Joao-Roque Literary Journal: Promoting Goan Literary Talent

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The Joao-Roque Literary Journal came into existence on the 1st of January 2017. Conceptualised by Selma Carvalho, the online journal had its first anthology released in its print avatar titled The Brave New World of Goan Writing 2018 at the Goa Arts and Literature Festival 2018.

The objective of the journal is to glean the best of Goan literary talent and showcase it. Mentoring and rewarding fiction and nonfiction Goan writing is also part of the aim of establishing the Joao-Roque Literary Journal. The anthology contains letters, memoirs, poetry, short stories and literary essays from Goan authors. The journal strives to encourage the values of tolerance and diversity that embody the Goan culture, therefore translations of Konkani and Portuguese writing are welcomed. The literary compositions of gender and sexual minorities are promoted as well.


The journal invites original contributions from Goan writers, but reserves the right to sift through them to select only the best and highest quality of writing. The writing is perused by two editors before selection. ‘We want quality writing … Sometimes we get good writing from people who don’t even know that they write well or that there is something interesting in it, and we say yes,’ says Jessica Faleiro, adding a warning that any writing that is not of good quality and is not edited will be rejected.

The awards offered by the Joao-Roque Literary Journal are the Best in Fiction Award, the Best in Non-fiction Award and the Editor’s Choice Award. The Best in Fiction and Best in Non-fiction awards will garner the awardees Rs 10,000 each and the Editor’s Choice Award has a monetary benefit of Rs 5,000. The bi-annual anthology will have the cream of submitted works and exceptional writers will be nominated for the Pushcart Prize.

Founder editor Selma Carvalho writes a column for the Goan newspaper Oheraldo and has authored Into the Diaspora Wilderness (2010), A Railway Runs Through: Goans of British East Africa (2014) and Baker Butcher, Doctor Diplomat: Goan Pioneers of East Africa (2016), besides winning the Leicester Writes Prize 2018. She is ably assisted by co-editor Rochelle Potkar and commissioning editor Jessica Faleiro, both excellent writers with much credit to their names. Victor Rangel-Ribeiro, a man with an extensive and illustrious body of literary composition, is the guest editor of the Joao-Roque Literary Journal. Among his accolades are the New York Foundation for the Arts’ Fiction Fellowship in 1991 and the Milkweed National Fiction Prize for the novel Tivolem.

The Brave New World of Goan Writing 2018 is published by Bombaykala Books, and the journal is partnered with the Goan Voice UK (online newsletter), Dogears Bookshop and The Goan Everyday.

The anthology is available at Broadway Book Centre and The Dogears Bookshop in Goa and Kitaab Khana in Mumbai. 

(Originally published in December 2018)

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