Chronicle Editor
Welldone Ndlovu, Online Reporter
She won the PUBLISH’D AFRIKA Online Literary Magazine Short Story Competition Publisher’s Choice Award – twice.
Now, Gugulethu Siwela is one of 22 writers from across Southern Africa – and the only Zimbabwean – who are part of the online literary magazine’s Spoiling The Broth anthology, which has recently been published by the South Africa-based magazine.
Out of 200 writers who had entered the monthly magazine’s short story competition, the 22 are the cream of the crop, with Zimbabwe’s own Gugulethu contributing two of the 44 stories. The number of stories necessitated that the magazine to publish two volumes simultaneously; Spoiling The Broth Volume 1 and 2.
The elated 19-year-old from Bulawayo could not be prouder.
She admits that when she entered the competition for the first time last year, she had debilitating stage fright.
“When I first submitted, the competition was open to all of Africa, and the previous month was won by a gifted writer from Morocco,” she said.
“I couldn’t believe it when the magazine contacted me and told me that I had won the Publisher’s Choice Award, which came with a cash prize of R500. The prize is awarded to a writer whose story is free of grammatical errors, is well-written and stands head above shoulders against all other stories submitted. This boosted my confidence immensely and I began working on my next story, which again won, for the second month in a row.”
PUBLISH’D AFRIKA Magazine co-founder Sukoluhle Nontokozo Mdlongwa said the 22 writers were identified through a monthly short story writing contest, which was run throughout the year in 2022. Altogether, over 200 aspiring writers from all over Southern Africa and Africa entered the competition.
“We invited aspiring writers to submit short stories of no more than 2500 words and monthly, we had two winners who walked away with a R500 prize each,” she said. “By November last year, we had a total of 22 winners, who were then asked to submit two new stories each, which have formed part of this anthology.”
While the majority of Spoiling The Broth anthology contributors are aspiring authors, the short story collection is a melting pot of youth and experience with at least seven published seasoned authors. These include Busisekile Khumalo, the author of the acclaimed Harvard Series, Her Silent Screams and Fallen Candle, as well as Hidayat Adams, a Cape Town based author who has published three anthologies.
“We also had contributions from Zambian author Isaac Kanyinji, Chance Ntombela and Anathi Kom,” said Sukoluhle. “Their stories touch on a variety of issues such as HIV/AIDS, gender-based violence, abuse, crime, mental health, dealing with loss and corruption.”
Thanks to the support by South Africa’s National Arts Council, the 2023 leg of the monthly short story competition resumed in January, and six new writers who show promise have already been unearthed.
“The whole point of the competition is to unearth raw writing talent as well as to encourage a culture of reading and writing,” said Sukoluhle. “Two prizes are on offer monthly; the Publisher’s Choice Award which is now worth R1 000, and the People’s Choice Award which is worth R500. In November, another batch of 22 aspiring writers will form part of the 2023 anthology and as such assisted to launch their publishing careers. Once again, we invite all of Africa to take part. Help us rewrite Africa’s narrative, one story at a time.”
To read the current crop of stories, or for submission guidelines, visit the magazine’s website at
Online Reporter