Callaloo

Call for Submissions 

Black Panama: A People in Transit 

Guest Editor: Darrel Alejandro Holnes 

Contributing Editor: Shyanne Figueroa Bennett 

Deadline: July 15th, 2026 at 11:59PM EST. 

 Callaloo calls for submissions to contribute to a forthcoming special section called Black Panama: A People in Transit. The special section will showcase poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction and scholarly work that:

• Centers Black Panamanian American voices and experiences
• Explores the complexities of diaspora, migration, and transnational identity
• Examines the ongoing impacts of U.S. imperialism and extractive capitalism
• Contributes to conversations about global Blackness and Latinidad
• Highlights the literary innovations emerging from communities in transit

We invite self-identifying Black Panamanian writers based in the United States, Panama, or elsewhere to submit their short fiction, essays, and poems, and writers of any background to review a literary novel, short story, essay or poetry collection written by a Black Panamanian writer.

Historical Context and Contemporary Relevance

The legacy of Afro-Caribbean migration during the U.S.-led Canal project fundamentally transformed Panama's cultural landscape. As Juan González documents in Harvest of Empire, subsequent mass migrations of Black Panamanians to the United States resulted directly from U.S. interventions, including 95 years of occupation.

Today, as Panamanian sovereignty over the Canal faces renewed uncertainty, North American businesses continue to claim and extract resources from Panamanian lands. In the United States, Black and Latinx immigrants navigate heightened precarity. Black-Panamanian American writers reside at the intersection of these tensions, embodying a state of perpetual transience that uniquely positions them to excavate themes of global Blackness—a manifold identity that is simultaneously rooted in and transcends Caribbean, Latin American, and North American contexts.

Callaloo seeks new, original and unpublished work from writers who embody what Carlos Melo Wynter describes as Panama's "culture in transit." In his book Panama: El Dique, El Agua, y Los Papeles, Melo Wynter writes, "Panama has been marked—indelibly or not—as the bridge of the world," a designation that has shaped the nation's constant state of flux and migration.

Submission Requirements and Guidelines 

• Please adhere to Callaloo’s general Submission Requirements and Style Guidelines particularly with regard to word count and number of submissions. All prose submissions must be submitted in English. We will review submissions that have been translated from Spanish into English with proper citation provided for the translation. 
• Poetry submissions may be submitted in both English and Spanish. We will consider accepted submissions for publication in both languages.  Any work translated by someone other than the author must include proper citation for the translation. Callaloo will not provide translation services. 

Inquiries related to this call for submissions should be directed to info@callalooliteraryjournal.com, using the subject line: Black Panama Special Section 

Submission Guidelines 

All manuscripts must be double spaced (except poetry) and submitted only as a Word document (.doc or .docx). We suggest that prose manuscripts not exceed 6,000 words (excluding the abstract and references in the case of scholarly articles), although we will consider submissions of up to 10,000 words if the piece truly merits the length. All manuscripts should follow the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing (3rd edition) and include a works cited and endnotes, not footnotes. 

Callaloo's Style Guidelines can be downloaded here.

Callaloo is a journal devoted to creative work by and critical studies of the work of African Americans and peoples of African descent throughout the African Diaspora. We accept original submissions of scholarly articles, book reviews, interviews, creative nonfiction essays, short fiction, poetry, and visual art. Studies of life and culture in the Black world are also published regularly in Callaloo, as is wide-ranging cultural criticism. General submissions are open from September 1, 2025 to May 1, 2026. 

All manuscripts must be submitted as a Word (.doc or .docx) or .rtf document. Identifying information, including the author's name, address, phone number, and email address, should not be included in the manuscript, submission title, or the file name. 

Poetry submissions are limited to no more than six poems at a time (all in a single document) with a maximum of twelve poems by an author per calendar year. Additional poems (unless requested by an editor) will automatically be declined. 

We do not accept any unsolicited material that has been previously published. 

Please do not send revisions during the time your manuscript is being reviewed; those revisions will not be considered during the review process.

Authors will be contacted after the review process, which takes from two to six months, on average. Please do not query about the status of your submission until six months have passed.

Callaloo is a journal devoted to creative work by and critical studies of the work of African Americans and peoples of African descent throughout the African Diaspora. We accept original submissions of scholarly articles, book reviews, interviews, creative nonfiction essays, short fiction, poetry, and visual art. Studies of life and culture in the Black world are also published regularly in Callaloo, as is wide-ranging cultural criticism. General submissions are open from September 1, 2025 to May 1, 2026. 

All manuscripts must be double-spaced (except poetry) and submitted as a Word (.doc or .docx) or .rtf document. Identifying information, including the author's name, address, phone number, and email address, should not be included in the manuscript, submission title, or the file name. We suggest that prose manuscripts not exceed 6,000 words (excluding the abstract and references in the case of scholarly articles), although we will consider submissions of up to 10,000 words if the piece truly merits the length. All manuscripts should follow the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing and include a works cited and endnotes, not footnotes. Callaloo's Style Guidelines can be downloaded here.

Poetry submissions are limited to no more than six poems at a time (all in a single document) with a maximum of twelve poems by an author per calendar year. Additional poems (unless requested by an editor) will automatically be declined. 

Prose submissions are limited to one manuscript per submission with a maximum of three submissions by an author each calendar year. Additional prose submissions (unless requested by an editor) will automatically be declined.

Artwork must include the following information: title of piece, year created, media, dimensions (in inches), location of the piece.

We do not accept any unsolicited material that has been previously published. 

Please do not send revisions during the time your manuscript is being reviewed; those revisions will not be considered during the review process.

Authors will be contacted after the review process, which takes from two to six months, on average. Please do not query about the status of your submission until six months have passed.

Callaloo is a journal devoted to creative work by and critical studies of the work of African Americans and peoples of African descent throughout the African Diaspora. We accept original submissions of scholarly articles, book reviews, interviews, creative nonfiction essays, short fiction, poetry, and visual art. Studies of life and culture in the Black world are also published regularly in Callaloo, as is wide-ranging cultural criticism. General submissions are open from September 1, 2025 to May 1, 2026. 

All manuscripts must be double-spaced (except poetry) and submitted as a Word (.doc or .docx) or .rtf document. Identifying information, including the author's name, address, phone number, and email address, should not be included in the manuscript, submission title, or the file name. We suggest that prose manuscripts not exceed 6,000 words (excluding the abstract and references in the case of scholarly articles), although we will consider submissions of up to 10,000 words if the piece truly merits the length. All manuscripts should follow the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing and include a works cited and endnotes, not footnotes. Callaloo's Style Guidelines can be downloaded here.

Poetry submissions are limited to no more than six poems at a time (all in a single document) with a maximum of twelve poems by an author per calendar year. Additional poems (unless requested by an editor) will automatically be declined. 

Prose submissions are limited to one manuscript per submission with a maximum of three submissions by an author each calendar year. Additional prose submissions (unless requested by an editor) will automatically be declined.

Artwork must include the following information: title of piece, year created, media, dimensions (in inches), location of the piece.

We do not accept any unsolicited material that has been previously published. 

Please do not send revisions during the time your manuscript is being reviewed; those revisions will not be considered during the review process.

Authors will be contacted after the review process, which takes from two to six months, on average. Please do not query about the status of your submission until six months have passed.

Callaloo is a journal devoted to creative work by and critical studies of the work of African Americans and peoples of African descent throughout the African Diaspora. 

Callaloo accepts articles up to 6,000 words (excluding the abstract and references). All manuscripts must be double-spaced and submitted as a Word (.doc or .docx) document. 

Identifying information, including the author's name, address, phone number, and email address, should NOT be included in the manuscript, submission title, or the file name. 

Please include an abstract and keywords in the body of the cover letter as well as at the top of the manuscript.

All manuscripts must follow the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing and include a works cited and endnotes, not footnotes. 

Callaloo's Style Guidelines can be downloaded here.

Permissions for any images or other materials must be secured by the writer in advance of publication.

Callaloo accepts scholarly work with multiple authors, however the Submittable platform only allows one author to submit. Please choose one author to be the submitter of record; all authors will be credited fully if selected for publication.

Callaloo is published quarterly, and aims to publish 2-3 scholarly articles per issue.

Please do not send revisions during the time your manuscript is being reviewed; those revisions will not be considered during the review process. Scholars will be contacted after the review process, which takes from four to six months, on average. Please do not query about the status of your submission until six months have passed.

Please note Callaloo does not accept any unsolicited material that has been previously published.

Submissions are open from September 1, 2025 to May 1, 2026.

Callaloo is a journal devoted to creative work by and critical studies of the work of African Americans and peoples of African descent throughout the African Diaspora. We accept original submissions of scholarly articles, book reviews, interviews, creative nonfiction essays, short fiction, poetry, and visual art. Studies of life and culture in the Black world are also published regularly in Callaloo, as is wide-ranging cultural criticism. General submissions are open from December 1, 2025 to May 1, 2026.

All manuscripts must be double-spaced (except poetry) and submitted as a Word (.doc or .docx) or .rtf document. Identifying information, including the author's name, address, phone number, and email address, should not be included in the manuscript, submission title, or the file name. We suggest that prose manuscripts not exceed 6,000 words (excluding the abstract and references in the case of scholarly articles), although we will consider submissions of up to 10,000 words if the piece truly merits the length. All manuscripts should follow the MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing and include a works cited and endnotes, not footnotes. Callaloo's Style Guidelines can be downloaded here.

Poetry submissions are limited to no more than six poems at a time (all in a single document) with a maximum of twelve poems by an author per calendar year. Additional poems (unless requested by an editor) will automatically be declined. 

Prose submissions are limited to one manuscript per submission with a maximum of three submissions by an author each calendar year. Additional prose submissions (unless requested by an editor) will automatically be declined.

Artwork must include the following information: title of piece, year created, media, dimensions (in inches), location of the piece.

We do not accept any unsolicited material that has been previously published. 

Please do not send revisions during the time your manuscript is being reviewed; those revisions will not be considered during the review process.

Authors will be contacted after the review process, which takes from two to six months, on average. Please do not query about the status of your submission until six months have passed.