The unity of ALL singular socks

A home to African readers and writers

Have you ever wondered how a single sock feels when sitting in a drawer full of paired socks? It sounds lonely and depressing for Spot (yes, that's the name of the sock). I imagine Spot often wallows in pain and wishes it knew somebody. When taken out of the drawer by its owner, the hope of a reunion with its partner grows. Only to be thrown back into the drawer, awaiting to be mismatched with a plain-coloured sock from another store. There is a greater chance of that being the case.

Spot's hope to find its partner dies. It can only hope its owner will buy socks from Sox again because nobody in the drawer understands its slang, jokes or culture. Everyone looks at it weirdly when it does the Shaku or breaks into Akwaaba. Spot is discriminated against because it is the only sock that is too colourful, rich in the mind, and often misunderstood.

If you are an African writer and you feel just like Spot on this platform, we want to transform you into an A-Stacker instead. It's less lonely on this end!

A-Stack is home to African writers, big or small.

It often feels like there is no room for us on most platforms, but there is, and it is not at the back of the room. We belong on the stages behind the mics. Each of us has a story to tell and a life to impact. It's time we were loud enough never to be ignored.

It starts right here, on A-stack. Here is what we are offering you, A-Stacker!

The A-List

Think of this as a constantly evolving dictionary, but rather than containing words, it catalogues Substack newsletters. These newsletters are, of course, created and written by writers from the African continent. 

The list is categorised according to the newsletter genre (any and all genres are welcome!), name and author(s) of the newsletter, the frequency of publication, and the launch date.

It's easy to join AND fun to read. You'll never know what you'll discover. 

If you'd like to be an A-lister, please fill out this form.

A-Mention

A-Mention gives you our top 5 favourite reads of the week from A-Stackers. Consider it an exciting way to discover new writers to add to your TBR list. If you want a mention from A-Stack, please shove your work into our faces, too! 

You can do this simply by tagging us in the comments section of your newly published works. 

A-Mention drops in your inbox every Thursday at 9 am (South African Standard Time).

A-Prompt

Another way we're blowing away the cobwebs is by dropping weekly prompts, which will be in the A-Stack's subscriber chat. The prompts promise to be fresh, weird and complex in the best way possible. The aim is to ensure that we dive deep and get those creative juices flowing! 

A-prompt will be dropped every Sunday at 1 pm (West African Time), and the best prompt-inspired submissions will feature in the weekly A-Stack community post on Thursday! 

Now that you're all caught up, please don't be shy. Tell your friends about us, submit and become an A-Stacker!