in Context
Ololade Faniyi, The Republic’s subeditor on Gender and Feminism, is seeking multivocal perspectives from African feminists across geographies, classes, religions, and other intersections. “I use the term “African feminisms or African feminist thought” as a strategic way to clarify and define feminist thought emerging from feminists in Africa, but I welcome alternative forms of naming. The aim of this new direction at The Republic is to mainstream African feminist thought, while not compromising on its investments, and offer young African feminists accessible resources to engage with and build upon.”—Faniyi
Deadline: Rolling basis | Pay: Up to N150,000
Things to note:
She is considering pieces focused on the following themes:
The evolution of African feminisms
Intersectionality in African Feminism
Politics, Political Economy and Development
African Feminism in Culture, Media & Communication
Patriarchy and Reactionary Politics
Security & Justice
Technology & Infrastructure
Health & Body Politics
Knowledge Production & Education
For subthemes and to read the editor’s note, please click here.
For some examples of the expectations and standards on at The Republic, read these pieces on Gender and Feminism.
Click here to view The Republic’s Style Guide.
Please indicate your interest via the form below and the editor will be in touch.
8. LongReads is Accepting Submissions
Longreads accepts submissions and pitches for original work from writers and journalists around the world. They currently do not accept fiction, and are not considering investigative or deeply reported features at this time.
Deadline: rolling basis. | Compensation: From $500
How to submit:
Essays and columns typically run between 2,000 and 6,000 words. Pieces may be longer or broken up into a series depending on the length and subject matter. They work with established, emerging, and unpublished writers and journalists.
They will not accept any submission or pitch written or edited using generative AI tools such as ChatGPT.
Please email essay submissions, story pitches, reading list ideas, and other queries to our main editorial inbox at hello@longreads.com.
9. Call for Submissions: Mizna 26.1 Summer Issue
Mizna publishes work around SWANA (South West Asia and North Africa). For their summer issue, they are focus on the ongoing ethnic cleansing and genocide in Gaza has passed its one year mark. They encourage work that affirms the necessity of resistance and steadfastness against imposed structures of catastrophe; work that imagines new collectivities, new forms of struggle, new worlds. They especially welcome writing which centers Palestine, Armenia, Afghanistan, Sudan, Morocco, Libya, and beyond, places directly affected by the worst of recent imperial devastations.
Deadline: 6th January 2025 | Pay: $200 + annual subscription
Things to note:
Submitters do not need to be SWANA or Arab identified, but work submitted should be considerate of Mizna’s ethos and the social realities of their audiences.
Please submit previously unpublished work.
Simultaneous submissions are accepted, but please withdraw your submission if accepted elsewhere.
Please include a short cover letter (200 words or less), with a brief overview of the work you are submitting and why you are submitting to Mizna. Include a note disclosing any simultaneously submitted works.
Poets should list the poems they are submitting.
Prose submissions should include a brief, 1–2 sentence overview of the submission (e.g., a synopsis if it is a story or narrative essay, or an overview of the argument for more expository essays). Keep in mind that we are a literary magazine.
Include a brief (50 words or less) author bio.
Add a maximum of one sentence for any additional information you would like the editorial team to know about the work.
Include contact information: email, phone number, and mailing address.
Please submit as .doc or .docx files.
Prose submissions should be double spaced and limited to 5000 words.
Poetry submissions should be limited to four poems of any length.
Prose of the Week
The Storyteller | Mubanga Kalimamukwento
All the years you’ve had your big brother––thirteen, if you’re counting those three before memories crystallised––Yankho has been brimming with stories. Even his name is a narration of your mother’s lifelong unblemished parish attendance, a living witness of her efficient rosary recitations, rewarded finally when her first son was delivered six long years after she graduated from Miss Asante to Mrs. Soko.
Mum’s adoration is a dish reserved for the son for whom the heavens gaped open, not for you…
If you’d like your prose featured in ‘Prose of The Week’ send an email to editor.afww@gmail.com.
Poetry of the Week
Who We Are for the Sake of Our Mothers | Aisha A Bolaji
Across the horizon a small colony of birds
Are singing through the silence of the evening breeze.
Peach light of the the setting sun is tenderly
Touching the edges of our skin, I’m no more a woman…
If you’d like your poetry featured in ‘Poetry of The Week’ send an email to editor.afww@gmail.com.
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Yɛma yɛn apɛde pa (may you meet good things—Twi, Southern and Central Ghana)