The Brittle Paper Awards

August 1, 2017 was Brittle Paper‘s seventh anniversary. In celebration of the milestone, we launched the Brittle Paper Awards, to recognize the finest, original pieces of African writing published online. The awards, which are annual, come in five categories: Fiction, Poetry, Creative Nonfiction, Essays/Think Pieces, and the Anniversary Award for works published on our blog. The winners in the fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction and essays/think pieces categories receive $200 each, while the winner of our Anniversary Award receives $300.

Our selections are made based on quality, significance, and impact. In this, we consider only works that are available online for free.

Each of our picks reflects, in its own unique way, what is exciting about African literary culture in the digital/social media space. Some have been read and shared widely on social media. All have kindled and rekindled important conversations and debates, or have identified and built on areas still under-explored.

This is also a celebration not only of writers and relevant works, but also of blogs, magazines, journals, websites and their editors and publishers who are challenging the gatekeeping of old literary institutions by setting up accessible, open spaces where true literary diversity can thrive.

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