Call for Participation | 2018 ANA-FUNAI International Conference & Creative Workshop

Founded by the late Chinua Achebe on 27th June 1981, the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) is the umbrella body that caters for the interest of all the creative writers & critics in Nigeria.

Towards achieving the goal of unbundling its annual international convention, the Association has decided to institute an international conference on the rigorous criticism of new, emergent or contemporary Nigerian literature. Towards achieving this, ANA has partnered with Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu- Alike Ikwo (AE-FUNAI) as the host for its international conference. AE-FUNAI was picked because of its general image as a dynamic, hospitable, art and literary-friendly institution with a burgeoning humanistic ethos.

Conference

THEME: EXPANDING FRONTIERS: NIGERIA’S CREATIVE WRITING IN THE 21ST CENTURY 

The Expanding Frontiers conference provides scholars the opportunity to articulate as well as interrogate these new trends and the stylistic evolutions of Nigerian literature in the 21^st century. Specifically, the conference aims to answer questions such as (but not limited to):

• In what ways do the thematic preoccupations of the new literatures of the 21^st century (both in the indigenous and foreign languages) differ from the previous generations of creative writing in Nigeria or Africa?
• In what ways do the styles, and methodologies of Nigeria’s literatures of the 21^st century differ from literary practices of the past?
• How have the new technologies and new media affected the practices, reception and disseminations of literary practices in Nigeria and beyond?

Creative Workshops

Creativity workshop series is conceived as a medium for offering skill training to generality of interested people, who might have deep interest in developing their creative skills, but do not necessarily hold graduate degrees in these areas.

The workshops aim to forge a bridge that will successfully reduce the existing gaps between professional practices in the Ivory tower and the Nigerian society. The workshops therefore are meant to engage and cater for the interest of prospective attendees, who might find the rigors of academic conference debates somewhat uninteresting. Thus, the creative workshop series shall cover four major skills in the field of creative activities. These areas include poetry writing, drama sketches, prose narrative writing, drawing, painting, tie & dye and sculpture.

At the end of the workshop, certificate prizes shall be given to the best three works in each workshop group, while cash prizes of not less than N10,000 (Ten thousand Naira only) shall be given to only the best work in each workshop group.

Date & Duration

The conference and workshops are scheduled to take place on June 18-19, 2018. Each day, the event shall begin by 9am and close by 4pm. Deadline for submission of Abstract and Early-Bird Registration is MAY 2018.

Conference/Workshop Fee

Conference fees for the conference are N15,000 (Fifteen thousand naira) for early bird and N20,000 (Twenty Thousand Naira only) at the gate. For the workshops, the gate fees are N5,000 (Five thousand Naira only) for early bird and N10,000 (Ten thousand Naira only) at the gate. Note that while all conferees have free access to all the workshops, the workshop attendees will be restricted to only the workshop venues.

Register here.