Call for Submissions – Vol. 5, No. 4 ‘Head Above Water’: The Life and Legacy of Buchi Emecheta

Deadline: 12 September 2021

We are currently accepting submissions for our November 2021-January 2022 print issue, in which authors will critically discuss ‘Head above Water’: The Life and Legacy of Buchi Emecheta. Buchi Emecheta was one of the most important writers of her generation and is best known for writing about the experiences of African women in Nigeria and the UK. In publishing this issue, we aim to uncover new stories about her life, and to share Emecheta’s work with a new global audience. We welcome submissions that will expound underreported aspects of Emecheta’s life, offer new perspectives, feature original interviews, and will move the conversation on Emecheta forward on any of the following topics:

Who was Buchi Emecheta? (An in-depth profile on Buchi Emecheta);

‘Second Class Citizen’: migration and the diaspora in Buchi Emecheta’s life and work;

Post-Emechetan Fiction: the literary legacy of Buchi Emecheta;

African womanhood, liberation, and feminism in Buchi Emecheta’s work;

Buchi Emecheta: Feminism vs Womanism;

Detailed book reviews of Buchi Emecheta’s novels, including but not limited to The Joys of Motherhood, Second Class Citizen and/or The Bride Price;

African women writers in the post-colonial world;

Remembering Buchi Emecheta: how today’s readers engage with Emecheta and her works.

We are looking for analytical and engaging essays, lectures, speeches, reading lists and book reviews that, without sacrificing analytical rigour, can serve as authoritative/definitive subject-matter guides to readers that may have limited knowledge on the issue.

We expect submissions in the range of 1,500 to 3,000 words and will be accepting first drafts until 23:59 (WAT) Sunday 12 September 2021.

Authors of accepted submissions to this issue will be paid. Read our guidelines on submitting here and our style guide for details on spelling and formatting.

To submit an entry, please upload your submission here (you will need to log in or register to fill the form).