CALL FOR SUBMISSION: NIYI OSUNDARE @70

Gardener of Words, Warrior of Lights: A Special Publication in Honour of Niyi Osundare

Niyi Osundare, internationally acclaimed and multiple award-winning Nigerian poet and essayist, was born on March 12, 1947. He was educated at the Universities of Ibadan, Leeds and York. His importance for African poetry, earlier noted in his Songs of the Marketplace and Village Voices, became more established with the publication of The Eye of the Earth, winner of the Commonwealth Poetry Prize in 1986, the same year that Wole Soyinka became the first African winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. Osundare is one of the most celebrated living Nigerian poets today, serving as poetry mentor, judge and motivator to individuals, institutions, literary groups and organisations all over the world. He taught for many years in Nigeria’s premier varsity, the University of Ibadan, where he served as Chair of the Department of English from 1993 to 1997. Osundare is currently Distinguished Professor of English, at the University of New Orleans, USA, and Honorary Professor-at-Large, University of Ibadan, Nigeria.

AIR Artists In Residency: Calling for Applications

Africa Centre, Project Story

Since its inception in 2011, the Africa Centre’s Artist in Residency Programme (AIR) has successfully awarded 39 African artists the chance to take up residencies across the globe.  Through continued partnerships with residency programmes in Australia, Brazil, India, Spain, China and the United States, we are proud to offer eight new residency opportunities through the 2016 edition of this programme.

CALL FOR SPECIAL ISSUE PROPOSALS At the Crossroads of Art and Society: Niyi Osundare and Poetry in Nigeria

The seventieth birthday of Nigerian poet and professor of comparative literature, Niyi Osundare, invites deeper reflection on the poet-scholar’s life and contributions to literary cultures in Nigeria and the world generally. Although a number of significant studies have emerged in the past few years to study Osundare’s poetry within a range of contextual, thematic and stylistic conventions, particularly focusing on the “accessibility” of his verses and his political commitments as a poet, there still remain significant gaps and scantiness in focused appreciation of Osundare’s poetic oeuvre. His contributions to the “language” of “Nigerian poetry,” to socio-political criticism of the postcolony as well as his consistent agitation for committed ethical disposition towards the environment cannot be overstated. This special issue hopes to address some of these gaps by bringing into discussion intersections of ideas of humanism, community, environment, economics and the cosmopolitan space in the poetry of Osundare.

PRESS RELEASE: Court strikes out the case against performance artist Jelili Atiku and 5 others

21st July 2016

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

On Monday 18th July 2016, Nigerian performance artist Jelili Atiku, poet Adeola Goloba and 4 others regained their freedom as Ejigbo Magistrate Court struck out all criminal charges instituted against them by the Nigerian Police.

11 Authors shortlisted for $100,000 NLNG sponsored literature prize

The Advisory Board for The Nigeria Prize for Literature, led by Emeritus Professor Ayo Banjo has announced an initial shortlist of eleven books, drawn from 173 books, in the running for the 2016 literature prize.

Lidudumalingani wins seventeenth Caine Prize for African Writing

Lidudumalingani has won the 2016 Caine Prize for African Writing, described as Africa’s leading literary award, for his short story entitled ‘Memories We Lost’ published in Incredible Journey: Stories That Move You (Burnet Media, South Africa, 2015). The Chair of Judges, Delia Jarrett-Macauley, announced Lidudumalingani as the winner of the £10,000 prize at a dinner held this evening (Monday, 4 July) at the Bodleian Library in Oxford.