Nzuri is no longer accepting new submissions.  The publication is going on an indefinite voyage for the time being, but archives will continue to be accessible for the foreseeable future.  Thank you for being a valuable Nzuri Reader and supporting our mission. 

Our Mission

The objective of Nzuri (meaning Beautiful/ Fine in Swahili) is to promote artistic, creative and scholarly work inspired by Umoja community. African American and other writers and artists are urged to submit their best written or artistic work for consideration. Nzuri publishes artwork, essays, interviews, fiction, poetry, photography, and digital media, art, and storytelling. 

Submission Guidelines

Nzuri publishes conventional short stories, poems, essays, and nonfictional pieces, as well as stories told through digital technologies. We seek all types of digital or interactive literature and compositions, such as short film or audio from new and established literary voices. Essays and fictional pieces should be a maximum of 8,000 words.  If you are sending digital content, we prefer that you send links to the media.  For submission files, we accept files in .doc,.docx, .pdf, .ppf, .txt, and for visual art images: .jpeg, tiff, and png. We do not accept mailed submissions. Our publication cycle is two online issues per year: Fall and Spring. We invite you to include a cover letter with a short bio and summary of the work on the Submittable form. Please omit any identifying information on the work itself, as the submissions are read blind. Nzuri is unable to financially compensate contributing writers and artists.  The value in publishing with Nzuri is having your work showcased on the site.

Nzuri reserves the right to remove any content on the site or redesign and update any portion of the site’s presentation. 

Disclaimer of Warranty and Limitations

Nzuri is not responsible for any damages or losses occurring from contributing work to the site or from using the site.  

Author’s Rights

Nzuri is an open access journal, and therefore, the contents are available online without charge to readers. When you agree to publication of your work with Nzuri, you grant us first publishing rights and rights to reprint your work in future issues.  You give Nzuri permission to use your work and name to promote the site. We cannot publish anything that has been previously published or appeared online elsewhere.  You are free to submit work published with Nzuri after it has already appeared in an issue; however, we ask that you credit it as first having been published in Nzuri.