Retelling Africa writing competition will enable young African writers to showcase their talent, says Dominque Uwase Alonga, the founder of Imagine We Rwanda, the organisers of the competition. 

The competition is the first regional writing competition open to all African poets, novelists, essayists and storytellers above the age of 13 in French, English and Kinyarwanda. The goal is to collect authentic African stories from the continent.

"The stories should be based in Africa or about Africa and should just tell African stories. They can be romance, thrillers, poetry books, and et cetera. We just want African narratives to be brought to light.  We have been raising the funds for three years, because as Africans, we have been lagging behind so we were looking for high quality African content. So we said why not put ahead our talent and leave a legacy,” Alonga told The New Times.

She added that the event will also be an opportunity to launch the self-publication app by Imagine We Rwanda. 

"We are in deep need for African content and Imagine We Rwanda is working to make them more accessible, while also creating new careers for young talented Africans.

"The amazon payment is not easily processed in African countries. Some never come and some delay for more than six months. This has been really unreliable for African writers,” she said.

Entries for the stories will close on November 2, and the winners will be awarded on January 15, where $500, $250, $150, $100 will be awarded to the first, second, third and fourth winners, respectively.

The prizes include a six-month publishing contract on the digital application with Imagine We Publishers.

editor@newtimesrwanda.com