Call for Submissions
Kòkòrò: Issue No.1
Write, you weakling: write, you madwoman, write your misery out, write out your guts, spill out what is choking you, shout obscenely.
Following the end of our inaugural fiction prize, we are excited to say that we are now calling for submissions for our first issue! Kòkòrò is a journal dedicated to the experimental and the strange. We want the type of stuff that makes your tongue sticky and your buttocks perspire when you try to explain it to your equally confused and clammy circle of friends who will later excommunicate you for your ‘weaponized’ awkwardness. For this first issue, we are seeking poetry, fiction, hybrids, and other anywhats you believe are a right fit for us.
Eligibility
— Kòkòrò is open to writers globally
Submission Guidelines
We will not accept multiple submissions. Please submit once and to one genre only.
We love you, but don’t send us previously published works either.
Send us works written primarily in English—we’ve tried Duolingo, and unless your story is about stuttering basic German to a waiter…Englisch, bitte!
We accept simultaneous submissions, but please notify us if you get your work accepted elsewhere, so we can withdraw it from consideration.
Please do not send us AI-generated or assisted work.
For fiction, hybrids, and your anywhats, the word count is 3000 words max. Make sure your work is well-edited and in a legible font.
For poetry, send us 1-3 poems in a single document.
All submissions for this issue should be submitted as a word document to kokorowtf@gmail.com. The subject line should read like so: [Genre: Name] For example: [Fiction: Baba Dudu]
Timeline
This call will be open from 16 July 2026 to 15 August 2026. Don’t be late!
Fees?
No fees.
Payment?
Unfortunately, Kòkòrò can not afford to pay her contributors at the moment. We do hope we can change this in a not-so-distant future. However, if you are a Nigerian university student, you are eligible for the Kòkòrò Short Story Prize 2027.
Poems by Nigerian writers living in Nigeria will be considered for the Michael Akuchie Award for Poetry worth ₦56,000.
Rights?
Kòkòrò asks for the first serial rights of your published work. Fret not, all rights will revert to you after publication. If your work is republished elsewhere, please signify that it was first published with us.
Okay, grub nation, that will be all for now. Put down all your questions in the comment section, and we will clarify as well as we can.
Do you accept personal essays?