Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poetry

Prize Information

• The winner receives USD $1000 and book publication through the University of Nebraska Press and Amalion in Senegal.

Eligibility Criteria

• The Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets will only accept “first book” submissions from African writers who have not published a book-length poetry collection. This includes self-published books if they were sold online, in stores, or at readings. Writers who have edited and published an anthology or a similar collection of other writers’ work remain eligible.
• An “African writer” is taken to mean someone who was born in Africa, who is a national or resident of an African country, or whose parents are African.

Ineligibility Criteria

• No past or present paid employees of the University of Nebraska Press, Akashic Books, or Amalion Press, or current faculty, students, or employees at the University of Nebraska, are eligible for the prizes.

Application Requirements

• Only poetry submissions in English can be considered. Work translated from another language to English is accepted, but a percentage of the prize will be awarded to the translator.
• Poetry manuscripts should be at least 50 pages long.
• The author’s name should not appear on the manuscript. All entries will be read anonymously. Please include a cover page listing only the title of the manuscript (not the author’s name, address, telephone number, or email address). An acknowledgements page listing the publication history of individual poems may be included, if desired. No application forms are necessary. Eligible writers may submit more than one manuscript.
• While they have no specific formatting rules, they suggest sending your manuscript in Times New Roman or Arial, 12 point font, single-spaced. They also prefer one poem per page, meaning a new poem does not begin on the same page on which another ends.
• The Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets accepts electronic submissions only and should be submitted via Submittable.

For more information, visit African Poetry Book Fund.