The African Poetry Book Fund, in partnership with Brown University, promotes and advances the development and publication of the poetic arts through its book series, contests, workshops, and seminars and through its collaborations with publishers, festivals, booking agents, colleges, universities, conferences and all other entities that share an interest in the poetic arts of Africa.
We publish between three and five poetry books each year, including the winner of the Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets, a chapbook box set of emerging African poets, and our New and Selected series.
Glenna Luschei Prize for African Poetry
The Glenna Luschei Prize for African Poetry is a post-publication award of US $1,000 to a book of poetry published by an African author.
An African writer is someone who was born in Africa, who is a national or resident of an African country, or whose parents are African.
We do not accept submissions electronically. Please visit our website for more information on how to submit.
No entry fee is required to submit to the contest.
Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets
The Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets awards USD $1,000 and publication by the University of Nebraska Press.
We accept electronic submissions of full-length manuscripts of poetry to the Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets annually between September 15 and December 1.
An African writer is taken to mean someone who was born in Africa, who is a national or resident of an African country, or whose parents are African.
No past or present paid employees of the University of Nebraska Press or Amalion Press, or current faculty, students, or employees at the University of Nebraska or Brown University, are eligible for the prizes.
No entry fee is required to submit to the contest.
Evaristo African Poetry Prize (formerly the Brunel International African Poetry Prize)
The Evaristo African Poetry Prize awards USD $1,500 to ten poems.
We accept electronic submissions to the Evaristo African Poetry Prize annually between October 1 and November 1.
An African writer is taken to mean someone who was born in Africa, who is a national or resident of an African country, or whose parents are African.
No past or present paid employees of the University of Nebraska Press or Amalion Press, or current faculty, students, or employees at the University of Nebraska or Brown University, are eligible for the prizes.
No entry fee is required to submit to the contest.
General Submissions
We accept electronic unsolicited full-length poetry manuscript submissions from published and unpublished African poets during our open submissions periods. For submission guidelines, please visit: https://africanpoetrybf.brown.edu/publish-with-apbf/
To keep track of APBF calls for manuscript submission, please sign up for our newsletter. You may find the sign up form at the bottom of the page linked to above.
The APBF is a small nonprofit organization run almost entirely by volunteers and funded by individual donations and grants. This allows us to focus on our unique vision to publish and promote African poetry. To maintain the accessibility of our prizes and submission periods to poets across the globe, the APBF does not charge reading fees. All these things mean that we rely on the generosity of our community—every donation supports African poets and makes our work possible.
Donations to the APBF support a range of visionary projects, including poetry prizes, publications, local poetry libraries, and more.
Recurring gifts help us sustain the long-term continuity of our projects and ensure we can keep celebrating the transformative global voices that speak to you. If you would like to make a recurring gift, please visit this link.
Thank you for your support!
CALL FOR PROPOSALS
African Poetry Digital Portal Project: African Poetry Digital Humanities Grants
Deadline: 23 January, 2026
The African Poetry Digital Portal Project funded by a grant from the Andrew Mellon Foundation invites proposals from scholars and researchers for the African Poetry Digital Humanities Grant. These grants support Digital Humanities research in African Poetry. Applicants are encouraged to make use of the resources of the Portal, and in so doing expand the impact of the Portal in the broader community of African Digital Humanities scholarship. Given the multifaceted nature of African Poetry in terms of regional variance, performative elements, archival and textual complexity and range, and the work of African Poetry within the fabric of contemporary and historical societies, proposals should take advantage of the range of possibilities afforded to a scholar in the field of Digital Humanities. To be considered, projects must use digital research methods or encompass scholarship that applies computing technologies in humanistic inquiry. Most importantly, African Poetry must be at the center of the research.
The APDP Project
The African Poetry Digital Portal documents the work of African poets and provides equitable digital access to the related creative and intellectual artifacts, materials and research on the subject of African Poetry, housed in academic and cultural institutions in Africa and its diaspora, to, among other things, create accessible ways to engender an informed, culturally diverse, civically engaged and responsible society.
Award Amount: $10,000
Application Requirements
1. Project proposal: a description of the proposed research plan consisting of the following (should not exceed 3 pages):
- Abstract (300 words maximum)
- Project Narrative: The narrative should describe the guiding premises of the project clearly, provide a clear overview of the project’s structure (components, personnel, tasks), and describe in concrete terms what the project hopes to accomplish by the end of the 12-month period. Include:
- The nature of the project
- The area of African Poetry being explored
- The research question and approach
- Technological requirements: include and specific equipment, software, server time, or hosting (NOTE: Personal computer purchases are not permitted)
- A detailed timeline including key dates and milestones
2. A detailed budget (1 page maximum) including clear explanations for each item and a justification of their importance to the project.
3. CV of the primary researcher. Include relevant examples of previous projects.
Outcomes
All grant recipients will:
- Work to advance or complete a Digital Humanities Project on African Poetry, and make the project or the project details available to be featured on the Portal.
- Complete a critical commentary on the technological and thematic challenge of the project and its effectiveness.
- Complete a plan for future related work of expansion of the current project.
For any questions, contact Rezina Habtemariam, APDP’s Project Manager, at rezina_habtemariam@brown.edu.
Contemporary African Poetry Book Series
Each year the APBF publishes two to six volumes of poetry by contemporary African poets. These books feature some of the best new poetry written by African poets at various stages of their career. We also publish works in translation under this series.
Translators must present documentation from the author or the author’s estate demonstrating that they have permission to translate and publish the work. During our open submissions period, the APBF is pleased to consider unsolicited manuscripts from African poets (previously published or not), and our editorial staff reviews each submission.
Please familiarize yourself with our organization and our publishing list to ensure your eligibility and determine if your manuscript is a good fit for our series. Please read the information included here before you submit your work: https://africanpoetrybf.brown.edu/publish-with-apbf/
Submissions that do not initially meet the guidelines below will not be considered. Please note that we cannot consider manuscripts that have been previously self-published.
Of the hundreds of manuscripts we receive each year, we publish only a handful. Our selection process is rigorous and focused on finding the best writing by African poets.
We do our best to respond to submissions during the reading periods. We have a small staff and a steady flow of manuscript submissions. Please be patient while we give your manuscript our full consideration.
We only accept electronic submissions, and our submissions system only accepts manuscripts during the open submission periods. Any manuscripts mailed to us will be recycled unread. Submissions Guidelines Unsolicited manuscripts are considered for publication through the University of Nebraska Press. Eligibility: The African Poetry Book Fund considers manuscript submissions from published and unpublished African writers. An “African writer” is taken to mean someone who was born in Africa, who is a national or resident of an African country, or whose parents are African.
Only poetry submissions in English can be considered, though work translated from another language to English is considered for English-only publication.
Manuscript: Poetry manuscripts should be at least 50 pages long. Please review our previous poetry titles to get a sense for what we’re looking for in a poetry collection. Please submit a query letter along with the complete collection.
While we have no specific formatting rules, we suggest sending your manuscript in Times New Roman or Arial, 12 point font, single-spaced. We also prefer one poem per page, meaning a new poem does not begin on the same page on which another ends.
Please submit only ONE manuscript at a time and wait to hear our response before sending another.
If the work is in translation, the translator(s) must present documentation from the author or the author’s estate demonstrating that they have permission to translate and publish the work.