20.35 Africa is committed to freshly contributing to contemporary African poetry. We welcome annual submissions to our Anthology series and nominations to our New Poets series are considered on a rolling basis.
Submission to the Anthology series is currently CLOSED; we always advertise a public call whenever our window is open.
We do NOT consider unsolicited contributions to our Conversations series.
Please read the following general guidelines closely. Submissions or nominations that do not follow any of the instructions will not be considered for inclusion in the series.
New Poets
– We wish to give more individual visibility to contemporary African poets through this new channel. While we don’t intend to restrict inclusion to the series continentally, our priority focuses on poets living in Africa.
– To nominate a poet for this series, send the poet’s name, up to 5 links to their works online (video and/or written), and if possible, their contact address to submissions@2035africa.org.
– For poets whose work cannot be found online, send a sample of up to 10 poems in a PDF document.
– Poets may nominate themselves for this series.
– The email subject should read “20.35 AFRICA NEW POETS NOMINATION.”
– We do not guarantee that we’ll feature every poet nominated for this series. However, we’ll give each nomination we receive equal consideration.
– Be rest assured that we’ll receive your nomination once it’s sent in. We’ll only get back to those nominations we’re interested in featuring. Therefore, don’t expect an acknowledgement of your nomination once you send them; our workload has doubled.
Anthology
– The anthology is for African poets who are between the ages of 20 (or who would be 20 by the time of publication) and 35.
– Submissions can cut across various themes and each contributor may send three poems ONLY. Please send us your best poems, properly edited.
– 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.
– Poets who have had a full-length book, 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.
– Only poems written in English will be accepted. Works translated into English from any African languages may be submitted, but they must be accompanied by their original.
– There is no stipulation as to the content of submitted poems but no poem should exceed 40 lines in length.
– 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.
– We accept simultaneous submissions, but please notify us immediately if any of your poems is accepted elsewhere.
– 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.
– The email subject should read “20.35 AFRICA SUBMISSION.”
– Submissions must be written in black ink. No colors.
– Each poem must have a title.
– Poems must be the original work of the contributor.
– The deadline for submission is midnight (UTC+01:00)on March 2024
– We hope to respond to every submission by June 2024. However, there may be a delay in response time due to the editors’ final decision.
– We will not entertain any inquiries concerning submission status until after June 2024.
– Accepted contributors must be available at all times, for necessary editing of their works and correspondence that may follow.
– All inquiries must be sent to info@2035africa.org. Inquiries sent to the submission’s email address will not be read.
– Except on 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.
Inquiries about any of our series should be directed to info@2035africa.org.