Introduction:

“There is that great proverb — that until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter. That did not come to me until much later. Once I realized that, I had to be a writer. I had to be that historian. It’s not one man’s job. It’s not one person’s job. But it is something we have to do, so that the story of the hunt will also reflect the agony, the travail — the bravery, even, of the lions.” – Chinua Achebe

The Imbubé African Book Festival and Award is a one day celebration of African arts and literature, and discussions on the impact of literature in the continent. It will feature TED style talks by prominent members of the literary community, panel discussions on different literary activities, award sessions for short story writers, exhibitions and book signing.

Theme: Literature as a Pillar for Africa’s Creative Economy

Date: October 28, 2017

Time: 9:30am

Venue: The National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos

Imbubé, which is the Zulu word for lion, is a reference to the critical role literature has come to play in telling the African story, ensuring that stories from the continent is told and read by her people – and not just westerners only.

To mark this day, the Festival will reward four young and emerging writers for their short stories with N200,000 cash prize each and collect their submitted stories into a short story collection.

How to take part:

Creative writing submissions are now on for the first Imbubé African Books Festival and Award. To submit a story and stand a chance to win N200,000 cash prize, interested participants must:

  • Be a resident of an African country.
  • Not be above 35 years of age as at the date of submission.
  • The story submitted must have a minimum of 2,000 words and maximum of 5000 words.
  • All submitted stories must be an original story. Plagiarism will result in an entry being disqualified.
  • Public voting and judge opinions on the submission begins on October 13th and closes on October 24th
  • Submissions must include a short bio of the author of not more than 50 words and a headshot of yourself.
  • On submission, all participants agree that their entries will be shared on the Imbubé African Books Festival and Awards with due credit given to the author.
  • All submissions must be made on or before October 24th, 2017
  • In addition to the N200,000 cash prize, the top four entries will also be collected into a short story collection to be distributed in e-book copies by NerveFlo (see website)
  • Submissions should be made through: http://imbube.org/about/imbube-2017-creative-writing-competition/

All submissions made must fall into the following four categories:

  1. The future of Africa (Sci-Fi, Fantasy)
  2. Human rights/free speech (Historical fiction, non-fiction)
  3. Nollywood 2.0 (drama, crime or romance fiction)
  4. The power of writing (adventure, children/young adult fiction)

Please note that participants can only submit one entry per category.

For more details visit our website www.imbube.org or send an email to mail@imbube.org

Steps on how to enter your story:

  • Visit http://imbube.org/about/imbube-2017-creative-writing-competition/
  • Click the “Submit Entry” button to make a submission.
  • In the entry form, enter the title of your story. Select the category being entered for, then include a brief bio and your picture headshot (jpg, 500by500 px, 50kb max, use your best picture ok!), then include Your Story.
  • Be sure to fill all required fields and double check your story for correctness before submitting, as you will be unable to edit it once submitted.
  • On submission, our expert literary team will pre-screen your submission and approve it to go live here in 24 hours max (or contact you otherwise) Submissions are open from now till the 13th of October 2017. Good luck!