Call for Submission - West Africa
8th House Publishing is now receiving poetry submissions for the maiden edition of her Contemporary West African Poetry Anthology.
Send all submissions to Hannu Afere at:
From Hannu Afere:
This anthology is intended to present the range of experimental writing produced in West Africa since the turn of the millennium. All entrants should have a country of residence in West Africa.
The guidelines:
- File format must be in Microsoft Word (or in PDF when special formatting is involved)
- Writings should be in English but they could be in French, Portuguese or Arabic-- with English translations.
- All entries should be emailed to
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - Email subject must indicate the name of poem, age of the applicant and "West African Poetry"
- Poems may be of any length. Send up to four poems.
We are looking for poems that move us, that might make us laugh or cry, or teach us something new. We like both free verse and traditional forms—we will try to publish a representative mix of what we receive. We will be reading a lot of poems, and only those that are unique, insightful, and musical stand out—regardless of style.
WHAT DO WE WANT?_________
We want poetry which attempt to answer questions about contemporary Africa and African-ness.
What is the present truth and beauty, and from what does it derive?
Is there a spectrum between what is ‘authentic’ and the political/cultural narrative? Is there a spectrum between the culture that can live; the life that can be lived and is real, and a social, economic and political apocalypse? Should we worry about extinction of intellect, imagination and humanity really?
WHAT WE DO NOT WANT____________
Trauma porn.Poverty porn.Hate speech.
Do not forget to include position-statements, biographical notes, and an index where necessary.
Good luck!