ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION
Pan Writers Caravan is an African-based literary arts (all genre) caravan advancing word-culture integration/civilization/diversity/beauty among young & established talents through personal essays, fiction, hybrid, poetry, reportage & more.
ABOUT THE ANTHOLOGY
Our themes include African culture & society but also encompass circum-Atlantic transpositions from the United States, Africa & African America/African Haiti & Dominica, African England and Eastern Europe as well as African Asia, et cetera. They are celebratory, variegated, ubiquitous, and unifying of Africa: span the beauty of African sex & sexualities, food & cuisine, rivers & mountains, rituals & dialects, tribes & politics, spirituality & morality. This multi-genre collection, numbering tentatively 350-450 pages, will include prosodies of hybrid narratives and short stories, memoirs and personal essays, poetry, artwork, and several other literary keepsakes, nuggets, and gemstones.
Lived experience, readership and scholarship in the plethora of Africa & African Diaspora Literature & Literary Arts are held in utmost esteem and highest regard; established, the Editors remain open to all shared experiences of African Diaspora globally deemed of creative possibility to this subjective readership, seeking works beyond the “canonical” or even expected measures taken literarily in equal focus (African National canons considered and surveyed) upon the newly established “anthological.” Moreover, the Editors will be equally intrigued, in balanced coexistence with more traditionally informed instances of writing & other creative endeavors, with these implied instances of the experimental in submissions, and perhaps relatedly & especially ones creating new traditions &/or experimental divergences from the “norms,” identities inclusive albeit never limited to Disabled, Queer, Femme, Low Income &/or other voices speaking from marginalization for this particular anthology of Africa Diasporic Literary Arts, as it were.
Such as balancing singing & drum parts in tribal celebration circles in African communities globally, we hope to join together with our future Contributors, gleefully taking heart and educated by our Submitters as a whole, to create one, quite powerful musical number of which to bear witness as one. These writings, for which notions of “quality” surfacing from the readers here & there, however apparent, seek actively and perseveringly to complement the distinguished & acclaimed beauty of the quite musical writing established by Contributors of this African Diasporic anthology in & of itself, compelled to blossom whilst preserving itself: onward & upward, globally & thus humanly, harmoniously. Together.
ABOUT THE COEDITORS
Mbizo Chirasha is the Chief Caravanist at Pan Writers Caravan, Head of Content at AfricanWilliamBlake, Publisher of Time of the Poet Republic, Founder at Womaword Literary Press, Curator/Editor of Voices of Africa: A Call For Freedom (ihraf.org), & Coeditor of Corpses of Unity anthology with Kenneth Toa Mala of Cameroon, in solidarity with civil victims of Cameroon. He is also Project Curator/Coeditor of Second Name of Earth is Peace (worldbeyondwar.org) with David Swanson, Coeditor of the bilingual German/English digital anthology Street Voices with Andreas Weiland, & African Contributor to the Demer Press International Poetry Anthology Series with Hannie Rouweler. Mbizo also ran the World Poetry Almanac Poetry Series with Hadaa Sendo of Mongolia & served as essayist, poet & PanAfrican editor & African Writivism Laureate at ihraf, published with Thomas Block. Mbizo Chirasha functioned as live literature hub/word fiesta producer at Sotambe Film and Arts Festival 2019 & worked as Resident Coordinator of All of Africa: 100 Thousand for Global Peace with Michael Rothenberg. In addition to these numerous roles, Mbizo served as African Writing Associate with jamiededes.com, A Poet A Day, & the bezine.com with Poetry Chief Michael Dickel. Mbizo has been affiliated with Oxford School of Poetry/Blackwell Pamphlet of Poetry with Kirsten Norrie & served as Contributing Essayist to Monk Arts and Soul Magazine with Sophie levy Burton. Mbizo was also Poet in Residence of the Fictional Café, an American but pan international writers’ space with Jack.B. Rochester. Finally, Mbizo initiated the Canadian international journal, to promote literary diversity & dialogue among civilizations, WordCityLit Journal with Darcie Friesen Hossack.
Born in Cincinnati in 1987, Estab. Anthony Ramstetter, Jr. began studying singing at the age of eight, music history at the age of fifteen & poetry at the age of twenty-one. Anthony (Tony) is a poet, academic & singer-songwriter who has earned whereupon established faculty of arts & letters insomuch valediction the Doctor of Philosophy & Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Louisiana State University & the Doctor of Philosophy in Literature from Oxford University & Harvard University & has earned therefrom university notation withal accordance the Bachelor & Master of Arts in Creative Writing from Miami University. Anthony has been a songwriter for BJ The Chicago Kid, Mariah Carey, Chromeo, Daft Punk, The Internet, KAYTRANADA, LMFAO, LunchMoney Lewis, Maroon 5, Katy Perry, Mike Posner, Adam Saxe, Solange & Pharrell Williams, designer of Michel Foucault coursework for Sorbonne University & more institutions, creator of a product idea for Mars, Inc., contributor editorially in Oxford University Press publications & many others, & adviser medicinally for physicians researching cardiovascular thrombosis, among more ventures. He has performed ensemble singing globally as parts of Miami University Men's Glee Club & Collegiate Chorale, LSU Tiger Glee Club, Bellarmine Chapel Music Ministry at Xavier University & currently First Baptist Church of Asheville Music Ministry. Literary service includes Editor-in-Chief for Oxford Magazine, by which Anthony has been anthologized, Poetry Editor for New Delta Review, Co-Director & -Coordinator of Delta Mouth Literary Festival & currently Managing Director for Pan Writers Caravan. Anthony's writing has appeared in Five [Quarterly], HTMLGIANT, The Oklahoma Review, Poetry Foundation, The Puritan & elsewhere, with honors & awards including Poet Laureateship & Scott Alexander Memorial Award for Outstanding Achievement from Miami University Men’s Glee Club, Established Faculty Membership in the American Academy of Arts & Letters Department of Literature, Kent Gramm MFA Award for Literary Nonfiction & Betty Jane Abrahams Memorial Poetry Prize from the Academy of American Poets. The Anthony Ramstetter, Jr. Literary Estate is archived in LSU Libraries Special Collections & in the Rare Book & Special Collections Vault of the Library of Congress. Currently, Anthony is a corporate partner in the retail profession on research leave from the academy while editing two poetry manuscripts & submitting two poetry books for publication. He resides in the bucolic Blue Ridge Mountains Appalachia of Asheville in Western North Carolina.
Submission Requirements:
Times New Roman font in 12-point size; double space for prose when possible; must be original works of literary art; must not be previously published or anthologized work; no AI-produced text or artwork.
Length & Number for Each Genre
A) Poetry—40 lines or fewer, maximum of three poems per submission
B) Short stories—maximum of 2,500 words, one story per submission
C) Essays—maximum of 2,000 words, one essay per submission
D) Hybrid Narratives—maximum of 2,000 words, one narrative per submission
E) Flash Fiction—200-500 words; maximum of three flashes per submission
F) Artwork & Visual Poetry: maximum of one page formatted per submission; PDF format accepted & preferred; must be original, uncopyrighted artwork; no AI
Entries should be submitted under the appropriate genre in Submittable with the payment of a $5 fee per submission (solely to help finance operating costs, fees & advertising for anthology). Please only send your submission as a Microsoft Word Document (or in the case of Artwork & Visual Poetry as a PDF) under the appropriate genre. Although not a strict requirement, it is common practice for the subject line in Submittable to include: Title of Submission by Contributor’s Publication Name (for example: Africa by Mbizo Chirasha). A short biographical summary is a requirement.
Please Note: while the Editors will honor withdrawals of submissions by email & pressing inquiries related to submission requirements , submissions by email & paper mail are unacceptable for this anthology & will not be received, read, or returned by the editors.
Multiple genres &/or multiple submissions per Submitter are welcomed, encouraged, & acceptable. However, multiple submissions will require an additional $5 fee and must not exceed the maximum allotment of entries. In general, only one genre entry per Anthology Contributor will be accepted for publication even if more than one entry exists & would qualify for inclusion. Finally, there is no guarantee that the Editors will read entries that exceed the maximum word count or that exceed the number of creative works permitted per entry. The Editors reserve the explicit right to leave entries with excessive word counts unread or to respectfully request an additional $5 payment for subsequent entries to be considered.
What We Want to See
We are looking for gut-turning, nerve-nudging, and heart-tilting writing & creative endeavors. We encourage international contributors. Please send your most thoughtful & thought-provoking work which reflects your best creatively written &/or artistic response to the global African Diaspora. Please only submit grammatically polished work that you have carefully proofread & edited for readability, succinctness, and clarity.
Deadline for Submissions: extended to April 15, 2024, at 11:59 pm, Eastern Daylight Time, United States; No Late Submissions Will Be Accepted.
The Editors highly encourage early submission. Former, as well as current professorial, student, & professional colleagues of the Editors are eligible to contribute. However, all submissions will be fully read in concrete, equal standing & deliberation by the Editors. No preference will be given to known contributors. All submissions that meet the guidelines will stand an equal chance for acceptance & inclusion in the anthology.
Given this thorough readership of entries, the Editors politely request submitter’s patience with our turnaround time for notifying Submitters of acceptance or decline. We will aim for approximately three months from the end of our submission deadline. If after two months from the date of your submission, Submittable doesn’t show your submissions Status as In-Progress, feel free to politely inquire about your submission. We will do our utmost to update you of your entry’s progress at that juncture.
At heart, regardless of a particular submitter’s selection status, you as having a Soul and a Body, are very much a part of the “musical score” of this anthology. The editors & others involved in arranging this anthology profoundly appreciate learning from your literary endeavors as your Readers & Admirers, acceptance or respectful decline though it may be. Salute. Bo Mba! Aluta Continua! Together We Rise. Blessings & Namaste.
Upon Possible Acceptance:
Published authors agree to grant the publisher First Serial Rights to your work. Accepted Contributors will be prompted to include a professional cover letter to the Anthology Editors with a 10-line, tightened Writers Profile or Author Bio, and the welcome accompaniment of a professional headshot photo. This may be used for the anthology, but will surely be included in established and extensive online media publicity. Accepted Contributors will receive a minimum of $50 for each printed entry. Plus, contributor copies of the printed and digital anthology will be provided upon completion of publication of the anthology by Pan-Writers Caravan.
For pressing inquiries about submission status, including withdrawals of entries, as well as publication offers, publicity & promotion possibilities from official & professional avenues: please make direct contact with the Anthology Coeditors:
Mbizo Chirasha (Africa): mbizotheblackpoet@gmail.com
Anthony Ramstetter, Jr. (United States): anthonyramstetterjr@gmail.com