Deadline: 31 December 2010
Across the continent as well as in the African Diaspora, African women are well known for their word craft. Over the centuries, African women have accomplished difficult feats using a capacity for words that is only surpassed by their ability for physical labor. This project on Contemporary African Women’s Poetry is looking for submission of poems written by African women from all works of life. We are looking for: (A) poetry about contemporary African life and experience on the continent; (B) poetry about life in the African Diaspora.
Poems may focus on any of the following: the work life, motherhood, wifehood, children, the state and nation, war, Africa’s wealth or lack thereof, poverty, HIV-AIDS, prison, freedom, celebration, grief, happiness, border crossings, marriage, birth, the environment, loss, love, trans-nationalism, migration, gender, race, class, and any other topics or issues that interest African women globally.
Unpublished poems are preferred. The original poems can also be in any African language if the poet will provide a translation into English. If the original is accepted, it will be published alongside the translation. If a translator is used, the author should indicate how credit should be acknowledged. Maximum number of submissions per person is three (3) poems.
For consideration, submissions should reach us before or on December 31, 2010. Please send submissions by email to: Anthonia Kalu (kalu.5@osu.edu); Folabo Ajayi-Soyinka (omofola@ku.edu); Juliana Nfah-Abbenyi (jmphd@ncsu.edu)
For submissions via snail mail, please mail your submissions to:
Anthonia Kalu, PhD
Professor
Department of African American and African Studies
486 University Hall 230 North Oval Mall
The Ohio State University
Columbus, OH 43210-1319
Folabo Ajayi-Soyinka, PhD
213 Bailey Hall,
1440 Jayhawk Blvd.,
University of Kansas,
Lawrence, KS 66045.
Juliana Makuchi Nfah-Abbenyi, PhD
Professor
Department of English
212 Tompkins Hall
North CarolinaState University
Raleigh, NC 27695-8105