In November 2020, a tragic incident occurred where 11 men traveled on the rudder of a ship to escape their home, and only three survived. This event underscores the urgency of the situation of Africans towards exile. But it also piques our curiosity regarding what becomes of those who arrive and those who don’t. Our interest extends beyond the transatlantic migration that the 11 men took. We also seek to understand what becomes of the bodies that wash up on shore. As Tom Stoppard put it, “look on every exit as being an entrance somewhere else;” we want answers to these questions of longing through imaginative constructions. Do the dead become water-gods? Do they just float back to shore? Why do we even journey? Warsan Shire may have answered in her work, Home, that “no one leaves home unless the home is the mouth of a shark.” But in places where war isn’t pushing people out, what is? Acceptance? Rejection? So when does a journey begin, and where does it end? What is the altitude or depth at which a sojourner transitions to their destination? Do we ever reach it? Why do people choose exile?
While we are interested in investigating migration, we are mainly open to exploring and exposing broader ideas of transition—the small and big extents. But, we must also be reminded of the body, the vessel that carries all these intensities of transition. We must document the unidentifiable changes that happen to the body until they become identified as growth. We cannot even talk about the body without intimating the concepts of desire and sexuality. Should we ignore the process of identity and its openness to the possibilities of change? On the path of accepting self and one’s sexuality, including transness, queerness, and the vertical tallies of the body, how do we write about transition?
The editors of Agbowó magazine invite you to submit to its July issue themed “Transition!” What possibilities can writers derive from transitioning? And how does language transition from an idea into a story, a lexicon into verses? As editors, we admit that transition leaves a mark on us, a memory we carry with us as we kinetically charge toward a destination. As we delve into the complexities of transition, we invite writers to explore the theme through their wildest imaginations possible. From the upheaval of migration to settling down into a new home, from the strife of a breakup to the miracle of new love, we want to hear your stories of change and transformation.
To submit your work for Agbowó magazine’s “Transition” issue, please send your prose, non-fiction, poetry, or visual arts/photography submissions as MS Word attachments or high-resolution images to prose.agbowo@gmail.com, essays.agbowo@gmail.com, poetry.agbowo@gmail.com, and visualarts.agbowo@gmail.com, respectively.
Please use “Transition Issue” as the subject line of your submission. Along with your submission, please include a brief bio about yourself.
Please submit at most three poems, one short story or essay, or five artworks for consideration.
The deadline for submissions is 30th April, 2023.
*All contributors to this edition will be paid according to the new submissions guideline.