This newsletter is published every Wednesday. It now includes a dedicated section for opportunities in technical writing.
1. SpringNG 2024 Writing Fellowship
The SprinNG Writing Fellowship (SWF) is an intensive 6-week online mentorship program for developing Nigerian, Ghanaian, Liberian, and South African writers with great potential and willingness to learn.
Deadline: April 15, 2023. | Prize: Free 6-week writing fellowship.
Things to note:
This fellowship focuses on Poetry, Fiction, Non-Fiction, Book Review, Play/Drama, and Blogging. During the 6 weeks, mentees will be in contact with their mentors, sending them their works and getting reviews and commentaries. Mentors and mentees will aim to work on at least 1 piece of writing in their select genre per week.
The SprinNG Creative Writing Fellowship is only open to writers who have not published a book before (eBook/hardcopy).
Applicants must be a Nigerian, Ghanaian, Liberian, or South African citizen, must reside in Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, or South Africa, and must be between the ages of 18 to 25.
For more information click here. To register for the Fellowship’s live Q&A session on the 18th of January, click the button below.
2. SpingNG is now accepting submissions for 2024
SpringNg is accepting submissions in all genres from African writers for publication on their platform.
Deadline: March 2024 | Prize: N3500 per accepted piece.
Guidelines.
You may submit up to 2 pieces (of the same or different genres) for this period only.
You may submit Poetry, Fiction (Flash fiction, Short Stories, etc.), or Creative Nonfiction (Essays, Book Reviews, etc.).
Writers have the option of submitting on any theme(s) of their choice.
Work(s) submitted should not have been published elsewhere (on a literary platform, personal blog, or social media page). Please ensure that your work(s) are well-edited and proofread.
Click here to submit.
3. Olongo Africa’s Multilingual Anthology Project: Call for Translators
Olongo Africa is a web publication published under The Brick House Collective. The Olongo is the orange-cheeked Waxbill (Estrilda Melpoda M) common in West Africa, whose call is a continuous twittering. For their 2024 publication, Olongo Africa is seeking new translators for African languages such as: Bambara, Somali, Fulfulde, Amharic, Arabic, Berom, Xhosa, Dinka, Fon, and many others not listed here.
Deadline: 15 January 2024. | Compensation: unstated honourarium
How to Apply:
If you speak, write, and translate into and from these and other languages not yet listed, please apply by reaching out to submissions@olongoafrica.com.
Source: Brittle Paper
4. Oxbelly Writers Retreat in Greece (June 2024)
The Oxbelly Retreat is an annual gathering of international storytellers, dedicated to the exchange of ideas, deepening of craft, and broadening of artistic horizons through intercultural dialogue. The 2024 Oxbelly Retreat includes programs for writers working in film, television, and literature to workshop their writing and to engage in dialogue across mediums. Each program is led by established writers in their respective fields.
Deadline: 19th January 2024 at 11:59pm EET. | Prize: all expense paid retreat
Things to note:
The retreat is divided into the following programs: Screenwriting Program, Episodic Writers Program, Fiction Writers Program.
The retreat will hold from June 22-30, 2024 in Costa Navarino, Messinia, Greece.
To apply please click text of your preferred program above.
5. Open Sewers Collective: Call for Submissions
Open Sewers Collective is a non-profit magazine seeking literary pieces, critical writing and translated works for their next issue. They encourage especially those without prior publishing experience and those who belong to marginalised communities to do so. You may also choose to publish anonymously.
Deadline: 12th January 2024 | Prize: Publication + free copy of magazine.
Few things to note:
You can submit texts on any topic or theme and in any language, but please add a German or English translation, if necessary.
Literary submissions can take the form of: poetry, short prose , serialised novels, creative nonfiction, and plays. Critical writing entries can be essays, popular scientific writing, or reviews (of literature, movies, shows, music, etc.)
For translated work, they accept translations of any type of literature, if you have legal permission to publish it. However, they do offer to inquire about the legal situation for you.
Simultaneous submissions are allowed if they are identified as such.
Submit all texts as word documents. Don't mention your name in the document.
You may submit up to five texts in total. For projects exceeding 20 pages, please include an expose. Layout, font, etc. will be unified within the editing process.
To submit, send your text to opensewers@gmail.com. You may introduce yourself and your work briefly in the body of the mail.
6. Makena Onjerika’s Kenyan Speculative Fiction Anthology
Kenyan author and winner of the 2018 Caine Prize for African Writing, Makena Onjerika, is inviting Kenyan writers to submit speculative fiction under the theme Yajayo.
As the name suggests, Yajayo is focused on what is to come, the future. So what is your vision of Kenya's future? The next 10, 20, 50, 100, 1000 years, what will they be for Kenyans? The author is particularly interested in futures that are heavily connected to the past and the present. Futures that are singly and peculiarly Kenyan, whether positive or negative. Futures that are not simply replications of stories and imaginations from elsewhere. 15-20 stories will be selected and published in the Anthology by April 30th, 2024.
Deadline: 11:59pm Kenyan Time, 20th January 2024. | Prize: Publication + up to 10,000 KES for each published story.
Submission rules:
Your short story should be 2000-5000 words long (including the title, your name, and contact details). Shorter or longer manuscripts may be accepted but only if they are exceedingly impressive.
Speculative fiction should be interpreted to cover science fiction, fantasy, magical/surreal fiction, folklore and others. Please do not submit work that is not speculative in nature or that does not match the theme.
Strictly format your manuscript as per the Shunn Modern manuscript format and use 12-point font.
Submit your manuscript in Word format. PDFs will not be accepted. Make sure to label your word document as follows: Your name_Yajayo 2024 submission.
Do not use ALL CAPITALS anywhere in your work, even in the title. Use Sentence case for your writing and Capitalize Every Other Word for titles.
Submissions will only be accepted from Kenyan citizens, and you will need to provide proof of citizenship if your work is accepted.
Submit a 50-100 word bio. You will be asked for an author photo if your work is selected for the anthology.
Your story must be recognizably about Kenya and Kenyans.
All entrants must be age 18 years and above as of January 20th 2024.
All submissions must be in English although they may include other languages in them.
All submissions must be written for adults and not for children only
All entries selected for the anthology cannot have been previously published elsewhere. Simultaneous submissions are welcome as long as you notify Onjerika immediately if your story is accepted elsewhere and withdraw it.
Stories selected for the anthology will undergo editing, copywriting, and proof reading as necessary. You will be consulted about all editing work done on your manuscript.
Only submit work that is significantly developed and complete. Early drafts will not be accepted.
Worldwide copyright will remain with the writer. You will only have to provide 12 months exclusive publishing rights for the anthology from the date of publication, after which your story may be reprinted anywhere as long as other publishers always indicate that the story was first published in Yajayo: An Anthology of Kenyan Speculative Fiction (2024). Once the 12 months lapse, Yajayo will hold non-exclusive publishing rights to your story indefinitely. Snippets of stories published in the anthology will be used for promotional purposes online.
Writers whose work appears in the anthology will be expected to take part in publicity activities, including online.
Only submit work that is exclusively your own work. Plagiarism is not acceptable.
7. Iskanchi Book Prize 2024 is open for submissions:
Iskanchi Book Prize aims to recognize exceptional prose and hybrid book manuscripts and offer the winners a chance to be published. This competition is open to both emerging and established African writers living anywhere in the world.
Deadline: 30 January 2024 | Prize: $1500 and book publication
Some things to note:
Submissions should be prose: Fiction and non-fiction manuscripts (novels, novellas, short story collections, essay collections, memoirs, etc.). OR
hybrid: Manuscripts that blend multiple genres or mediums (e.g., poetry and visual art, prose and photography, experimental formats, etc.)
Book submissions should be previously unpublished and between 50,000– 120,000 words.
Simultaneous submissions to other publishers or competitions are allowed, but please notify us immediately if your manuscript is accepted elsewhere.
Subject of submission should be "Iskanchi Book Prize"
Please send all submissions to submissions@iskanchi.com
8. Call for Submissions: Black Feminist Collective
The Black Feminist Collective is an intergenerational group of Black feminists and womanists who stand for Black liberation in its entirety. They are seeking essays, articles, interviews, artworks etc, from Black feminists and womanists, for their Spring 2024 publication.
Deadline: 26th February 2024 | Prize: Professional Consulting and Publication
Notes to guide submission:
Please provide your email address in order for us to work with you to edit your work before it’s published.
If the work you are submitting has been published before, please copy + paste a link to it was originally published, and we’ll cite it.
Describe your submission(s).
If your work contains graphic and explicit content, and please provide a content warning.
Pick at least one of the following sections in which you want your works to be published: Resource lists, Art, Politics, Movements, Culture, Interviews and Conversations, Reflections and Personal Narratives.
All writings must be at least 100 words.
Resource lists must be accompanied by a brief overview.
Both video essays and audio essays must be accompanied by a transcript, or be transcribed before it’s published. If you’re submitting video essays to the submissions form, please only upload the transcript.
Clarify if you want your visual artwork to be published individually, or if you want it to be featured on another person’s works for future publications.
If you want your visual pieces to be published individually, it should be accompanied by a title and a description, or by an optional 100+ word piece.
If the artwork is you’re submitting is a picture of someone else, you must also have their written consent to be photographed and featured in order for it to be published—please confirm this with us!
Upload at least one picture per submission.
Please give credit to the creator(s) of the image you are uploading.
If you’re submitting your writings, and you don’t want to upload an image, you can pick one of your favorite quotes to appear at the top of your published work. View this example.
For more information, click here.
Technical Writing
1. 2024 Bellingcat Technical Writing Fellowship
Bellingcat is looking for fellows who have an idea for improving usability of open source methods and tools through documentation or writing.
This opportunity is not just targeted at technical writers, but writers of all stripes, illustrators, user researchers, videographers, or anyone who has an idea for making open source tools easier to learn and more accessible.
It is open to anyone interested in open source investigation regardless of experience or technical skill. For many documentation projects, writing from the perspective of a “non-expert” can even be a benefit for usability.
Deadline: 15th January 2024 | Stipend: 1000 Euros per month
To Apply
Send your application to contact-tech@bellingcat.com. Please send your CV as well as a cover letter (no longer than 2,000 words) answering the following questions:
What do you want to work on and why? Include a description of the tool, including a summary of why you think it will be helpful for online researchers;
What is your project plan? Give a detailed description of the creative and productive process that you envision. What are your intermediate milestones? What is your plan B?
Who are you and why do you have the required skills to build this tool?
Provide information about yourself and your skills in the areas that are relevant for your envisioned tool. You can also share or describe some past projects you have worked on.
Please also note Technical Writing Fellowship in the subject line of your email.
For more information about this fellowship, click here.
Prose of the Week
To be a victim, all you have to do is exist in the right place at the wrong time.
Time is the unit of our existence and timing is what transforms a random act to a historic moment.
Perhaps, due to the reality of actual martyrdom, a murderous assumption has developed: all victims are blameless saintly beings who deserve reparation and complete absolution…
Poetry of the Week
Nostalgia for Samsara by Pamilerin Jacob
I prefer tension over attention.
Daily, the half-light of memory dims.
The half-light of memory dims, daily,
& out of the silence, I moulded a bird.
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Nenpin pokin (God will grant you success—Ngas, Plateau State, Nigeria)