Issue 25 | June 2026 is live This edition features writers from Nigeria🇳🇬, Uganda 🇺🇬, Kenya 🇰🇪, and Ghana 🇬🇭. Headliner: ‘Pemi Aguda Guest editor (poetry): Loic Ekinga (@1stLoicYouKnow) Cover image: IfeOluwa Nihinlola Follow link in bio to read full issue.

We stand with the Caine Prize and affirm the legitimacy of “The Blue Fighter.”

Giving a Speech to Wealthy Donors about Black Refugees in the USA: A Guide | Ola Osaze “The roar has died down. A throbbing silence filled its place. A silence that is itself a living, breathing entity blanketing the cavernous room.” Read full essay on website.

“The more I write, the more I discover that I know very little as a writer. In fact, I do a better job when I manage to completely disappear and get out of the way.” — @MidiBarya (via @forge_litmag)

School Girls | Jean Wathugu I’ll pull your cuticle tender,/ Crayon your nails pink,/ Plant a thyme on your temple,/ I gave you all my crisps,/ I’d give you everything. Read full poem on website.

Issue 26 submissions window is open till October 31st, 2026. We are open to entries across all genres: poetry, fiction, essays, one-acts, cultural profiles, art, & photography. Guest editor (fiction): Zenas Ubere Read full guidelines on website.

Congratulations to @S_S_Kundizeza! Grateful to the @CainePrize for finding “The Blue Fighter” worthy of this prestigious prize. To African writing.

Testimony | @iyanam_ today, a woman will hold her son/ as he bleeds into the earth./ but first, she puts me down slowly./ as if to ask that my feet grow familiar/ with crisis so it hesitates to claw at my infant skin Read the full poem on the website.

“Poetry truly transcends the limitations of time, but not perspective. It has many worthwhile purposes but to me, the truest purpose of poetry is honesty; not truth, but simple honesty.” — Tramaine Suubi (via @afrocritik)

A Day in the Life of a Member of Parliament | Davina Philomena Kawuma “No one’s told them that their benefactors dine with ours – that the people who fund their outrage also pay our salaries.” Read the full story on the website.

Issue 26 submissions window is open till October 31st, 2026. We are open to entries across all genres: poetry, fiction, essays, one-acts, cultural profiles, art, & photography. Guest editor (fiction): Zenas Ubere Read full guidelines on website.

Thrilling reads ahead! We’ve rounded up 5 must-read African books hitting stores in Q4 2026! 📚 Check them out, pre-order, and get ready to dive in! #AfricanLiterature #NewReleases #Q42026 #BookLovers #ReadAfrican

Introducing the guest fiction editor for Issue 26, @ZenasUbere. Zenas Ubere is a Nigerian writer and editor. His writings appear in ArtReview, Brick, Gordon Square Review, The Forge Literary, among others. He is the coordinator of Lolwe Academy and the editor of Saraba Magazine.

Issue 26 submissions window opens October 1st to 31st, 2026. We are open to entries across all genres: poetry, fiction, essays, one-acts, cultural profiles, art, & photography. Guest editor (fiction): @ZenasUbere Read full guidelines on website.

boneweather | @SAOLAW999 if gods get tired of spilled blood & sacrifice/ is another forbidden fruit(—)/ if Darwin had given a second thought & traced his theory/ back to the Garden of Eden(—) Read the full poem on the website.

Ticking Time Bomb | Jean Wathugu The debt crisis can be understood in the shade of the placard for Sir E.H the 5th Duke of Cloud cuckoo-shire: Traversed the Congo rapids and fought his life back from a hippo to whip time into existence. Read the full poem on the website.

“The best thing for writer’s block for me is to just sit and wait, something will always float by, always. I’ve learned to trust that process. Just sit and wait.” — Rebecca Fisseha (via The Word on the Street)

Writing the Haunted City: In Conversation with ‘Pemi Aguda “In the sweet early days of trying to figure out what the story is reaching for… there are no readers. It is me and the page and the chemistry between us.” Read the full interview on the website.

a teacupful of longing | @SAOLAW999 death has these mysterious methods of making me wonder/ about living(—)/ yet, something about life drums desperation beneath my bones.(—) Read full poem on the website.