African Writer Magazine is updated monthly, and always on the first.
WHO CAN SUBMIT: We welcome submissions from Africans and Africans in the diaspora. We also welcome from anyone literary works that engage African peoples, places and ideas. If it speaks of Africa and excites us, it will be published.
IN SHORT:
CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT .doc, .rtf, .docx, .odt formats, or email write/@/africanwriter.com (remove the two slashes).
NO SIMULTANEOUS SUBMISSIONS PLEASE.
A LITTLE MORE:
African Writer Magazine is open to all genres of literature from Africa and the African Diaspora. We publish prose fiction, creative non-fiction, folktales, poetry, short plays, essays/creative features, interviews/profiles, reviews, and the occasional book excerpt, etc.
We usually confirm receipt of submissions within a week (if you don’t hear from us, look in your spam folder), and a final decision is usually made and acceptance email sent within 30 to 45 days. Give us that time to properly evaluate your work.
WHAT WE’RE LOOKING FOR:
Before you send us your work, we encourage you to read recent editions of the magazine to get a feel for what moves us—what keeps us up at night, makes us laugh, haunts us, lingers. Because we receive many submissions each cycle, we regret that we’re only able to respond some of the time with individual feedback.
Poetry: we’re drawn to poems that pulse with feeling, poems that are daring, contemplative, even mischievous. We love poems that sing or don’t sing at all, but somehow hum. Bring us rhythm. Or rupture. Just please, no end-rhymes.
Fiction: we look for stories that crack open something true (about life as we know it or as we think we know it). The best fiction pays attention to both story and sentence. We are listening to what you’re saying and how you’re saying it. Let form carry content. Let content shape form.
Essays: we welcome both commentary and creative nonfiction, but we prefer to see these forms distinct rather than entangled.
Commentary should reflect on an issue (any issue), with clarity, curiosity and a sense of voice. It needn’t be narrative, but it should be lively, accessible, and shaped by language that draws us in. Please don’t send academic papers.
Creative nonfiction should be driven by story. Think memoir, braided essay, personal reflection – told with the intimacy and texture of fiction.
Book Reviews: we accept reviews of book-length works: poetry collections, anthologies, novels, short story collections, plays. We are especially interested in reviews that don’t just summarize but engage, wrestle, or delight in the work they’re considering.
Other Reviews: we also publish smart, well-crafted reviews of films, television and live performance. These can follow the structure of a traditional review or read more like a reflective essay. Surprise us.
Plays: we welcome dramatic writing in the form of traditional plays as well as hybrid or experimental forms that blur the line between stage and script. Keep stage directions minimal, unless they are part of the story’s voice.
SUBMISSIONS:
Please ensure all entries are single line spaced, and in standard Times New Roman 12pt. font.
LENGTH:
Please keep the short stories under 6000 words (it’s meant to be read in a sitting, right?). For poetry, submit at least 2 to give the readers a proper sampling of your work (unless it is an extended poem). If you submit more and they all scale our editorial fence, they may be published in tranches. We love tranches!
DO:
Specify the genre of your submission.
Please ensure that the submission is properly edited for errors. A ton of entries flounder at the first reading over minor errors.
Please include a brief, one-paragraph biographical profile, your email address and social media handles (optional), and how you would like your name to appear on our website (important!).
Optionally, attach a profile picture.
Submissions (.doc, .rtf, .docx, .odt file formats) GO HERE or can be emailed to write/@/africanwriter.com (delete the two forward slashes).
DON’T:
Again, we do not welcome simultaneous submissions, please. They often get pulled at the last minute, after the submission has been planned into an edition, and web pages built. It’s always a mess when they get withdrawn, so, no.
DEADLINES:
We’re always open. Our rolling submission calendar means there is no true deadline limitation. The 15th of the month is a loose cut-off date for entries hoping to get published by the 1st of the next month. Most contributions are published (or not) within a month (to six weeks) of receipt and the writer is notified via email.
AI USE POLICY:
It is undeniable that Artificial Intelligence is starting to impact our world in unprecedented ways. While AI has a part to play as a colourful accent to our lives, our core mission here is to elevate writers, and so we place a high value on writing rooted in human imagination and experience. By submitting, you affirm that your piece is your own original work, and free of AI-generated content.
SUBMITTING AFTER (NON)PUBLICATION:
It is not possible for us to publish every piece of writing submitted, and there’s never an easy way or a good time to say no. After your work has been published (or not) by African Writer Magazine, please wait a short while (at least three months) before sending us new material for publication consideration. We may suspend this rule in cases of commissioned or serialized works.
RIGHTS:
Your work remains yours, forever. It is your copyright, always. Feel free to add it to a collection you’re working on, but please acknowledge African Writer Magazine or AfricanWriter.com as the original publisher. By your submission, you grant African Writer Magazine a two-prong permission: the first is to publish and exhibit the work on our website, www.africanwriter.com, in perpetuity. You also grant African Writer Magazine the permission to feature the same material in a printed African Writer Magazine or book (anthology), should we decide to publish one. We will notify you (via your email on file) before any hard copy of your work is published, to work out the details specific to that potential step. If you have questions, please email us. Thanks.
FEES:
This is a volunteer-powered, self-funded, publication. It has been that way from inception. African Writer Magazine, hopefully, will evolve someday into a publication that pays for submissions. For now, African Writer Magazine depends on dedicated volunteers to keep the wheels on the road, and so, unable to pay for submissions. If that changes, as we continue to grow the readership and appreciation of literature and writers from Africa and Africans, we will let you know. Thanks.
Please send an email if you have questions. Like you, we’re writers. We understand. Email write/@/africanwriter.com (delete the two forward slashes). For SUBMISSIONS FORM, CLICK HERE.
Thank you.
– Naza Amaeze Okoli, Editor