In our continuing series, we share opportunities for those who wish to submit work be it poetry, prose, or other related arts in May 2024. These callouts are divided into education (MFAs, Fellowships, residencies), opportunity hubs, journals, and prizes. If you have any callouts, please share in the comments. Education (MFAs, Fellowships, residencies). Opportunity hubs Literary magazines/journals/anthologies/manuscripts Publishers Prizes and competitions
This event signifies a renewed interest in the spoken word and demonstrates the transformative potential of poetry in the digital age.
Call for Participation: Pa Gya! A Literary Festival in Accra 2024 Pa Gya! A Literary Festival, Ghana’s premier celebration of literary arts, returns for another immersive three-day journey into the world of stories, creativity, and cultural exchange. This dynamic festival brings together book readings, launches, engaging talks, captivating performances, theatre showcases, exhibitions, a vibrant book market, and much more. Over the years, Pa Gya! has fostered meaningful collaborations with writers, publishers, academics, artists, and cultural institutions from across Africa, Europe, Asia, the Caribbean, and North America. Its rich tapestry of events and participants highlights the festival’s mission to be a…
Judges praised the ‘imaginative capacity and technical flair’ of a collection that draws connections between Shakespeare’s hero and today’s immigrants Jamaican poet Jason Allen-Paisant has won this year’s TS Eliot prize for Self-Portrait As Othello, his collection exploring Black masculinity and immigrant identity. Allen-Paisant was announced as the winner of the £25,000 award during a ceremony at the Wallace Collection in London. “Self-Portrait As Othello is a book with large ambitions that are met with great imaginative capacity, freshness and technical flair,” said the judging panel, made up of the poets Paul Muldoon, Sasha Dugdale and Denise Saul. The best…
Lagos – The MTN Foundation, in partnership with Beeta Universal Arts Foundation, recently hosted the much-anticipated finale of the 6th Beeta Playwright Competition, spotlighting Nigeria’s next generation of playwrights. The event saw the top ten finalists compete for the prestigious award, providing an exciting opportunity for new literary voices to shine. In a notable departure from previous editions, this year’s competition featured 40 selected candidates, expanding its scope and opening doors for more emerging talents to showcase their craft. The competition aims to empower playwrights to bring to the stage compelling, authentic Nigerian stories that reflect the richness of local…
Taiwo Michael Oloyede Olukorede Yishau’s After the End is a searing extrapolation of the conundrums of human existence, where the intimate struggles of its characters mirror the unrelenting chaos of the cities they inhabit. From the sprawling bustle of Lagos to the foggy alienation of Liverpool and London, the novel reveals how geography shapes and intensifies the private battles of individuals navigating grief, betrayal, and the quest for redemption. The trauma of Yishau’s characters is not isolated; it is a reflection of the restless, contradictory spaces they call home, spaces where personal pain is magnified against a backdrop of societal…
The shortlists for the British Science Fiction Association’s BSFA Awards for works published in 2023 have been revealed, and African writers were very well represented. Wole Talabi was on the shortlist for Best Novel for his Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon, Best Collection for Mothersound: The Sauútiverse Anthology which he edited, as well as Best Non-Fiction (Short) for Prisoners in the Temple of the Muses. Also scoring double shortlists is Suyi Davies Okungbowa in Best Short Fiction for Lady Koi Koi: A Book Report, and Best Non-Fiction (Short) for Exposition Tax: The Hidden Burden of Writing from the Margins.…
Image Caption: Performers at the "Folklore and Gyration of the Oppressed" event at the Lagos International Poetry Festival.
For nearly a decade, the Lagos International Poetry Festival (LIPFest) has redefined Lagos’s cultural identity, drawing poets and creatives from around the world to celebrate the art of words. Now in its ninth year, the festival has cemented its place as a cornerstone of Nigeria’s literary scene, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with major cultural events such as Lagos Fashion Week and Art X Lagos. Set against the backdrop of Lagos—a city famed for its frenetic energy and relentless chaos—LIPFest is a paradoxical refuge, offering solace and inspiration to wordsmiths and artists. Each October, the festival transforms the city into a vibrant hub…
Reviewer : Taiwo Michael Oloyede When sorrows come, they come not in single spies, but in battalions. -Williams Shakespeare In, On The Train To Hell, Tolu A’ Akinyemi writes gravely about diurnal issues of life that is common to man ; macerating us in the rigour of his storytelling adeptness, suffused in grainy elocutions. From the title of the book, we ram through the inflorescence of poignant narratives from the first page and weave in between surreal verses to the core of his renderings. In the opening poem, dust to dust, we come in contact with the rinds of grief…
