As part of its mission as a global Black publishing house connecting Africa and the African diaspora, Cassava Republic Press’s is proud to announce the launch of our inaugural $20,000 Global Black Women’s Non-Fiction Manuscript Prize dedicated to exceptional works by Black women (cis, trans and genderqueer). The prize represents a first in the world of Black women’s letters, not only by virtue of its global scope, but also its non-fiction focus, and its generous prize value. Our mission is to publish emerging and established Black women writers and thinkers from across the world, focusing on critical ideas across time and space.
At the heart of this prize lies a deep commitment to amplifying the long tradition of Black women writers as knowledge-makers and critical thinkers. We take seriously Black South African feminist scholar and writer Desiree Lewis’ observation that ‘publishers have tended to focus on black women’s fictional and autobiographical writing, or on poetry. This tends to be symptomatic of a publishing and reading/marketing stereotype about black women in the public sphere being “interesting” mainly as entertainers, storytellers, or so-called “creatives,” rather than as knowledge-makers and critical thinkers.’
Eligibility
What We Are Looking For
We are looking to publish and champion Black women writers who bridge the gap between “creativity” and “theory” with work that is both rigorous and beautiful, creative and thoughtful.
We are not an academic publisher, but welcome submissions from academics writing for a mainstream audience. Our goal is to amplify and unearth the critical ideas that might otherwise remain unpublished or confined to academic circles or smaller audiences. Importantly, in seeking creative critical writing and knowledge-making for a broad audience, we welcome writing that will challenge and excite our readers.
We do not accept straightforward memoirs, but manuscripts that incorporate theory with personal essays/experiences within a broader context are welcome.