Call for Entries: An Anthology of Nigerian Queer Art

You are invited to submit your work to a new anthology celebrating LGBT life and community in Nigeria.

Here are the details:

On January 13 2014, the administration of Goodluck Jonathan passed the Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act. Under the law, LGBT Nigerians have suffered persecution and harassment.

A group of Nigerian artists have chosen this date to celebrate the resilient spirit of the LGBT community, in writing and visual arts. The aim is to reclaim that date for ourselves, as we did with the word ‘Queer’.

We are therefore calling on other Queer artists to join in this celebration by sending non-fiction, poetry, art commentary, art and photography, etc to the email, rainbowanniversarynigeria@gmail.com.

We also welcome works from non-LGBT artists, so long as they are LGBT-themed. The anthology will be published on Africa’s foremost literary website, Brittle Paper, on January 13 2017, and here on NoStrings and KitoDiariescom. It will also feature an introduction by a notable Nigerian writer.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

All submissions should be made to our email: rainbowanniversarynigeria@gmail.com as a Word (PDF for art) attachment. The documents should contain the artist’s name and bio (more information on this under IDENTITY PROTECTION).

Poetry: The poet can submit a maximum of two poems of not more than forty lines each. Poems should be in a single Word document.

Non-fiction: Non-fiction should not be more than 3000 words and can be in the form of memoir or general commentary on LGBT life. More important is that the writing should be in the genre of creative non-fiction. A writer is allowed only one piece in this genre.

Art Commentary: A writer here can submit only one art commentary of not more than 3000 words. The commentary must be on a work that is homoerotic in nature or has at its centre an expression of the LGBT experience.

Art & Photography: Artists can submit up to five drawings, paintings or pictures that are thematically and aesthetically related. These should be submitted as a PDF document, with a brief note (not more than 200 words) on the works.

My Life In Tweets: Tweet @naijaqueerart using the hashtag #IAmQueer. We are looking for tweets by LGBT and non-LGBT Nigerians at home and in the diaspora that can capture creatively and concisely an LGBT-related experience of love, sex, discrimination, friendship, etc. You can tweet as much as you can, and in connected threads.

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION: 8 December 2016 (12.00 pm GMT )

IDENTITY PROTECTION:

We are sensitive to the climate in Nigeria and know that most of our artists would like to protect their privacy. As a result, we encourage artists to create pseudonyms under which to feature their works. Bios, also, can contain non-specific points. Since this is an anthology celebrating queer art and resilience in Nigeria, artists are free to include their sexual or gender orientation in their bio.