SUBMIT
SUBMIT TO OUR ‘MUNDANITY’ ISSUE
Making coffee in the morning, cooking dinner, folding laundry, taking an evening stroll, quiet everyday moments. What does the mundane mean to you? We invite you to explore your interpretation of the mundane in a creative way, through photography, poetry, fiction, and non-fiction, for our new issue in December.
Deadline: September 25, 2025
Alternative submission procedure (use only if necessary)
If this form becomes faulty/broken, please email your work as an attachment to editor@poda-poda.com with the subject line: 'Genre_Mundanity Issue_FirstAndLastInitialsOfWriter'. Include a brief writer bio in the body of your email, and ensure your work follows all other formatting guidelines provided.
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Genres Accepted
Poetry – up to 3 poems as a single document
Fiction (short story) – 1,000–2,500 words
Non-fiction (essays, life-writing) – 900–2,500 words (no book or film reviews)
Photography + Digital Art – up to 3 images
Meet the Editors
Poetry: Jeremy Teddy Karn was born in Monrovia, Liberia. He earned his MFA in English-Creative Writing (Poetry) from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where he received fellowships to support his work. He is also the recipient of the John C. Shupe Award in Poetry from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. He is currently a PhD student at the University of Houston.
His chapbook, Miryam Magdalit, was selected by Kwame Dawes and Chris Abani for inclusion in the New-Generation African Poets' Chapbook Boxset (APBF) in 2021. He received the Stanley Awards International Fellowship (2024) at the University of Iowa and is a finalist for the Two Sylvias Press Chapbook Prize in 2024 and also the 2025 Evaristo Prize for African Poetry. He is the co-founder of Pepper Coast Mag. He can be reached out to through his website: www.jeremyteddykarn.com
Fiction: Charmaine Denison-George is an English Language and Literature educator from Freetown, Sierra Leone. She holds an M.F.A degree in Creative Writing from Texas State University. Her work can be found in Isele Magazine; Brittle Paper, Kinsman Avenue Publishing’s ‘Black Diaspora’ anthology (2024), and Afritondo’s ‘Travelling Men Don’t Die’ (2024).
Nonfiction: Ngozi Cole is a Sierra Leonean writer and journalist. She has been commissioned by Reveal (Center for Investigative Reporting) and The New Humanitarian, among others. She is a graduate of Columbia Journalism School and a 2022 Pulitzer Center for Crisis Reporting fellow. Her fiction and poetry have been published in Brittle Paper and Afreada.
Photography + Digital art: Yasmin Metz-Johnson is the creative director and founder of the lifestyle blog turned community and West Africa travel concierge, yasmintells.com. TELLS is an acronym for: Travel, Explore, Live, and Learn. Yasmin has spent the last decade showcasing living and working in Sierra Leone and Senegal through stories and visual content, whilst encouraging her audience to be courageous and step out of their comfort zone. In 2022, Yasmin launched the group travel company, TELLS TRIPS, curating experiences of a lifetime for the diaspora and visitors interested in exploring the African continent.
Who Can Submit?
We welcome submissions from:
Those residing on the African continent
Members of the African diaspora
Individuals with African citizenship
Those living in the Caribbean
Individuals of Caribbean descent/ its diaspora
Submission Guidelines
Separate Submission Forms: Only one submission per genre is allowed.
Theme: Consider the meaning of mundanity and creatively explore it through characterization, plot, structure, subject, language, or theme.
Originality: Work must be entirely your own. AI-generated or plagiarized content will be immediately disqualified
Formatting:
Numbered pages
Double-spaced
Times New Roman, 12pt font
Submit poetry/prose as a Word document (.docx or .doc). Images may be in JPG, PNG, or PDF format.
Anonymity: Do not include your name in your submitted work.
File naming format: Genre_FirstLastInitials_TitleOfWork
Example: Poetry_MA_AndStillIRise
Other Details
There is no submission fee for this issue (a submission cap may apply if entries exceed judge capacity).
Accepted submissions will be published in December 2025
Questions? Email editor@poda-poda.com or DM us on socials.
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REGULAR CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
If you would like to contribute to Poda-Poda Stories, please email your submission to editor@poda-poda.com using the following format in your email subject: Lastname_Submission Title. If your submission is time sensitive, kindly indicate that in your email subject line using the following format: Time sensitive_Lastname_Submission Title.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Eligibility criteria: We accept work from Sierra Leoneans or persons of Sierra Leonean descent currently residing in Sierra Leone or the diaspora.
We accept fiction (1500 words maximum), nonfiction (1500 words maximum), poetry (3 poems maximum), and book reviews (800 words maximum).
Ensure that your piece is precise and well-written. Things to look out for are grammar, punctuation, and the correct use of tenses.
Your work must be in Microsoft Word (docx) format; typed in Times New Roman, 12 pt. font, and double-spaced. Please do not send your work as a PDF document.
Include a brief writer’s bio in your email submission.
We will not accept plagiarized work. This includes AI-generated work.
Do not submit work that contains elements of harmful stereotypes.
Simultaneous submissions are acceptable. We ask that you email us immediately when your work is accepted elsewhere.
TIMELINE
Please note that following our regular calls for submission in October – November and April - May, it may take our team up to 2 months to review your work. Please do not contact us with questions about your submissions while we review your work.
Work submitted outside the regular call for submissions will be reviewed within 2-3 weeks.