AFREADA magazine is putting together a Valentine/love-themed anthology. Founded by its editor Nancy Adimora, who contributed to our Christmas books-to-read feature, AFREADA is dedicated to publishing works by African writers as well as curating anthologies such as this. The winner, who will be announced on 14 February, will receive £100, and selected stories will make the anthology, which will be made available for downloads on the same day.

Here is the call for entries:

Whilst February 14th means nothing to a large number of people in different communities across the world, if you’re reading this, you’ll probably know that it usually marks the day of chocolates, flowers and candle lit dinners. Valentine’s Day is around the corner and, this year, we’ve decided to mark it with a short story collection themed around one of the most powerful forces in the world: LOVE.

For the next couple of weeks, we’re inviting writers to spend some time playing Cupid. Pick up a pen (and by this we mean open up a blank Word Doc) and shoot a few fictional characters with love arrows for the chance to win £100!

You have (almost) total creative freedom. Your characters can be married for 25 years, or they can be total strangers – they can be madly in love, or in the process of falling out of love –  whatever the case, there’s only one condition: THE STORY MUST BE SET ON VALENTINE’S DAY! 

Apart from that, there are no rules (OK, that’s a lie, please see submission guidelines below), there are no limits, go wherever your imagination takes you.

The winner will be announced on, you guessed it, Wednesday, February 14th, and the shortlisted stories will be featured in a free eBook that will be available to download on the same day.

Good luck and we look forward to reading your work!

Submission Guidelines:

  • All entries must be emailed to [email protected] as Microsoft Word attachments.
  • Please put “AFREADA Valentine’s Day Competition – Your Full Name” in the subject line.
  • Entries must be no more than 1000 words.
  • In the body of the email, please include your contact details, country of origin, social media handles and a short bio (100 words max).
  • Deadline: Wednesday, 31st January 2018. 23.59 GMT.
  • Further enquiries should be sent to [email protected]

AFREADA‘s most recent anthology is the beautiful On Such Days and Other Stories, themed around a photograph of a girl carrying a tray of oranges.

Do enter for this one.