Call for Submissions: 20.35 Africa: An Anthology of Contemporary Poetry Vol IX Guest Edited by Akosua Zimba Afiriyie-Hwedie and Antony Fangary

As 20.35 Africa enters its ninth year, we seize this monumental event to reflect on the legacy we hope to build. An anthology by and for living African poets is both a celebration of the present moment – the lush, complex terrain African poetics is currently negotiating – and an homage to the writers who paved the way. Since 2017, the series has gathered poets from every corner of the continent, including the Congo, Sudan, South Africa, Botswana, Ghana, and beyond, affirming African poetry as alive and thriving.

Over the years, the anthology has featured a wide range of prominent and emerging poets, including Saddiq Dzukogi, Victoria Adukwei Bulley, Tramaine Suubi, Dalia Elhassan, Clifton Gachagua, Hiwot Adilow, Cheswayo Mphanza, Nour Kamel, Rabha Ashry, Caleb Femi, among many others. It has brought together poets living across Africa and throughout the diaspora, expanding the documentation of a vibrant, living poetic tradition. The project has been described by Phillipa Yaa de Villiers as “serious, strident, playful – a promising, powerful clutch from the next generation of greats.”

The anthology also functions as an educational resource and a free, environmentally conscious platform for disseminating poetry that speaks to the socio-political realities of our time.

To this end, 20.35 Africa is pleased to announce its call for submissions to Volume Nine of the 20.35 Africa Poetry Anthology Series, guest-edited by Akosua Zimba-Afiriyie Hwedie and Antony Fangary, alongside 20.35 Africa editors Ebenezer Agu, Precious Okpechi, and JK Anowe.

Akosua Zimba Afiriyie-Hwedie is a Zambian-Ghanaian poet who grew up in Botswana. She holds an MFA in poetry from the University of Michigan and is the author of Born in a Second Language, winner of Button Poetry’s Chapbook Contest. She is a recipient of a Hopwood Award and a Meader Family Award, and has been a finalist for Narrative’s 12th Annual Poetry Prize, the Brunel International African Poetry Prize, the Palette Poetry Spotlight Award, the Furious Flower Poetry Prize, and Wick Poetry Center’s Peace Poem Contest. She has received fellowships from Tin House, the Helen Zell Writers’ Program, Callaloo, and the Watering Hole. Her work has appeared in Pank, Kweli, Obsidian, and elsewhere.

Antony Baher Fangary is an Egyptian-American poet, food writer, and satirist from California. He was awarded the 2023 National Endowment for the Arts Poetry Fellowship and is a PhD Candidate in Literary Arts and Creative Writing at the University of Denver. He is a Translation and Poetry Editor at Denver Quarterly and the Co-Director of Litquake’s Elder Writing Project. His work has recently appeared or is forthcoming in Gulf Coast, Mizna, Prairie Schooner, The Laurel Review, Eater, and elsewhere. Antony’s work has been supported by the San Francisco Arts Commission, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and the Center for Cultural Innovation. 

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

1. The anthology is open to African poets between the ages of 20 (or would be 20 by the time of publication) and 35.
2. Contributors published in the eighth volume are NOT eligible for this volume but may submit for subsequent volumes.
3. Submissions can cut across different themes, and each contributor may send three poems ONLY. Please send us your best poems, properly edited.
4. The anthology is ONLY for African poets. We define an African poet as someone born in Africa, whose parents (at least one) are African, or someone who currently lives in Africa and has done so for at least 10 years.
5. Poets who have had a full-length book, a chapbook or pamphlet published in electronic or print format can submit. Poets who have not been published in any form or on any literary forum/outlet, and fall into the acceptable age bracket, are encouraged to submit as well.
6. Only poems written in English will be accepted. Works translated into English from any African language may be submitted, but they must be accompanied by their original.
7. There is no stipulation as to the content of submitted poems, but poems should ideally be within 40 lines.
8. Identifying information, including names of poets, addresses, phone numbers, and publication histories, should NOT be included in the manuscript or in the body of the email. Submit through your personal email address and include the same email address on the last page of your manuscript. Submissions will be judged solely on merit.
9. We accept simultaneous submissions, but please notify us immediately if any of your poems is accepted elsewhere.
10. All entries must be submitted in a SINGLE WORD DOCUMENT, typed in TIMES NEW ROMAN, font 12, single-spaced, and sent via email only to the 20.35 Africa team at submissions@2035africa.org.
11. The email subject should read “20.35 AFRICA SUBMISSION.”
12. Submissions must be written in black ink. No colours.
13. Each poem must have a title.
14. Poems must be the original work of the contributor.
15. The deadline for submissions is midnight (UTC+01:00) on 25th March 2026.
16. We hope to respond to every submission by June 2026. However, there may be a delay in response time pending the editors’ final decision.
17. We will not entertain any inquiries concerning submission status until after June 2026.
18. Accepted contributors must be available throughout the editing process and for other correspondence that may follow.
19. All inquiries must be sent to info@2035africa.org. Inquiries sent to the submissions email address will not be read.
20. Except in proven cases of plagiarism or when a piece we have published violates any form of human rights, we do not take down works once they have been published in our anthology or on our website.
21. By submitting your work to us, you agree to give us first serial rights of said work, which shall revert to you upon publication. If your work is republished elsewhere, kindly acknowledge that it first appeared on 20.35 Africa.