How to Write

The art of writing can be reduced to a few simple rules. I share them with you now.

Rule No. 1: Show and Tell. Most people say, “Show, don’t tell,” but I stand by Show and Tell, because when writers put their work out into the world, they’re like kids bringing their broken unicorns and chewed-up teddy bears into class in the sad hope that someone else will love them as much as they do.

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The Brunel University African Poetry Prize

Under the auspices of the Fund, one of its key facets will be the establishment of an additional prize for poetry, the Brunel University African Poetry Prize, awarded for a selection of poems by an African poet.
The Brunel University African Poetry Prize is a major new poetry prize of £3000 aimed at the development, celebration and promotion of poetry from Africa. The prize is sponsored by Brunel University and partnered by Commonwealth Writers, the Africa Centre UK, and the African Poetry Book Fund USA.
Prairie Schooner, one of the leading literary journals in the USA, having published continuously for eighty-five years, has committed to publishing some of the work of the winning poets of the Brunel University African Poetry Prize. Wasafiri, the leading British journal of international writing, will also publish the winner. Similar arrangements will be pursued with other major literary journals in the United Kingdom and the US.

Eligibility

The prize will be for ten poems by an African writer who has not yet had a full-length poetry book published. (Self-published books, chapbooks and pamphlets are exempt.)
The prize is open to poets who were born in Africa, or who are nationals of an African country, or whose parents are African.
Only poetry written in English is eligible. Translated poetry is accepted but a percentage of the prize will be awarded to the translator.
Submission Period
The prize opens for entries on October 26th 2012 and the winner will be announced in April 2013


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New and established African poets recognized by a new fund

Kwame Dawes, Guggenheim Fellow and winner of the 2011 Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award, is pleased to announce the establishment of the African Poetry Book Fund. Starting in January 2014, the Series will publish four new titles by African poets each year. In addition, the Series will publish an anthology every few years representing themes, ideas and poets from across the African continent. Of the four books published, one will be a winner of the Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets, and a second will be a new and selected volume by a major African poet. The winner of the Sillerman prize will also receive a $1000 in cash.

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Call for Submissions: Kwani? Manuscript Project

 

"To celebrate the African novel and its adaptability and resilience, Kwani Trust announces a one-off new literary prize for African writing. The Kwani? Manuscript Project calls for the submission of unpublished fiction manuscripts from African writers across the continent and in the Diaspora."

 This sounds like a great opportunity for every writer of African descent. I love what Binyavanga Wainaina is doing to/for/with African literature.

Good luck.
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Rotimi Babatunde wins Caine prize for African writing

The "ambitious, darkly humorous" story of a Nigerian soldier fighting in Burma during the second world war has won Nigeria's Rotimi Babatunde the £10,000 Caine prize for African writing.

Babatunde, who beat authors from Kenya, Malawi, Zimbabwe and South Africa to win the prestigious award for a short story by an African writer published in English, tells of the experiences of Colour Sergeant Bombay in his winning piece Bombay's Republic. Chair of judges, the novelist and poet Bernadine Evaristo, praised his "vivid" descriptions. "It is ambitious, darkly humorous and in soaring, scorching prose exposes the exploitative nature of the colonial project and the psychology of independence," she said.

Congratulations, Rotimi.

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