African writers started “talking back” to the empire in the 1950s, but for a long time LGBTI African writers did not join the conversation. Now that is changing. The explosion of the internet and social media in Africa has had a lot to do with this. Internet access is growing more quickly here than anywhere else and is opening up an unlimited new space for queer Africans to interact.
Up to now, most African LGBTI writers have focused, understandably, on activism. There hasn’t been a lot of room for imaginative writing. Now that too is beginning to change. At least two print collections of African LGBTI creative writing are in preparation, and there are some great new creative blogs.
Q-zine is the only online magazine of African LGBTI arts and culture. We have been online since September 2011. All material is published in both French and English and republished on our website.
Q-zine Issue 6, online December 2012, will be a special issue devoted entirely to African LGBTI creative writing. For this special issue, we are particularly interested in short stories, excerpts from novels in progress, poetry, and memoirs, but book and theatre reviews, personal essays, and profiles of/interviews with young African LGBTI authors are also welcome. We would also like to include some visual pieces such as photo-essays and graphic narratives.
Issue 6 will be co-edited by Q-zine lead editor John McAllister and award-winning Nigerian novelist Unoma Azuah. Please send your original, previously unpublished submissions in either English or French to the editors.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
For queries/ submissions: mkonommoja@gmail.com or unomaazuah@gmail.com
Website: http://q-zine.org
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