Paying Opportunities for African Writers [April 2025]
Up to $1,000, Contests, Print Publication, Fellowships
This newsletter is published every Wednesday at 5pm WAT.
1. 2025 Tejumola Olaniyan Creative Writers-in-Residence Fellowship
This residency program is created in honour of the late Nigerian Professor Tejumola Olaniyan and his intellectual legacy in the field of African literature and critical theory. The residency invites writers to Sharjah, UAE for a period of three months to complete their work
Deadline: 17th April 2025 | Prize: Total of 50,000 AED
Things to note:
To apply, please send:
CV/résumé
A two-page narrative of the project to be undertaken during the residency period, its significance, and a proposed date of completion.
A sample of published or unpublished writings.
To submit applications, compile all application materials; CV/résumé, two-page narrative, and writing sample into one single PDF in the mentioned order.
Please name the file with the residency title abbreviation and the applicant’s name in this format: OCWRP_LASTNAME_FIRSTNAME.pdf
Use the same name in the email subject heading and send the PDF as an email attachment to applications@theafricainstitute.org.
2. Submit to Seaside Gothic:
Seaside Gothic is open to submissions of fiction, poetry and nonfiction for their upcoming feature.
Deadline: 20th April 2025, 11:59 GMT | Pay: £0.01 per word
Things to note:
All written submissions must be stand-alone pieces and no longer than 1,000 words.
Each submission needs to meet the three criteria that define seaside gothic literature:
It is led by emotion, not reason, exploring the human experience mentally and spiritually as well as physically, and is unashamed to embrace the violence of the sea and the wind along with the beauty of the land and the sky and the ever-changing tide.
It addresses duality—land and sea, love and hate, the beautiful and the grotesque—to reflect the structures that line the coast, which are both those solidly braced against the fiercest elements and those built from what surrounds in a state of shanty transience.
It connects to the edge, living on the seaside either literally or figuratively, and has one foot in the water and the other on solid ground, presenting the juxtaposition of a physical border with open space and a wilderness of water that provides life yet is inconsumable.
Submission should be attached as a Word (.doc or .docx) or PDF document in Times New Roman size 12. Double line spacing is preferable for fiction and nonfiction.
Please send one previously unpublished submission, via email, specifying the category (fiction, poetry, nonfiction), along with a 50-word third-person bio, a profile photo, and any associated links, to submissions@seasidegothic.com
Quotes or extracts of work currently in copyright under UK law will be included in nonfiction if Fair Use can be justified at the discretion of Seaside Gothic, and will not be considered within fiction or poetry.
Payment is offered via PayPal
3. Iskanchi Book Prize 2024 is Now 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: 21st April 2025 | Prize: $1000 and book publication
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.)Submit a completed prose or hybrid manuscript in PDF or Word (.doc/.docx) format
Include a short writer's bio (max 150 words) in the body of your email
Email Subject: "Iskanchi Book Prize Submission"
Multiple Submissions are not allowed. Send only one Manuscript.Simultaneous Submissions are allowed, but notify them immediately if your manuscript is accepted elsewhere.
Language: English or translations (with permissions).
Submit to Submissions@Iskanchi.com
4. Toyin Falola Prize 2025
This Prize is created in honor of the Distinguished African scholar and foremost historian, Professor Toyin Falola. This year, it invites young African writers to craft narratives exploring the intricate intersections of Nature, Mother, Life, Earth, Technology, and Artificial Intelligence. Submissions should delve into the complexities, tensions, and points of unity within these relationships.
Deadline: 25th April 2025| Prize: $1,000
Things to note:
There is no limit to the number of words; however, submissions within the range of 1,500 – 4,500 words are preferred.
Writers are only allowed to submit one entry.
All entrants must be African.
All submissions must be the original work of the entrants, previously unpublished in any form, and not under consideration for publication or a prize somewhere else.
All submissions should be attached as a doc. file, named as the title of the submission (without the name of the entrant) and formatted in 1.5 line spacing, Book Antiqua font, size 12.
The body of the submission email should not contain the bio of the entrant, just the title of the submission, word count, genre, full name, and contact information. Bios of the entrants will be requested upon selection.
Submissions should be sent to prize@lunaris.com.ng with the subject “TOYIN FALOLA PRIZE SUBMISSION.”
No erotica.
5. Contest: Stories at the End of the World
Dark ‘n’ Light turns four in May. While approaching this anniversary “we’ve been thinking a lot about the proverbial and literal ending of worlds and catastrophic, apocalyptic change. To paraphrase T. S Eliot, will the world really end not with a bang, but with a whimper?”—DNL. To tease and trouble notions around the apocalypse, they’re hosting a short fiction contest called ‘Stories at the End of the World’. Theme: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Deadline: 17th May 2025 | Prize: Hamper + unstated honorarium
Things to note:
While the concept is biblical in origin, there are ecological, social, political and economic implications that they’d love to explore in fiction. To understand the theme better, read the explanation here.
Word Limit: 2000 words
6. INKspiredng Chapbook Series 2025
After publishing 22 poetry chapbooks in the last 4 years, INKspiredng Chapbook Series is taking a new format. They have decided to make their first official call for submissions.
Deadline: 24th May 2025 | Pay: Publication + unstated amount
Things to note:
Send a manuscript of between 12-30 poems
No multiple submissions, one manuscript per person
Send entry as MS (.doc or .docx) attachment to the email inkspiredng@gmail.com
Subject of email CHAPBOOK SERIES 2025
They read blind, so DO NOT put your name anywhere on the manuscript.
Ensure the work you are submitting is wholly yours. Plagiarism is the worst literary sin
They strongly advice against the use of AI (you don’t stand any chance to win anyway).
Three manuscripts will be selected for publication.
7. Wittspouts Storytelling Prize
Witsprouts is dedicated to fostering a deeper engagement in arts and culture of Black people in Africa and its diaspora. To encourage oral storytelling, The Witsprouts Storytelling Prize invites storytellers to unleash their creativity and craft captivating, original theatrical narratives around the theme “Rebooting Legends and Memories.”
Deadline: 31st May 2025 | Prize: N500,000
Things to note:
For 2025, only Nigerian storytellers (home or in the diaspora) are eligible.
Create a 5–10 minute video of you narrating a story based on the theme in the most captivating way possible.
Your entry must be an original theatrical piece, showcasing voice modulation, facial expressions, gestures, choreography, music, and other creative elements.
Upload the video to your Instagram profile and tag @witsproutsorg and @witsprouts as collaborators.
Use the hashtag #WitsproutsStorytellingPrize in your caption.
Follow both @witsprouts and @witsproutsorg to be eligible.
8. Pitch to Afrotivity
Afrotivity is a ‘break room’ for Afro Literary Magazine where recent activities, controversies, and trends within the Afro community are discussed. Once a month, on Afrotivity, Afro Literary Magazine will feature a post on our blog from a writer who isn't already apart of their team. “Bring your tea, shade, shower thoughts, rants, and passions here.”—ALM
Deadline: Rolling | Pay: From $10
Things to note:
You can only submit one pitch at a time.
If you wish, you can pitch every month.
To submit your pitch, fill this form.
9. Call for Submissions: Poems About Work
ONE ART is a journal of poetry. They aim to publish poetry that adds value to the life of their readers. For a digital anthology titled The Book of Jobs, One Art is inviting submissions of poems about work.
Deadline: 12th July 2025 | Pay: From $10
Things to note:
They are looking for:
Poems about all forms of labour
A variety of styles: narrative, persona, documentary, formal, experimental, erasure, cento, abecedarian, prose poems
Serious poems, funny poems, seriously funny poems
While they welcome poems about your own work experiences, they hope you’ll also consider submitting poems about the work of others, including family members, historical figures, or people you’ve observed, interviewed, or researched.
Email up to three poems of (up to 150 lines each) in the body of an email to:
oneartworkpoems@gmail.com
Please also include a 3rd-person bio of up to 50 words.
Previously unpublished poems are preferred (though it’s fine if you have shared them on personal sites, including social media).
They will consider poems that have been published in literary journals if the rights have reverted to the poet; please indicate this in your submission.
Simultaneous submissions are allowed, but please notify them if your poem is accepted elsewhere
Poems they love “What Work Is” by Philip Levine, “Invisible Work” by Kwoya Fagin Maples, “Taking It Home to Jerome” by David Kirby, “Night Waitress” by Linda Hull
Prose of the Week
Firstborn | Tehila Okagbue
“Onuoha, we need to take her out, and we need to do it now,” the woman in a dark cloak and stilettos whispered to the man beside her. Her voice was sharp and urgent, but it was barely audible over the crackling noise from outside.
I tried to move, but my limbs felt like lead, and the air surrounding me was thick with the stench of blood, threatening to suffocate me…
If you’d like your prose featured in ‘Prose of The Week’ send an email to editor.afww@gmail.com.
Poetry of the Week
Self-Portrait As An Unbroken Thing | Ajayi
Who doesn't dream of Heaven
With all the hell we bed through on earth—Nome Emeka Patrick
Everything that carries breath
Is not wiped into erasure.
Here, my brother's absence does not return home
To mother. In the beginning
There was no protest/
If you’d like your poetry featured in ‘Poetry of The Week’ send an email to editor.afww@gmail.com.
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Libaku malamu (Good luck—Lingala, Northern Congo)