The Arts-Muse Fair

Maryam Idris Bappa is the winner of the female category prize of the Poetic Wednesday s second anniversary poetry award sponsored by the Arts-Muse Fair blog. Born and bred Zaria, Northern Nigeria, she has had all her education in Zaria where she is currently a Masters student in Architecture at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU). In this conversation with Salim Yunusa, she explains the intersection between poetry and Architecture. As an Architect, how has your profession shaped your poetry? Right from school, we Architects have been taught to make use of materials available in our locality in designing and constructing buildings. Not only does it save money, time, and energy, but it also creates this perfect scenario on ‘the definition of harmony and comfort’. (Look up Frank Llyod Wright’s Design of Falling) That said, I have also learned that poetry like architecture, is a very flexible art capable of changing with time. As an Architect, I define poetry to be a form of bu

Poets in Nigeria (PIN) has announced the winner of 2018 edition of the Nigerian students poetry Prize. The winners are Iberiyenari Godstime Tamunofiri, Amagwula Nnenna Comfort and Ikeobi Samuel Chukwubuokem. Iberiyenari, a 400-level female student of Chemical Science at Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island, Yenagoa whose poem was titled “Deep Dreams” was announced the first prize winner at the awards ceremony which held on Thursday May, 24 at the Convocation Hall of the Godfrey Okoye University, Enugu, Enugu State. Comfort, a 200-level female student of Physiology at the University of Lagos came second position in the contest with a poem titled “Yet Another Head” while “ Two Sides of Hakeem” , authored by Chukwubuokem, a 500-level student of Electrical Electronics Engineering at the University of Agriculture, Abeokuta grabbed the third position. The first prize winners received the star prize of N150,000, the second prize winner received N100,000 while the thi

AFREADA x Africa Writes call for entries for 2018 AFREADA x Africa Writes Competition. This year’s exciting programme will showcase the very best writers and writing from the continent and the diaspora, including none other than the much-loved, Somali British poet, Warsan Shire, who will be in conversation on  Sunday, 1st July This year, we asked Warsan to come through with a writing prompt, and she certainly didn’t disappoint. We are inviting writers, anywhere and everywhere, to participate in a 500-word flash fiction competition based on this striking line from the poem,  The House .  It reads: Mother says there are locked rooms inside all women.  If you know anything about AFREADA competitions, you’ll know that we like to keep it simple with the rules. All you have to do is read this prompt until you begin to see colours and hear sounds. Read it until the sounds become voices, and the voices become conversations between characters… then use all that wonderful creativ

Hattat Yushaa Abdullahi obtained his Ijaza (License) as a professional Arabic calligrapher in 2013 after a rigorous 5-yr training at the International Research Centre for Islamic History, Arts and Culture (IRCICA) Istanbul, Turkey,   making him the first black African to get this license. He lives in Kaduna, Nigeria where he runs the 'Hattat Hassan Celebi' Calligraphy Centre, Nigeria’s only formal Arabic Calligraphy training centre. Late last year, two of his works were sold at an exhibition in Cambridge, UK, for 3,500 pounds, which he donated to the first Europe Eco-Mosque project in Cambridge. Last month April, his works were also exhibited and an international exhibition in Sharjah, UAE. More about the works he donated to charity The Cambridge exhibition was organised by the Cambridge Islamic Art committee with vision to seek donations from world's prominent Islamic Artists by sacrificing their valued artworks to the first Europe Eco Mosque project in Cam

This interview with Ayeyemi Taofeek Kehinde opens our series of interviews with the four winners of the Poetic Wednesdays 2nd Anniversary Poetry Contest co-sponsored by the Arts-Muse Fair blog.  F ondly called Aswagaawy, Ayeyemi Taofeek Kehinde is the author of "Oro n Bo: Dripping Words" (a poetry collection). Winning poetry competitions seem to come easy to him. His list of winnings include the First Runner-up of the BPPC September 2017 and February 2018,   TAJIF Poetry Contest 2017, First Runner-up of Okigbo Poetry Prize (University of Ibadan, 2016), 4 times winner PIN Monthly Poetry Challenge among other prizes, awards and honorary mentions. He is published in Authorpedia, The Quills, The Pengician, Tuck Magazine, Inspired Magazine, Peregrine Reads   and other online platforms. Here, Aswagaawy chats with Salim Yunusa on his poetry and more. How has your profession shaped your poetry? Being a Bar aspirant at the moment, my profession is a course you'd

Flights  by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Jennifer Croft and published by Fitzcarraldo Editions, has been announced as the winner of the Man Booker International Prize 2018. The £50,000 prize, which celebrates the finest works of translated fiction from around the world, has been divided equally between its author and translator. They have also both received a further £1,000 for being shortlisted. Flights  is a novel of linked fragments, from the 17th century to the present day, connected by themes of travel and human anatomy. ‘Our deliberations were hardly easy, since our shortlist was such a strong one. But I’m very pleased to say that we decided on the great Polish writer Olga Tokarczuk as our winner: Tokarczuk is a writer of wonderful wit, imagination and literary panache. In  Flights , brilliantly translated by Jennifer Croft, by a series of start

Deadline: 15 August 2018 (opens 1 June 2018) The Yale Drama Series is seeking submissions for its 2019 playwriting competition. The winning play will be selected by the series’ current judge, Ayad Akhtar. Past judges have included Edward Albee, Sir David Hare, John Guare, Marsha Norman and Nicholas Wright. Past winners have gone on to have full productions in New York, Los Angeles and London. The winner of this annual competition will be awarded the David Charles Horn Prize of $10,000, publication of his/her manuscript by Yale University Press, and a staged reading at Lincoln Center’s Claire Tow Theater. There is no entry fee. Please follow these guidelines in preparing your manuscript: This contest is restricted to plays written in the English language. Worldwide submissions are accepted. Submissions must be original, unpublished full-length plays written in English. Translations, musicals, and children’s plays are not accepted. The Yale Drama Series is inten

Ahead of the Nigerian Students’ Poetry Prize awards on Thursday this week, Poets In Nigeria (PIN) will on Wednesday hold her first annual National Summit at the Godfrey Okoye University, Enugu. The Summit has the theme, Enhancing Literary Skills Among Poets & Writers with the keynote address to be delivered by Prof. Christian Anieke, the Vice-Chancellor of Godfrey Okoye University. Mr. Eriata Oribhabor, PIN President. Programmes of the Summit include a Business session for officials and members of PIN, poetry workshop and discussions on performance poetry and poetry in indigenous languages. Registration fee for participants is N1,000.       Resource persons expected at the Summit include Justice Chidi Ugwu, Kolade Olanrewaju Freedom, and Khalid Imam. Others are Amarachi Atama, Ken Ike and Adekunle Oguntoyinbo Shola Phebian.

AFP / DON EMMERT A Bob Dylan/Robbie Robertson 1965 Fender Telecaster guitar is displayed during a media preview in New York as part of the Music Icons auction A guitar that played a key role in Bob Dylan's artistic evolution from folk music to rock fetched a half million at auction on Saturday. The guitar, a 1965 Fender Telecaster that belonged to Robbie Robertson, Dylan's guitarist, was used by Dylan, Eric Clapton and George Harrison, Julien's Auctions said Saturday. It had been expected to fetch between $400,000 and $600,000. The guitar marked the singer's path from folk stylings like "The Times They Are A-Changin'" (1964), to electric rock, like his 1965 hit "Like a Rolling Stone." Other famous guitars went under the hammer on Saturday: George Harrison's first electric guitar, a $40,000 Hofner Club 40, and a Fender Telecaster rosewood guitar made for Elvis Presley in 1968, priced at a cool $115,200. More than 40 y

Date: 15-18 August 2018, Kampala Deadline: 10 June 2018 Applications are invited for a four-day academic writing workshop hosted by AMLA in Kampala between 15-18 August, 2018. The workshop targets early career scholars of African Literary and Cultural Studies. It is designed and organised as part of a collaboration between the Arts Managers and Literary Activists (AMLA) Network, the journal  East African Literary and Cultural Studies ( EALCS), University of Exeter and University of Bristol. The workshop will support the preparation of academic articles for publication in high impact international research journals, as well as opening up opportunities for new collaborations and conversations. We are also working on a linked Special Issue of  East African Literary and Cultural Studies  on ‘New Approaches to Literary Activism in in 21st Century Africa’ and will consider some of the articles developed through this workshop for the issue. The workshop will include

15 August – 30 November 2018 Deadline: 5 June 2018 Have you recently set up or are you thinking of setting up a new platform that promotes African literature? Are you employed in a recently established literary and cultural initiative? Would you like to join a network of like-minded literary activists and arts managers?  This four-month fellowship is designed to support you to build your idea from the form in which it is right now, to an implementable stage. The fellowship is divided into two major parts namely: ·          a three day in-person workshop in Kampala, Uganda (August 15 – 17, 2018) and ·          Three months online mentoring with established arts managers and literary activists. At the successful completion of the fellowship, fellows receive a certificate of completion and join the AMLA network, a community of founders and members of Africa-centered literary and cultural initiatives. Managed jointly by Africa in Dialogue and the Centre for Afri