Competition
Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets
African Poetry Book Fund
At a glance
- Deadline
- Closes 1 December 2026, 40 days leftThe posting gives a date, not a time. Days left are counted in Lagos time.
- Fee
- No fee to apply
- Who may apply
- African: born in Africa, or a national or resident of an African country, or with African parents
- a poetry manuscript of at least 50 pages, in English, and no book length collection published before
- Where
- submitted online, the Fund is based at Brown University
If you are an African poet who has never published a full length collection, this pays 1,000 US dollars and publishes your first book with the University of Nebraska Press. There is no entry fee.
The facts
- What you get
- 1,000 US dollars and publication by the University of Nebraska Press
- Where
- submitted online, the Fund is based at Brown University
- Share of the prize or equity they take
- The book is published under a press contract. The Fund does not take a share of your other work.
Where you stand
This one is free. There is no fee to apply, and nobody should ask you for money at any point.
What they ask for
- African: born in Africa, or a national or resident of an African country, or with African parents
- a poetry manuscript of at least 50 pages, in English, and no book length collection published before
Get ready to apply
Built only from what this listing states.
The application takes real work, by our reading.
1. What to get ready
It asks for something outside the usual documents; read it below.
In their words: “a manuscript of at least 50 pages, anonymous, with only the title on the cover page, through Submittable”
2. Dates
- Closes 1 December 2026, in 40 days.
- On the date, the listing says: manuscripts are accepted annually between 15 September and 1 December
- Aim to send it by 28 November 2026. Websites slow down near a deadline, and data runs out. Our advice
Download checklist (.txt) Send to WhatsApp
The download is a small text file. You can read it later without data. It also lists each condition they set, so you can tick yourself against them. WhatsApp sends the same list to you, or to somebody helping you.
No CV yet? Make a plain one from your answers. Nothing you type is kept.
Tips for applying for a competition
General advice from us, the same for every competition. It is not what this organisation says; that is above.
- Read the rules and the judging criteria first, and write to them.
- Check who owns your work after you enter. The rules usually say.
- Submit a day early. Upload pages are often slow near a deadline.
If there is an interview or a test
- If there is a final or a pitch, practise out loud and time yourself.
All our tips and messages to copy. Practise answering, with nothing kept. Received an offer? Check whether it is real, then read before you say yes.
How to apply
You apply on African Poetry Book Fund's own website, not here. We never send an application for anybody and we never ask you for anything to pass on. Check their page for anything not shown here.
More like this, open now
How we checked this
This was opened and verified at African Poetry Book Fund's own website on 14 October 2026: it was real, still open, and open to people from African countries. If anything here is wrong, tell us.