Content Guidelines

1. Enforceability of the Guidelines

By submitting or publishing content on InqWork, you agree to comply with these Content Guidelines, which form part of and should be read together with the platform's Terms of Use.

2. Your story belongs here

InqWork operates as a hosting platform and does not pre-screen or endorse any or all content published by users.

3. What we publish

InqWork accepts original fiction and poetry in any language. We celebrate the full range of African storytelling — from Nairobi to Lagos, from Kigali to Accra, from the diaspora back to the continent. Write in English, Kiswahili, Yoruba, Zulu, French, Portuguese, Arabic, or any language your story lives in. Your language is not a barrier. It is your voice.

Serialized fiction. Chapters should be between 1,200 and 2,000 words. Each chapter should be able to hold a reader's attention on its own — with a clear moment, a turn, or a question that makes them come back for the next one. Think of each chapter as a door that opens onto the next.

Short stories. Between 1,500 and 5,000 words. Short stories are published as complete, standalone works. Flash fiction, lyric essays in the form of fiction, and experimental forms are welcome — if it tells a story, it has a home here.

Poetry. All forms. All lengths. The only requirement is that it is yours.

4. What makes a great InqWork story

We are not prescriptive about genre, style, or subject matter. Write romance, thriller, literary fiction, science fiction, fantasy, folklore, coming-of-age, or something that has never been categorized before. The African story contains all of these and more.

What readers feel in every great submission:

• A genuine voice. Readers feel the difference between a story told from the inside and one constructed from the outside. Write from where you actually are.
• A human center. Your characters do not have to be likeable. They have to be real. Complexity, contradiction, and imperfection are not weaknesses — they are what make readers stay.
• A story that respects its reader. Whatever you write, write it as if the person reading it is intelligent, feeling, and deserving of your full effort.

5. Content ratings

InqWork applies the content classification framework of the Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) to all work published on the platform. All work submitted to InqWork must be assigned a rating by the author at the time of submission. InqWork reserves the right to review, reclassify, or remove any work where the submitted rating does not accurately reflect the content.

• G — General Exhibition. Suitable for all audiences with no age restriction.
• PG — Parental Guidance. Suitable for general audiences. Some content may not be suitable for younger children and parental guidance is recommended.
• 16 — Suitable for audiences aged 16 and over. Content intended for older teenage and adult readers. Not accessible to readers under 16 without verified parental consent.
• 18 — Suitable for audiences aged 18 and over. Content intended for adult readers only. Not accessible to readers under 18.
• R18 — Restricted. Content restricted to adult readers aged 18 and over in specific access contexts as defined by InqWork's platform settings.

For full details on what each rating encompasses, writers are encouraged to refer directly to the Kenya Film Classification Board guidelines at www.kfcb.go.ke. Writers who are uncertain about the appropriate rating for their work are encouraged to write to editor@inqwork.africa before submitting.

6. What we do not publish — on any rating

Regardless of rating, the following content is not permitted on InqWork under any circumstances:

• Content that sexualizes minors in any form, explicit or implied, under any creative framing whatsoever. This is an absolute prohibition with no exceptions.
• Content that demeans, stereotypes, or dehumanizes any person, community, culture, religion, or identity.
• Hate speech, discriminatory language, or content designed to exclude, harm, or incite violence against any group.
• Content that uses storytelling purely as a vehicle for a single political, religious, or ideological agenda without the complexity, humanity, and balance that genuine storytelling demands.
• Graphic depictions of real, named individuals in situations that would constitute defamation, harassment, or invasion of privacy.
• Any content that violates applicable law in the jurisdiction in which it is published or accessed.

7. Your work, your rights — and your responsibilities

Your rights

When you publish on InqWork, your work remains yours. You retain full ownership of everything you write. InqWork does not claim rights to your stories, your characters, or your words. By publishing on InqWork, you grant the platform a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, store, reproduce, display, distribute and promote your content in connection with the operation and growth of the platform.

Your responsibilities

By submitting work to InqWork, you confirm and warrant the following:

• The work is original and you are its author.
• You hold all rights necessary to publish and distribute the work on InqWork, and it is not subject to any exclusive agreement, contract, or copyright that would prevent its publication here.
• The work does not infringe the intellectual property rights of any third party.
• The work does not contain content that is defamatory, unlawful, or in violation of any applicable law.
• The content rating you have assigned accurately reflects the material as defined by the KFCB framework.

Where a submission is found to violate any of the above, InqWork reserves the right to remove the work immediately and without prior notice, suspend or terminate the author's account, and take such further action as is appropriate — including referral to relevant legal authorities where the violation involves illegal content.

8. On anonymity

You may publish under your own name or anonymously. That choice is yours and yours alone. InqWork will never reveal an author's identity without their explicit written consent, except where we are required to do so by law or valid legal process. Note that anonymity does not exempt a writer from these guidelines or from legal responsibility for their content.

9. A note on the stories we celebrate

InqWork exists because the African story is the world's most underrepresented creative resource. We are here to change that — not by telling you what African stories should look like, but by making space for what they actually are.

Write the story only you can tell. The security guard. The grandmother. The child between two languages. The city at 3am. The village that remembers. The future that is already here. We are waiting for it.