Africa in Words is recruiting a volunteer to join our team as a Reviews Editor.

Africa in Words has an average of 6500 readers each month from over 100 countries, with our largest readerships based in the UK, US, South Africa and Nigeria. We cover books, art, film, history, music, theatre, ideas and people and the ways they interact, through their publication and circulation, with societies, economies and space.

Africa in Words has an established reviews section, which currently focuses on books (especially fiction and poetry), but which we are looking to expand into film and the visual arts over coming months. The Reviews Editor will work with our Reviews Editorial Assistant, our team of resident Film Reviewers and our pool of review writers to produce regular reviews for the blog.

Key responsibilities will include identifying relevant books and other cultural forms for review, communicating with publishers and reviewers, managing and scheduling reviews, editing reviews, and cooperating with the entire editorial committee to ensure the ongoing success of the blog.

This is an ideal position for anyone passionate about cultural production and Africa, and interested in gaining relevant experience for a future career in publishing, the creative industries or academia.

The role would require an initial commitment of 10 hours/month for one year, with the potential for expansion, and would be unpaid: we are an entirely voluntary organisation. Applicants can be based anywhere in the world, and we strongly encourage applicants based in Africa or its diaspora.

Most of our reviews are conducted using e-books or PDFs rather than hard copies of books, so you do not necessarily need to be able to receive books in the post or ship them elsewhere. 

The ideal applicant for this role will:

• be deeply knowledgeable about African cultural production, with a demonstrable interest in literature, film or the visual arts, and be up-to-date on the latest trends
• ideally, have some experience of editing other writers’ work
• have demonstrably excellent organisational and time management skills
• be able to offer a regular (ideally weekly) commitment to the editorial work
• be a strong writer with a firm grasp of grammar and punctuation
• have good communication and inter-personal skills in order to liaise with publishers, reviewers and editors
• be computer-literate, with access to email and a reliable internet connection
• have strong research skills and attention to detail
• be self-motivated (the majority of work will be done remotely via email and Skype) and enthusiastic about developing new skills
• have an active interest in blogging

To apply, please submit a covering letter and CV to africainwords@gmail.com, with ‘Reviews Editor’ in the email subject line.

Closing date: 31 March, 2017

Categories: Calls for & opportunities

Tags: Africa in Words, Call for applications, Reviews editor