The Arts-Muse Fair

You see, that Friday morning, I was on a road trip to Lagos alongside eleven professional colleagues, in an Eighteen-seater bus branded "Department of Sports and Human Kinetics, Kwara State University, Malete", on the Ilorin-Ogbomoso Federal Highway. I like to take back seats when I am almost sure I would sleep during the trip. For some funny reasons I am confident aren't unconnected with the national shame that are our roads, I get worked up nights before road trips, especially if long, ruminating about how much headache I would have to deal with, wishing I did not have to go, and ultimately praying for some magic to get the to-fro trip over with, even before it begins, so that eventually, I would hardly get any sleep. Only I was on the last row of seats in this bus of discuss, snoozing off and coming back on at intervals. As we had miles to cover, our driver was quite out to beat time- expectedly so, because there's an annoying thing with group trips; ...

Review by Eugene Yakubu Behind this unpromising title are promising verses that will hold a reader spellbound with the wittiness, precision of imagination and prominent conceits. Garko’s poetry invites the reader to go beyond his imagination and expand his worldview with carefully molded verses and turgid images. What makes his poetry amusing is that it possesses a fair amount of literary and linguistic acuity that exudes enormous meaning in little lines— a feature of some of the most sophisticated poets only. It leaves the reader begging for more, cut too quick from this imaginative ecstasy that delivers in its first and short verses then allows the deafening sound of the mental images created to echo in the reader’s head. This is a collection to be read even though the themes end at surreal surfaces, only striking at the emotions, it offers a lot about love and nature, nostalgia and identity, virtues and vices and the illusory feeling of connection with the worl...

Questions for the Man on the bridge and the heart is a whore the body, her palace of exploits where men dig into women's skins while shadows wander through the bush paths of their hearts like politicians keeping emergency aces ask the child who died faceless standing on the threshold where death was the best encounter whose mother only dwelled in the cozy shelter of denial that poverty could only kill but not open a grave of sores and frustration that a husband who constantly chooses to return home with sweat and grime and grease of a sun's leftovers smeared all over his ambitions does so with the legions in his body in full jolt without hesitation without any longing for that fresh scent of another locked in his chest is man not the demon or is it the world who navigates his pliant feet One man who belched truth said home is like bowing to God the world hands you no choice nature reeks of repetitions and conformity said the bridge is a palace ...

        Nigerian poetry has witnessed significant growth and metamorphosis over the years. Poetry without doubt has gained prominence as the preferred genre of literature especially among the younger generation. It is arguably also the most abused genre today. The advent of the new media and the subgenre of spoken word or performance poetry, have further revolutionarized the genre. Poetry has become more flexible and relatable, having lost its hitherto iconoclastic gaity; a consequence of the newer generation’s obsession with pop culture and entertainment.   Poetry is gradually losing its traditional essence as a sagely enterprise and rapidly degenerating into a merchandise. There is however the existence of a group of experimentalists or poetry fundamentalists who, working separately, are making sure that the value of poetry as we have known it to be is sustained. These are neoclassical poets bounded together by their genuine aspirations to keep the hon...

Application Guidelines: The African Culture Fund is a pan-African organization that aims to support professionalization of the cultural and creative sector of African countries through innovative artistic projects that it finances. TO BE ELIGIBLE: Be an African artist or cultural actor or from the African diaspora, an artistic or cultural organization or association established in Africa or cooperating on African projects with at least one African organization and having at least three years of experience; Have a structure or be a member of an artistic or cultural organization or association; Have a legal status (organizations); Present a structuring project in response to the call for projects. Lot 1 : Performing arts The projects involved in this call are activities and projects of creation, production and dissemination of works and capacity building in the field of the performing arts. The current call concerns the following performing arts: music, dance...

Deadline: September 20, 2019. The Chinese embassy in Nigeria in collaboration with the Abuja International Photo Festival invite entries from interested photographers for the maiden China-Nigeria Friendship in Pictures Photo Contest to mark People's Republic of China's 70th anniversary and 48th Anniversary of Bilateral relations with Nigeria.     The Photo Contest is open to all Nigerian citizens, other nationals and Chinese citizens in Nigeria. HOW TO PARTICIPATE: 1. Enter single image or set of images (not more than 5). 2. Images on Landscape/Humanities/ Chinese presence in Nigeria. 3. Images from DSLR or Mobile Phones are accepted. 4. Image can be Coloured or Black and White. Send entries to: nigeriaandchina@hotmail.com Each image must have: 1. Title of work 2. Photographer's Name 3. Contact Phone Number PRIZES ·       The two top winners shall get an all-expense paid trip to China for a One Week Exchange program...