Narratives Against Poverty in Africa Literary Prize 2025

Applications are open for the Narratives Against Poverty in Africa Literary Prize 2025. An innovative literary initiative, the Narratives Against Poverty in Africa Literary Prize, has been unveiled, offering African writers a bold platform to tell their continent’s stories through a prose, poetry, essay, and hybrid narratives that dig into heavy hitters like poverty, hunger, injustice, climate change, corruption, pandemics, war, and violence.

Spearheaded by executive curator Mbizo Chirasha, this multi-genre competition aims to unearth and celebrate talent from across Africa’s 52 nations and its diaspora, focusing on the theme “Narratives Against Poverty in Africa.”

The prize seeks to empower African voices to narrate their own histories and realities—both the continent’s rich heritage and its contemporary struggles with the aim to highlight the deep well of African writing talent while tackling the beautiful and dark present of a continent defined by resilience amid adversity.

Benefits of Literary Prize

• Three winners will be awarded cash prizes along with opportunities and accolades, to be announced in July 2025.
• Additionally, 52 standout submissions, including those of winners and special mentions, will be compiled into a book anthology slated for publication in August 2025. Participants will receive PDF copies, with paperback versions available for online order.

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Eligibility for Literary Prize

• Open to African writers in African countries and other Africans in the diaspora;
• Applicants should be from the age of 18 and above.

Submission Guidelines

• Only two submissions per genre (poetry, short story and essays/hybrid narratives)
• Judges/curators expectations are highly critical work that delves onto thematic areas of poverty, hunger, injustice, effects of climate change, corruption, pandemics, effects of war and violence in Africa.
• Submission length and size: for poetry, a maximum of 40 lines per submission; for short story, a maximum of 4 pages; and for essays, a maximum of 4 pages.

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Application

Entries must be formatted in 12-point Times New Roman font and sent as Word document attachments to [email protected]. Each submission requires a title, genre, and the author’s name in the subject line and on every page, accompanied by a 15-line bio and a headshot photo.

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