Afronaut Press, a new publishing company based in Zimbabwe, has opened call for adult fiction manuscripts — short stories and novellas.
The publication is looking for writers based in Zimbabwe whose stories are rooted in the country, alive with its voices, and honest about its contradictions. Afronaut is ready to publish these tales in Zimbabwe and across Africa.
Submissions will be in 2 categories: Short Stories of 5,000 - 6,000 words and Novellas with 20,000 - 40,000 words. The works should be set in Zimbabwe, Southern Africa, the broader African world, or in the imagination of people who come from here.
Afronaut is looking for stories that demonstrate an understanding of the texture of Zimbabwean life — the way time moves differently on a Saturday in the high density suburbs than it does in the boardroom on a Wednesday; the specific quality of a silence between relatives that is not silence at all; the thing that everyone knows and no one says at the funeral; the joke that does not translate because the joke is the translation. The gossip. The specific take on news stories.
Write the story that only you could write. The one that could not be set anywhere else. The one that carries the specific weight and specific humour and specific light of this place.
The publication will not accept:
• Work that has been previously published in any format.
• Work that is under simultaneous submission to another publisher.
• Manuscripts that do not meet the minimum word count
• Work submitted without the required cover letter and author biography
• Work created by AI.
Afronaut will not consider work that dehumanises people based on ethnicity, gender, sexuality, religion, disability, or any other characteristic.
Authors can write in English, Shona, Ndebele, or a combination, but submissions in Shona or Ndebele, should include a one-page English synopsis.
For submissions, the manuscript file should be labelled with: Surname_FirstName_Title; and the subject line of your email should have: Submission - Format - Title.
The manuscript can be a Word document or a PDF, and it must contain a cover letter, a synopsis of the complete story (500 words for novellas), an author biography and the author's contact details.
Submissions must be sent to submissions@afronautpress.com by 7 June.