Applied African Science Fiction (SF) is a project funded by Imperial College London that, together in collaboration with the University of Nairobi, the African Speculative Fiction Society, Vector and the International Black Speculative Writing Festival, aims to create educational resources for using African speculative cultures in the context of environmental policy and other scientific and social innovations.
We invite African writers to collaborate with scientists to write short stories that could be used in STEM education (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics), especially at university level. We’re looking for stories that will provoke debate about the ethics and politics of research and innovation, science communication, foresight studies, AI, (post-) development and economics, environmental technology, climate reparations and progressive legislature, governance (of technology), policy, the history and philosophy of science, and more. For further inspiration, see Jo Lindsay Walton’s applied speculation resource list and Vector’s Applied Science Fiction call for proposals that resulted in this issue (bit.ly/Vector297).
At this stage, we ask you to submit a short proposal indicating your areas of interest and a short bio (one page or less altogether) mentioning some of your previous publications. Please let us know if you are already a member of the African Speculative Fiction Society (ASFS) or other writer’s association. Additionally, If you already have a scientist, technology or social entrepreneur collaborator in mind, please let us know. If not, we will try to arrange suitable partnerships.
Deadline for proposals: March 15th, 2025.
Submit proposals to: vector.submissions@gmail.com.
We expect the stories to be relatively short, ranging from around 1,000 to 5,000 words. There will be a flat rate payment of £250 per story.
All content will be licensed under CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 except where otherwise arranged and stipulated. The selected short stories will be published as part of a book of essays and other resources. It will be free to download as a digital edition, and available as a printed anthology. We are hoping to publish at least half a dozen original stories.
Additionally, we are looking to republish existing stories. If you think you have written a story that can be a STEM resource, please get in touch.
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Here are some of the examples of stories that have been taught as part of small group seminars held this year at Imperial and the University of Nairobi:
- “Bat Monkey” in Glimpse by Aisha Phoenix. See also the seminar given by Aisha Phoenix on how this story can be used to explore the politics of conservation science and the power dynamics in international research collaborations:
- “Embers” by Wole Talabi in Convergence Problems; earlier version is online. Watch an Interview with Wole Talabi about Convergence Problems and STEM
- “Leafy Man” by Dilman Dila (word doc shared by the author)
More examples of stories and other resources are available on our website: appliedafricansf.com/resources/
We are aware that there are conflicting definitions of who is an African writer. We are open to submissions from anywhere on the continent and from the diaspora from those who identify themselves as an African writer.