The order of existence continues to alter the science of things—especially the kinetics of living. In Yoruba mythology, the end seen is only a fashion of decay or the separation between the soul, the spirit, and the body—which means what is seen is the only thing believed to be mortal. What scientific processes drown in the wasteland? What gods work the rebirth? What cities hold space for the reinvention of spirits? What kind of body welcomes the wandering souls of the lost?
What joy, grief; what bliss, what blast find footing in the idea of loss and finding? Through what lens does the African artist see this emergence? Or would the artist call it a decomposition?
Agbowó, in its 5th year, welcomes the figurative and literary translation of REINCARNATION.
In Setswana the phrase for reincarnation is go tsalwa sesha which is loosely translated as to be born again. In Swahili, kuzaliwa upya. In Yoruba, àtúnwáyé. In Arabic, التناسخ // altanasukh.
We want literary works that interrogate this wildly/widely interpreted idea. We want history. We want to see how language probes the concept of existence. We look forward to receiving your work as we curate another issue of Agbowó.
We see this theme as a launchpad for the innovative ideas that will continue to shape Agbowo for the future as an archive of African Art and Literary Magazine, and we invite you to submit to us.
Submissions should be sent as MS Word attachments or high-resolution images, accompanied by a short bio of a maximum of 150 words, to prose.agbowo@gmail.com, essays.agbowo@gmail.com, poetry.agbowo@gmail.com, drama.agbowo@gmail.com, and visualarts.agbowo@gmail.com for fiction, non-fiction, poetry, one-act plays, and visual arts/photography submissions, respectively.
The subject line of the email should read “Submission for the Reincarnation.”
Poetry:
Please submit no more than 5 poems for consideration.
Fiction:
Please submit a short story of not more than 6,000 words.
Essay:
Submit no more than 5,000 words essay
Art:
Please submit no more than 5 artworks for consideration.
One Act Plays:
Please submit one-act plays with running times between 10 and 30 minutes.
The deadline for submissions is the 8th of May 2022.
*All contributors to this edition will be paid according to the new submissions guideline.