Poets and writers are invited to submit to our competition.. We accept all genres of work, including poetry, fiction drama and experimental, as long as it has Afrofuturism as the focus. Two definitions are applicable: 

1. Afrofuturism is defined as "speculative fiction that treats African American themes and addresses African American concerns in the context of the twentieth century technoculture—and, more generally, African American signification that appropriates images of technology and a prosthetically enhanced future."-- Mark Dery in his 1994 essay, "Black to the Future."

2. "Afrofuturism is a way of looking at the future and alternate realities through a Black cultural lens. Black cultural lens means the people of the African continent in addition to the Diaspora, the Americas, Europe, etc. It is an artistic aesthetic, but also a kind of method of self-liberation or self-healing. It can be part of critical race theory and in other respects its an epistemology as well. It intersects the imagination, technology, Black culture, liberation, and mysticism. An an artistic aesthetic it bridges literature, music, visual arts, film, and dance. As a mode of self-healing and self-liberation, it's the use of imagination that is most significant because it helps people to transform their circumstances. Imagining oneself in the future creates agency and it's significant because historically people of African descent were not always incorporated into many of the storylines about the future."--Ytasha Womack, author of Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci Fi & Fantasy Culture (2013).

Simultaneous submissions accepted, but please notify us if the work is accepted elsewhere. Contributors will be notified of acceptance by late September 2024. The issue will be released in November 2024. All editorial decisions are final.