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Call for submissions: AfroYoungAdult – a talent-search for Young Adult fiction from Africa!

Calling aspiring African writers of all ages interested in writing for Young Adults!

2018 Short Story Africa Day Prize announced: This year’s theme is Hotel Africa

Submissions open 1 June 2018* | Submissions close 31 August 2018
First prize: $800 | Second prize: $200 | Third prize: $100

South African Literary Awards: 2018 call for submissions PLUS two new awards

The wRite associates, in partnership with the Department of Arts and Culture (DAC), invites South African writers to submit their work for the South African Literary Awards (SALA).

Aspiring writers: Submit your unpublished Youth Fiction to the Maskew Miller Longman Literature Awards to win R10,000

The Maskew Miller Longman Awards has announced its genre for 2018 – Youth Fiction!

Writing and photography on gender, human rights and sexuality in Africa: The Gerald Kraak Award reopen for submissions

The Jacana Literary Foundation (JLF) and the Other Foundation have decided to reopen submissions for the second annual Gerald Kraak Award.

AVBOB funeral services establishes competition for poetry in all official South African languages

It may seem like an unlikely combination, but historically poetry and funerals have a close connection.

70-year-old debut author’s novel sold in major deal 48 hours after she submits it to publisher

70-year-old writer Anne Youngson has proved it is never too late to get your big break in books.

The most far-out stuff in my novels is actually what’s true: Zukiswa Wanner chats to Eusebius McKaiser

Zukiswa Wanner was in the 702 studio to chat to Eusebius McKaiser today.

Call for writing celebrating Buchi Emecheta for a special issue of Pambazuka News

Pambazuka News is calling for articles for a special issue on the legacy of eminent Nigerian-born writer Buchi Emecheta.

Etisalat Prize for Literature call for entries and judging panel announced

The new judging panel for the Pan-African Etisalat Prize for Literature has been announced.

Call for entries: The 2017 Sol Plaatje EU Poetry Award & Anthology

The Jacana Literary Foundation has announced that submissions for the seventh annual Sol Plaatje European Union Poetry Award and Anthology will be open from 1 to 16 July 2017!

Writers and photographers: The Gerald Kraak Award and Anthology call for submissions

An award and anthology on the topics of gender, human rights and sexuality, for writers and photographers across Africa.

Read the opening chapter of The Woman in the Wood, the latest novel from Lesley Pearse

Penguin Random House has shared an excerpt from Lesley Pearse’s new novel: The Woman in the Wood.

Good books begin as bad drafts

The next time you are struggling with your own writing, recall this selection of pages from the drafts of great novels.

Ever wondered why it’s ‘tick-tock’ and not ‘tock-tick’?

The BBC explains why we say ‘tick-tock’, not ‘tock-tick’, ‘ding-dong’, not ‘dong-ding’, and ‘chit-chat’, not ‘chat-chit’.

After the publication of 1984, George Orwell sent a copy to his high school French teacher, Aldous Huxley

In October of 1949, a few months after 1984 was published, George Orwell sent a copy of the book to his high school French teacher, Aldous Huxley.

The Jalada collective: Charting Africa’s linguistic multiverse

Aaron Bady has written an article for Pacific Standard about Jalada Africa, a pan-African literary collective with a radical mission: ‘an ongoing translation effort to unite – and elevate – African literature’.

Read Zakes Mda’s fantastic response to ‘Do you get writer’s block?’

Zakes Mda has written a great response to a fan who asked ‘Don’t you ever get writer’s block?’

Writers! Apply for the Short Story Day Africa 2017 Flow workshop series

Short Story Day Africa in partnership with the Goethe-Institut invite submissions to attend a series of one day workshops in the following cities: