The Arts-Muse Fair

Masobe Books announced the acquisition of Nana Sule's debut book, Not So Terrible People, a collection of 11 stories about rebellious angels, jinns, and humans in their attempt to aid Shaitan in his scheme to be reborn as a human being. According to Masobe, “Each story in Nana Sule's debut collection is intricately linked and skillfully crafted. Grand themes, ideas and concepts are deftly explored, creating a prism effect where every story is like tilting the angle to catch a different wavelength, or perspective of life.” Nana Sule is a writer, journalist, and communications strategist with a deep passion for African literature. She co-hosts Conversations with Nana, a podcast promoting African poetry and storytelling. She is co-owner of The Third Space, a vibrant bookstore and workstation in Kano. Nana also curates literary events that foster creativity and community. Alongside her work, she volunteers as the communications lead for the Poetic Wednesdays Initiativ

The Hellebore Press has selected Nigerian poet, Michael Imossan, as one of the scholars for their Summer 2024 HUES Foundation Scholar program.  Michael Imossan is a poet, playwright and editor of Ibibio origin. He is the author of the award-winning chapbook For the Love of Country and Memory (poetrycolumnnd, 2022) as well as the pamphlet A Prelude to Caving (Konya Shamsrumi, 2023).  Imossan’s full length manuscript, Broken in Three places, was named semi-finalist for the Sillerman Prize for African Poetry, 2023 and his full length manuscript “All that Refuses to Die” was named winner of the Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poetry, 2024.  His chapbook, The Smell of Absence, was selected by Kwame Dawes & Chris Abani for inclusion in the New-Generation African Poets Chapbook Boxset. He is a recipient of the PEN International writers grant. The HUES Foundation is an educational non-profit organization that is committed to creative expression and innovation among BIPO

By Paul Liam Sandra Rofem Hitarh’s debut collection of poems, The Voice of Your Village, is a promising debut that problematizes the social injustice, and dystopian aura in the land. It is rooted in the socialist vision that views poetry as an instrument for engineering social change, a rather strange obsession for a military officer. Hitarh’s aesthetics align with the Nigerian poetry tradition known for its romanization of utopia, characterized by the quest for social justice, harmony, and economic prosperity. The poems reecho the wailing anguish of voiceless citizens caught in the mesh of strife and misgovernance.    The Voice of Your Village, published by Sevhage Publisher, Makurdi in 2024, contains forty-three poems and a foreword by the renowned poet and scholar, Ismail Bala. Bala describes the collection as “fresh and unique” for ditching the “American idiom” and shunning “...the seeming convention of confessionalism so rampant in recent Nigerian poetry. Bala’s appraisal undersc