Lights, Camera, Africa!!!

Reel Life, the LifeHouse's film club presents, in conjunction with the Africa Film Festival, New York, its first Film Festival.
The film festival will hold from the 30th of September to the 2nd of October at the LifeHouse on 33, Sinari Daranijo Street, Victoria Island, Lagos. The festival will showcase original pieces of African cinema from within the continent and the diaspora.
Attendance is free!

Write For E-zee Writer

One of our fave newsletters E-zee Writer is accepting articles... do you have an idea to make the job of a writer easier? Why not give it a try... Also a good excuse to read through past editions of the newsletter and get inspired...happy weekend

E-zee Writer will only accept articles. We do NOT accept fiction or poetry.

Articles should give advice to the beginning and established freelance writer. We are particularly interested in articles which give advice on writing for specific markets and selling work: writing for the Internet, how to write scripts for radio, TV or the stage, market research, information research, how to write fillers and articles etc.

Length should be around 700 words.

Payment is £35 per thousand words on publication for electronic rights.

For past issues of E-zee Writer Click Here.

Call for submissions: Melrose Publishing Limited

Melrose Books and Publishing was conceptualized in February 2010 and began operation in January 2011.  It was founded on the basic principle of introducing new ways of publishing through innovative and modern methods of creating content that would make learning easier, interactive and interesting to the reader or user. 

In addition to our educational books, we have interest in promoting and exploring the creative minds of Africans home and abroad through literary works. One of our goals is to create a reading culture among Nigerians, whilst sustaining it.

We are presently working on prose fictional works for pupils in Primaries four to six (4-6) and students in Junior Secondary School one to three (JSS1-3). People who are interested in writing for these categories should send their manuscripts to melrosebooks@yahoo.com and copy amaka.ukwuegbu@melroseng.com.

Call for Submissions: The African Muse

Seeking writing and photography contributors to cover the African arts scene--film, literature, dance, music, culture--for The African Muse. The African Muse features the best original thought on African culture, art, and artists for international patrons and creative practitioners. Supporting the work of fine artists and entrepreneurs, TAM incites a cross-cultural dialogue that challenges conventional notions of African art and creativity.


To become a contributor, you must:

1. Live in a major international city and have a strong interest in Africa/Africans, fine arts and culture.

2. Visit The African Muse to see if the style and subject matter appeal to you.

3. E-mail a short (200 words or less) description of yourself and your interests, your online experience, what you'd like to cover, and a link to your blog/portfolio or other writing/photography samples online (at least three) to theafricanmuse [at] gmail [dot] com.

The African Muse is a labor of love. There's no pay, but we're hoping to grow the site and be able to revise that statement in the future. E-mail theafricanmuse [at] gmail [dot] com for more info.

Contact Information:

For inquiries: theafricanmuse@gmail.com

For submissions: theafricanmuse@gmail.com

Website: http://theafricanmuse.blogspot.com/

Giveaways, this Season!!!

READ THE SUNDAY SUN REVUE FOR 3 WEEKS WIN N10,000.
Sunday Sun Revue, the Arts pages of Sunday Sun is giving. Yes. Beginning this Sunday, September 24, 2011 they will publish excerpts from the 3 books on the NLNG prize short list.

The rules to win are simple. But a copy of the paper. Read the excerpts. Vote for the book you think will win. The first 3 correct votes get N10,000 each plus a copy of the book courtesy Radi8 Ltd.

So start booking your Sunday Sun now. Voting ends 6pm, Monday October 9, 2011.

Lagosmums Giveaway
Lagosmums, the fastest growing online community for Mums in Lagos is giving away...magazines, books. Now, that's where it is our business. There are few rules.

• Invite 20 friends: Win a six month magazine subscription to Exceed Magazine, a magazine that focuses on career and work life balance (courtesy of Exceed Omni Media)
• Invite 10 friends: Win a gift pack with books, (courtesy of Debonair Bookstores and Wordsmithy Media) and a set of  jewellery (courtesy of Toritshe H7).
• Invite 5 friends: Win a free make-up session with Makeup Kolonie and a free movie ticket.

Slum Diary by Nwilo Bura-Bari Vincent

SLUM DIARY

By

Nwilo Bura-Bari Vincent

Click!It comes twice. The first click may have a flash. But the second click does. The flash light comes blinding. But that isn’t my problem. I like it, especially when I’m placed on serious smiles with crisp notes. Halima, that woman I love likes it when I smile. Other children envy me. I can’t tell why that is, but my curly hair, my skin colour and my stature are mainly my speculations.

The white men that visit Bori always find us fascinating. They enjoy all we do. From clicking at children diving into streams, to sweating teenagers cleaning the windscreen of cars for money, they love all we do.  A lot of them wouldn’t buy what we sell. But they never minded any pictures. They clicked at cats crossing the road. They would click at quarreling market women and struggling bus conductors. They also clicked at monuments. You see them in armed protected vehicles. Someone said taking pictures of us was a good thing. He said the pictures travel to the white lands and is put on large billboards and computers. And it makes us famous. Others have said the pictures generate funds for these people. When I heard that I intensified my charge for every picture snapped.  

When I grow up I want to have many children, maybe ten or fifteen of them. And I would position them around the country with large bowls like I have now. I would take some to Port Harcourt; I heard the people there are rich. Someone said there is oil money everywhere, even in the air, especially in Bonny, an Island close to the Garden City, where women go for good luck, and hustlers like us beg for mercies. I would take a half of my children there and make them bug all the white and black people so one day; we would pool resources and build ourselves an empire. I am sure the dream would be achieved. I would send a couple of them to Lagos. The governor stopped us from hawking and street trading. He stopped our business.  He stopped everything because he knows nothing and cares little. That is bad business. He wants to kill my dreams.  

I would have made so much money today if I had been discovered by another white tourist. But I didn’t. I missed my luck. I was at the National Stadium where the President’s daughter celebrated her eighteenth birthday. The nation gathered. And I found enough food to last me the day.

Tomorrow is another day. Maybe I would find my dearest, Halima, and tell her of my dreams of ten or fifteen children and the strategic idea I thought up. I like Halima a lot. I have not told her, because I think I am not ready yet. I would be fifteen in a month. Maybe I would have added some more height. Someone said I wouldn’t grow any taller. I know it’s a lie. I know I would grow taller and marry Halima and have so much money and maybe have a family snap shot from the click of the tourists’ cameras.

 Judges comments: Our second prize story ‘Slum Diary’ by Nwilo Bura-Bari Vincent takes us on a trip into the psyche of a young boy and his strategy for thriving in the slums. The reader while enjoying the story is compelled to feel great empathy for this juvenile whose experience is simply a microcosm of the experiences of his kind all over the world. Only a child can truly see something to look forward to in the life that the main character in the story leads. We all can identify with his hopes, dreams and aspirations, maybe not in the way that he does but in a similar way, we draw strength to live one more day and try one more time to overcome the challenges that are inevitable in our individual journeys through life. Nwilo has succeeded in creating a credible work of literature. Well done!

Book N Gauge IV: Musing en Male...

In the month of September, PulpFaction Book Club would be hosting you to four emerging voices on the Nigerian literary scene. There will also be two soul artistes and a spoken word poet and you don’t want to miss this. It’s an afternoon of readings, live performances and YOU.  Be our guest! And yes, bring four friends and win a free book!

Time: 2pm

DATE: Saturday 24^th September, 2011

Venue: Debonair Bookstores, 294, Herbert Macaulay Way, Sabo, Yaba.

Chimeka Garricks: Author of PulpFaction Book Club’s September Book of the Month, is a lawyer by day, a writer at night and a football fanatic at weekends. Tomorrow Died Yesterday is his first published novel. He has read the book at different literary gatherings including Rainbow Book Club and Infusion. His debut novel was featured at the 2011 Garden City Literary Festival. Chimeka Garricks lives with his wife, Biyai, in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. 

Eghosa Imaseun: Born on the 19th of May in Ibadan, 1976, Eghosa is an alumnus of the inaugural Adichie-Wainaina-Fidelity-Bank Creative Writing Workshop that held in Ikoyi in 2007. He grew up in the oil city of Warri. His first novel, To Saint Patrick, an Alternate History look at Nigeria from the Civil War onwards, was published to critical acclaim by the Farafina Imprint of Kachifo Ltd, Lagos, in 2008. His second novel, Fine Boys, a look at Nigeria's post-Biafra generation through the prism of the IMF conditionalities of the 1990s, is expected from Farafina in late November 2011. He lives in Benin City with his wife and twin sons. He is also a medical doctor.

Samuel Kolawole: His fiction has appeared in Jungle Jim, Eastownfiction, Translitmag, Superstition review, Sentinel literary Quarterly, amongst others. His stories are forthcoming in ISFN anthology, an American-based imprint where his writing life will also be showcased. A recipient of the Reading Bridges fellowship, Samuel lives in Ibadan, southwest Nigeria, where he has begun work on his novel Olivia of Hustle House. He blogs regularly at Samuelkolawole.wordpress.com.

Charles Ayo Dada: A poet, playwright, prose writer and publisher, Charles Ayo Dada was born in Brussels Belgium, in 1971. He had an opportunity of an early exposure to the culture of the Arabs, the Europeans and the Americans.His collection of poem, the Ghost of Zina was nominated for The Pat Utomi Literary Award. Excerpts of the work have been published in several international journals and can be found online at numerous websites. He has been invited to several universities (where his book is studied) to speak on his work and has had The Ghost of Zina performed at the department of English, faculty of Arts, at The University of Lagos. ‘The King’s Clarion Call’ is his first stage play..

Performances
ESE PETERS: Ese has a knack for making beautiful music. A self-taught guitar player, He started out as a solo performer after graduating from the university in 2008 the Alternative Rock/Soul genre. A young man who sings from his heart, Ese carefully crafts his songs which come from his experiences and a wealth of influences, citing John Mayer as a  major reason why he decided to pursue music as a career, Ese  puts an interesting spin on guitar-driven pop music.

.
ISEBIAMA: A product of the MUSON Diploma School of Music, ISEBIAMA is a sensational singer, songwriter, guitarist whose love and passion for music has taken him through phases most focused and accomplished musicians pass through. From the basic music foundation, to sight reading & writing his music, to understanding the connection that should exist between different instruments and performers in small ensembles, group performances and chamber groups. Isebiama is indeed a musician of purpose; his genre of music is deeply rooted with originality and cultural credibility in Soul and World Music. Though born and bred in Lagos, Isebiama hails from Okrika in Rivers State. His songs which are written & delivered in English, Yoruba, Okrika and Pidgin English, are an expression of his experiences and the stuff that goes on in his heart.  His dynamic play of the guitar with speed, passion, mental strength, balance and panache, and his remarkable vocal intonation through his mid to high notes registration are assets to be reckoned with. ISEBIAMA is the new sound of music. 

EFE PAUL: Widely regarded as one of Nigeria’s leading Spoken Word Poets, Efe Paul has been a headline performer in many of the nation’s premier performance poetry venues, including Anthill 2.0 and Taruwa. For over a decade, Efe has continued to deliver Spoken Word Poetry locally and internationally, gracing platforms at seminars, workshops, conferences, tertiary institutions, community development fora, as well as churches. He is the voice of a generation, a seeker and speaker of truth, an entertaining poet and performer. 
 
There promises to be:   

* A one-on-one interaction between authors and readers

* A platform for book enthusiasts to meet, interact and network. (Members of PulpFactionClub on Facebook and followers on Twitter would have a grand opportunity to meet).

* Freebies, lots of it. Let’s start with this. Invite four of your friends, ensure they come for the event and win a free book.

* Live Musical performances by:  guitar masters Ese Peters, Isebiama, and

Spoken word performance by One of Nigeria’s best, Efe Paul.

* Book signing and Book Bazaar.

Remember: Bring four friends and win a free book! Gifts are available for early birds too

www.nodsms.com

www.wordsmithymedia.com

www.pulpfaction.org.ng

http://www.debonairbookstore.com

Saraba 9: The Food Issue

Saraba Mag has been churning out interesting issues, issue after issue. The latest is about food. Read the publishers note, start salivating. Download free here 

"There is a certain way of perpetuating the discourse of food: relishing a meal while predetermining the next. This might be the subliminal rationale behind the Prequel Issue to the Food Issue, the culinary delight of hors d’oeuvre. This philosophy might as well promote gluttony, one of the seven deadly sins, but Temitayo Olofinlua’s piece pointedly asserts this behaviour as popular during the ghastly military era that beleaguered Nigeria a republic ago. And that our Food Issue is timely in re-ushering Muslim faithfuls from their stint with abstinence, the milieu is primed to receive Saraba’s muse on food as a literary meal.

There is another of way of looking at food; that which was deployed by Emmanuel Iduma in his conversation with Dr. Chima Anyadike. Food inimitably intersects with literature severally, and Anyadike’s measured responses to Iduma’s intellectual bravado pays off, it lends perspective to the literature of food.

Chika Unigwe and previous contributors to Saraba also put forward their short experiences and thoughts about food. What we have is another collagist of sort, a chart of monologues on one of the most unifying experiences.

Enjoy.

Caveat: We prescribe that the issue should be engaged with a full stomach for maximum enjoyment!"

Have a great week!

Creative Wings Writing Competition: Winners

Sometime ago, we partnered with Creative Wings on a writing competition. The winners have been announced and as promised we are pleased to present you their works.  And for those wondering what judges always see in winning stories, we left their comments. The winning stories are Waiting by Fego Martins Ahia and Slum Diary by Nwilo Bura-Bari Vincent. Enjoy Fego's work below.

W is for Waiting

By Fego Martins Ahia

A little silence hung between both of us. But the air still smelt of February; the wind still slammed against the windows, as if it were going to rain.

I wilted a little more, though the bamboo bed creaked under me. The half-moon resembled my limpid eyes – faint and watery – though flashing in the half-darkness.

The silence had vanished after a moment more. The front door soon swung open.

“Atanda,” someone whispered, though not too far away.

“Yes, Mama.” It was my voice this time, so soft I barely heard it myself. “D-Did you find him?”

She pulled the door shut, inching towards the candle-light. Lara remained warm and silent beside me.

Mama breathed slowly. “I wasn’t searching for your father, was I?” She plunked down in the sofa, inches away. “I wouldn’t go after a drunk that doesn’t remember he has a family.”

“Maa-ma?” Lara’s voice came at once.

“Will you shut up?” she said, rubbing her hand across her pimply face. “All his money ends in the beer parlor. Is that one a husband? After all, he married me on credit. He couldn’t pay up my bride price before my Papa passed on. He brought me to this one-room apartment in the city – Ajegunle for that matter. His peers are sending their children to private schools. Yet, he prefers to squander his tiny salary on alcohol and nothing else.” She wiped her eyes.

                 I wiped mine too, but there was no wetness in them.

“But Mama, things are hard, you know,” I managed to say. “Is that why you refused to prepare amala for his dinner?”

“Keep shut, my friend,” she growled at me. “Did he give me money to prepare it? How dare you talk to me that way? My mates are stocking their stalls, yet my shop remains dry like baked potato. Those moneybags keep coming after me, but I tell them I have a “husband”. Husband my foot!”

“Alright, I’m sorry, Mama,” I said, finally. “I-I know how it feels.”

“No, you don’t, Atanda,” she said without looking my way. “What do you know? When I was your age, those barrel-chested men used come to my Papa, asking for my hand in marriage. They used to offer us hectares of land, but I wanted to ripen. I didn’t know I was waiting to marry a flat-chested man who now goes about, proudly calling himself my husband.”

“May God give us better husbands, O!” Lara said.

“Amen,” I replied at once.

Mama paused, her brows furrowed a little. I didn’t wait a twinkling before I shot to my feet. I neared the front door while Lara followed. Mama jumped up. Her face changed color. She chased after us, but we were laughing all the way.

“It was just a prayer, Mama,” Lara said, the moment our mother had locked us outside. “It is for our future.” We were laughing convulsively.

“Then follow your Papa. Three of you should sleep outside in the rain,”

Mama said. “Don’t you dare wake me up, you little things. But of course, a trial will convince you.” She hissed sibilantly.

We thought she was joking. Papa didn’t return that night. We were helpless in the cold of our tiny verandah, waiting for the morning to come. When it finally would, the first thing would be the gleaming, golden sun, climbing over the horizon a distance away. We would be shivering by then, still waiting until laughter disappeared from our faces.

 Judges comments: Our first prize story ‘W is for Waiting’ by Fego Martins Ahia is a beautiful story that portrays the relationship between the girls and their parents. The author depicts the oedipal complex where girls love their daddies intensely, see them as their heroes and will believe no wrong about them.  We can see the girls pushing their mother’s buttons as a lot of girls will secretly admit they deliberately do. This is cleverly shown by the author as well. The resolution is touching and so true to life as most girls grow up to find that their invincible, hero-like dads whom they immortalized, revered and idolized are mere mortals with flaws like everyone else. Good job Fego. I enjoyed reading this!

What do you think?

Writing Tips and Publishing Opportunity with Emotion Press

Since the inception of our publishing arm at Emotion Press, several writers have submitted manuscripts.I have been given the opportunity to evaluate some of them.        
In this session, I would like to ruminate on one of the major problem literally fighting most writers.Just like Nolly wood where scripting cliches are the order of the day, most writers want to write as Chinua Achebe, Chimamanda Adichie and Wole Soyinka.


Thinking out of the box is quite essential as a 21st century writer.

Most stories you would be carving has been written before. The difference you would make will be your ability to write your own story your own way. Chimamanda Adichie and Chinua Achebe don't think the same way because they do not come from the same background nor had the same experiences; you and I don't think the same way. We are two original and creatively blessed entities.
       
I am challenging you today to think out of the box. As you put pen on pen, think out of the box. Avoid cliches. Be like yourself. Be original.Create new things.

Emotion Press wants to publish a quarterly literary magazine, you are invited to submit your entries. Visit Omojojolobooks.wordpress.com/omojojolomagazine. You may have a unique story for publication? We want to publish you - omojojolobooks.wordpress.com/submitmanuscript..

iRead

It's midweek already! How is the week going?  We bring you our fun reading list...just a click away.


9/11 stories: The Second Death of Martin Lango by Helon Habila

A phone call from an old friend sets Charles thinking of his former life in Nigeria, but the connection between Lagos and Washington DC is difficult to establish in this new story from Helon Habila, the latest in Guardian series of short fiction to mark the anniversary of 9/11.

"I won the visa lottery and moved to America six years before. Like everyone else, I wanted a piece of the American dream, little realising how long it takes to get it. My master's degree in business management had only got me a job as security in the local Giant superstore. But it was okay. When Martin called I only had two years to wait before I'd get my American passport. I was thirty five, and single."

A Novel of Pirates, Zealots and the Somalia Crisis, A review of Nuruddin Farah's Crossbones 

"Farah demonstrates how war profiteers make lucrative careers out of chaos. The bloody Ethiopian invasion, which received significant backing from the United States, not only foments anti-American sentiment, but also makes the most secular Somalis sympathize with the religionists. Young Taxliil’s radicalization, too, is a function of both his association with militant clerics and America’s misguided “war on terror.” The only political element Farah is markedly restrained about is America’s fickle and damaging cold war involvement in the region."

Sentinel Nigeria's Issue 7

Sentinel never disappoints. This issue features short stories by prolific authors such as Chuma Nwokolo, Esien Ekpe-Ita, Conquer Tukokumo Igali, and Chiemerie Nnamani Okenwa. There are poems by Obemata, Ibrahim Sambo, Giwa Abdulazeez, Anietie James Okuku, Osayi Osar-Emokpae, and Enuka Chimezie. In The Sentinel Nigeria interview, EC Osondu, Caine Prize winner and author of Voice of America speaks with  Eghosa Imasuen, author of soon-to-be-released novel Fineboys.  Interesting article by Ahmed Maiwada on the intertextuality between Achebe's Things Fall Apart, Colleen McCullough’s novel   The Thorn Birds and Adichie's Purple Hibiscus  here.

"It is safe to assume at this point that the proponents of Adichie’s debts to Achebe have rested their cases, having realised how they have fallen prey to Adichie’s perfectly sold first-sentence dummy. It is left to address the group that champion Adichie’s “originality”, probably led by Professor Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo. This group is urged to re-evaluate its position in view of the extra-ordinary closeness that characterise the structures, characters, language and plots of these two novels – The Thorn Birds and Purple Hibiscus— which go beyond the intertextual, beyond the acceptable limits within which one piece of literature may relate to another."

An excerpt from Jude Dibia's Blackbird in Next Newspapers. A review by Ikhide Ikheloa here too. 

"Salem Avenue had originally been lined with brick houses built in the 1930s when the British colonialists were still very much around. They had an old British country feel and look, from the way the roofs were laid-in triangular cascades-to the little gardens that lined the drives. With the gradual transfer from white colonial settlers to black local inhabitants, most of these houses had changed in appearance and were now colour washed in faded greys and off-whites. Others had been rebuilt or renovated by new owners and developers. These stood out jarringly like large, dead cockroaches in a bowl of milk, with their bright colours and awkward architectural designs. Now they harboured typewriters and computers instead of television sets; stiff chairs and formal desks instead of armchairs and cushions and metal cabinets in place of wooden cupboards.

There used to be a small park at the end of the street for Sunday picnics and solitary strolls for those who loved watching the sunset. But the park had been the first landmark to disappear and in its place, a motel was erected. The residents of Salem Avenue wrote protest letters to try to stop the builders, only to learn later that the owner of the motel was the council boss's cousin. It was soon after the construction of the motel, that some property owners on Salem Avenue sold their homes which were then renovated and converted to business outfits by the new owners, right under the nose of the local government. Slowly, the residential area morphed into a pseudo-commercial neighbourhood. The remaining residents simply lived with it and soon they, too, no longer thought about the tranquillity of the past."

Hope this keeps you busy between work, at lunch...hope it helps you sail through the week, with ease!

Emotion Press: Call For Entry

Omojojolo magazine is a quarterly literary magazine. The first edition of the magazine is planned to be released on the 13th of December,2011. Premised upon this, we are calling for entries from the general writing public.
 
Category of Entries

Poetry - Not more than 40 lines
Short story - Not more than 2,500 words.
Play - Not more than 5000 words
Creative Non-fiction - Not more than 2,500 words.
Submission Deadline: September 29,2011
Entry Fee: N750[Naira]
Visit www.omojojolobooks.wordpress.com for further details.

Literature in the Garden City

The 4th Garden City Literary Festival begins in Port Harcourt on Monday, September 12th till Saturday, September 17th. The event will feature International Literary Conference, book readings, theatre productions, interactive sessions with writers, publishers, academics and other literary professionals and a Book Fair. 

Some of this year’s featured speakers are Chinua Achebe, Reverend Jesse Jackson from the USA and Ghanaian feminist writer Ama Atta Aidoo. Other speakers include authors Ilyas Tunc, Lisa Combrinck, Ken Wiwa, Chimeka Garricks , Michael Peel and Eghosa Imasuen. 

This is an opportunity to meet writers and participate in the writing workshop. All roads indeed lead to PH this week!

September 11, a Poem

KTravula wrote this poem in memory of victims, first responders, firemen and all other casualties of the 9/11 attacks and the war therefrom.

Raining debris of a thousand dreams over Manhattan

And tears of pain, a gaping hole in the eye of summer.

The world morphed suddenly into dust and heat

and a flag-draped beginning of a new, frigtening day.

There we were, going our separate ways, waking.

Working, living, arguing – a usual rite of passage,

And there they were,  willing acolytes of a sad resolve,

boarding jetliners with armoury of a cultivated god.

Here we are, a decade away, still a bewildered folk.

Just a little step from the true vanity of all our pain.

So we hope, and dream, and watch, accordingly,

and live with the same wondering resolve: any lessons?

The world remains what it is – a weird blubbering ball

hanging in the daunting mystery of its core, warts and all.

Introducing 5B

5B is to serve as a network for young writers, under 35 and of African descent, currently working on a novel. The goal of the Network is to assist the 5 members of the network in completing a novel - by way of critiques, editorial suggestions and publishing hints. However, the objective is open-ended. The first project of the network will begin in October 2011.

Interested members should take note of the following:

• The novel should be in progress at the time of application to participate
• The number is kept at 5 so that the members can develop friendship while working on their books
• Only writers of literary fiction will be admitted as members
• The first project of the network aims at ensuring that all the five members, at the end of a year, have completed manuscripts ready for representation and/or publishing
• The project shall last between October 2011 and August 2012
• Each member will be required to make weekly contributions of a part of the novel in progress. Please note that a high level of cooperation is demanded - The work will be tasking!
• The contributions of each member shall not exceed 25 installments. As such, members will have the discretion of dividing their work into a maximum of 25 parts. This is subject to review
• The members will decide on a platform to share their writing, and an avenue for virtual meetings and discussions. Discussions will also be held once a week.
• Other details will be finalized as soon as members are selected.

If interested, please contact Emmanuel by email (emma.iduma@gmail.com). Send a summary of your plot, the proposed word range, a brief publishing history, a short (or long) introduction about yourself, and any other detail you feel is important for the purpose of the project. The selection process is simple and quick; applications will be treated in the order they are received. Send in your email before September 20. If before then selection is complete, subsequent applicants will be duly informed. As this is not a competition, the decision of who is to become a member is entirely based on the interests of the Initiator.

Have a great week everyone!

GUERILLA BASEMENT SHORT FICTION

Guerilla Basement is calling for short fiction entries. This particular call for entries is in commemoration of “Cancer Awareness” month in October.

The aim is to explore the use of certain themes in both creative and experimental ways in literary fiction.


Submissions should be based on the theme of “Cancer”. The four stories selected will be published on the Guerilla Basement website through the month of October.

Deadline for submission is SEPTEMBER 18, 2011

Submission Guidelines
Stories must be previously unpublished and must be the exclusive work of the entrant.

Stories must be between 600 and 750 words.

Entry is free.

Only one submission per entrant is permitted.

Only online submissions are acceptable.

Entries should be emailed to wana@guerillabasement.com .

Paste story in the body of the e-mail. Use ‘Guerilla Basement Fiction’ in the subject line. Entries with attachments will be disqualified.

The email must contain the entrant’s name, the title of story, and the entrant’s physical address and contact phone number.

Simultaneous submissions are NOT acceptable.

Entries must be in English.
Judging the entries will be award winning writer Chika Unigwe. Unigwe has been shortlisted for the Caine Prize, she has won the Commonwealth Short Story competition, written two children’s books and her short stories have appeared in several journals, anthologies and magazines. She is the author of The Phoenix and the critically acclaimed On Black Sisters Street.


Guerilla Basement is a literary, art and culture website. Visit www.guerillabasement.com or follow gbasement on twitter