The Arts-Muse Fair

If you had stayed until you turned six, you would have witnessed the birth of Adanne- Small and soft in her toes and her fingers and lips too. You would have smiled when your mother say; “Nna, play with her na… she’s your sister”. You would have watched her grow like trees—strong and beautiful, and eventually get married like others do. You would have gone to same school with her and it would have been her who will tell you that the black girl with plump butt and long hair in her faculty is Chika and that she doesn't do boys. You would have been handsome. Of course your father was handsome. He had sparse gray hair sprinkled among the black ones. You would have caught girls in the web of your mouth. But you would’ve also been into guys too but on a low-key. Your sister would have been the only one who knew this about you. She would be the one you will tell about your first experience with Kosi when you went for Youth Service in Taraba. She would have asked how it felt and y

Book Title: The Torn Petal Author: Teresa Oyibo Ameh Publisher: AMAB Books and Publishing Pages: 31 Year of publication: 2017 Reviewer: Paul Liam Teresa Oyibo Ameh is a famed children literature author with several titles to her name. The Torn Petal , her newest offering in that peculiar genre is a fictionalization of the dilemma of a nation at war with itself and the hopelessness of   her children caught in the theatrics of chaos, terrorism and the politics of survival. The story is set in Adamawa,North East Nigeria, the heart of Boko Haram terrorists activities. Hussaina, the sixteen years old narrator introduces us to her family at the beginning of the narration, highlighting the beauty of interfaith coexistence exemplified by her parents' marriage; her father is a dedicated christian-preacher and her mother is a devoted muslim and their family is a very happy one fuelled by love and mutual respect for humanity. Hussaina recounts her memories of the p

AMAB Books & Publishing, Minna and Home of Books Foundation, Lagos have announced the shortlist of the 2017 Nigerian Flash Fiction Contest. This year, organisers received 76 entries with equal balance of love stories, loneliness and longings, dystopianism, contemplation and other themes that reflect contemporary Nigerian situations. A long list of 17 was earlier released in June. Writers on the short list are: Adekunle Adebayo - A Call from Heaven Damilare Bello - Roughshod Michael Larri - Still Miracle Amanda Madumare - Uchenna Samuel Ogechuckwu - One Hundred Tales Deborah Oluniran - Last Man Standing Fred Atanda - A Day You Lost Your Virginity  Judges for this year's contest are Abimbola Adunni Adelakun, University of Texas; Dr. Ismaila Bala, Bayero University, Kano; Uche Peter Umezurike, University of Alberta and Adeola Opeyemi , Poet & Critic, Lagos. The winner, 1st Runner-up and 2 nd Runner-up of this writing contest will

Students across five selected schools in Minna, Niger state wore smiles with great expectations when the Amab Books team stormed their schools to commemorate the International Day for the African Child.   The event, which lasted 3 days from 14 – 16 June, commenced at the Maryam Babangida Girls Science College and rounded off at FUT Model School. Participating students were taken through a short talk on “Reasons and benefits of Reading” followed by a discussion on the goals of this year's celebration.   There was also talk on "Ending poverty" and showing of the award-winning movie on dyslexia “Enitan” by Chris Odey projected on a large screen. The students played educational games like Sudoku, Crosswords and The Mind’s Eye. A book reading session by Hadiza Mohammed, the author of 'My life As An Almajiri' was a high feature of the celebration at each school. The children were left elated as most of them went home with gifts of books from the Amab team l