The Arts-Muse Fair

The second edition of the Hadiza Ibrahim Aliyu Schools Festival (HIASFEST) opened this morning in Minna, Niger state. The 4-day Arts festival would see secondary school students from across Nigeria compete for prizes in singing, painting, poetry, spoken word, short story, nonfiction, cultural dance, craft, and quiz. This year, participating students and their teachers would get the opportunity to also win individual awards endowed by Hajiya Maryam Aliyu in the following categories: Most Valuable Contestant (male and female) and Best Teacher Award (male and female). The best behaved School shall also receive an award. The 2020 HIASFEST Star Prize shall be presented to Adamu Garko, an exceptional Nigerian Teen writer. The organizers shall also present Golden Awards to two Arts Patrons, Engr Yahaya D. Daudu and Barr. Ahmed Maiwada.                                           ...

Pic: Aminu S Muhammad Of Trust Betrayed Sons of Jezebel! With honey tongues On first attempt Beckon to the gatekeepers To worship at the sacred grooves Patient and sly in their supplications Victims become relics of their worship I See Her Not knowing Not seeing Yet I see her In dreamland Endless lush green meadow Stretched beyond reach Son of the Wind You howled the hurricane To the threshold of locked-up desire You unlatched the Safe treasure Stored up On the fringe of pledged loyalty With thy tsunamic strength You left adrift the daughter of the sun Arise you must From the darkened sky Breathe thy fertileness on the Fringes of sterile sky Undo the strength of the wind Shine forth thy blazing flame Untamed He untamed The beast of passion He floats by every curvaceous body He untamed The volcanic passion Treading through forbidden magmas To a mass treasure of forbidden laurels...

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...

There are no 53 Suns There are 53 landmarks that breach Our brotherhood Stretches of tongues that collude against us We bear the brunt of justified rape jalloping through the desert We whiplash the whips cramming us at the docks We are told that things have changed With the handshake of schools, mosques, odd men Who have displaced our kings. We are baptised new names that bear the signature of Greco-roman tales and Mesopotamian corruption so The world can be one 'civil' whole. A child that loses his name, his language and the Ways of his ancestors is lost Kidnapped to return to rule without a heart Looking down at his minions with a brutal eye Hearing the truth as the voice of dissent. Prisons are filled to the brim, we are trying to salvage Like buckets, Waging war against the flood. As long as men dream They can look at the tropical sun and dance Into the night As long as women tell tales Children will ask those questions that take us b...

                                               This                                            weather                                        is an assassin.                                    ...

Paul Liam joins The Arts-Muse Fair Editorial team as Associate Editor. He was previously our Guest contributor, pitching in incisive essays and reviews. As Associate Editor, Paul Liam will work closely with the Founding Editor to edit, curate and publish literary works on our site. Paul Liam (Paul T. Liam) is a poet, author, book reviewer, critical writer, editor, literary columnist, polemist, organizer and a creative writing mentor. A 2014 Ebedi fellow, he is the co-editor of  Ebedi Review  (Journal of the Ebedi International Writers’ Residency, Iseyin, Oyo State, Nigeria). A former Assistant Secretary of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Niger State Chapter, a former Public Relations Manager of the HilltopArts Centre, Minna. His published works include,  Indefinite Cravings  (2012),  Saint Sha’ade and Other Poems  (2014),  Life is Like a Flower  (anthology),  Fireflies  (anthology). He co-edited,  Dew ...

Deadline: 31 st  March, 2020 INTRODUCTION Nigerian Students Poetry Prize (NSPP) is an initiative of Poets in Nigeria (PIN) aimed at stimulating literary creativity and encouraging critical thinking among Nigerian undergraduates. Since its inception in 2016 at the University of Ibadan, the prize has received about 2500 entries from students representing over 100 tertiary institutions (including universities, polytechnics, colleges of education, schools of nursing and seminary schools). Reputed as the foremost poetry prize for Nigerian students, the NSPP has awarded over a million Naira (1,000,000) to winning entrants and published 400 poems authored by selected student-poets in four anthologies:  The Sun Will Rise Again (2016), Mixed History (2017), Deep Dreams (2018) and Micah (2019). Notably, tertiary institutions such as University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Godfrey Okoye University, Enugu and Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island, Yenagoa hosted the NSPP ...