Open Call for Submissions - The Africa Migration Report: An Anthology of Poems

Forced Migration and The Arts, in collaboration with CivicLeicester and Regularise, is inviting and accepting poems on the theme of African migration.

We welcome submissions exploring any of the images, enslavement, issues, visa applications, deportations, time spent in immigration queues, triggers, drownings, borders you crossed, the histories, killings, borders that crossed you, causes, deaths, cases, brutalisation, armed conflict, lives, exploitation, hopes, births, dreams, criminalisations, demands, plundering, detentions, pillagings, realities, personal, family and community histories of migration,  the effect that funding from the European Commission and others is having on how African refugees and migrants are being treated on the continent, in deserts, at borders, in camps, in slave markets, in mass graves, at sea, in informal refugee camps, in roadside graves, on barges, on the streets, in prisons, for fleeing conflict and persecution, outcomes, futures that we are seeing, being, witnessing, experiencing, living, dreaming, feeling, hearing, screaming at, sensing, dying to get out of, dying to live, arrival, departure, journeying, memories, encounters, experiences, ... past, present, future ... around African migration.

We welcome submissions from writers of all ages, based anywhere in the world.

The provisional title of the anthology, Africa Migration Report: An Anthology of Poems is inspired by the 2nd Edition of the Africa Migration Report published by the African Union Commission (AUC) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Speaking at the launch of the report, on 26 March 2024, H.E. Ambassador Minata Samate Cessouma, AUC Commissioner for Health, Humanitarian Affairs, and Social Development (HHS) described the report as a "joint initiative between the AU and IOM aimed at preserving historical perspectives, portraying the right narrative on African migration. While informing policy frameworks to support migration and human mobility on the Continent". 

We commend the AUC and IOM for the report and encourage the African Union to ensure they inform policy frameworks to support African migration, mobility and rights on and beyond the Continent. We stress that freedom of movement is a fundamental human right that should be enjoyed by all, including Africans.

We invite poems that explore the personal, familial, communal, continental, intercontinental, transnational past, present and possible futures of African migration across time and space, in and around this world and beyond.

What is Africa? Where is Africa? When is Africa?
What does it mean to be African? Who is African?
What is Africa and Africans' relationship or experience of or with migration?
What are the images, feelings, associations, realities, hopes, practicality, the day to day bits, dreams, pasts, presents, futures etc. of African migration? 

What are we seeing, hearing, feeling and sensing? What do we know? 

What are we not seeing, hearing, feeling, knowing, being, living, when, why and how etc.?
The African migrant, who is he, she, they ...? Whose mother, father, sister, daughter, friend, relative? What is the present of the African migrant's past? What is the future of their tomorrow?
Who else is the African migrant coming into contact with? Who or what are they encountering where, when, and how? What is happening on that contact? Why are things happening this way? Is this new? How long has this been going on?
How are African governments, the African Union, the European Commission, the United Nations (UN), International Organisation of Migration (IOM), NATO, ECOWAS, countries in Asia, North America, South America, Antarctica, Australia and the Caribbean, Africans on the continent, Africans in the diaspora, communities etc. ... how are they responding to African migration and migrants? What are the pasts, presents and futures of these responses?
What are Africans' experiences of migration on the continent and abroad?
What pasts, presents, futures, hopes, dreams, nightmares, joys, loves, memories, griefs, visions, seeds etc. are African migrants carrying, loving, singing, experiencing, living, gaining, losing, feeling, dancing, being, dreaming, moving through, reaching towards, living with, through, by, so etc.? What is happening to all this that they are carrying?

What are the pasts, presents and futures of African migration?

Please send the poems and short fiction to forcedmigrationandthearts@gmail.com 

The call for submissions is open 365 days of the year. All submissions received will be read and considered for publication in successive editions of the Africa Migration Report.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

● Poems should be 40 lines or less, and short fiction,100 words or less.
● The poems and short fiction should be on the theme, African migration.
● Submissions must be in English. In the case of translated work, it is the translator’s responsibility to obtain permission from the copyright holder of the original work.
● If submitting a poem or short fiction which has been previously published, please give details of where it has appeared and confirm that you are the copyright holder.
● Ideally submissions will be typed single spaced and submitted either in the body of an email or as a .doc attachment.
● Please include a short biography of 50 words or less. This will be included in the anthology if your poem is accepted. 
● You may submit a maximum of three poems or three pieces of short fiction or a combination of poems and short fiction. You do not have to submit all three at the same time, but the editors can only consider a maximum of three submissions.
● We welcome submissions from writers of all ages, based anywhere in the world.
● Please send the poems and short fiction to forcedmigrationandthearts@gmail.com 

● The call for submissions is open 365 days of the year. 

● All submissions received will be read and considered for publication in successive editions of the Africa Migration Report.

NOTES

[1] CivicLeicester, an indy publisher that uses digital and print technologies to highlight glocal issues, are publishers of poetry anthologies that include Black Lives Matter: Poems for a New World (2023), Poetry and Settled Status for All: An Anthology (2022) and Bollocks to Brexit: An Anthology of Poems and Short Fiction (2019).

[2] Regularise is a collective of humans made up of migrants, citizens and allies who are committed to centreing and amplifying the voices and needs of undocumented migrants. The collective was founded in late 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, to address the years of sustained hardships that undocumented migrants experience in the UK and continues to organise and campaign for justice and for the rights of undocumented migrants.

[3] Forced Migration and The Arts is a global network that brings together people with lived experience of forced migration, refugee and non-refugee artists, academics and activists from around the world. The network hosts monthly discussion panels around forced migration and the arts, and encourages mutual support and collaboration. A playlist of conversations we have hosted so far is accessible here. The Network is currently purely volunteer-driven. Donations are most welcome and can be made through BuyMe a Coffee.

[4] We are also drawing attention to Sunday Lawrence's appeal for support. Lawrence, a refugee from South Sudan, is a second year Law student at the International University of East Africa in Kampala, Uganda. Lawrence needs to raise €5,256 for tuition and sustenance so that he can finish his studies. Any and all support you can give him will be most appreciated.

This post was updated on 28 May 2024 to change the submission deadline from by 12 noon on Saturday, 25 May 2024, Africa Day to 365 days per year because 'every day is Africa Day' and also to ensure that we give all who have things to say about African migration the time and space in which to do so.

This post was updated on 9 April 2024 to indicate that Forced Migration and The Arts is collaborating with CivicLeicester and Regularise on the initiative.

March 2024 Conversations/Indaba

Join us online for conversation looking at the work refugee and non-refugee artists, academics, activists and art spaces are doing at the intersection where forced migration and the arts meet.

The conversations are taking place virtually on Thursday, 28 March 2024, and are in three sessions, namely: 

• 2.00-3.30pm UK time (with Matthew Hahn, Dr Tetyana Hnatyuk, and Innocent Creus Rugamba), 
• 4.00-5.30pm UK time (with Samuel Hatungimana, Kat Velastegui, and Sophie Watt), and 
• 6.00-7.30pm UK time (with Malka Al Haddad and Loraine Masiya Mponela). (More detail follows below).

Attendance and participation are free and open to all. 

REGISTRATION

To attend, register through this form. 

The conversations are taking place as part of Forced Migration and The Arts, a global or international network that brings together people with lived experience of forced migration, refugee and non-refugee artists, academics, activists and art spaces for conversation, dialogue and knowledge exchange. The network encourages mutual support and collaboration.

THE SESSIONS

2.00pm - 3.30pm (UK Time): Session 1: Theatre, Visual Arts & Moving Images

Matthew Hahn, an international theatre director, playwright and theatre for development facilitator, post-graduate with experience of creating, coordinating and implementing theatre projects in the United Kingdom, the United States, East & Southern Africa. He is also the Artistic Director of the Folkestone Performing Arts Company, an artist-led international theatre ensemble creating vibrant, relevant and compelling theatre through the celebration of local stories in Folkestone, UK. Currently, Hahn is working with refugees and asylum seekers at Napier Barracks, Folkestone.

Dr Tetyana Hnatyuk, a human migration researcher with 20 years of experience in the field, has a PhD degree in Political Science and a research focus on forced migration (internally displaced persons, refugees, asylum seekers). She is the author of more than 60 publications and has experience working in the migration sphere for a British local authority-led partnership, international organisation (the UNHCR), local NGOs, Ukrainian governmental authorities and academia. Hnatyuk has been a participant of the Ukrainian Sponsorship Scheme “Homes for Ukraine” in the UK since September 2022. In June 2023, she joined a British local authority-led partnership Migration Yorkshire (Leeds, UK) as a community researcher and worked on a research project on Ukrainians in the UK via the “Homes for Ukraine” programme. “Living Your Life in Someone Else’s Home”, the second part of the research project focuses on hospitality from guest perspectives. 

Innocent Creus Rugamba, a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo since 2012, spent 12 years in Uganda, where he witnessed first-hand the challenges faced by refugees: food shortages, educational barriers, and livelihood struggles. Despite fleeing his homeland after completing secondary school with dreams of becoming a doctor, conflict shattered those aspirations. Rugamba then began teaching English to adults in the settlement and co-founded a refugee-led organisation focused on adult literacy and financial management training. Now, pursuing a Master’s Degree in International Relations at the University of Cagliari in Italy on a scholarship, his goal is to leverage his experiences and education to advocate for refugee rights and access to education. 

4.00pm - 5.30pm (UK Time): Session 2: Theatre, Visual Arts & Crafts

Samuel Hatungimana, a Burundian refugee who has lived in Kakuma Refugee Camp of Kenya for 11 years, did both his primary and secondary education in the camp, finishing in the year 2021. After graduating from high school, he volunteered as an incentive teacher in his former school for one year where he taught Swahili language to students in Grade 9 and 10. In 2022, he joined Elimisha Kakuma, a college preparatory program which helps high achieving students to apply for college admission and scholarships. Hatungimana secured a full scholarship at Elmhurst University and was able to move to the US in the fall 2023 to start his higher education studies, majoring in Computer Science and Digital Media.

Kat Velastegui, a New York-born, Ecuadorian researcher and photographer. After her graduate studies in International Migration and Public Policy at the London School of Economics, Velastegui dedicated her time to exploring culture, identity, Latin American diasporas and the digital environment. Her work highlights Latinx diaspora creatives‘ artistic expressions and resistance beyond borders (e.g. geographical, identitarian, physical, institutional), aiming to raise the lived-experiences and creative processes of an often overlooked and invisibilized community. Her current visual project, 'Márgenes' (Spanish for 'Margins') is a curatorial platform weaving together the tapestry of Latinx diaspora creatives’ art and lived-experiences beyond borders. This exploration unfolds at the intersection of identity construction, subcultures and creative processes intricately intertwined with the threads of migratory narratives. At the heart of "Márgenes" lies the radical notion that re-imagining the meaning of transnational communities, reclaiming collective joy and daring to envision the possibility of alternative realities is not only necessary - but rather, an urgent act of resistance.

Sophie Watt, a lecturer in French and Francophone Studies at the University of Sheffield. Watt specialises in colonial, neocolonial history and migration studies in the Francophone world and has been working on alternative representation of migration for a number of years. Recently, she conducted field work in Calais and Dunkirk that was informed by work with Franco-Swiss photographer Elisa Larvego, on alternative representation of migration. Her work includes the exhibition, 'The going towards' presented at the Site Gallery in Sheffield last October/November and also exhibited in Geneva under the title 'En tous lieux' from September to December.

6pm - 7.30pm (UK Time): Session 3: The Poetry of Forced Migration - Malka al-Haddad and Loraine Masiya Mponela: In Conversation 

Poets and City of Sanctuary Ambassadors, Malka al-Haddad and Loraine Masiya Mponela will read and discuss each other's and their own work and share insights and reflections on the influences they draw on in their writing and activism.

Malka Al Haddad, the author of The Truth at the End of the Night (Palewell Press Ltd, 2023) and Birds Without Sky: Poems from exile (Harriman House Ltd, 2018). Malka grew up during the Iran-Iraq war and lost several close family members during the first Gulf War and American invasion in 2003. She became a poet and a human rights advocate, which attracted hostility towards her in Iraq. While she was studying English in preparation for her PhD in the UK, death threats against her escalated and she couldn't return back to her beloved home and family. Malka's asylum claim was continually refused by the Home Office and after 11 years, she was eventually granted leave to remain, but without access to public funding. She is now an ambassador for City of Sanctuary in the UK. Malka's pain and anger on behalf of all those caught up in the UK asylum system give her poetry a passionate strength and urgency.

Loraine Masiya Mponela, a migrants rights campaigner, community organiser, City of Sanctuary ambassador, and the author of Now I Sing: 50 poems to celebrate 50 years (Independently published, 2024) and I Was Not Born a Sad Poet (Independently published, 2022). Loraine was born and raised in Malawi, and currently lives in England, UK. A writer of poetry, comedy and articles, her poems have appeared in numerous anthologies, journals, and magazines. 

NETWORK NOTES

[1] Sunday Lawrence, a refugee from South Sudan and a second year Law student at the International University of East Africa in Kampala, Uganda is appealing for support. Lawrence needs to raise €5,256 for tuition and sustenance so that he can finish his studies. Any support you can give him will be most appreciated.

[2] Forced Migration and The Arts is currently purely volunteer-driven. Donations are most welcome and can be made through BuyMe a Coffee.

[3] The next Forced Migration and The Arts network forum/indaba will take place on 25 April 2024. If you are a refugee or non-refugee artist, academic, activist or art space working at the intersection where forced migration and the arts meet, and you would like to speak as part of the conversation, please let us know through this form.