Applications are now open for the 2024–2025 Center for Fiction / Susan Kamil Emerging Writer Fellowships. If you are a resident of New York City, this is the perfect chance to apply for this year-long fellowship. Based in Brooklyn, New York, the Center for Fiction is the only nonprofit literary organization in the U.S. solely dedicated to celebrating fiction, and we work every day to connect readers and writers. The Emerging Writer Fellowships offer grants, editorial mentorship, and other opportunities to early-career New York City-based practitioners who are at a critical moment in their development as fiction writers. During…

Damilola Omotoyinbo, Mlamli Tyulu, and Hussani Abdulrahim are the winners of the Writivism Prize 2023 announced on Sunday, April 28, 2024. Writivism, the project of writing as activism, was started by Bwesigye Bwa Mwesigire, Naseemah Mohamed, and Kyomuhendo A Ateenyi at the Centre for African Cultural Excellence in Kampala, Uganda in 2012. They conducted several activities such as an annual literary festival, literary prizes for fiction (starting in 2013) and nonfiction (beginning in 2016), published anthologies, mentored young writers, and loads more. Writivism Prizes have been won by Resoketswe Manenzhe and Frances Ogamba (2019), Chisanga Mukuka and Mbogo Ireri (2018), Charles King and…

Kai Thomas and Kevin Jared Hosein are on the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2024 shortlist announced on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. The Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction is a British literary award created by the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch, whose ancestors were closely linked to Scottish author Sir Walter Scott, generally considered the originator of historical fiction with the novel Waverley in 1814. Founded in 2010 and worth £25,000, it is open to novels published in the previous year in the UK, Ireland, or the Commonwealth. The 2024 jury comprises novelist, columnist, and Fellow of the Royal Literary Fund…

Salon du Livre d’Abidjan runs in the capital of Cote D’Ivoire from May 14 – 18, 2024. The guest country is Kenya. Salon du Livre d’Abidjan (English: Abidjan Book Fair) has been organised by L’ASSEDI or the Association des Editeurs de Côte d’ivoire (English: Association of Publishers of the Ivory Coast) annually since 1999. One of the biggest in West Africa is a trade fair that features many of the players in the book chain, facilitating dialogue between book professionals and the public. It gives a platform for the best in Ivorian books and those of other geographical areas develops commercial…

The Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize, first awarded in 2016, is an international prize that supports and celebrates the best adventure writing today. The prize named after South African novelist Wilbur Smith and open to writers of any nationality, writing in English, is a production of the Wilbur and Niso Smith Foundation. Smith’s work specialised in historical fiction about the international involvement in Southern Africa across four centuries, seen from the viewpoints of both black and white families.

The shortlist for the inaugural Iskanchi Book Prize, a manuscript prize open to African writers, was announced on Monday, May 6, 2024. Iskanchi Press and Magazine, founded by publisher, journalist, and writer Kenechi Uzor in 2020, has produced several magazine editions of their magazine as well as numerous titles. The platform announced a new initiative called the Iskanchi Book Prize to bring to light the best new writing from the continent. It is open to African writers and seeks to honour outstanding prose and hybrid book manuscripts, offering the winner a publishing opportunity. The shortlist for the new award was announced on…

Scholastique Mukasonga is set to headline the inaugural Salon du livre Africain de Beauregard in France on Sunday, May 26, 2024. The Salon du livre Africain de Beauregard is a new literary festival organized by the Artères and D-Codes associations, in partnership with the town of Hérouville-Saint-Clair. The festival will be hosted at the Château de Beauregard in Hérouville Saint-Clair and will have readings, panels, and loads more for those who attend. Some of the scheduled guests are Johary Ravaloson, Zadig Hamroune, Chadia Loueslati, Insa Sané, Mamadou Samake, and Sékou Oumar Bah. The festival headliner is Scholastique Mukasonga, the author…