Projects
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
AfriCANthology II: Strange Truth of Black Canadian Fiction (by Oct. 31, 2025)
After the resounding success of AfriCANthology: Perspectives of Black Canadian Poets, we return to amplify more writing about the experiences of African Canadians. If you are a Black fiction writer, this is your opportunity to contribute to AfriCANthology II!
Synopsis: As Black Canadians, we live every day with a strange truth: our birth or citizenship makes us Canadian, but our ethnocultural inheritance and appearance make us Black first and foremost in the eyes of a society rooted in white supremacy, socioeconomic exclusion, and systemic racism. The various ways we are forced to navigate our lives in this country begs the question: is the truth of Blackness in Canada stranger than fiction?
The Ask: Renaissance Press is looking for short stories (2,500 to 4,000 words) in any genre of fiction that honour the anthology’s themes and relate to the Black experience in Canada.
Please Note: This call is open to writers who live in Canada or are Canadian citizens living outside the country who self-identify as Black, as defined under Canadian federal law. While we are encouraged by interest from other writers, we must strictly enforce this criterion.
The submission window closes Friday, October 31, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. ET (8:59 p.m. PT). We will be making editorial decisions as we go, so submit your work for consideration at your earliest opportunity. We reserve the right to end the call for submissions as soon as we receive the number of contributions necessary for anthology publication.
To learn more about previously published content, pick up a copy of AfriCANthology: Perspectives of Black Canadian Poets and/or visit www.africanthology.ca to submit any questions you may have to the editor.
AfriCANthology II
Call for Submissions
at a Glance
WHAT: Contribute to AfriCANthology II
WHO: Black Canadian fiction writers of all genres
WHY: To honour, celebrate, gather, and amplify the expression of Black Canadians as publicly accessible resources that utilize the power of the literary arts.
WHEN: Submissions due by October 31, 2025, though the call window may close sooner.
WHERE/HOW?: Access the submission form here.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Please send your work in a single Word document (.doc or .docx), written in 12pt Times New Roman or similar font, double-spaced, with standard 1" margins and black font on an unadorned, white background. Every page should be numbered. Do not use Courier, Comic Sans, or any other font that is difficult to read. Absolutely no images or graphics.
No PDF submissions.
By making your submission, you agree to your work being published in the anthology if it is selected for inclusion by the editor.
We will respond to every submission within 2 months.
We respond to all submissions. The editor’s decision is final.
Published anthology contributors will each receive an honorarium of $200.00 CDN.
Simultaneous submissions are allowed, but please withdraw your submission if it is accepted elsewhere. Multiple submissions are also allowed.
You do not have to be published elsewhere – we encourage submissions from new writers whose works satisfy the requirements for inclusion in the anthology.
ONE FINAL NOTE — REGARDING AI-GENERATED SUBMISSIONS: We are committed to publishing literary works that authentically reflect the ideas and viewpoints of Black Canadian writers. We reserve the right to reject any submission that we suspect to be primarily generated or created by language modeling software, ChatGPT, chat bots, or any other AI apps, bots, or software. We also reserve the right to ban submissions that we know or believe were created and submitted via an AI content generator. If we discover later in the process that a work was generated using AI technology, the submission will be removed from the publication and the writer forfeits any recognition, credits, payments, royalties, or any other positive benefit that they may have otherwise been entitled to receive.