Background
Submission deadline: 5 March 2021
Cover image by artwork “Vusamazulu” – © Sindiso Nyoni
One of the most intriguing historical and literary figures of our time is Ntate Vuzamazulu Credo Mutwa, who would have been 100 years old this year. The seer, philosopher, isanusi and doctor was also a man of letters. His Indaba, My Children is perhaps the most important book written by an African. It is a historical piece of writing and Mutwa’s magnum opus; a book of myth and creation for Africans through history that spans millennia. It is a spiritual roadmap back to the cradle, retracing the steps of our cultural totemism – and it takes us back to where our collective umbilicus is buried.
For the first edition of BKO Poetry & Literature Magazine in 2021, we focus on Ntate Vuzamazulu Credo Mutwa’s chef-d’œuvre, Indaba, My Children. The edition is a critical look at his literary work; it is not his biography. The significance of Indaba, My Children goes beyond literature and slips into the collective that is African tradition and culture. It dips in and out of the supernatural, the spirit world and the world of the mere mortals.
The book is a template for what our African mythology, folklore, speculation about the world of the gods, the God, ancestors and the evil world can be, should be, or is. It provides a linguistic tapestry that can be followed like a compass by those of us who are in love with the nature and origin of words and the wisdom and logic they carry.
BKO Poetry & Literature Magazine calls for submissions of essays, critical thought pieces, reviews/critiques on Credo Mutwa’s writing. We also call for ditshomo, inganengwane, dinaane and other fiction work that is speculative, mythological and/or other-worldly. This edition is an ode to the most important isanusi and literary giant of our time.
We have no word limits for all the submissions.
Mutwa is an author of many books, including Indaba, My Children (1964), My People (1969), Let Not My Country Die (1986), Isilwane (1996), Song of the Stars (1996), Zulu Shaman (2003), Woman of Four Paths (2007).
Isanusi Vuzamazulu Credo Mutwa was born on January 21, 1921 and he passed away on March 25, 2020, at 98 years old. Mutwa was born in the aftermath of the Spanish flu pandemic that took several his father’s children.
Poetry call for submissions
Theme: Dreams
Dreams play a particularly important part in our lives. They can be interpreted into meaning that can affect our lives. Dreams have been used in the past as indicators of the future and they defined important historical landmarks. Dreams – as a subconscious part of our senses – are important today as they were throughout history.
You are invited to submit poems that deals with the theme of dreams without any limit to subject matter. We are looking for poems that paint symbolic dreamscapes and deliver us to utopia/dystopia. This is in line with the written works of Credo Mutwa.
There is no word or length limit to poems. Poems are acceptable in all languages.
Submission guidelines
Your submission must have the following:
- Send your submission to editor@bkomagazine.co.za
- Full names or pseudonym as you want us to use it on the magazine
- Email address and/or cell number
- Title/heading of the submission
- Use the name/title of your submission as the file name of your work. For example: Poetry-of-Don-Mattera.doc
Work must be submitted as follows:
- Word document (No PDFs, JPEGs etc)
- Arial 12pt font, single spacing
- Clear paragraph breaks
- Clear quotations where such is necessary or where other people’s work is quoted
- If you reference other people’s work, please supply endnotes or a bibliography
If your work has been published elsewhere, please indicate the source and/or provide the link/URL/website of such source/reference. Such work may not be accepted if it is academic.
Do not:
- format the work; or decorate it
- include images/photos in the Word document (you can attach them separately)
- plagiarise
- send more than five poems at a time. If you send five poems, do so in one document, NOT 5 separate documents.
- be libelous or non-factual in your writing
- submit PDFs or any other kind of document
