The Arts-Muse Fair

Book Title : Sketches Author : Fatima Salihu Publisher : Polarsphere Books - Minna. Pages : 64 Year of publication : 2020 Reviewer : Ibraheem Uthman. Poetry is more beautiful if the reader can get a pinch of its meaning, some poems are so deep that all you need to do is enjoy the language and leave the meaning aside. At some point in the creation of the poem, it is expected that the would-be reader should be able to share the experiences of the poetic persona. Thus the reader is given a flight ticket to a poetic journey of words. This is the instance with SKETCHES. SKETCHES by Fatima Salihu, is a collection of forty six (46) mind-grabbing poems. The collection features themes like love ( addiction, for you, God of love e.t.c), death ( a date with death, journeys of words, Tayaza e.t.c), strength ( My mum ), unity ( Resilience ), farewell ( Bahama grass & How perfect ), loss ( lost love, lost a brother, missing e.t.c) and nature ( Beautiful worship ...

In this interview with Paul Liam, Eriata Oribhabor, Poet, Philanthropist, Culture activist, Civil Servant, former Chairman of ANA Abuja, and Founder of Poets In Nigeria (PIN), shares his thoughts on what inspired him into writing and other topical issues. He also speaks for the first time about his breakup with the 100Thousand Poets for Change organization, and what led to his founding of PIN. Read on. Besides your well known reputation as a promoter of poetry and young creatives in Nigeria, many people do not actually know your background, do you mind letting us in on who Mr. Eriata Oribhabor is? Eriata Oribhabor is a staff of the Federal Government, born and raised in Warri, Nigeria. He has a degree in Political Science from the University of Abuja. He moved from Warri on official transfer to Kaduna in 1996 and lived there till 2005 when same transfer took him to Abuja where he was to work till 2014 before moving to Lagos. Today, he is a resident of the city, Nigeria...

FRINGES the steps to play lie is- not to smile; chew all the tickles below your jaws even when it pinches you to laugh at the fools you’re fooling kick your legs on the ground dazzle your eyes in rolls hold your tummy on a long cough- the same way mince-pies collude call sweats to your face in many drizzles place your handkerchiefs on a hay day and allow those around to greet sorry in many miles- sleeves and pity allow them recount their tales of pneumonia and survival garner truckloads of sympathy with wails and blames after all   the world is for those whose tongue- appear in folds a hand apart for the tip a waist line for the blade...   in abraded manifestoes and in denial. TINGES some solicitude saturates- from the marrow to the vein others turn scalps, scars... i heard my mind say: those who die in wars are not the only victims they are only casualties of numbers the dailies and the govern...

OPEN ARTS in collaboration with GANDUN KALMOMI are announcing the 2020 AMINIYA-TRUST HAUSA SHORT STORY WRITING COMPETITION. THEME : The theme for this year, is CHALLENGES OF DEMOCRACY AND POLITICKING IN NIGERIA. WORD COUNT : All entries should be a piece of creative writing in Hausa that fall between the word count of 1000 – 1500 words and conform to Hausa traditions and cultural norms. SUBMISSION All entries should be sent to wasikunaminiya@dailytrust.com as a Microsoft Word attachment including full name, a short bio, home or office address and phone number. DEADLINE Submissions will be open from May 15 2020 and close at 11:59pm West African Time (WAT) on July 15 2020. Entries sent outside the submission window will not be accepted. PRIZES The top 3 Entries will be awarded prizes as follows: 1st Position: N250,000 2nd Position: N150,000 3rd Position: N100,000 Winners of the 2020 Aminiya-Trust Hausa Short Story Competition will be announ...

Pic: Aminu S Muhammad The Red Wheelbarrow So much depends upon A red wheel barrow glazed with rain water beside the white chickens. The Red Wheelbarrow is a beautiful and simple poem which, at a superficial level, depicts "a red wheel barrow/glazed with rain water" beside some white chickens. And yet the simplicity of the poem is misleading. As the first line says, there is "so much" in it. Structurally, the poem is divided into four stanzas with two lines each. There is a consistent alternation of three words and then one word in every stanza. In terms of meter, there is no consistency; music is however achieved through the soft vowel sounds in many of the words. The words in every stanza are arranged and line break employed in such a way to give emphasis on some certain words. The words "wheelbarrow," "rainwater," and "chickens" receive stronger emphasis by being modified with visually-ap...