Anthology calls for stories with blind protagonists

Afro Anthology x Enkare Review has called for short story submissions centred around a blind protagonist or has blindness as its core theme. There are over five million blind citizens in Africa and over 285 million suffer from visual impairment of some kind. Writers of African citizenship or African descent are invited to send short […]

Afro Anthology x Enkare Review has called for short story submissions centred around a blind protagonist or has blindness as its core theme. There are over five million blind citizens in Africa and over 285 million suffer from visual impairment of some kind.

Writers of African citizenship or African descent are invited to send short stories that revolve around a visually challenged character, stories that show the anxieties, travails, and triumphs of the blind as they grapple with their condition. Word count is between 4,000 to 10,000. 

Any fictional genre is allowed: magical realism, surrealism, realism, sci-fi, horror, fantasy and others. Writers are urged to use the richness of their human imagination to craft memorable blind protagonists devoid of sentimentality and dehumanization, blind protagonists with naturalness and normality, human beings full of flaws, full of hopes and aspiration, capable of joy, sadness, and breathing. The emphasis is on stories that challenge stereotypes of blindness.

The anthology will be published the anthology on World Sight Day, October 11, 2018, in recognition of blind citizens and to draw attention to blindness and visual impairment. Basit Jamiu, editor and founder of the Afro Anthology Series, will compile and edit the anthology. And Dr. Lizzy Attree, former director of the Caine Prize and co-founder of the Mabati-Cornell Kiswahili Prize for African Literature, will introduce it.

Writers are advised not to send poetry or creative nonfiction. Only short stories are requested anthology. The anthology will only feature six short stories by African writers.