***Read the winning entries here***
In celebration of our culture and heritage as Ghanaians, The Adinkra Poetry Prize invites poetry submissions that respond to any of the 200+ existing Adinkra symbols. Writers are invited to submit three poems with each responding to/engaging with a single selected Adinkra symbol in the context of Ghana’s current political and socioeconomic state. Submissions are open to writers aged 18+ who are Ghanaian citizens and currently live in Ghana.
The prize is supported by the Center for Humanities (University of New Hampshire) and the Mellon Mays Foundation.
Winners in each category receive $150 USD.
Five (5) Finalists will receive $50 USD.
Finalists and winners will be announced in March 2023. Selected submissions will be considered for publication in a digital anthology. The writers of the selected spoken word pieces will be asked to transcribe their work for publication. The committee holds the right to not select winners based on the quality of submissions.
Guidelines (Written)
- Submit no more than three (3) poems per submission with each poem clearly identifying the chosen Adinkra symbol. One submission per person. Additional submissions will not be read. Poems may be any length, any style, or any subject but must incorporate the chosen Adinkra symbol and its meaning.
- Do not include any identifying information in the submission document.
- We request that you submit unpublished poems only.
- We accept simultaneous submissions but please notify us if your work is picked up elsewhere.
- All questions can be submitted to adinkrapoetryprize@gmail.com
Guidelines (Spoken Word)
- Submit a recorded poem (video) no longer than 1 minute with each poem clearly identifying the chosen Adinkra symbol you are responding to. Do not include your name in the recorded video.
- Submission should be original.
- We accept simultaneous submissions but please notify us if your work is picked up elsewhere.
- All questions can be submitted to adinkrapoetryprize@gmail.com
DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS: 31 JANUARY 2023, 11.59 pm GMT
Meet the Judges
Nii Ayikwei Parkes (Head Judge) is a producer, editor and writer who has won acclaim as a children’s author, poet, broadcaster and novelist. Winner of multiple international awards including Ghana’s ACRAG award, he is the Senior Editor at flipped eye publishing, a trustee of the Caine Prize and serves on the editorial board of World Literature Today. Nii Ayikwei has served as a judge for several literature prizes including the Commonwealth Prize, the NSK Neustadt Prize and the Harvill Secker Young Translators’ Prize. He is a 2022/23 Hutchins Family Fellow with the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University [Image: Rosa Ablah].
Afua Ansong (Head Judge) is a poet and a postdoctoral scholar and artist at Mt. Holyoke College. She is the Founder of The Adinkra Prize (see below for more).
Emma Ofosua (Judge: Spoken Poetry) is a Ghanaian-born and raised poet. She has written over 50 poems and freestyled numerous spoken-word poetry with “To Every Woman” and “When a boy calls you beautiful” as her flagship pieces. “I wish you courage in the night season” is her debut book that pores over the pain and confusion caused by identity crises and insecurities in a relatable, practical way. The compilation captures the very essence of our human existence.
Henneh Kwaku Kyereh (Judge: Written Poetry) is a poet from Gonasua in the Bono Region of Ghana. He’s the author of Revolution of the Scavengers, selected by Kwame Dawes and Chris Abani for the APBF New Generation African Poets Chapbook Series. His poems/essays/hybrids have appeared/forthcoming in World Literature Today, Lolwe, Agbowó, Tupelo Quarterly, Tampered Press, Poetry Society of America, Praxis Magazine, IceFloe Press, Random Photo Journal, Lunaris Review, CGWS, New South Journal, Lolwe, Samira Bawumia Literary Prize Winners Anthology & Olongo Africa. Find him on Instagram/Twitter via @kwaku_kyereh.
Meet the Prize Founder
Afua Ansong is a postdoctoral scholar and artist at Mt. Holyoke College. She received her Ph.D. in English Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Rhode Island. She is an advocate of Black/African women’s voices. Her work interrogates representations of Black female subjectivities in African Diaspora Literature. She is working on a collection of poems about the material culture and poetic elements of the Adinkra Symbols from Ghana. Specifically, she is recording how West African oral art serves as a mode of expression and survival for enslaved Akans in bondage. She has two chapbooks, Black Ballad (Bull City Press, 2022), Try Kissing God (Akashic, 2020), and American Mercy (Finishing Line Press, 2019), and has published work in Prairie Schooner, Four Way Review, Maine Review and other journals. She has received scholarships from Bread Loaf and Blue Mountain Center. More of her work is at afuasong.com.
Library Of Africa and The African Diaspora 