A Perfectly Ruined Thing
A-Prompt: Our Favorite Submissions
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Well, I don’t know about you but for us at A-Stack, it’s been a wild wild week. Our first days of ‘operation’ have been marked by the fresh publishing of the A-List and the first ever A-Mention, which was kinda fantastic (If I do say so myself). So check those out if you’re out of loop and are dying to see African writers strut their stuff in accessible, exciting ways.
But…
Enough of the freaking suspense. I’ll get to the good stuff, that is, the winners of the A-Prompt contest!
While we received vibrant and frankly breath-taking submissions, unfortunately there are can only be three winners. These were the writers who we felt best worked within the constraints of the prompt, while expanding the rules of their genres.
And the Winners are…
*Drumrolls please*
(Fiction), (Poetry) and (Non-fiction)
FICTION WINNER
Toluwalase’s fiction piece, Perfectly Broken, is genre bending and confrontational (in the best way), cataloguing an array of identities intent of self-destructing. It was an incredibly interactive piece that hooked us every step of the way. It’s tastefully sculpted characters were impossible-to-look-away-from.
POETRY WINNER
Adedoyin’s poem, Clean Break, grips you around the throat and doesn’t let go. With razor-sharp imagery and a resentment that bleeds through the page, we got a front-view seat to a romance gone rogue. Short and punchy, Clean Break gives the readers something (a lot of things actually) to chew on.
NON-FICTION WINNER
Ashmia’s piece, the long goodbye, reads not as an essay or fiction, but a secret (marvelous) third thing. But after careful deliberation, we decided to fit it in non-fiction. This was because the level of hurt and mastery over a slippery self that was apparent in the piece could only be associated with real-life events. It was in one word, exquisite.
Well, there we have it folks. A special special thanks to everyone else that submitted and we truly hope to see your submissions next week, (and the week after that and the week after that).
Next week’s prompt will be up by Sunday, the 17th at 1pm (WAT) in the community Chat, which you have to be a subscriber to join. And if that doesn’t make you finally subscribe, I don’t know what freaking will (it really really should!)
Also… Have you joined A-List Yet? If you’re an African Writer on Substack, here’s your chance to get immortalized! (or some semblance of that).
