Nigerian Writer Gimba Kakanda, 3 Other Africans Selected For The 2017 Iowa International Writing Program,

Nigerian essayist and fiction writer, Gimba Kakanda, has been selected for the 2017 Iowa International Writing Program, IWP, residency at the University of Iowa, United States, reports the Premium Times. 

A multi-talented writer, Mr. Kakanda is the author of a poetry collection, Safari Pants (Krafgriots, 2010). He will be participating alongside 25 other writers from across the world. 

The International Writing Program is one of the oldest and largest multinational writing residency in the world. The programme brings outstanding authors from diverse places in the world to University of Iowa, a major American research institution for the three-month residency.

IWP incubated many renowned writers, including winners of Nobel prize in Literature, Orhan Pamuk from Turkey and Mo Yan from China.

Nigerian writers who had participated in the residency over the years include  Elechi Amadi (1973), Cyprian Ekwensi (1974), Ola Rotimi (1980), Amos Tutuola (1983), Flora Nwapa (1984), Tanure Ojaide (1985), Abubakar Gimba (2000), Ogaga Ifowodo (2000), Ismail Bala (2010) amongst others.

He is one of four Africans chosen to join other writers from other continents of the world to participate in this 50th anniversary session. The other Africans are Hajar Bali, a playwright and professor of mathematics from University of Sciences and Technology, Algiers; Dilman Dila, 2013 Commonwealth Short Story Prize winner from Uganda; and Antoinette Tidjani Alou, fiction writer and lecturer at Abdou Moumouni University in Niamey, from Niger Republic. This year, the program also hosts an alumnus, Kenya’s Yvonne Owuor, winner of the 2013 Caine Prize for African Writing. 

While in the U.S., the participants are expected to work on research projects and visit various cities. Optional literary activities are also offered, including talks and readings, panel discussions, a university course, the Iowa City Book Festival, and visits to places of interest.