Nigeria’s Innocent Chizaram Ilo has won 2020’s Commonwealth Short Story Prize for African region with “When a Woman Renounces Motherhood.” Illo, 23, is the youngest-ever writer to be awarded the Africa region prize. The judging panel that selected Ilo’s work was chaired by Ghanaian writer, Nii Ayikwei Parkes and five other judges representing the five regions of the Commonwealth: Mohale Read More
Guernica Celebration of modern fascism Horrific devastation in the Basque town of Guernica Monochrome grisaille Crawling analysis of the violent reaction of man to the very question of the order of the matador * Guernica Man looking downward Crutches breaking the irrational collage of biomorphic shapes Art is evident in the image of the Bull Blinds over the window Democracy Read More
Sada Malumfashi is a Kaduna-based writer and arts curator. AWAAL GATA poses nine questions to the awardee of the Goethe Institute/Sylt Foundation Writing Residency on his writing. How did your romance with writing start? I can remember writing my first poem as a nine-year-old. I fell in love with writing because it came easily as a means of expressing my Read More
Jerry Adesewo is poet, writer and theatre practitioner based in Abuja. Among other issues, he told AWAAL GATA he was busier with work during lockdown caused by Covid-19. How did your romance with the literati start ? The seed was planted pretty earlier but there was no one to help nurture it. Theatre was my entry point into the world Read More
In this interview with AWAAL GATA, Mature Tanko Okoduwa, a former general-secretary of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), proffers solution to the association’s ongoing leadership crisis How would you describe your tenures as an official of ANA? It wm was one of the most interesting moments in my life, for so many reasons. It opened my eyes and mind Read More
Jalaludeen Ibrahim Maradun, a poet and writer, is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in English Linguistics at the University of Bergen, Norway. The immediate past Deputy Dean of Student Affairs Division, Federal University Birnin-kebbi, dissects his literary journey with AWAAL GATA and how it is aiding him scholastically. Why haven’t you released another book since your first collection was released in Read More
Dozens of writers from within and outside Nigeria have put together an anthology to preserve the culture and language of the Yoruba. They were brought together by Egbe Àtẹ́lẹwọ́, a Yoruba cultural advocacy group founded by Ọ̀rẹ́dọlá Ibrahim and Rasaq Malik. The duo said, the group was “founded on the 1st of June, 2017 as a response to the myriads Read More
The AKO Caine Prize for African Writing has recently announced its shortlist for this year’s award. Perhaps one of the most highly-anticipated literary prizes on the continent, the AKO Caine Prize celebrates 20 years of honouring diverse and high-calibre African writers including the likes of the lateBinyavanga Wainaina, Tope Folarin, No Violet Bulawayo and Namwali Serpell. This year’s shortlist features Read More
Abdullahi Ismaila Ahmad is the Director, Communications and Liaison Department at the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS). Before his present job, the critically-acclaimed writer was a lecturer at the Department of English and Literary Studies, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. AWAAL GATA interviews him on his life as a writer, an academic and an image-maker. From writing to the academia and now you are Read More
The Niger state chapter of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) has inaugurated new officials for a two year tenure. The new executive council has Awwal Idris Evuti as chairman, Abba Abdulkareem as vice-chairman and Maryam Shu’aib Bobi as general secretary. Others are Musa Chado Yunus as public relations officer, Hauwa Abdulraman Gara as financial secretary and Johnson Usmai Attah Read More
In this interview with AWAAL GATA, Eriata Oribhabor, a former chairman of ANA Abuja, tells how his transfer to Lagos is boosting his writing, how the crisis currently rocking ANA could be resolved, etc. You left Abuja for Lagos since 2014; as Lagos is said to be the hub of Nigeria’s arts and entertainment, has the city given any boost Read More
In this interview with AWAAL GATA, the immediate past president of the association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Denja Abdullahi, explains the impasse the association is currently enmeshed. In the history of ANA, only the EXCO you led could not organise an election that would herald successors; why and how did that happen? What happened at the Enugu Convention was bound Read More
Book: “Madagali” Author: Wale Okediran Reviewer: Tega Oghenechovwen Year: 2020 About a century and half ago, John Lyly wrote, All is Fair in Love and War. A keen reader would refute that statement upon engaging with the first page of “Madagali.” Set in the North East of contemporary Nigeria, “Madagali” pays a fundamental attention to the pathetic nature of Nigerias Read More
The impasse that has been ravaging the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) since 2019 continued on Thursday when a group declared the National Executive Council (NEC) illegal. Because of disagreement over voters’ register, the association had to postpone the general election it suposed to conduct at its 38th national convention in Enugu in 2019. However, chairmen and secretaries of the Read More
One of the most prolific contemporary Nigerian writers, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is set to release another book in July 2020. The book, a desk diary, is being published by Fourth Estate, a HarperCollins imprint. Titled “We Should All Be Feminists: The Desk Diary,” is an illustrated weekly planner and contains some of Adichie’s most powerful and inspiring quotes, as well Read More
David Ishaya Osu is a poet, memoirist and street photographer. His work has appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies across Nigeria, Uganda, the UK, the US, Australia, Canada, India, France, Bangladesh, South Africa, Austria, etc. He is the poetry editor of Panorama: The Journal of Intelligent Travel, and a board member of Babishai Niwe Poetry Foundation based in Uganda. David Read More
Scene: Sago, a sage figure, and his grand daughter, Adda, are burdened about some unfolding troubling global events. SAGO: It exploded upon the world suddenly. At that special time when the old year is rolling away all the misfortunes and a new year is heralding all the blessings, through fervent supplications and earnest mutual well wishes of the season’s celebrants, Read More
The current National Executive Council (NEC) of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) has released the scoredcard of its first month in office. A memo by ANA General Secretary, Akogun Tai Oguntayo every of its activities has been tailored towards repositioning the association. The memo reads: According to the General Secretary of the association, Akogun Tai Oguntayo, at the NEC’s Read More
The management of the popular Ake Arts and Book Festival has announced that the 2020 edition of the festival is going to be held online. Themed “Black Magic,” the festival was scheduled to be held in Lagos from 22 to 25 October. The change is however in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the social-distancing protocols it necessitates. This development Read More
Julius Bokoru, a writer and Media Assistant to Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, tells AWAAL GATA how he started writing, among others “The Angel That Was Always There” was selected for the Nigerian Writers Series; did the scheme give the novel the wings you wanted? Upon writing “The Angel That Was Always There”, I didn’t initially nurse Read More
Brunel International African Poetry Prize has released its 2020 shortlist. According to the judges, out of about a thousand entries, six poets have been shortlisted for the prize scheduled to be announced in May. The six poets are: Akosua Afirye- Hwedie (Zambia/Ghana/Botswana), Rabah Ashry (Egypt), Inua Ellams (Nigeria), Amanda Holiday (Sierra Leone), Nour Kamel (Egypt) and Saradha Soobrayen (Mauritius). The Read More
Amid the hues and cries by some members of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) that the association’s current National Executive Council (NEC) is not legal, in this interview with AWAAL GATA, Chairman, Forum of ANA Chairmen, Kavwam Stanley Augustine, argues to the contrary. What prompted the meeting that led to the election of ANA new exco in Abuja? In Read More
Many Nigerian writers have taken to social media to vent their ‘unhappiness’ with the presidency over its reaction to Prof. Wole Soyinka’s faulting of the lockdown order of the federal government. President Muhammadu Buhari, on Sunday, ordered the lockdown of Abuja, Lagos and Ogun States in a bid to curb the spread of coronavirus in the country. But Soyinka in Read More
In view of the rampaging covid-19 across the world and Nigeria, the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) has postponed its general election until further notice. The election was billed to hold in Markurdi, Benue state on March 28, 2020. A statement by Chairman, electoral committee, Prof. Jerry Agada said going ahead with election as scheduled could unnecessarily expose writers to Read More
AWAAL GATA interviews John Anusie, a critic, poet and writer, on his writing and political dreams. The literati got a glimpse of what you are made of after your review of Maiwada’s “Eye Rhymes”. Why don’t we see such a ‘superb’ review frequently? For one who revels in the company of words, I guess I got lazy along the line. Read More
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