shonareads invites Zimbabweans to submit Zimbabwean speculative fiction of approximately 3,000 words, in the next thirty days. A panel of judges will select the winners. Please follow associated social media accounts to stay updated.
Theme: Zim SF
- Your story must be set in a recognisable place in Zimbabwe, 50 years or more from now.
- Your main protagonist(s) must be Zimbabwean.
- Your story must contain speculative fiction elements. Feel free to imagine as wildly as possible.
- Your submission must be in English.
“Speculative fiction … encompasses all the genres that deliberately depart from realism or from strictly imitating ordinary reality, instead presenting supernatural, futuristic, and other highly imaginative realms. This catch-all genre thus includes, but is not limited to, science fiction, fantasy, horror, superhero fiction, alternate history, utopian and dystopian fiction, and supernatural fiction, as well as combinations thereof (for example, science fantasy).” (Wikipedia)
Prizes
1st: Amazon voucher worth USD150. Thank you to Zola Ndlovu and to Tinashe Tafirenyika for sponsoring.
2nd and 3rd: Selected books from Carnelian Heart Publishing.
Judges
Zola Ndlovu is an experienced intellectual property and technology lawyer with a passion for helping creatives protect their work. She is the Executive Director of Pink Tutu, a company that provides legal and business resources to creative entrepreneurs.
With a belief that art is a catalyst for change, Tinashe Tafirenyika has disrupted the Zimbabwe Poetry Scene. In 2017 she became the first woman and youngest person to receive a National Arts Merit Award (NAMA) in Spoken Word Poetry in Zimbabwe. The same year she also received a Bulawayo Arts Award (BAA) for her poetry. In 2018 she became the only person to have won a NAMA twice in the Spoken Word Poetry category. She released her first poetry video, “Sarah Baartman” that year. When not stringing words together Tinashe practices as a Medical Laboratory Scientist.
Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki is an African speculative fiction writer, editor & publisher from Nigeria. He has won the Nebula, Otherwise, Nommo, British & World Fantasy awards and was a finalist in the Hugo, Locus, Sturgeon, British Science Fiction and NAACP Image awards. His works have appeared in Asimov’s, F & SF, Uncanny Magazine, Tordotcom, Galaxy’s Edge, and others. He edited the Bridging Worlds, Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction anthologies, and co-edited the Dominion and Africa Risen anthologies. He was a CanCon goh, and a guest of honour at the Afrofuturism themed ICFA 44 where he coined a new term/genre label, Afropantheology.
Peter J. Maurits is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg. His first book is titled The Mozambican Modern Ghost Story and he is now writing a book on African Science Fiction. He likes to run far, and up things.
Sista Zai Zanda (Sista Zai/aChihera) is an Afrofuturistic Storyteller. Sista Zai was born in Harare, Zimbabwe and raised in a large extended family. Achihera is Karanga/born rukesheni and now lives as a Black African settler on Kulin Nations in “Australia”.
Amongst career highlights, aChihera is a 2019 recipient of the Neilma Sidney Travel Fund, a recipient of a competitive Melbourne Strategic Scholarship to research for a PhD in Afrofuturisms at the University Of Melbourne and her poem, “Lioness” was selected for “Best Of Australian Poems” 2022 anthology.
Please read the rules and Ts&Cs carefully.
- Open ONLY Zimbabwean citizens/residents.
- Open to ALL Zimbabwean writers, those who have been published before and unpublished authors.
- If you win first prize, you must have an Amazon account to receive the prize. Not convertible to cash.
- Your story MUST BE speculative fiction, set in Zimbabwe fifty or more years from now.
- Please make sure to check spelling and grammar, as these will be considered during the selection process.
- Word count MUST BE approximately 3,000 words. If it’s much more or less than this, your story will be disqualified. Please indicate your word count on the form.
- You retain all rights to your work. You give shonareads permission to publish only within the bounds of the competition, on any of the associated social media accounts.
- Entries close at midnight CAT on the 5th of December, 2023. Winners will be announced on December 15, 2023.
Submission link
Please make your submission here.
Harare Review of Books 
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