Short Story Day Africa

Worldreader and Paperight have partnered with Short Story Day Africa to take African fiction to a global audience. The initiative brings together writers, readers, booksellers, publishers, teachers and school children from all over the globe to write, submit, read, workshop and discuss stories – and to foster the love of reading and writing African fiction.

When Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie addressed the TED Conference in 2009, she spoke of the danger of the single story, a distorted, one-dimensional view of Africa that sees the continent through a prism of war, disease, poverty, starvation and corruption. Short Story Day Africa has established a day – 21st June, the shortest day or night of the year – on which to celebrate the diversity of Africa’s voices and tell you who we really are; what we love; love to eat, read, write about. We want to bring you the scents on our street corners and the gossip from our neighbours, and to let you listen to strains of the music that get us dancing. Short Story Day Africa exists because we have something to tell the world. About us. In our own voices.

“The project is in its third year and has grown substantially since 2011. We continue to have the support of the African writing community, and more writers are reaching out and holding workshops to share their knowledge. We’ve partnered with Worldreader and Paperight to bring out a Kids anthology comprising the best of their efforts, as well as an adult collection of fifteen stories harvested from the entries into our Feast, Famine and Potluck writing competition. Thus bringing us closer to one of our aims: to give writers – established and emerging, young and old – a platform for their work.”

Visit: http://shortstorydayafrica.org/

Twitter @shortstoryAFR and on Facebook : Short Story Day Africa

Competitions

2013 prizes are sponsored by BooksLive, NB Publishers, All About Writing, Erotica sensation Helena S. Paige, Louis Greenberg, SL Grey, The Caine Prize, Modjaji Books, Botsotso and Heart & Soul Photography.

Feast, Famine & Potluck (over 18) – Original unpublished stories, in any genre, inspired by our theme. 1st Prize R2000 + Writing course plus Word count: 3000 – 5000 words. Deadline 30th June 2013.
Fairy tales, Myths & Legends Reimagined (17 and under) – Take any fairy tale, myth, fable or legend and reimagine it. Parents and teachers can download workshop packs from the website. Great fiction titles to be won in all categories. Age 9 and under, 900 words or less; Ages 10-13, 500-1200 words, Ages 14-17, 500-1200 words. Deadline 15th July 2013.
Spine Stories (All ages) – Assemble a story from the titles on your book shelf. Snap a pic. Twitpic it @benrwms @shortstoryAFR with hashtags #shortstorydayafrica #spinestory . Ends 30th June 2013
See website for full details of competitions.