The Nairobi Bookshelf invites submission of person(al) and place memoirs for the second special issue of The Nairobi Reader to be published in December 2021. We define personal memoir as your self-narratives, or narratives about a person who is or has been in your life and whose story you believe is worth sharing and archiving. Such person may be your parent, sibling, lover, friend, teacher, priest, colleague, boss, etc. It’s someone whose life has impacted your life, whether positively or negatively. Place memoirs, on the other hand, are narratives that document your memories of and experiences in a village, school, workplace, town, country, continent, wherever. A place that has significantly contributed in the making of the person you are or hope to be.
We’re interested in personal or place narratives that tell your story or the story of a person in your life or an aspect/a part of such a story, or the story of a place you have lived in or visited as it relates to extraordinary or mundane yet interesting discoveries and observations worth sharing. For example, you may want to share your narrative of life during the coronavirus pandemic, your high school or college life, or your trip to another town, city, county or country, etc. Or you may choose to share your memories of your father, mother, sibling, spouse, mentor, friend, etc.—a person whose story you believe is worth sharing with the world.
We’re not looking for complete, ‘mature’ memoirs. We particularly welcome writing that’s still a work in progress—by which we mean you need not fear submitting your piece because you feel your story isn’t yet refined enough for press/publishing. We’re interested in ‘drafts’ of personal and place memoirs. The publication of your ‘draft’ story might just confirm to you that your fears of its incompleteness weren’t as so grounded. You may also have the opportunity to rework and refine your ‘draft’ story after its publication, especially with the benefit of critical feedback from readers and editors. If you feel you can put together a ‘refined’ piece, you’re most welcome to send us your memoir.
We’re particularly looking for young, upcoming, experimental writers. If you’ve not been published before, this is your call. If you’re a published writer, please be part of this exciting project. We encourage diversity and creativity in the style, scope and content of the writing.
Don’t be limited by word or page count. Let the (short story) flow and fly within its bounds. Submission is open through 30 November 2021. You may send in your story today. Or tomorrow. Or on 30 November 2021. Send your story to submission@nairobibookshelf.com or to editor@nairobibookshelf.com. Please include a short bio of yourself. Let’s write. And read.
About The Nairobi Bookshelf
The Nairobi Bookshelf is a platform for ideas, thoughts, reflections, musings, rants and perspectives on life, death and the in-betweens. The platform engages in the writing, reading, rereading, publishing and appreciation of arts, texts, literature, culture, society, politics and whatnot. This is basically a platform on everything about life and the vanity of life. The Bookshelf publishes personal, everyday narratives of ordinary and not-so-ordinary people: at home, at work, on the street, at school, in a bar, in a shrine, in the village, in a town, wherever. We’re interested in the tiny things that make, unmake or remake life. We welcome creative, critical and reflective pieces on life, death and the in-betweens. The platform is a fusion of the serious and the playful. It brings together unyielding optimism, sworn pessimism and reluctant cynicism.
The Bookshelf is a buffet of known, established and celebrated writers and literary critics as well as—and importantly so—voices of new writers, unsettled readers and emerging critics. The platform seeks to stimulate dialogue between and among the two groups. We are interested in the manner in which literary, social and cultural knowledge is produced, consumed, appreciated. In a way, therefore, the platform is an archive of narratives, experiences, thoughts, feelings, aspirations, hopes, fears, regrets, wishes, failures, achievements, dreams, whatnot.
The Nairobi Bookshelf is the publisher of The Nairobi Reader, a literary and cultural magazine.
Write to editor@nairobibookshelf.com
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