This year, the Lagos Book and Arts Festival (LABAF) takes center stage to honor the indomitable spirit and profound contributions of Prof. Wole Soyinka, Nobel Laureate, literary icon, and global humanist. In its 26th edition, LABAF has aptly declared 2024 as The Soyinka Year, dedicating its events to celebrating the remarkable life, art, and activism of one of Africa’s most revered voices. Themed ‘BREAKOUT: Hope is a Stubborn Thing,’ this year’s festival, often hailed as “Africa’s biggest cultural picnic,” will offer an immersive lineup of over 60 events at Freedom Park, Lagos, and virtually. Among the highlights is the much-anticipated…

The Lagos State Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture has officially announced preparations for the highly anticipated Afropolis Lagos 2024, a nine-day festival that will bring together 20,000 international and local participants to celebrate and showcase African heritage. Toke Benson-Awoyinka, the Commissioner for Tourism, Arts, and Culture, shared details of the upcoming event during a press briefing held on Wednesday at the J. Randle Centre for Yoruba Culture and History, Onikan, Lagos. Themed “We Need New Myths,” Afropolis Lagos 2024 is set to take place from October 26 to November 3, 2024, and is in collaboration with QDance, a partner…

Barbican Centre, Silk Street, London EC2Y 8DS£10 Entrance Fee Celebrate the vibrancy and richness of Black literature at Europe’s largest festival dedicated to honoring Black authors. Founded by Selina Brown in 2021, this exciting event shines a spotlight on Black British writers, offering a platform for both established and emerging talent across various literary genres. The festival is packed with an engaging lineup of activities, including enlightening talks, panel discussions, children’s reading sessions, and a bustling book fair, all designed to foster connection, inspiration, and discovery. This year’s festival brings together an exceptional group of voices. Grammy® Award-winning rapper Eve…

The Book Edit Writers’ Prize 2024 is open for submissions. Chosen from a writing competition for British and/or UK-based, unpublished novelists from backgrounds and communities currently underrepresented in UK publishing, The Book Edit Writers’ Prize is open for submissions. The aim of the Writers’ Prize is to help talented writers, who might not otherwise have access to the industry, get their work in front of an audience of top literary agents. This is our fourth year of running the prize and the second year in partnership with Legend Press. Judged this year by acclaimed novelist and artist Lara Haworth, the…

For seventeen years the Pulp Idol competition has uncovered the best new novelists the city of Liverpool has to offer.  Many new novelists, including  Ashleigh Nugent (LOCKS), Ariel Kahn (Raising Sparks), James Rice (Alice and the Fly, Walk), Clare Coombes (Definitions), Natalie Denny (Keisha Jones Takes On The World) and Philippa Holloway (The Half Life of Snails), have found their first success through Pulp Idol. This competition is unearthing the best new novelists from Liverpool and across the country. All finalists get their first chapter published in a book of ‘Firsts,’ which is produced in hard copy, a digital manuscript and made available on Amazon Kindle (and free on Kindle Unlimited!). Copies of Pulp Idol – Firsts are sent…

Announcement. The Bloomsbury Mentorship Programme supports unpublished, underrepresented fiction writers as they work to establish themselves as authors. Submissions for the Bloomsbury Mentorship Programme 2024 open on 9 September 2024 and close on 15 October 2024. If you are a debut fiction writer based in the UK from a background underrepresented in publishing – we want to read your stories! All you need to submit is 2,000 words of an unpublished short story or novel written for adults and a 500-word synopsis. It can be in any genre except poetry. All entries can be submitted via this page – the link…

Zambian author Mubanga Kalimamukwento has been named the winner of the 2024 Dzanc Books Prize for Fiction for her gripping manuscript Shipikisha. This marks a defining moment in her career, placing her in the ranks of exceptional writers whose works transcend the ordinary and delve deep into the human condition. Chosen from a highly competitive pool of manuscripts, Kalimamukwento’s triumph is a testament to her remarkable literary craft and insight into the complexities of contemporary African life. The Dzanc Books Prize, known for its discerning eye and celebration of narrative innovation, has long been a beacon for discovering bold voices.…