Submissions for The Iroko Quarterly's December Edition is open.
We publish work that engages deeply with African stories, culture, and lived experiences. We welcome submissions from writers across Africa and the diaspora.
Please review the guidelines below carefully before sending your work:
DECEMBER EDITION- HERITAGE
Heritage is the thread that ties us to where we come from, even as we build lives far from it. For this edition, The Iroko Quarterly is looking for creative work that explores heritage in all its complexity. We want writing that sits with the tension as much as the celebration: what is passed down freely, what is lost, what is reclaimed, and what is reinvented for a new generation.
We welcome submissions that explore themes such as:
* Ancestry, lineage, and family history,
* Cultural identity and belonging, especially across borders or generations,
* Oral traditions, folklore, and inherited storytelling,
* Language, naming, and what gets lost or kept in translation,
* Diaspora life and the negotiation between “home” and “away”,
* Rituals, food, clothing, or objects that carry memory,
* The weight of tradition against individual choice,
* Reclaiming or reimagining heritage on one’s own terms.
General Guidelines
- Multiple submissions are not allowed. Please submit to one genre only.
- We accept simultaneous submissions, but please notify us as soon as your work is accepted elsewhere so that we can withdraw it from consideration.
- We DO NOT charge submission fees. All submissions are free of charge.
- Please include a brief cover letter with:
- the title of your piece
- a third-person bio.
Send your piece to editorial@theirokocircle.org.
Our editorial team will review your piece and notify you if it will be published. Due to the volume of submissions, we may not respond to all entries.
Genre & Length Requirements
Fiction & Non-Fiction
- Maximum of 3,000 words.
Poetry
- Maximum of three (3) poems, submitted in a single document.
Publication Status
- We consider only previously unpublished work.
- “Previously published” includes work that has appeared online or in print, including personal blogs.
- Exception: We will consider translations of works originally written in a language other than English, provided the English version has not been published elsewhere.
Rights
- The Iroko Circle requires first serial rights to all accepted work. After publication, all rights revert to the author.
- If the piece is republished elsewhere, authors are asked to acknowledge that it originally appeared in The Iroko Circle.
Review Process & Response Time
- Submission window for our next issue opens on September 1st.
- Book reviews and essay submissions are reviewed on a rolling basis. They are not published within The Iroko Quarterly.
- Due to the volume of submissions we receive, response times may take up to six weeks or longer.
- If you have not heard from us six weeks after submission, you are welcome to send a query.
Please note that while we strive to respond to every submission, response times may vary depending on volume and editorial schedules.
What We Publish
We review African literature only, including:
- Creative Fiction
- Poetry
- Non-fiction
- Book Reviews
- Essays
What We Do Not Publish
- Religious pieces
- Inspirational books
- Science fiction
- Ebooks
- Audiobooks