Selves: An Afro Anthology of Creative Nonfiction (2018), the inaugural release by the AfroAnthology Series.

The AfroAnthology Series is curated by the Nigerian writer Basit Jamiu. It is, so far, the only platform dedicated solely to promoting creative nonfiction in Africa.

Founded in 2016, the series has produced the widely acclaimed Selves: An Afro Anthology of Creative Nonfiction, guest edited by the Nigerians Emmanuel Dairo and Uzoma Ihejirika, with an introduction by Brittle Paper Deputy Editor Otosirieze Obi-Young. Two pieces from the anthology—“The Miseducation of Gratitude” by Sibongile Fisher and “Monstrous” by Megan Ross—emerged winner and finalist for the 2018 Brittle Paper Award for Creative Nonfiction and the 2019 Gerald Kraak Prize, respectively.

In 2019, the AfroAnthology Series released The Year of Free Birds: Stories Featuring Visually Impaired Protagonists. Introduced by former Caine Prize administrator and SSDA board member Lizzy Attree and edited by the South African Maneo Mohale and the Nigerian Uzoma Ihejirika, contributors to it include Manu Herbstein, Ahmed Maiwada, Jason Mykl Snyman, and Prosper Makara.

The AfroAnthology Series is currently open to submissions for its third anthology. In the tradition of its previous anthologies, it is interested in stories that are deeply personal and unconventional.

The AfroAnthology Series invites you to submit a deeply personal creative nonfiction to be published in its forthcoming creative nonfiction anthology. We are interested in stories that move the soul for its attention to style. We love stories with impeccable sentences.  Before you submit an entry for consideration, you may like to read Sibongile Fisher’s “The Miseducation of Gratitude,” which won the 2018 Brittle Paper Award for Creative Nonfiction, and Megan Ross’s “Monstrous,” which was shortlisted for the 2019 Gerald Kraak Prize— both published in the Selves anthology.

AfroAnthology Series requests that you submit creative nonfiction that is tender yet powerful. Please avoid all the conventional tropes of writing creative nonfiction or essays. We want to read short nonfiction that subverts or pushes the boundaries of literary style, short nonfiction that tackles the complexity of the self and the human condition.

Submission Guidelines

  • We accept only electronic submissions via [email protected]
  • Submission header should read “Submission to AfroAnthology Series”
  • Submission word count should be between 2,000 and 15,000
  • Only Africans are eligible to submit
  • There will be no remuneration
  • Multiple or simultaneous submissions will not be read, accepted or acknowledged
  • Accompany your submission with a cover letter and short bio of not more than 200 words
  • We are only interested in original personal creative nonfiction
  • Submission opens: January 25, 2020
  • Submission ends: April 30, 2020

Note: Please do not send work that does not fall under the category of creative nonfiction (fiction, poetry and academic essays are not welcome). Do not send work that intends to persuade the audience, impress, proselytize or review books. AfroAnthology Series is only interested in creative nonfiction that is capable of moving its readers like great fiction can. We want to be lost in your stories. We want to see the work doing something new, creating a universe of its own.

For questions, please reach out to the organizers: [email protected].