Creative Opportunities - Submissions, Calls, Grants, Contests [ISSUE O19-26]
Every week, we find new ways for you to show your unique view of the world. We've curated a list of exciting opportunities across Africa, and the world, just for you.
Open call: Koshka Sound Residency
Applications are open for the Accra edition of the 2026 Koshka Sound Residency under theme: villager. This residency asks: what does it mean to create from source rather than spectacle? How can sound remain accountable to place in a city always in motion?
Eligibility: Women singers, rappers, poets, beat makers and sound artists residing in Accra
Benefits: Fully covered residency program
Deadline: 27 May 2026
Call for Submissions: Iskanchi Magazine
Iskanchi Magazine is open for submissions for its Summer Issue. Send in short, original, irreverent, disobedient, and experimental work too brief to stand alone as a book. They welcome writing that pushes the boundaries of experimental fiction, both in content or form.
Eligibility: African writers
Benefits: $50 per published piece
Deadline: 31 May 2026
For more on submissions: https://www.iskapress.com/submit-page
2026 Quramo Writers Prize
Quramo Publishing Ltd. is now accepting fiction prose manuscripts for the 10th edition of its annual Quramo Writers’ Prize (QWP). Nationals of any African country are invited to send in original, unpublished works for entry.
Eligibility: African writers
Benefits:
Cash prize
Publishing deal
Deadline: 31 May 2026
Submit here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSexyjpKrqRZY3b3Pn59RfZUvSquPfjYZX4bD9TF8EcTYFy-jQ/viewformg
Shallow Tales Review
Shallow Tales Review is accepting fiction, creative nonfiction, book reviews, poems, one-act plays, cultural and social essays, art photographs and translations for their June issue. Genres should be centered on Black and African themes. Feel free however to bend genre restrictions as you wish; fluidity and artistic ingenuity are greatly welcome.
Eligibility: African writers, poets and creatives
Benefits: Publication
Deadline: 31 May 2026.
Submit entries to:
poetry.tstr@gmail.com (poetry)
essays.tstr@gmail.com (Essays & Creative Nonfiction)
theshallowtalesreview@gmail.com (Fiction/Plays/Art & Photography)
For more on submissions: https://theshallowtalesreview.com.ng/submissions/
Call for Participation: Advancing Okyeame
Advancing Okyeame is now accepting applications for the first iteration of its Arts Writing and Editing residency. The program aims to support early to mid-career writer-editors in Ghana by giving them the tools and resources to write for publications on the continent and within the diaspora.
Eligibility: Ghanaian writers
Benefits:
8-week writing residency
Publication in Africa is a Country
Deadline: 8 June 2026
To apply:
please submit a 150 word biography, a resume or CV and up to three writing samples to advancingokyeame@gmail.com
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