Dear writers and readers,
On 19th October 2020 we announced a call for submission for the drama genre, and since then have received a number of submissions. Sadly, these entries have not been satisfactory enough to convince us that the genre has come to stay. The prospect of a fulfilling working experience with playwrights has proven bleak. The announcement we made three months ago was in effort to salvage the drama genre from ruin, by providing a platform for African playwrights. Unfortunately, because of the glitches we have experienced within the last three months since we announced the call for submissions, and because there is the possibility that the drama genre would bring some further disruption to other AR projects in future, Afreecan Read’s directors concluded on revoking the decision to publish drama on our platform. Perhaps more concrete questions should be asked about the place of drama in today’s African literature, especially written drama. Perhaps it isn’t enough to simply announce a call for submissions, more needs to be done. We are, however, affirming of playwrights who have done marvelously in this genre, and other literary platforms that have recently made the choice of publishing this genre, and we wish them success.
We are deeply grateful to playwrights who sent their works to us, and we sincerely apologize for this disappointing news. We also thank our (now former) drama editors for their efforts. AR will now exist henceforth without the drama genre. Consequently, all announcements regarding the genre of drama, including submission guidelines, will be permanently taken down from our website. Finally, I wish to mention that the drama genre was a stunt, and it was worth it.
Anthony Dim,
AR’s Editor-at-large
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