ÀROKÒ Folklore Anthology No. 1: Longlist Announcement
When we opened submissions for ÀROKÒ Anthology No. 1: Folklore from Africa & the Diaspora, we invited Black writers across Africa and the diaspora to reimagine folklore as a living archive, one shaped by memory, resistance, migration, and imagination.
The response surpassed our hopes.
We received more than 126 submissions across fiction and poetry from writers around the world. Together, these works drew on oral traditions, mythology, spirituality, speculative futures, and the enduring power of storytelling. They reminded us that folklore is something continually remade in the present.
Reading every submission was both a privilege and a challenge. The breadth of voices, traditions, and literary styles made the selection process incredibly difficult, and narrowing the field to a longlist was not an easy task. We extend our deepest gratitude to our readers, whose generous and thoughtful engagement with every submission throughout the review process helped us tremendously.
Today, we are delighted to announce the longlisted fiction writers and poets:
To everyone who submitted: thank you for trusting us with your words. We know how much courage it takes to send your work into the world and we deeply appreciate the time and care that went into every submission. Whether your stories or poems explored familiar spirits or imagined entirely new cosmologies, each submission reflected the vitality and expansiveness of African and diasporic storytelling.
The longlisted works now move on to the next stage of the editorial process. We look forward to announcing the final list soon and, eventually, sharing this anthology with readers around the world.
Please join us in congratulating our longlisted writers. We look forward to sharing more updates as we move towards the publication of ÀROKÒ Anthology No. 1: Folklore from Africa & the Diaspora.
