July Opportunities for African Writers

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Midnight & indigo, a literary journal celebrating Black women writers, has issued a call for submissions for short stories, speculative fiction, and narrative essays. The magazine apologizes to all writers who tried to submit when the portal was overwhelmed. The portal is now active and the deadline has been extended.

Deadline: 10th July 2026, 11pm ET | Pay: $0.07 per word

Things to note:

• They are currently accepting submissions for three categories. Click each title for specific guidelines and submission links.

  • Short Stories: Literary fiction delves deep into the human condition, exploring themes of identity, relationships, and the intricate nuances of everyday life. (1500-7000 words)

  • Narrative and Personal Essays: Previously unpublished, personal and evocative first-person essays that forge an immediate connection with readers. (Min of 1200 words)

  • Black Speculative Fiction: 2,000-7,000 words. All submissions will be considered for publication on a rolling basis on midnightandidigo.com or in our Speculative fiction special issue (online and/or print).

• All genres and writing styles are welcome. It may be helpful to view their current short stories, essays, and literary journals to get a general sense of what we publish, but don’t be afraid to push the needle!

• They do not accept work created by AI. Any submissions not entirely created by a human author will be automatically rejected.

African Writer Weekly is excited to announce the launch ofAfrican Writer Match, a service which encourages collaboration between African writers both on the continent and in diaspora. Our newsletter currently reaches 3500+ writers in over 60 countrie,s and we believe our numbers can contribute more to the growth of everyone’s craft.

The Writer Match is an on-request service which connects members of the community to other members who may be interested in collaborating on creative projects, providing (non-financial) assistance on an ongoing project, as well as language support and exchange.

Deadline: 15 July 2026 | Goal: Collaboration

Things to note:

• We value collaboration, and by opening yourself up to working with others, African Writer Match offers you the following benefits:

  • Priority Access to In-house opportunities: From chances to have your work or/and opinions featured in the press, to entering African Writer Weekly’s soon-to-come in-house contests and workshops. In November 2026, we will launch The Rejection Olympics, a prize for the writer who has pushed themselves the most in the face of rejection. This prize will first be open to writers in the Match Pool.

  • Language Exchange: If you’d like to practice an African language with a native speaker, you can request to be matched with a practice buddy. While this option is also open to learners keen on improving their non-African language skills (English, French, Portuguese etc), service priority will be given to those who want to practice African Languages.

  • Priority requests for features in Prose and Poetry of the Week.

• Requirements:

  • Be 18 years of age by 1st May 2026.

  • Be an active subscriber of the newsletter community. This means you open our emails frequently, like, comment, share or/and restack our publications.

  • Have registered for this service by filling the Writer Match form.

• The form will only open from the 1st to 15th of every month.

Writers Space Africa (WSA) Magazine is a vibrant and inclusive international literary publication committed to amplifying the voices of African writers. They are currently accepting submissions for their September 2026 edition of the Magazine on the theme: THE YEAR 2030

Deadline: 19th July 2026 | Pay: Unstated

Things to note:

• Creative Non-Fiction – 1,200 Words maximum

• Children’s Literature – 700 words maximum (illustrations may be attached and poems not longer than 24 lines)

• Flash Fiction – 300 words maximum

• Poetry – 1 poem, a maximum of 24 lines

• Short Stories – 1,500 words maximum

• Please edit your work and submit it to one category only.

• Do include the title and category in your submission.

• Editors will reply to selected writers and those whose works have not been selected by August 2026.

• All selected and published entries will be uploaded to the website after the magazine is released.

• The author retains the copyright.

• To submit, click here.

The Ake Arts and Book Festival, is thrilled to announce a call for entries for the 2026 edition of Aké Review, our annual journal. The theme for the 14th edition of the Ake Arts & Book Festival is Native Intelligence.

Deadline: 20th July 2026 | Pay: Unstated amount + Magazine Copy

Things to note:

• Poetry - a maximum of three poems

• Fiction/Reflections - a maximum of 800 words

• Artwork - a maximum of 2 works in high-res jpeg

• Entries must be original and unpublished

• All entries must be submitted via email to editor@bookbuzzfoundation.org

• Entries should be sent as attachments with ‘AR26 Submission’ in the subject line.

• Attach a bio of no longer than 70 words

• Only one submission per person

Arewa Review is inviting creative works, including poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and photography, from Northern Nigeria. They are looking for original works on the theme Conspiracy, that reflect the region’s complex identities, histories, and hopes.

Deadline: 31st July 2026 | Pay: Unstated

Things to note:

• Submissions are open to creatives of Nigerian descent.

• Both emerging and established creatives are encouraged to apply.

• Poetry: Writers may submit 1-3poems in a single Word document, with each poem beginning on a new page.

  • Poems should not exceed two pages each

• Photography: Submit up to 5

• art/photography pieces in JPEG format. Include a caption of not more than 100 words. •A brief third-person bio (maximum 100 words) should be included at the end of the document.

• All submissions must be previously unpublished.

• Fiction: Writers may submit one short story in a single Word document, between 2000-5000 words.

• Nonfiction: Writers may submit one nonfiction piece in a single Word document, between 1000-3000 words.

• All Pieces must be formatted in a readable font such as Garamond or Times New Roman, size 12, single-spaced.

• Submissions should be emailed to:
  arewapoetryreview@gmail.com with the subject line: Genre Submission - [Your Name]. Example, Poetry Submission - [Mustapha Emeka].

The Diverse Writers grant is intended to support speculative fiction writers from underrepresented and underprivileged groups — such as writers of color, women, queer writers, disabled writers, etc. — whose marginalized identities may present additional obstacles in the writing and publishing process.

While the Diverse Worlds Grant is intended for work that best presents a diverse world, regardless of the writer’s background.

Both grants are generously funded by David D. Levine.

Deadline: 31st July 2026 | Prize: $500 per grant

Things to note:

• Your project does not need to center on identity issues. They are looking for writing that offers deep characterization, complex cultural landscapes, and strong literary quality overall.

• The submitted project must be a book-length work of speculative fiction. Speculative literature spans the breadth of fantastic writing, encompassing literature ranging from hard science fiction to epic fantasy, including ghost stories, horror, folk and fairy tales, slipstream, magical realism, and more. Any piece of literature containing a fabulist or speculative element would fall under their aegis. Nonfiction, poetry, picture books, and editorial projects are not eligible for either grant.

• These grants are designed to foster new, in-progress work, not to recognize already published work.

• This grant is open to all levels of publishing experience, worldwide. The grant jury will be primarily English-reading, although works that incorporate other languages (as in Keri Hulme’s The Bone People’s use of Maori) are welcome.

• Required application materials include:
  

  • A written description of the project: This description should not exceed 500 words.

  • A cover letter: Explain which grant (or grants) you are applying for. Include a short (less than 500 words) autobiographical statement describing your work thus far and a bibliography of previously published work, if applicable. Applicants need not have prior publishing credits to apply. For the Diverse Writers grant, please provide a brief statement on the relevant aspect(s) of your background.

  • A writing sample: Sample should not exceed 5,000 words. The submitted work must be speculative fiction as defined above.

• You may apply for both grants at once. For more info, click here.

• To submit, click here.

To create a better world, we need to first imagine it—and the work required to get there. The Protopian Fiction Prize invites you to share your vision of people working toward liberatory futures, meeting obstacles, and making real change. A “protopia” is an optimistic but achievable future. They are now inviting short story submissions for their Democratic Futures prize.

“Democratic futures go beyond incremental reforms of electoral systems to reimagine the mechanisms of both representative and direct forms of democracy, and the societal structures needed to enable them. They follow the principle that decisions made for a society should be made by the members of that society, balancing broad-based input with protection of rights. History has shown the imagination required to expand—and the dangers of trying to curtail—who gets input and how, and what rights are protected for whom.”

Deadline: 31st July 2026 | Prize: $5000

Things to note:

• Some key features of democratic futures:

  • DELIBERATION: There are ways for people to learn about, debate, and come to conclusions about major issues.

  • CONSENT: People have some method of agreeing to the structures of decision-making, if not always the outcomes.

  • CONSTRAINT: There are limits on what those in power can do, how long they can hold that power, and how they can hold onto it.

• Send unpublished short stories of 500 - 6,000 words

• They are looking for short stories that:

  • Incorporate positive visions of democratic futures at any scale – local, national, or global.

  • Show how we can shape democratic futures for the public good.

  • Inspire and empower us all to imagine and create the futures we want.

  • Give us a north star, and ideas for how to move towards it.

  • Bring to life the complexities, tradeoffs and paths of action to maximize human flourishing.

• For more background on democratic futures and story prompts click here.

• Winning stories will also be published in In the Loop: Stories from the Future of People, Power, and Machines, an anthology to be published by MIT Press and edited by judging leads Gideon Lichfield and Ruthanna Emrys, alongside invited stories by professional science fiction authors.

• To submit, click here.

This prize focuses on the potential positive change in AI and AI policy.

“Tech CEOs have the platforms to share their versions of our future AI world. Hollywood and news media dystopias are showing us others. These futures are not inevitable. Now it’s time to share your Protopian Public AI vision.

Public AI is the concept of AI as public infrastructure—provisioned like electricity, water, roads, libraries, or the Internet itself. Public AI could be created by one or more governments working together, or through other collaborative and non-commercial entities with a mission to support the public good. ”—PF

Deadline: 31st July 2026 | Prize: $5000

Things to note:

• The principles of Public AI include:

  • It is publicly accessible ensuring AI delivers benefits to all.

  • It is publicly accountable ensuring AI reflects society’s values.

  • It delivers permanent public goods ensuring AI is a reliable foundation.

• They’re looking for short stories that:

  • Incorporate positive visions of an AI-enabled future that foreground Public AI.

  • Help the public understand how we can shape an AI-based state for the public good.

  • Inspire and empower us all to imagine and create the AI future we want.

  • Give us a north star, and ideas for how to move towards it.

  • Bring to life the complexities, tradeoffs and paths of action to maximize human flourishing.

• Send unpublished short stories of 500 - 6,000 words

• Click here to submit.

Things to note:

• Required documents for registration

  • completed application form (in English or Czech)

  • optional: sample from published work (in English or Czech) or from translation (max. 2 pages)

• Selection criteria

  • cultural interest in the place

  • basic knowledge of English

  • Writers : at least one published literary work (not self-published)

  • Playwrights : two already broadcast or published radio plays or one already produced or published theater play

  • Translators : at least one translated work by a Czech author

  • Willingness to participate in local literary life (author readings, school talks, discussions and activities organized by the organizer of the stay or connected with cultural events in the city)

  • Work on a literary work during the stay

• For more information, see here

Room is Canada’s oldest feminist literary magazine, published quarterly since 1975. They are currently seeking submissions on the theme: Belonging.

“Send us your takes on belonging, not belonging, longing to belong, otherness, belonging on the fringe, belonging to the future, the past, the now. We welcome your imaginings, experiences, dreams, and fears of belonging in all their manifestations and intersections: poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction as always, but we’re also eager to read your comics, hybrids, graphic essays, and other forms that resist and defy the boundaries of belonging in the art world.”—R

Deadline: Rolling | Pay: Unstated amount

Things to note:

• Your entry must be original and unpublished (in print or online).

• They accept submissions up to 3500 words. Longer submissions will be rejected automatically.

• For poetry, send up to 5 poems, submitted in a single file. Please start each poem on a new page.

• Please submit in 12 point font. Times New Roman preferred but not required.

• They gladly accept simultaneous submissions. If another publication accepts your work for publication, please notify them and withdraw your piece immediately.

• Please do not send a second submission in the same genre until you have heard back from them considering the first one (Note: You may enter their contests and submit a regular submission at the same time so long as the materials are different.)

• Although the deadline is rolling, submissions may not be accepted after 5th of August (exactly 6 weeks since portals opened). Please submit early.

• While there are submission fees, there’s an option to opt out if you can not afford it.

• They especially welcome work from underrepresented writers.

• To submit, use the International submission portal, here.

The Sareeta Domingo Prize is a writing prize created to discover and support unpublished writers from Black and Global Majority backgrounds. It was created to honour the legacy of Sareeta Domingo, a much-admired editor and author, and a passionate champion of diverse stories and underrepresented voices, who passed away in 2025.

“We’re looking for bold, original and irresistible fiction for an adult audience from unpublished writers who have a compelling story to tell…with no restrictions on genre or theme”—SDP

Deadline: 21^st September 2026 | Prize: Total of £4,000 + Coaching + more

Things to note:

• To help you with your submission, they’ll be hosting two online workshops in July and August . Please look out for these on their social media: @orionbooks and @dorothykoomson_author.

• What they’re looking for:

  • A strong, engaging narrative voice

  • A clear sense of storytelling and originality

  • Unforgettable characters and page-turning plots

  • Something that can be developed into a full-length work

• As this Prize is centred on work in progress, they are interested in potential. They are looking for writers with a distinctive voice and the ambition to develop their work with the support offered through the Prize.

• Submission criteria:

  • Entrants must be unagented and previously unpublished, aged 18 or over, resident in the UK and from a Black or Global Majority background.

  • The first 5,000 words of the novel in progress

  • A full synopsis of the novel (up to 750 words) including the ending.

• For more information, and to view the full price list, click here.

• To apply, click here.

The Miles Morland Foundation is pleased to announce that the 2026 Morland Writing Scholarships for African writers is now open for entries. MMF annually awards a small number of Morland Writing Scholarships, with the aim being to allow each Scholar the time to produce the first draft of a completed book. The Scholarships are open to anyone writing in the English language who was born in Africa, or both of whose parents were born in Africa.

Deadline: 22nd September 2026 | Compensation: £18,000

Things to note:

• Fiction and non-fiction scholars are welcome.

• At the end of each month scholars must send the Foundation 10,000 new words that they will have written over the course of the month.

• Scholars are also asked to donate to the MMF 20% of whatever they subsequently receive from the book they write during the period of their Scholarship.

• To enter:

  • A candidate must submit an excerpt from a piece of work of between 2,000 – 5,000 words, written in English that has been published and offered for sale. You must send clear evidence that the piece you upload as part of your application has been both published AND offered for sale.

  • Academic or scientific research, or works of special interest such as religious or political writings do not qualify.

  • The candidates should submit a description of between 400 – 1,000 words of the work they intend to write. The proposal must be for a full length book of no fewer than 80,000 words.

  • If you are shortlisted for a Morland Writing Scholarship, you will be asked to send a 3,000 – 4,000 word “chapter” of the book you are proposing to write on your scholarship year.

  • In 200 – 300 words write something about yourself and your background.

  • Each Scholar will be offered the opportunity to be mentored by an established author or publisher.

  • A scan of an official document showing that you, or both of your parents, were born in Africa will be required.

• For more information, see here.

• To apply, click here.

Click here to submit an opportunity.

If you did not receive a reply to a previous editorial inquiry by 31st January 2026, please send a query to editor.afww@gmail.com.

Hunger | Doreen Baingana (Uganda)

My PRIVATE Diary
Patti Mugisha
Gayaza High School
Kampala, Uganda, Africa, the Universe

Sunday, April 10, 2 P.M.

Boarding school is like purgatory, or prison — being sent away to wait. That’s mainly what I do: wait for time to pass. There are five more hours to supper, and I’m hungry already. I’m up here in an empty classroom, writing in my diary when I’m supposed to be studying, ’cause it’s one week till finals. Three more long weeks, then home, home at last. Please, God, help me concentrate on this stupid history book. I don’t want to study at the dorm with the others. I prefer to be alone with the leftover scribbles on the blackboard and the disorderly desks and chairs abandoned by the last class of girls on Friday. The scratched and beaten-up furniture looks like wreckage after a riot, it’s so old.

We had sweet potatoes and peas for lunch: not as bad as the usual mash, but not enough. It’s never enough. There is no privacy in the dining room, nowhere to hide. That’s what I hate about school. No moment to myself. Even my thoughts feel exposed. We are squashed fifteen girls to a table, girls from all grades, so that we can learn from our “elders.” Thank goodness for the wide windows along both sides of the room with their wooden shutters flung open for air and light. At least I can take in the flourishing trees outside.

Read more

If you’d like your already PUBLISHED prose featured in ‘Prose of The Week’ please fill this form.

Photo by Lucas Chizzali on Unsplash

Encounter and Becoming | Thompson Emate (Nigeria)

A sad surprise changes me;
I bear the wounds of my hurt.
Within me lies a shrouded night,
and I gradually withdraw from my open-heartedness,
Taking each step with care and caution…

Read more

If you’d like your already PUBLISHED poetry featured in ‘Poetry of The Week’ please fill this form.

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Osesenigwe (Be blessed— Ekegusii, Kenya)