URGENTCallforsubmissions:Africa39

DearFriends,Writers,publishersandAfricanLiteraryorganisations, MynameisBinyavangaWainaina.IamthecoordinatoroftheAfrica39Longlist. Iwritetoyouwithsomeurgency.Ihaverecentlybeencontractedtoputtogetheralonglistof120of mostpromisingfictionauthorsundertheageof40fromAfricaSouthoftheSaharaanddiaspora. Thisisahugeundertakingandwillleadtoanannouncementof39ofthemostpromisingAfrican writersundertheageof39inApril2014.Timeisoftheessence. Ihavetosubmitthislonglistbythe15thofDecember2013.Iwouldliketoencourageallpublished fictionwriterswhoqualifytoapply. Asmanyofyoumayhaveheard,PortHarcourtCityinRiversState,Nigeriahasbeenconferredthe statusofUNESCOWorldBookCapitalin2014.ItisthefirstAfricancitysouthoftheSaharatobe givensuchstatus. ThePortHarcourtBookFair(PHBF)isaninitiativeoftheGovernorofRiversState,Nigeriaandis aneventforwriters,booksellers,literaryconnoisseursandallmajorplayersinthebookindustry. ThePHBFin2014withPortHarcourtastheWorldBookCapitalCitywillthereforebeamajor panAfricanandinternationalliteraryeventwhichwillsignificantlyadvancethestateofliteracy, literature,andpublishinginAfrica. Iamaskingyoupleasetodistributethisapplicationdocumenttoyourcontacts,mailinglists, writers,media,andotherrelevantnetworksandforums. PLEASEreferallreplies&queriesONLYto:africa39project@gmail.comoronTwitter @africa39list.

WhatisAfrica39Project?
TheAfrica39ProjecthasbeensetupasakeypartoftheprogramsandcelebrationsofPort HarcourtUNESCOWorldBookCapital2014.InApril2014,Africa39willannounce39ofthemost promisingAfricanwritersoffictionundertheageof40. TheAfrica39ProjectisapartnershipbetweentheHayFestivalofLiterature&theArtsLtd.,UKand theRainbowBookClub(PortHarcourt,Nigeria). TheAfrica39ProjectwillcontactandliaisewithAfricanliteraryprizes,writersgroups,literary magazines,andliteraryfestivals. Iunderstandthisiscomingtoyouatshortnotice.Asyouimaginethisundertakingishuge, andIhaveonlyrecentlybecomeinvolvedinthisproject.Thisisahugeopportunityfora newgenerationofwriters,andIurgeyoutoencourageasmanyaspossibletosubmitan applicationconsideration.Detailsbelow.

RulesforApplicants.
Writersmayapplyontheirownbehalf Agentsandpublisherscanapplyonbehalfofwritersintheirstable. Writersmustbeunder40yearsofage(bornafterJanuary1st,1974). Writersmusthavepublishedatleastoneworkoffiction. Wearekeentopromotewriterswhoshowpromise. Thejudgesdecisionisfinalandtheywillnotenterintoanycorrespondencewithentrants regardingtheirdecisions. ThisprizeisopenonlytoAfricanwriters. ByAfricanwriterwemeanthatyouarearesidentoforwereborninoneofthecountries listedbelow.ByAfricanwriters,wealsomeanthatanywriterwhohasoneormoreparents fromanyofthesecountries:Angola,Benin,Botswana,BurkinaFaso,Burundi,Cameroon, CapeVerde,CentralAfricanRepublic,Chad,Comoros,Cted'Ivoire,DemocraticRepublic oftheCongo,Djibouti,EquatorialGuinea,Eritrea,Ethiopia,Gabon,Gambia,Ghana, Guinea,GuineaBissau,Kenya,Lesotho,Liberia,Madagascar,Malawi,Mali,Mauritania, Mauritius,Mozambique,Namibia,Niger,Nigeria,Runion,RepublicoftheCongo,Rwanda, SaintHelena,SoTomandPrncipeSenegal,Seychelles,SierraLeone,Somalia,South AfricaSouthSudan,Sudan,Swaziland,Tanzania,Togo,Uganda,WesternSahara,Zambia, Zimbabwe. WritersfromtheDiaspora(s)ofanyoneormoreofthecountrieslistedaboveare encouragedtoapply. Theauthormustprovidethefollowingessentialinformationonthecoverpage: fullname,dateofbirth,countryoforigin. contactdetails:email,telephonenumber(includingcountrycode),twitterhandle. a200wordbiography. ashortbibliographyofyourpublishedliterarywork. ascannedcopyofthebiographicalpagefromoneofthefollowing:yourpassport,your officialnationalidentificationcard,oryourdriverslicence. asquareauthorphotographin.pngformatminimumof180x180pixels.

Theauthormustalsoattach:

ThedeadlineforALLsubmissionsismidnight(EastAfricanTime/GMT+3)Dec10th, 2013. ALLapplicantsubmissionsshouldbemadeVIAEMAILONLYTO: africa39project@gmail.com. AllquestionsshouldbedirectedONLYtothisemailaddress:africa39project@gmail.com oronTwitter@africa39list Pleaseensureyoursubmissionskeepstrictlytotheguidelinesandapplicationcriteriawe haveprovidedinthisdocument.

ApplicationCriteria
Applicantsmustsubmitonecreativepiece,thattheyfeelistheirstrongestworkoffiction. Thismaybeashortstory,oranexcerptofalongerworkoffiction.Weareopentocreative nonfictionsubmissions,oranexcerptofanonfictionnovel. Thesubmittedpiecemustbenolongerthan5000words. Thesubmittedpiecemustbetyped,doublespaced,anddeliveredONLYinTimesNew Roman,12pt. ThesubmittedcreativepiecemustonlybesentasTWOdocumentattachments,each withacoverpagecontainingthedetailsspecifiedintherules. OneoftheTWOdocumentattachmentsmustbeaMicrosoftWord(.doc)file,and anothermustbeaAdobePortableDocumentformat(.pdf)file. Thesetwodocumentsshouldhavepagenumbers. Pleaseensureyoursubmissionskeepstrictlytotheguidelineswehavegiven. Witheachcreativesubmission,makesuretoinclude,afterthecoverpage,a500word synopsisifthesubmissionisanexcerptofalargerwork. WestronglyencouragesubmissionsofworkinAfricanlanguages.Ifthereisno professionallyproducedliterarytranslationofcreativesubmissioninanAfrican language,wewillarrangetohaveonedone. TranslationsintoEnglishofcreativesubmissionsoriginallywrittenin French/German/Spanish/Portugueseorotherlanguagearewelcome. Wherenecessary,wewillarrangeforprofessionalliterarytranslationsofcreative submissionsintoEnglish.

ALLSubmissions,aswellasqueries,shouldbeemailedto:africa39project@gmail.com. SubmissionswillbereadbyapanelheadedbyBinyavangaWainainawhichwillsubmita longlistof120authorstothefinaljudgesby15thDecember2013. Thedistinguishedjudgingpanelwillincludethefollowingeminentliteraryfigures:Elechi Amadi,TessOnwueme,andMargaretBusby. Thejudgeswillselectthefinal39winnersfromthislonglistof120,andannouncethemin April2014attheLondonBookfairandinPortHarcourt,Nigeria. RainbowBookClubandHayFestivalwillcontactthe39authorsselectedfortheAfrica39 Projecttoinformthemthattheyhavebeenselected,andtocommissionfromeach,ashort storyorextractthatwillbepublishedintheanthology.Theprestigiouspublishinghouse BloomsburyiscommittedtopublishingtheanthologyinEnglishbyOctober2014ifthe commissionedworksbytheauthorsarereadybyendofMarch2014. NobelPrizewinnerProfessorWoleSoyinkawillwritetheintroductiontotheanthology. Renownededitor,DameEllahAllfrey(OBE),willedittheanthology. Thejudgesdecisionisfinalandundernocircumstanceswilltheyenterintoany correspondencewithentrantsregardingtheirdecisions. Thecopyrightofeachsubmissionremainswithitsowner.