top of page

Penned in Rage Literary Journal

Add a subheading.png
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
Donate with PayPal

Magazine's Masthead

Editor-in-Chief

Chinua Ezenwa-Ohaeto

About the Editor

Email: echinua (at) yahoo (dot) com

Graphic & Visual Content Editor

Bridgette James

Website: ellaspoems.com | Creative Writing 

Poetry Editor

About the Editor

Chukwuebuka Freedom Onyishi

Contributor/Writer

Osahon Oka

Submissions CLOSED
Send Us Your Stories, Essays & Art

August 1- Midnight August 31st

Find and rate us at Chill Subs Penned in Rage Literary Journal - Chill Subs

Mission Statement

Penned in Rage Journal amplifies voices from marginalized and underrepresented communities.

The Journal is part of the Ella's Poems Project, launched in January 2022. This project uses creative writing activities to achieve these objectives:

  • The main focus of this project is to promote a love for reading in sub-Saharan Africa.

  • Ella’s Poems targets young people in the African continent, between the ages of fifteen and thirty-five - who are active online - in a bid to create a writers' hub on Facebook. Many creatives have found this sort of networking has not only helped them improve their writing skills but more importantly they'd been able to discover local writing opportunities. 

  • Ella’s Poem’s Project also celebrates the work of African creatives, such as their art, poems, stories and novels, irrespective of one’s social status.

  • Many of the creatives who have benefited from this initiative have never written a poem or story in English before.  So, our free writing competitions and published books, positively impact their lives.

Latest News Articles

The 2026 Bridgette James competition was won by South African Poet, Janine Milne. Go the Competition News Page to read more.

Penned in Rage Edition 5,
Goes Live June 30th

IMG_9oy2t8.jpg

Musa Bin Imran

5dfa2a93-3fed-4279-8dff-da6c0bc30ba5.jpg

Peter Ezeh

TDS Headshot.JPG

Dr T. Dallas Saylor

photo 05.jpg

Chidebelu Nnazoba

Thabow.jpg

Thabani Denzel Nkosi

20150309_195918_resized.jpg

Colin James

1000272889.jpg

Ethan Bramwell

Chuku.jpg

Chukwuebuka Onyishi

2021-02-11-NL-BrettFish-012.jpg

Brett Anderson

11b83f_4f30f38683494adeb9c2665927a62b47~mv2.png

Chinua Ezenwa-Ohaeto

536d477c-9186-42d0-b999-10f2ed8a568b.jpg

Chisom Umeh

thumbnail_IMG-20230302-WA0010.jpg

Obiotika Toochukwu

IMG_8097.jpeg

Henry Opeyemi

 

Almost one in five stories I/we received from the African continent, when our submission window opened between May and June 2026, was suspected to be AI-formed.

This is in keeping with a new trend. As for poems, the percentage tends to be much lower. I’ve read about 10-15 % fewer fake poems.

 

Language Model Concept
external-file_edited_edited_edited.png

The winner of the Youngest Submitter Prize, in The 2026 Bridgette James Poetry Competition, is Fifteen-year-old Olivia Caldeira. She was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. She is still trying to find her true self. Writing is a constant in her life. This is her first time submitting her work anywhere. She hopes to grow her writing skills and is grateful for this opportunity

a84b8fe6-480e-476c-9366-ad1a6d7fcc17.jpg
"When I informed some of my lecturers and academic friends that I had received my copy of the anthology, they could hardly contain their joy. It was a moment filled with excitement and pride, and it meant a great deal to share that happiness within the academic space here."
Please click navigation arrows below, to read more.

Chukwuebuka Onyishi,

Poetry Editor:

Penned in Rage Journal

Soil Unfurling from Stem is a multi-author collection of nature poems from sub-Saharan Africa. Contributors include Dr Kayode Adesimi Robbin-Coker an English Language and Literature graduate of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, Dr Jive Lubbungu from Zambia, Chukwuebuka Freedom Onyishi, the current Winner of the 2025 Coalition of African Literature, a Nonprofit organisation in Nigeria and fifteen-year-old Namibian secondary school student, Utaara Tjozongoro.

A Best of The Net and Pushcart Prize Nominee, Chukwuebuka Onyishi is also a Poetry Editor of Penned in Rage Journal. Onyishi was the runner-up in The Annual Bridgette James Poetry Competition, 2025. He is an English and Literary Studies graduate from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He is the current Winner of the 2025 COAL (The Coalition of African Literature, a Nonprofit organisation in Nigeria), in partnership with the University of Leicester’s Avoidable Deaths Network and the SEVHAGE Literary and Development Initiative.

Soil unfurling Book Cover 2.jpeg

Read an e-Copy

of Soil Unfurling from Stem

Rose Pink and White Rustic Floral Fashion Magazine Page (4)_edited_edited.jpg

Edition3:

Penned in Rage

Gsik3CQWgAAgs_9.jpg

Book Reviews

by Bridgette James

Rose Pink and White Rustic Floral Fashion Magazine Page.png

Edition 1:

Penned in Rage

Creative Modern Minimalist Photo Book Cover.png

Edition 4:

Penned in Rage

Reading a Book

Published Stories

Rose Pink and White Rustic Floral Fashion Magazine Page (5).png

Edition 2:

Penned in Rage

White and Black Modern Fashion Magazine Cover (1).png

Edition 5:

Penned in Rage

girl reading_edited_edited_edited_edited.png

Buy Sierra Leone in the Diaspora on Amazon

About the Editor-in-Chief of Penned in Rage

Chinụa Ezenwa-Ọhaeto is an Igbo and Nigerian poet, fiction and nonfiction writer, and essayist, exploring the themes of culture, religion, lineage, ancestry, divination (dibia afa), post-colonialism, migration and the complexities of existence. He became a runner-up in the Sparks Poetry Competition, Memorial University, Canada, 2023. In 2018, he won the Castello di Duino Poesia Prize and the Eriata Oribhabor Poetry Prize (EOPP). In 2019, he was the winner of the Sevhage/Angus Poetry Prize. Winner of the Special ANMIG (National Association of the Mutilated and Invalids of War) prize: promotion of feelings of brotherhood between peoples, love of freedom and defense of peace, organized by Centro Giovani e Poesia di Triuggio, Italy, 2022. In 2023, Ezenwa-Ọhaeto was shortlisted for Writivism Poetry Prize, the Alpine Poetry Fellowship, and the 2024 runner-up in the African and Africa American Studies Program (AAASP) Best Graduate Paper Prize hosted by the Institute for Ethnic Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His works have appeared in Isele Magazine, Poetry Ireland Review, Oxford Poetry, Massachusetts Review, Frontier, Palette, The Common, Southword Magazine, Poet Lore, Colorado Review, Mud Season Review, Notra Dame, Anmly, The Republic, Up the Staircase Quarterly, Ruminate and elsewhere. His full- length poetry collection, The Naming, was published on December 1, 2025 with African Poetry Book Fund via Nebraska press. The Naming explores the movements, excesses, and extremes of existing as a postmodern individual, connecting these experiences to familial ancestry and lineage. The poems in this collection examine the various ways one remains tied to their ancestors which spanned eleven generations by re-imagining memories, history, childhood, homestead, kinship, migration, and the intersections of the past, present, and possible futures. Through this exploration, the collection seeks to rebuild a world that doesn’t merely replicate realities but reinvents, enshrines, and re-stories them.

20240411_143304.jpg
  • Twitter

About the Graphic & Visual Content Editor of Penned in Rage

I love reading poetry, short stories and novels. I look forward to reading your submissions to Penned in Rage Journal.

 

Contributor Payment Notice

I value and appreciate every creative voice that contributes to my publications. At present, I am unable to offer financial compensation for submissions. All contributions are on a voluntary basis - except where work was solicited for $10 USD - and I aim to provide a platform for your work to reach a wider audience.

Latest Edition of Penned in Rage Journal

Read More Short Fiction

At present, there is no reliable tool to use to prove the use of AI-generated writing. Instead in the UK we try and evidence plagiarism. However, literary outlets/editors can rely on the following tips or their own knowledge to say a piece was not human-authored.

All Competition Winners & Shortlisted Contestants

Book Reviews

Read the latest Newsletter

Subscribe to our newsletter & Penned in Rage Journal

Penned in Rage Journal, Amplifying Marginalised Voices

bottom of page