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The Island Prize Opens for Submissions on 1st January 2025

The Island Prize Opens for Submissions on 1st January 2025

Island Prize - 2024 shortlist | Afriocritik

The Island Prize aims to shine a light on unpublished African writers by providing a platform for their debut novels.

By Emmanuel ‘Waziri’ Okoro

The highly anticipated Island Prize, established in honour of South African author Karen Jennings’ Booker-longlisted novel, An Island, will open for submissions on 1 January 2025.

Administered by Jennings in collaboration with her publishers, Holland House Books (UK) and Karavan Press (South Africa), the fourth edition of the prize aims to shine a light on unpublished African writers by providing a platform for their debut novels.

The Island Prize is dedicated to debut novels from African authors, offering an invaluable opportunity for writers born in or holding citizenship of African countries. 

This initiative seeks to overcome the traditional barriers to publication faced by many African writers, promoting stories that resonate with their unique experiences and perspectives. 

The Island Prize
The Island Prize

Karen Jennings, in a statement, said, “I am proud to be part of The Island Prize for a Debut Novel from Africa. This is one step towards bridging the gap between here and there, us and them. In fact, it is through prizes like these that authors across the continent can gain the confidence to tell stories as they wish. The hope is that, with time, such stories will become appreciated across the globe, without first being labelled as an exception or a surprise”.

To qualify for the prize, submitting authors must not have previously published a novel and cannot be represented by a literary agent. The initial submission process requires writers to submit three chapters or up to 10,000 words along with a cover statement.

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These submissions will be assessed by a panel of distinguished African authors, editors, and publishers. From this, between five and ten submissions will be selected for full manuscript requests, forming the longlist. The longlist will then be narrowed down to a shortlist in the following months.

Three winners will ultimately be chosen from the shortlist, with the first-place winner receiving £500, and each runner-up earning £200.

More details about the prize and how to submit here.

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