The Arts-Muse Fair

Photo credit: Aminu S Muhammad OLD LOVE BY  NANA SULE There was a knot in her throat. It was always there in moments like this. It would tighten right there, then well its way into her stomach, just below her navel. There, it would settle and the decision would be made. And she would feel the words climb all the way from her stomach, claw at her mouth, till she let them spill. The it’s not you, it’s me theory. And so when she opened her mouth this time and they came out, she did not stop them. “It’s not you. I have… I have so many things I need to… to, to do. First” The silence lingered a little longer this time. Longer than the ones from the last three. There was the one she really liked. The one with the beard like Ahmed’s; trim and covering only his chin. The one that she had told over the phone, because she couldn’t look him in the eyes, that it wasn’t him. It was her. And then she listened quietly, memorizing every sob he tried to stifle, every word t...

The last of our series of interviews with winners of the Poetic Wednesdays (PW) second anniversary poetry competition features Adamu Iliyasu, 26 years old poet and Accountant. Interview by Salim Yunusa     How can you say your profession has shaped your poetry? I am someone that since my secondary school days, liked anything that has to do with calculations. I've then loved mathematics as a subject and paid little attention to English Language and I think   that's how I found myself in Accounting   as a profession. So, I dont think my profession has performed any role in my poetry journey. But the passion motivated and drove me well. Poetic Wednesday recently celebrated its second Anniversary. Can you tell us what impact being a member of the Poetry movement has made in your literary journey? First let me start by saying congratulations to all Poetic Wednesdays Crew on this second year anniversary and I pray that PW will continue to grow to the ...

LOVE AND POETRY BY MARJAAN SADIQ Photo: Aminu S Muhammad You knew you're truly in love the day you wrote your first stanza. You've heard that people write nice poetry when they feel immense love, or sadness, or even happiness. Never hatred. Poetry should not be inspired by hatred: it is too beautiful. You wonder how something so "beautiful" can be inspired by sadness. You ask around, but you do not get a gratifying response. You draw the conclusion that pain has an inherent beauty. After all, without sadness, happiness cannot fully be appreciated. You think about Rumi, the famous poet of the thirteenth century, who was an Islamic scholar until Shams of Tabriz entered his life without warning, and exited it just as abruptly, turning Mawlana Rumi into a sad poet. You wonder if the stories that have transcended centuries are true, if Rumi and Shams did not have a romantic relationship, and you chide yourself for entertaining such lowly thoughts. You thi...

In the third of series of interviews with winners of the PW second anniversary poetry contest, Salim Yunusa interviews Ahmad Abdulsamad, poet and Environmental activist. Poetic Wednesdays recently celebrated its second year of founding. Can you tell us what impact being a member of this online poetry movement has made in your literary journey? Wow! PW has really been an enabling platform for me to learn and develop as a poet, all thanks to its very colourful network of poetic minds. I am definitely not the poet I used to be before the PW experience. Some very dear poets I met on PW have unlocked a lot of my poetic ice walls and closed roads. So, it's really safe to say PoeticWednesdays has been a major influence in my evolution as a poet. I can't be thankful enough for that. What can you say about online Literary Movements and the impacts they make? They are really doing great. Until recently, poetry has largely been regarded as a grotesque, banal and unin...

LIFE AND TIMES OF SHAMGBO GBARA Shamgbo , the primus inter pares of Gbara land . Not to be confused   with Sango - the god of thunder in Yoruba land . Synonymous to both was their in-built thunder. Unlike the latter, Shamgbo - my maternal grandpa was a   calm thunder. His words were as soft as silk but as sagacious as Solomon's. The light skinned old man had the three famed Nupe tribal marks on both sides of his cheeks striped keener to his mouth diagonally. Visiting Shamgbo from far away, he would crack jokes with Yadogi , my brother, about an imaginary eya-fiti he promised to gift him but yet to touchdown despite squillions of naira expended on its proposed runways. Shamgbo had a small square-sized parlour small enough not be rectangular but large enough to accommodate millions of hearts Antiquities and mishmash of ancient paraphernalia were clustered in the living room. Shamgbo while lounging on his sp...

The Goethe-Institut Nigeria has announced a list of seven projects to be funded in its 2018 Open Call to Support and Connect local initiatives in the Nigerian cultural scene. The seven successful projects were selected from a pool of high -quality projects submitted after the open call. Foto: Goethe-Institut / Olanrewaju Orisunmibare /Jeremiah Ikongio © The selected projects span the creative spectrum of music, film, theatre, arts journalism, poetry, gaming and the local comic scene. Below are the winning projects.  ·          Film Sundays ·          Golden Tones: Conversations with living legends of Nigerian Music ·          Lagos Comic-Con ·           Lagos International Poetry Festival ·          Theatre Arise Project ·          TSA A...

If you frame your world through camera angles, narrate reality like a movie script, and edit the montage of your life like a film director, then here’s a flash-forward into your future – MultiChoice Africa is calling all aspiring film directors, DOPs, sound guys, and scriptwriters to enter for the MultiChoice Talent Factory (MTF) and help ignite Africa’s creative industries. Who knows, perhaps one day your name will be rolling across the closing credits on DStv channels.  MultiChoice Africa is recruiting aspiring African talent to gain theoretical knowledge and hands-on experience in cinematography, film editing, audio production and storytelling. Sixty talented students from 13 African countries will get the chance to hone their film and television production skills alongside industry greats. This year-long, funded, programme will be supported by MultiChoice Talent Factory academies hosted in Kenya, Nigeria and Zambia. Students will create quality local content that will ...

The All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA) invites entry submissions for the annual continental music awards.  From May 25 to August 1, 2018, the 5th edition of AFRIMA will be receiving on its online portal  www.afrima.org , works, songs and videos recorded or produced by African music professionals and publicly released within the eligibility period of August 1, 2017 to August 1, 2018. These entries will compete for possible nomination by the AFRIMA Jury in one or more of the 36 categories of the awards. The AFRIMA Jury, consisting of 13 members, with vast experience and practice in African music and culture is charged with overseeing the AFRIMA Adjudication process to ensure a thorough and fair screening, categorizing, assessing and selecting process of AFRIMA 2018 nominees. Nominees are expected to emerge to populate the Regional and Continental awarding categories of AFRIMA in different genres of music ranging from African contemporary to electro, traditional, reg...

Photo credit: Aminu S Muhammad, 2018 The World Photography Organization  invite all photographers to enter the  2019 Sony World Photography Awards . Celebrating the finest contemporary photography from the past year, the Awards are FREE to enter and offer amazing prizes, vast exposure, visibility, and opportunities to photographers worldwide.    CHOOSE BETWEEN FOUR COMPETITIONS ·          Professional   - outstanding bodies of work between 5-10 images across ten categories ·          Open  -   rewarding the world’s best single images across ten categories ·          Youth   -   a single brief for emerging talent aged 12-19 ·          Student   - for photography students across the globe BRAND NEW CATEGORIES   The 2019 Awards sees the in...