Between Man and God, a creative nonfiction anthology, to be curated by Unoma Azuah in collaboration with Women’s Initiative for Sustainable Empowerment and Equality (WISE) calls for true life stories from queer West African women.

About the Project

Queer people all over the world face one form of marginalization or the other. The works of LGBTQI activists are compelling the west to review some state laws that stifle the freedom of queer people. But this is not true about West Africa where queer people are still demonized. In most West African countries, queer people live in constant fear, abused by both public and private agencies that refuse to acknowledge their rights to live and love freely. Women are worst hit by homophobia. This is because of the sociopolitical and cultural institutions that deny women the opportunity to excel. In essence, there is a need to not only create awareness about the endangered condition of queer women in West Africa who are daily persecuted for their sexuality and their gender representation, but also it is important to document the ways queer women have been able to create authentic lives and push back against the homo/trans phobia. We therefore seek writings that explore the human emotions of joy, rage and optimism, while reaching towards the ineffable with a boundless capacity for courage and a tasteful attention to craft.    

BETWEEN MAN AND GOD  is the position most West African Queer women are forced to remain in. This anthology celebrates their tenacity and their refusal to be silenced. Honorarium will be given to the top three best selected entries to acknowledge the excellency of their craft and to encourage visibility through writing. All shortlisted submissions will be published. 

Honorarium 

·    First honorarium- $1000

·    Second honorarium- $750

·    Third honorarium- 500

Submission Guidelines

Ø  Submission is open to only queer women from West Africa. This includes lesbian, bisexual and trans women from West Africa, living in West Africa and or in the diaspora.

Ø  Submit only creative nonfiction that reflects the theme of the anthology. Multiple or simultaneous submissions will not be read, accepted or acknowledged. We are only interested in personal and previously unpublished creative nonfiction.

Ø  All entries must be no less than 1500 words, and no more than 3000 words.

Ø  Entries must be double spaced, formatted with times new Roman, and 14 font size.

Ø  Entries must be free of grammatical errors.

Ø  Submission opens on the 7^th of May 2021, and closes on the 15th of August, 2021. A long list will be announced on Sept 30th while the short list will be released on October 30th, 2021. The list of winners will be announced on the 30th of November. The publication of the anthology will be done by the first quarter of 2022.

Ø  Any submission outside the submission timeline will be disqualified.

Ø  Submit entry as a word attachment, with the subject “Creative Nonfiction SUBMISSION.” Entries must  be accompanied by a cover letter that bears the word count, name of the writer, country of origin, country of residence, sexual/gender identity of the writer. The writer’s name and any other means of identification can only appear on the cover letter and not the entry. Any means of identification on the entry will lead to automatic disqualification.

Ø  For privacy and protection sake, tell us if you wish for your work to be published with your real name or with a pseudonym.

Ø   Submissions should be sent to QueerWestAfricanWomen@gmail.com

Ø  For questions or enquiry, email artsloungenyc@gmail.com

Honorarium Rules

Ø  The judges’ decisions are final.

Ø  All shortlisted writers must be available for communication via email during the editing and publication stages.

Ø  The judges reserve the right to withdraw the honorarium if in their judgment, the winner has defaulted or violated any rule.

Ø  Winners must be available to acknowledge and receive the honorarium, as and when due.