The Arts-Muse Fair

BY MARYAM GATAWA Poets in Nigeria (PIN), Kano C onnect C enter held its maiden 2 - day B ilingual P oetry W orkshop last month on the 21 st and 22 nd of February 2018 at the American Corner, Murtala Muhammad library Kano. The workshop , which was part of the association’s pre-poetry award activities, targeted secondary school students and young poets in Kano state. The workshop, attended by dozens of secondary schools students, budding poets, emerging writers and lovers of poetry was organized to introduce participants to the rudiments of poetry and develop their creative abilities. S easoned poets and poetry experts served as resource persons. A student reading his poem during the workshop In his opening remarks, Prof Garba Ibrahim Sheka , Chairman of Kano State Independent Electoral Commission (KANSIEC) who chaired the occasion , stated the importance of poetry, highlighting the significance of teaching poetry to students and young adults. He further ...

By PAUL LIAM Death is the greatest of all of humanity’s tragedies. It leaves its victim in a state of perpetual silence and immobility. Families become upset when death decides to pay them homage. However, death is shamed when love and affection trail the exit of a worthy soul. Death becomes numb in the face of eternal admiration for the deceased. This explains in brief, the symbolic import of the remembrance of a loved one gone. Abubakar Gimba, the late novelist and thinker would have celebrated his 66 th birthday on March 10, 2018 were it not for the cold hands of death that snatched him away three years ago.  However, his family, friends and fans committed to his glorious legacies, converged at the famed literary hub, AMAB Bookshop in Minna on the day of his 66 th posthumous birthday for an evening of “Tributes to Abubakar Gimba". Eulogies exalting the life and legacies of the late sage permeated the hall. From one family member to another, from one friend t...

BY PAUL LIAM Last Saturday in Minna, Niger state, Ayisha Osori read her book Love Does Not Win Elections to an excited audience. In this piece, Paul Liam reports on the book chat. Saturday 3rd, February 2018 shall linger for a very long time in the minds of guests who attended the feast of intellectual discourses that permeated the triangular hall of the AMAB Bookshop, Minna, Niger state. The event was a special guest author bookchat and signing put together by the triad of AMAB Books, Hill-top Creative Arts Foundation, and The Arts-Muse Fair Blog for Ayisha Osori, the quintessential social activist, lawyer and author of Love Does Not Win Elections. The author encountered an unusual literary reception in Minna, reading her debut non-fictional thriller, which chronicles her exploits as a political novice who contested for the primary election under the PDP for the AMAC/Bwari Federal Constituency in the 2015 elections and lost. The obviously overwhelmed Osori, ...

The Arts-Muse Fair Blog in collaboration with AMAB Books last weekend in Minna, Niger state hosted a book reading and signing of Dr. Ibraheem Dooba’s new book, Rhymes From Africa. Paul Liam, Poet, Essayist, Literary Columnist and Critic who attended the book chat writes about his impression of the event. By Paul Liam Minna is gradually reclaiming its former glory as the "Literary capital of Northern Nigeria”, all thanks to the innovative interventions of quality minds like Aminu S. Muhammad, who, with his Art-Muse-Fair News Blog, is bringing a new dynamism to the promotion of creative expressions and Nurdin Busari, whose publishing house and functional bookshop, AMAB Books Ltd, are taking the business of literary propagation to a new dimension in Minna and across the country. Working together, the duo is actively creating a vibrant corporate image for the enterprise of literature and arts administration in Niger state by re-invigorating the literary culture amongst th...

A total of 184 poetry collections were received for this year’s competition. The seriousness with which the NLNG literary prize is received by the teeming population of writers in Nigeria is a sign that the expectations of writers swing beyond the prize itself to that of portraying their creativity. The prestige, associated with the prize saw the 184 entrants of collections of poetry in various sizes and of diverse themes setting out for the stiff competition. At the beginning, the initial weeding was carried out following one of the primary criteria; quality and validity of publication year.   A total of 101 collections were disqualified at the initial combined sitting of the Advisory Board and the panel of judges for not meeting the basic and fundamental guidelines. 83 closely screened entries were left in the competition and the judges were given a month to come up with the long list of 50 and 25 simultaneously. The next step was to synchronise the shortlist of 11 w...