There is something special about seeing a new generation of writers begin to make themselves heard.
The 2026 New Voices Fiction Contest, organised by Creatives Project Ghana, has announced its longlist, and fourteen writers have emerged from hundreds of submissions to take the next step in this year’s competition.
The theme, ‘A Country in Motion,’ asked writers to look at Ghana as a country constantly becoming—through its people, cities, villages, politics, cultures, histories, relationships, struggles, ambitions and everyday lives.
The response was substantial. Following the submission deadline, every entry first went through an eligibility and compliance check. Stories that met the requirements were then handed to a first-round panel of experienced readers.
These readers assessed the submissions against the competition’s criteria, considering elements such as originality, storytelling, character and voice, literary craft, understanding of form, relevance to the theme, and authentic engagement with Ghanaian life and culture.
From this first round, the judges were recommended a selection of the strongest stories. The jury independently reviewed the recommended stories, without access to the readers’ scores or recommendations.
The manuscripts were also judged anonymously, with the identities of the writers kept separate from their work.
In other words, the fourteen stories announced on the longlist had to speak for themselves.
And speak they did.
Meet the 2026 New Voices longlist
In alphabetical order:
- A Fellow Ghanaian’s Report — Gladys Naa Kwarley Quarshie
- A Song Of Thousand Parts — Ahobaa-Kwofie Abigail
- Beneath The Embrace Of A Baobab Tree — Papa Mmireku Ohene-Agyekum
- Borrowed Wings — Asare Eugene Obeng
- Drift into the night — Benjamin Nambu
- Fusion — Ruby Excel
- God Is Stuck in Accra Traffic — Richmond Kofi Offei Anokye
- I Won’t Stay — Eric Nii Okai Dormon
- In and Out of Accra — Pearl Adjavon
- Kasoa straight! — Terry Galley
- Mankoadze Roundabout — David Kojo Amakye
- Outside the Photograph — Joshua Addo
- Seat no. 22 — Baba Dua Mohammed Jawad
- Thirty Seven — Phoebe Nortey
Congratulations to all the writers on the list.