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Showing posts from March, 2018

Call for entries | 2018 ANA Literary Prizes

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INTRODUCTION The Association of Nigerian Authors [ANA] hereby announces a range of prizes for its 2018 literary competitions. The prizes are: 1. ANA Prize for Poetry (published & unpublished) – N 100,000 2. ANA Prize for Prose Fiction (published & unpublished) – N 100,000  3. ANA Prize for Drama (published & unpublished) – N 100,000  4. ANA Prize for Children's Literature- 7-13 years age range (Published works only and open to all        categories of authors) - N100, 0000 5. ANA/ Abubakar Gimba Prize for Fiction (Short Stories Collection-Published) – N200, 000. 6. ANA/NECO Teen Authors Prize for Prose (Published & Unpublished)- N100,000 6. ANA/Maria Ajima Prize for Literary Criticism (Focus on criticism of emergent Nigerian         Literature) – N100, 000 Nigerian writers, at home and abroad, desirous of entering their works for the Annual Literary Prizes, may now do so. Works entered should have been published between 2017 and 2018.  REQUI

PIN Kano gives out poetry prizes, honours past and current Emirs of Kano.

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BY MARYAM GATAWA Poets in Nigeria (PIN), Kano C onnect C enter held its maiden 2 - day B ilingual P oetry W orkshop last month on the 21 st and 22 nd of February 2018 at the American Corner, Murtala Muhammad library Kano. The workshop , which was part of the association’s pre-poetry award activities, targeted secondary school students and young poets in Kano state. The workshop, attended by dozens of secondary schools students, budding poets, emerging writers and lovers of poetry was organized to introduce participants to the rudiments of poetry and develop their creative abilities. S easoned poets and poetry experts served as resource persons. A student reading his poem during the workshop In his opening remarks, Prof Garba Ibrahim Sheka , Chairman of Kano State Independent Electoral Commission (KANSIEC) who chaired the occasion , stated the importance of poetry, highlighting the significance of teaching poetry to students and young adults. He further

Abubakar Gimba: Death and Remembrance

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By PAUL LIAM Death is the greatest of all of humanity’s tragedies. It leaves its victim in a state of perpetual silence and immobility. Families become upset when death decides to pay them homage. However, death is shamed when love and affection trail the exit of a worthy soul. Death becomes numb in the face of eternal admiration for the deceased. This explains in brief, the symbolic import of the remembrance of a loved one gone. Abubakar Gimba, the late novelist and thinker would have celebrated his 66 th birthday on March 10, 2018 were it not for the cold hands of death that snatched him away three years ago.  However, his family, friends and fans committed to his glorious legacies, converged at the famed literary hub, AMAB Bookshop in Minna on the day of his 66 th posthumous birthday for an evening of “Tributes to Abubakar Gimba". Eulogies exalting the life and legacies of the late sage permeated the hall. From one family member to another, from one friend t

Call for submissions | Poetic Wednesdays' Anthology

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The Poetic Wednesday Crew is glad to announce the call for submissions for its debut anthology. Just like the activities of the poetic movement, the anthology is set at addressing social, cultural and educational aspects of human endeavours.  GUIDELINES • Submissions must be focused on socially, culturally and educationally oriented poems.  • All submissions must be a single poem of not be more than 21 lines.  • Submissions must be original, intellectual property of the sender.  • We are under no obligation to publish your works as only works with good creative representation        will be published.  • Submissions must include title of poem and name of the poet and should be in the body of the      mail. (No attachments)  • Submitting your poem gives us automatic rights to make use of it as deemed appropriate.  • Forward your submissions to poeticwednesdays@gmail.com. DEADLINE: 29th March, 2018; 11:59 PM 

A big city of small people | Salim Yunusa

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BY SALIM YUNUSA “… Life in the city is unbelievable...” Darey croons in my ear, and as I look around, I deeply resonate with the song I recently unearthed, “Pray For Me” by Darey. It was my first time being in the city, and I feel amazed and scared at the same time. I feel like a little bird who’s leaving the nest for the first time. My silent musings and wishes have been answered, for I have been telling myself that it’s about time that I go out of my comfort zone and see the world and all that it has to offer. Unlike Darey’s tragic, heartbreaking story in his song, I am here to serve my country. I was posted to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) for my one-year mandatory national service. All my life, I have never left home to any place for any reason. I was born, bred and schooled in Zaria. Abuja is the farthest I have lived in the North, and the closest I have been to the South was the one time I went for Ake Festival in Abeokuta for a few days. It feels so strange,

Call for entries | Film Africa Festival

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Dates for Film Africa,  The Royal African Society’s  annual London festival celebrating the best African and African diaspora cinema, have been announced! From  Friday 2 - Sunday 11 November 2018  at six venues across London, will be another eclectic film programme accompanied by a vibrant series of events, including director Q&As, talks and discussions; professional workshops and master classes; school screenings and family activities; parties; and our highly popular Film Africa LIVE! music nights.  How to submit Now in its eight year, Film Africa is a key event in London's thriving cultural calendar. The festival accepts films of all lengths and genres, including features, documentaries, shorts and experimental titles. You can submit via online submissions platform FilmFreeway. Your film may be eligible for our  festival awards  - T

Book review | Rhymes from Africa: Re-orienting The African Child

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Book Title: Rhymes From Africa Author: Ibraheem Dooba Publisher: AMAB Books, Minna Pages: 39 Year: 2017 Reviewer: Paul Liam T he role of literature in the entrenchment of colonial ideals in the minds of Africans remains a subject of critical discourse among intellectuals and scholars in understudying the impact of colonialism on the psyche of colonised people of the world. It has been established that European colonializers used their literatures in perpetuating cultural imperialism that unfortunately continues till today. Africans, nay Nigerians are more inclined to the foreign than the local, a precarious adventure which has led the scholar-critic Professor Sule Emmanuel Egya (E. E Sule) to tag the emergent generation of Nigerian writers as the "exogenous generation." Through encounters with western literatures, Africans gained insights into the cultural, religious and value systems of the whites. European epistemology subsequently became the prime