Prolific Nigerian author, Bisi Daniels, launches bestselling books on Amazon

The year 2016 begins with the news that Bisi Daniels,one of Nigeria’s leading adventure novelist and prolific author has launched revised editions of some of his bestselling novels of the popular investigative journalist Peter Abel’s thriller series and other books on Amazon Kindle.

An Anthology of Poetry in Honour of Omotayo Oloruntoba-Oju @ 50 Call for Submissions

 

Professor Omotayo Oloruntoba-Oju teaches in the Department of English Studies, Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State, Nigeria. With close to three decades of teaching literature at University of Ilorin and Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Professor Omotayo Oloruntoba-Oju’s several academic papers straddle African Drama & Cinema, Caribbean Literature, African American Literature, among others.

The Premio Ostana International Award for Mother Tongue Literature (2016)

Tubosun

Nigerian linguist, teacher and writer, Mr. Kola Tubosun has been named the recipient of the Premio Ostana International Award for Scriptures in the Mother Tongue 2016, (Il Premio Ostana Internazionale Scritture in Lingua Madre 2016). The prize is organised by Culture ofthe Chambra D’Oc in Ostana, (Cuneo, Italy), and given for the defense of indigenous language and for educational and informative activities by the recipient.

The eight edition of the prize ceremony will hold from June 2nd through 5th, 2016 in Italy. It is in collaboration with the Municipality of Ostana.

Etisalat Prize: Not a race for Nigerian writers

Nigeria’s dominance of the literary scene in Africa in terms of prizes won is not in doubt. The country has won every available international prize on offer – from the Commonwealth to the Caine, the Booker and the Nobel Prize and more.

But observers have begun to worry over the country’s poor showing in a homegrown literary competition originating from the continent. In its third year in a row since the telecommunication company, Etisalat Nigeria, instituted the pan-African Etisalat Prize for Literature in 2013, Nigeria’s fiction writers have failed to win the prize. Instead East and South African writers have continued to hold the aces.

Could This Be Literary Fraud? Dissecting Cyprian Ekwensi’s An African Night Entertainment And John Tafida’s Jiki Magayi By Ibrahim Musa

In the literary world, Cyprian Ekwensi is a household name. This holds true particularly for the volume of work he churned out within the corpus of African literature. He was a very good story teller, especially of the urban tale, that many people see him as a better story teller than the Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka or even the more famous novelist, Chinua Achebe. In stark contrast, John Tafida can be considered a nonentity. He is not even popular in the region (Northern Nigeria) where he was born and bred, and where Hausa, the language he wrote in is the unofficial lingua franca. The world knows very little about Tafida, who lived in the obscure Wusasa quarters in Zaria and wrote, perhaps, only one book in a vernacular. All these disadvantages robbed him of a chance to popularity and even a recognition for Pulitzer or Booker Prize, or some other award. In another contrast, the two did not even write in the same medium (language), and there was no clear evidence their paths ever crossed.

Annual Commonword Diversity Writing for Children Prize

About the Prize

The Commonword Children’s Diversity Writing Prize welcomes submissions from unpublished children’s authors whose writing embraces ethnic diversity either through their own ethnicity and culture and/or in their writing.

PRIZE

The winner’s prize will be as follows:

• £500 cash, to be paid by cheque.
• Professional mentoring will be from Marjacq Scripts Ltd – this will consist of a full manuscript assessment and an initial meeting to discuss representation potential. There is no obligation for Marjacq Scripts Ltd to agree to professionally represent the winner.
• An Arvon course of their choice in 2017 (subject to availability*)

The runners up will be offered detailed feedback on their manuscript by Commonword

The closing date for entries is:  6th June 2016

Call for Submissions: Nigerian Students Poetry Prize

Nigerian Students Poetry Prize, an initiative of Poets in Nigeria supported by Association of Faculty of Arts Students, University of Ibadan, is designed to stimulate creativity, promote excellence and broaden intellectualism among Undergraduate Students of Nigerian Tertiary Institutions. Billed to hold annually and hosted by different tertiary institutions across the 6 geo-political zones, its maiden edition will be hosted by the prestigious University of Ibadan’s Faculty of Arts.

Piclet.org Prize Africa Calls for Entries for POPCAP 2016 Prize for Contemporary African Photography

A Review of Silent Whispers by Joe Osi

Author            Joe Osi

Title                Silent Whispers

Country          Nigeria

Language       English

Genre               Faction (Lantern Literary series)

Published       2015 by Lantern Books (a division of Literamed Publications (Nig.) Limited)

Pages              312

ISBN               978-100-653-1

Silent Whispers is a literary critique of unquestioned beliefs in superstition rampant in Africa, particularly Nigeria the setting of the novel. Superstitious beliefs are not restricted to Africa alone, they are found in almost every culture of the world. What however borders the author is how Africans over the time have refused to subject the validity of these beliefs to empirical investigation. “One should not ask questions about some of these things, for there are mysteries and wonders surrounding the earth…” (Silent Whispers, page 8), this is the commonly held opinion on superstition in Africa.