Meet 'Voices' Arts/Photography Editor Ayotola Tehingbola

"Ayotola is a recent graduate seeking to pursue the fields of social entrepreneurship and creative writing. You can find her at ayotola.com"

Meet 'Voices' Fiction Editor Tobi Adebowale

I read and I write. If it is about politics, Law, human rights, literature and adventure, then I am interested

Journalist at Olisa.tv 

Voices: The Ife issue - Call For Submissions

We were taught in elementary school that a noun is a name of a person, place or thing. Ancient, medieval and contemporary literature has encouraged lots of conversations around persons and things, but hardly places.  Yet places have marked the backbone of every narrative, every art, every work of literature, and in a lot of ways it has been left there- at the back. Voices is picking up places and making it the core of our tale.

Voices is an anthology of contemporary art and literature emerging from Africa, yet not promoting only Africa or African voices. Voices is interested in exploring every single place that makes up our world. It is a curious work, determined to reveal places and the lives they consist. The world is one global place, and is made up of smaller places called continents, which is made up of smaller places called countries made up of smaller cities and towns. 
Thus, we want to showcase the various places that make the world a global village.

‘Voices’ is as it is called is a conglomeration of voices from a place, be it a region, town, country or county. The voices are unique, stemming from various notions and interpretations of different people on this particular place. The anthology places its interest on places rather than ideas or abstract nouns. For us, places reveal people, places have a life of their own that we want to show the world.

Voices welcomes submissions of all kind and is opposed to stereotypical writing or art. We want something dynamic, uncommon and unusual that tells the true story of a place without sugar-coating, yet with clarity on as many sides to the story as are reasonably expected.

The Ife Issue

Oduduwa Park Ile-Ife 

Ile-Ife is an ancient Yoruba town in Southwestern Nigeria, Osun State. Also known as Ife, the town is renowned for its place in Yoruba folk myth as the traditional home of Yoruba civilization and doubles as a holy city of humankind. It boasts of art and culture and rich history that stands it out as one of the most desirable archaeological sites in Southwestern Nigeria. These exquisite characteristics of the small city peppered with mysteries ignites the interest to debut this anthology with this place- Ife.

We are accepting submissions from all over on the theme of ‘Ife’. We believe in the concept of borderlessness, that everyone can talk about every place, especially through art and literature, and we want to reach every one in every place with the stories and pictures and arts of Ife as well.

All submissions must explore, reveal and / or revolve around the place ‘Ife’. Essentially, it is not compulsory that all submissions are set in Ife, but the underlying theme of ‘Ife’ must be felt in the heart of the piece. We accept compelling  and atypical short fiction, non-fiction, book reviews, poetry, photography, art, and conversations.

FORMATTING GUIDELINES

All submissions must be:

Formatted in 1.5 line spacing

Properly edited for errors (Works dotted with errors will have reduced chances of being selected for publication)

Font 12 Times New Roman

Contain a cover page stating name, mailing address, email address, phone number (with International dialing code, title of piece and word count.

Sent as a Microsoft word doc or docx file attachment. Photography and art may be sent as jpeg files

Also:

No submission must be sent in the body of the mail

The title of the mail should be FIRST NAME LAST NAME e.g Akintunde Bello

Where there are multiple submissions, the submissions should have a number after the first name and last name signifying what number of submission it is.

Please send along a bio of no more than 50 words (in third person) in the body of the mail.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF RECEIPT

Submission window is from July 15^th to September 15^th. Upon receipt of your submission, you will receive a mail within 72 hours acknowledging receipt. If you do not receive a mail, please do not resend your work, simply send a query to voicesquery@gmail.com

RESPONSE TIME

No responses are given about pieces being accepted for the anthology until the end of October. Only selected works will get responses by the end of October. Other works that may be archived for certain promotional purposes will also get responses at a later date.

MULTIPLE SUBMISSIONS         

Multiple submissions are accepted, however, we aim at publishing as many views and as many names as possible with a wide as possible geographical spread, so while multiple submissions may increase chances of being published in the anthology, not all submissions sent in from one person may be entered in the anthology for purposes of fairness and our limited page capacity.

COPYRIGHT

Please note that we do not accept already work already published elsewhere in print or on the web. All submissions must be previously unpublished. We maintain first copyrights of all works submitted for the first six months after publication of the anthology after which the work may be used elsewhere. We also reserve the right to format the submitted works without altering the content to fit the necessary publishing requirements. Submissions that will be archived and not selected for publication will be done at the instance of the writers and upon their permission.

 FICTION

Must be between 1,500 and 4,500 words

We accept any form from horror to surreal and magical. Any form is acceptable as long as it conforms to the theme and compelling.

Multiple submissions must be sent as individual attachments with individual cover pages

Fiction submissions should be sent to voicesfiction@gmail.com

 NON-FICTION

Must be between 1,500 and 2, 500 words.

Memoirs, essays, travel writings and all forms of creative non-fiction are accepted. News pieces, op-eds, articles, scholarly and academic papers and journalistic writings are not accepted. We want creative and compelling non-fiction.

Multiple submissions must be sent as individual attachments with individual cover pages.

Submissions should be sent to Voicesnonfiction@gmail.com

BOOK REVIEWS

We are accepting a small number of book reviews so submissions of book reviews must be pitched. Pitches may be no more than 400 words and be sent in the body of the mail to voiceseditor2015@gmail.com

Response time for pitches is 24 hours. As soon as the pitch is accepted, the reviews may be worked on and submitted. This, however, does not ordinarily mean such review has been selected for publication, but the chances are high.

All book reviews must be sent to the fiction editor to Voicesnonfiction@gmail.com

MayFair Roundabout

POETRY

Each poem must be no more than two pages long. No more than three poems may be submitted in one document. Each poem title must be indicated above the poem individually as well as on the cover page.

All poetry submissions must be sent as attachment to Voicespoetry2015@gmail.com

ART AND PHOTOGRAPHY

We are also open to digital art and photography.  Must be high resolution jpeg files (300 dpi or higher) and not larger than 3MB. Each submission must be properly named and sent as an attachment to voicesphotoart@gmail.com

CONVERSATIONS

We are not looking for bland interviews, we want active, participatory and lively conversations that inspire, intrigue, and even spark more conversations.

Conversations must not exceed 1, 500 words. All conversations must be first pitched. Pitches must be no more than 400 words and should be sent to voiceseditor2015@gmail.com

Pitches will be responded to within 24 hours. Upon acceptance, conversations may be conducted and submitted. Publication is not assured by the mere fact that a conversation was pitched, but it increases the chances.

Conversation submissions should be sent to  Voicesconvos@gmail.com 

Meet the Publisher of 'Voices' Caleb Adebayo

Caleb Adebayo is a writer of fiction, non-fiction and poetry. He hopes to explore the world of screenplays soon. He was also recognized by the Nigerian government as the fourth best national essayist in the National Orientation Agency Essay Competition in 2014. In 2015, he won the Awele Creative Trust Prize for fiction. He is the founder and Creative Director of Creative Writers’ Niche, a campus hub for writers in Nigeria. His works have been published on Hackwriters, Miracle literary magazine, Bukrepublik, Jalada Writivism Anthology, Muwado and elsewhere. He holds a law degree from Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria.

Meet The 'Voices' Poetry Editor ENOCH OJOTISA

ENOCH OJOTISA is a published author. He has published an anthology of African poetry titled, “Commoner’s Speech”. It was first published in 2011 by Kraft-Books in Nigeria and subsequently in 2014 by Author-House publications in UK. His poems are featured on several online literary websites and events. He is currently working on a new collection of African poetry and short stories; and he is on the brink of completing the African poems, which will be titled, “Cries from the Ocean”. His own publishing company, #AkewiArtsHouse, will publish the book [www.akewiartshouse.com]. His revolutionary poems are based on the political movement of African cultural identity. He lives as a writer, lawyer, and African Revolutionary.

CREATIVE WRITERS’ NICHE Is Recruiting

CALL FOR MEMBERSHIP: ARE YOU A WRITER BASED IN IFE?

Are you a writer based in Ife or its environs? This might  be an opportunity for you to connect with other writers in the area.

                  CREATIVE WRITERS’ NICHE
                    (OAU ILE-IFE CHAPTER)
                        IS RECRUITING

ABOUT
Creative Writers’ Niche is a fully-equipped team of writers who are committed to honing on residual writing talent, building skill and transforming the original concept of writing to more than just words. It is a home for writers who are committed to excelling in expression of literature; eager to do something beyond the ordinary that will appeal to the reader’s deepest emotions.

ACHIEVEMENTS
CWN has produced individuals who have achieved various feats. Some of them include:
Winner, Awele Creative Trust Prize for Fiction
 Fourth Position, National Orientation Essay Competition.
Winner, ANA OAU Short Story Competition
Published in SYNW Anthology of Poems for Nelson Mandela
Published in Jalada Writivism Anthology My Math Teacher Hates me and other stories
Shortlisted applicant, Farafina Creative Trust writers workshop

CALL FOR MEMBERSHIP WINDOW
This call for membership is open between July 5th, 2015 and July 19th 2015 6pm GMT+1. Late applications will not be considered.

If you are interested in joining us, please send the following  in the body of the mail to cwniche2012@gmail.com. Mails with attachments will be disregarded.

1. Full name (surname first)

2. Address in Ile-Ife

3. Email address

4. Phone number

5. Strongest area of writing (Fiction, Non-fiction, Plays or Poetry)

Shortlisted candidates will be contacted with interview dates. Please ensure all your details are accurate.

To read some of our works, you may visit our blog

For enquiries, please call 08117894029 or 08067367751
or email us adavize07@gmail.com or cwniche2012@gmail.com