The Arts-Muse Fair

Odoh Diego Okenyodo is a poet and editor who serves as Country Director of the Splendors of Dawn Poetry Foundation. A former National Publicity Secretary (North) of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), he was appointed into the National Electoral Committee of the ANA at the Annual General Meeting held in October 2019 in Enugu, the place of birth of the foremost literary association. The AGM ended in chaos, as for the first time in the Association's 38-year history it did not elect an EXCO. Okenyodo, author of the collection ‘ From A Poem to Its Creator’, and a former literary journalist has played a key role in the events that have unfolded after the Enugu debacle. In this interview with Paul Liam, Odoh Diego Okenyodo sheds light on some of the actions he and some other members of the ELCOM took and why he thinks ANA should explore appointing a Caretaker Committee before holding an election: Thank you for accepting to speak with me despite the very short notice, sir

Abdulbaki Abubakar Ahmad is the winner of the maiden  National Engineering, Science & Tech. (NESTEC) Essay Competition with a prize money of N300,000.  Abdulbaki is an Engineering student of the Kano University of Science and Technology, Wudil. He takes Poetry seriously a much as he handles Engineering. Recently, he was in Lagos to receive his NESTEC award and he braved the chaotic Lagos traffic from Ikeja to Victoria Island to meet with his inspiring Mentor, Mr. Eriata Oribhabor, the President of Poets In Nigeria (PIN). In this conversation with Mr. Oribhabor, we read of his love for power and poetry! Sounds mutually exclusive? Well, not with Abdulbaki, the chap who loves science and arts in equal measure. Read on. Congratulations on your win. Is this the first edition of the competition? If not which institution won it before yours? Thank you. This is actually the maiden edition of the prize and I am happy that my university left a legacy as the first, ever winning i

Conversation with Mujahyd Ameen Lilo: Winner, Wole Soyinka International Cultural Exchange Project Essay Competition 2019. BY  NANA SULE  . Hello Mujahyd, thank you so much for agreeing to chat with me. Can you tell me a little more about yourself. I’m Mujahyd Ameen Lilo. I was born in Kano in 2003. I am currently an SS2 student of Sunshine International College, Kano. I am an Art Student and I wish to study English and literary Studies at University level. I started writing in my Junior Secondary School years. I remember first seeing you at the BUK Writers forum here in Kano, I at once assumed you were an undergraduate. How did you find your way there? I’m someone who loves to attend literary gatherings. So, the first thing I did after joining ANA Kano, was to ask one of the writers about other literary gatherings in Kano. That was how I got to know the BUK Creative Writers Forum. How did you get to ANA? Before I joined ANA, I read their anthologies. I sa

Maryam Awaisu just got two books published by Amab Books; The Thing About Compromise, a novel, and Ms.Joana's Rules , a children fiction. Here are 10 answers the writer gave to questions about the books and her self. Enjoy.    Thematically, your novels tend to be plotted around cultural specifics; you pick a critical issue then weave stories around it. In   Burning Bright ,   we have ‘a story of a family struggling…in the face of severe emotional challenges…’ through sickle cell anemia challenges. Now in   The Thing About Compromise , we have a societal story weaved around another significant aspect of life. Why do you prefer this pattern or approach? I write about the things that keep me up at night, and usually these are societal issues I feel too small to impact. Writing is what I do best, so I create stories that would lead to some positive change, hopefully. Your new novel comes with the major character dissipating palpable emotions as she navigates through