We are looking for works that make us remember. Works that sit us down and ask us to touch the past as it lives in the present, or what mirrors the present from the past. This issue asks us to tuck memory into language and serve it with life.
It asks you to imagine yourself in moments you never lived but carry within you. Important dates you wish you had witnessed.
You might want to search and tap from an old wine that still tastes like home. You might choose to render the fine details of a single day, a place, a body, or a year, as it might have felt to live inside it. Its sounds, its smell, its silence, its texture, even its people.
What does history feel like when it is handed back to you, not as fact alone, but as a living memory?
Ghana is a country layered with histories—written and oral, celebrated and obliterated, remembered and forgotten. From precolonial kingdoms to the transatlantic slave trade, from independence to everyday moments that never entered the archives, our past continues to shape who we are. Tap into this expansive archive of rich history.
For this issue, we are seeking:
- 4 Fiction pieces
2 from our Historical Fiction Workshop with Ayesha Harruna Attah
and 2 from this call.
So you have two options: you can apply to join the workshop
with your story idea or submit your stories directly for this call.
We are seeking prose rooted in Ghanaian history. This might include (but is not limited to): Reimagined lives of historical figures, reimagined historical events, lesser-known or forgotten historical moments, family histories shaped by larger national events, among others.
These pieces can be bold and/or experimental approaches to the past.
- 2 Creative Nonfiction (CNF)/Essay pieces
We are seeking creative non-fiction pieces engaging Ghanaian history, personal essays on oral histories, memory work, archival fragments engaged creatively, and reflections on how the past lives in the present, among others. Get creative.
- 4 Poems
We are interested in poems that excavate memory, lineage, and inheritance; work drawing from both written and oral histories. Lyric, narrative, or experimental engagements with history. Explore with form, style and poetry types.
- 3 Art/Photography contributions
Eligibility
- This is open to only Ghanaian writers.
At The Hummingbird, we use ‘Ghanaian’ broadly and inclusively. You are welcome to submit if you:
- Are a Ghanaian citizen, whether living in Ghana or abroad
- Are of Ghanaian heritage or descent (including mixed heritage)
- Are a non-Ghanaian who has a strong and lived connection to Ghana, for example, by being born in Ghana and living here all your life or having had a long-term residence.
2. You must be 18 years or older.
3. Writers published in our previous issue cannot submit.
Timeline
- Submissions Open: January 5
- Submissions Close: February 5
READ FULL SUBMISSION GUIDELINES HERE. Also includes the submission link.
Image credit: James Barnor