Call for Submissions: Saraba Mag

Known for its high quality and rich content. Saraba Magazine has carved a niche for itself when it comes to writing in Africa. It has opened doors to many, created opportunities, to be read by the world. Here is your chance. Saraba Mag calls for entries for its next issue themed "Art".

John Keats, the eighteenth century English poet, after viewing the Parthenon, marble sculptures from Ancient Greece, proceeded to write ‘On Seeing the Elgin Marbles’; and also wrote ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’ inspired by Classical Greek art.

There has to be something said of Art’s influence on Literature and vice versa.

In this issue, we explore the marriage, the intermingling of Art and Literature, exploring how these two expressions of creativity diverge and converge as they try to delve into humanity and reveal the myriad experiences present in the world.

For Saraba 14, we hope the works of writers reveal the influence of Art in their work, and in their lives.

 Please (only) submit your work at www.saraba.submittable.com/submit

Deadline: May 17, 2013

In Conversation: A.Igoni Barrett

Award winning writer Igoni Barrett is no stranger to the Garden City Literary Festival. In 2009, his collection of short stories From the Caves of the Rotten Teeth was chosen as book of the year at the GCLF. As a writer of the city, he is also a regular face at the festival. His latest book,  Love Is Power Or Something Like That will be released in May in the US, July in the UK, and August in Nigeria. 

He recently spoke in an interview with Literatinaija. Below is an excerpt. 

Bernard Ogedengbe: First, tell us about your background and childhood memories?
Igoni Barrett: I was born in Port Harcourt and spent most of my growing years there. I had a background not unlike that of many city-based Nigerians. My favourite pastime in those days was reading books. One childhood memory I still wonder about was a recurring wish to fly.

Bernard Ogedengbe: Your father — Lindsay Barrett — is an essayist, novelist and poet. Did this influence your decision in becoming a writer or was it something you always wanted to do?
Igoni Barrett: My father’s profession probably influenced me. I can’t tell you how though. Writing was not something I always wanted to do.

Bernard Ogedengbe: What books have had the most impact on you?
Igoni Barrett: There are too many to list. And the list is always evolving. But I have an essay published online that names several books that are important to me. It’s entitled “On Becoming a Writer: I Want to Be a Book.”

Bernard Ogedengbe: Most people dream of writing a book. It’s not surprising that fame, credibility, celebrity status and fortune are associated with authorship. How did the writing journey start for you?
Igoni Barrett: There are many easier ways of becoming a celebrity than writing books. And I’ll be surprised if I ever make a fortune off writing. I suspect my need to write started with my love of reading. But I made the decision to become a writer after I realised that I would never be fulfilled doing anything else.

Bernard Ogedengbe: Your kind of music?
Igoni Barrett: My taste in music ranges wide. Tupac, Fela, Mozart, to name a few.

Bernard Ogedengbe: Any advice for young aspiring authors?
Igoni Barrett: Write first to please yourself. And try not to be too easily pleased.

Parresia Foundation Launches

This event has been postponed by the organisers. More information will be shared when available

This is to invite you to the launch of the Parrésia Foundation for Arts and Literature which will hold at Freedom Park, Onikan, Lagos Island, on the 11th of May, 2013 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.

The Parrésia Foundation for Arts and Literature is a nongovernmental, not-for-profit organization registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission of Nigeria to actively participate in arts and literary development in the country while adding to the value of indigenous arts and literature in the global marketplace of ideas. Our core aim is to see the recognition of arts and literature, in terms of government policy, administrative practice and corporate social responsibility, as an active component of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights.

In order to achieve this, the Foundation, founded by Mrs. Azafi Omoluabi and Barr. Richard Ali who own Parrésia Publishers Ltd which is Nigeria’s most innovative publishing company, have set up a fourteen-person Board of Advisers headed by Otunba Ayodeji Osibogun, Chairman of WTS Nigeria. Other members are the leading academic Prof. Hope Eghagha, Honourable Commissioner for Higher Education Delta State, international awards winning author Helon Habila and Dr. Aito Ofure of the Lagos State University. An independent administration, headed by an Executive Secretary to be appointed, who will report to this Board quarterly.

The Foundation will source funds from donors and from its endowment to undertake six major programmes.

1. Parrésia Residency Programme

Four Parrésia Residency programs, three for Literature and one for Visual Arts, will be hosted by four universities in Nigeria for a period of no longer than twelve weeks each. 

2. Annual Parrésia Lecture

A distinguished international personality and thinker would be required to present a structured paper on a topic of great moment as regards Nigerian arts and literature specifically and the social sciences generally. 

3. National Reading Campaigns

These campaigns will be targeted at government secondary schools, both at the Federal and State levels. 

4. Book Festival and Publisher’s Parley

This will be a yearly event to be hosted with all stakeholders in the book industry, to both raise the profile of books in the public consciousness and to afford a platform for publishers from across West Africa and Africa to parley on the way forward.

5. Advocacy and Workshops

These will be designed and targeted at government ministries and departments related to the books in Nigeria; principally, the Ministry of Education, Ministry of the Interior, Customs, universal Basic Education Boards and similar parastatals/MDA’s. 

6. Nigeria Translations Committee

This Committee will be set up to carry out the following objectives—

i. Scout for, prepare for publication and publish creation myths and national epics of indigenous Nigerian ethnicities in both indigenous language [in the appropriate script] and in English. 

ii. Make the national epics of other countries available in cheap English editions for the local Nigerian audience.

iii. Create an inter-textual basis for the unity of various Nigerian ethnicities.

Parrésia Publishers Ltd, as a part of its corporate social responsibility, will endow the Foundation with 5% of its profits every year and will encourage like-minded corporate organizations to pledge to the Foundation with a mind to it becoming a grant-giving institution within five years. 

The general public is cordially invited to this event and copies of the invitation cards can be viewed and downloaded here

RSVP via email to azafi@parresia.com.ng and via telephone to +234 806 239 2145 and +234 806 239 2145.

Azafi Omoluabi 

Managing Editor

Parrésia Publishers Ltd

No. 9 Oluwole Close, Okota, Lagos.

Richard Ali

Chief Operating Officer

Parrésia Publishers Ltd

No. 9 Oluwole Close, Okota, Lagos.

+234 806 239 2145

Pen New Voices Award 2013

Write And Win $1000.00, One Year Mentorship Plus Other Chances From PEN NIGERIA

Nigerian PEN Centre is calling for entries in prose and poetry in order to short list a male and female writer in the age bracket of 18-30 years old to represent the centre in the PEN  INTERNATIONAL/NEW VOICES AWARD 2013.

Eligibility in the Nigerian short list process is based on the exact rules of the international competition as stated below. Contestants should thus note that the ultimate prize money is accessible only after scaling the Nigerian hurdle.

PEN International has set up an annual New Voices Award to encourage new writing in the countries in which we operate and to provide a much needed space for young and unpublished writers to submit their work. The award will actively encourage entries from diverse linguistic regions and communities.  Before PEN International was established in 1921, its founder, Catharine Amy Dawson Scott, set up the Tomorrow Club as a space for aspiring writers to network with more established writers. In 1928, Herman Ould, International Secretary, felt strongly that it was important for PEN to maintain focus on helping emerging writers, and so established a ‘Young PEN’ chapter.

The PEN International/New Voices Award builds on these ideas, simultaneously reconnecting with our past and moving into the future. 

PEN/NEW VOICES AWARD: AIMS 

The first annual PEN International/New Voices Award aims to: 

- encourage writers aged 18-30 to write short stories, creative non-fiction, journalism, and poetry;

- to promote freedom of expression, literature, and the tenets of the PEN Charter; 

- foster new forms of writing appropriate to our time;

- promote translation, especially into ‘bridge’ languages such as English, French, and 

Spanish; 

- provide a (much needed) space for emerging writers to submit their work; 

- help emerging writers by providing advice on how best to work towards a career as a writer; 

- to cement PEN’s profile as the world’s oldest and pre-eminent writers’ organisation

PEN INTERNATIONAL/NEW VOICES AWARD: STRUCTURE 

Details of the award’s terms of entry and judging structure are set out below: 

1) TERMS OF ENTRY 

- all candidates must be over 17 & still under the age of 30 at the time of the closing date; 

- writers who have published books may not enter but those who have existing contracts with publishers for forthcoming books may enter; 

- writers who have published pamphlets work in magazines and journals are allowed to enter; 

- prose entries must be between 2,000-4,000 words;

- poetry entries may take the form of individual poems, a sequence, or one long poem of no more than 2,500 words in total; 

- writers may only submit one prose work; 

- a long list of six writers will receive feedback on their entries from distinguished experts;

- Two winning writers, a male and a female would have their entries sent to PEN International as Nigeria’s entry that might stand a chance of winning the ultimate prize money

-The winning entries would be translated into English, French, Spanish and one or two Nigerian Languages

- there will be no entry fee

2) JUDGING THE AWARD 

- the award will be open to submissions from March 15th to May 15th, 2013; 

- the submission window will close 12 midnight on 15 May 2013 and no late entries will be considered; 

- our team of judges will offer online mentorship for a short list of six for not more than one year after the competition

3) GUIDELINES

- amendments cannot be made to entries after they have been submitted, nor substitutions made;

- poems to be single-spaced and a line count noted at the top of the first page;

- short stories to be double-spaced and a word count noted at the top of the first page;

- the filename of online entries must be the title of the entry and it must be either a .doc, .docx, .rtf, .wps, .pdf or .txt file;

- all entries are judged anonymously: do not include the entrant’s name on the document, only on the application sheet;

- worldwide copyright of each entry remains with the author, but PEN International will have the unrestricted right to publish entries in the e-anthology, in print, on the website, and in any relevant promotional material;

- the judges' decision is final and no individual correspondence can be entered into;

To enter send your entry with subject as PEN NEW VOICES 2013 to Secretary General, Nigeria Pen Centre, Ropo Ewenla: firo_po@yahoo.co.uk.

PEN International celebrates literature and promotes freedom of expression. Founded in 1921, our global community of writers now comprises 146 Centres spanning more than 100 countries. Our programmes, campaigns, events and publications connect writers and readers for global solidarity and co-operation. PEN International is a non-political organisation and holds consultative status at the United Nations and UNESCO. www.pen-international.org.

Favourite Five: Betty Abah

Betty Abah is a Nigerian poet, journalist and environmentalist. She worked previously with TELL and Newswatch Magazine and had a stint with the Rocky Mountain News in Colorado, USA as an Alfred Friendly Fellow in 2006. Currently, she works with the Environmental Rights Action, an environmental justice NGO.

She obtained a Bachelors degree in English and Literary Studies from the University of Calabar and a Masters in English Literature from the University of Lagos. She is a recipient of several national and international writing awards and fellowships. They include NYSC State Honours Award (Ogun State, 2001), the Alfred Friendly Press Fellowship (a six-month reporting media fellowship in the USA), John Knight Health Reporting Fellowship, Kaiser Foundation HIV/AIDS Fellowship, the Nigeria Media Merit Awards (NMMA), the Diamond Awards for Media Excellence (DAME). She is also a fellow of the Global Tobacco Control Leadership Program, John Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA among other.

Abah is the author of two books of poetry, Sound of Broken Chains and the award-winning Go Tell Our King; she has published widely both in local and international publications. She is married to John Abah.

She had this to say about her list: "Narrowing down my list of favourite books to five is almost like narrowing down my educational history to five years. I have been reading for as long as I can remember and my reading train is lengthy and unaccountable, at the risk of ditching humility! But I will try to do five, relatively recent that have greatly delighted me."

Nine Lives by El-Nukoya
Why is it number one on my list? Well, this was one book that put me under a 24-hour spell and at the end made me cry. The word ‘incredible’ was crafted for this book. A story of love, racy crime and the equally racy quest for revenge; it simply blows you away page by page. I read on, gasp and wonder; ‘And this, by a Nigerian?! My God!’ It is a book everyone should read—the lyricism, the power of description, and even more, the suspense! Even if the author’s storyline--of how the protagonist became a mega millionaire, from a mere poor boy from the back waters of a Southern Nigerian locale, to how he hit it big by flirting then blackmailing an American billionaire’s wife--doesn’t sit well on your moral anchor, you feel helpless with the sheer appeal of this book, the spell-binding storyline. I feel that El-Nukoya, the reclusive author of this great book has yet to receive the deserved praise for this classic. I hope to go back and read it all over again! 

Slumdog Millionaire by  Vikas Swarup
This is one book I have kept as a treasure and from time to time, go check my shelf to be sure it is still there, for I must read it again. Dark humour, sheer creativity, sheer brilliance! This is the story of a young, urban poor boy who hit it big assisted by fate’s crafty hands.  Formerly known as Q & A (2005), it tells the story of Jamal Malik, a young man from the slums of Mumbai who appears on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? The book has been criticised for its romanticisation of poverty particularly in India where it is set. Perhaps the author’s greatest strength lies in his creative insight--and portrayal of--acrid poverty so vividly, evoking strong emotions, in fact, humour and pathos almost simultaneously  his own elitist background. It is the book that the world could never have ignored. It is a masterpiece and I sincerely envy the writer. I hope to be able to write this ‘sweetly’ someday.

The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives by Lola Shoneyin
This book is one whose humour, especially the sardonic humour, will follow you long after you have read it. I have had to ask the author, during our two meetings about the bold ‘sex appeal’ of the novel. Yet, ours is an ‘explicit’ world and so she may be on point. The issue of male infertility, in fact all infertility, is a delicate one but Shoneyin decides to take this literary bull by its pretentious horns. Her dexterous probe into the characters’ lives albeit, mostly, tongue-in-cheek, deserves commendation. Though the author has said she loves Baba Segi, the reader is free to make his/her pick of the  characters woven together by fate and whose native wisdom fetches them relief, even if temporary, amidst a helpless situation. In the end, my heart is with the ‘unknown’ men who father children they know they fathered but would never be father to. An agracha of a book. Lovely! Any wonder it made the Finalist of the Orange Prize?

The Whispering Trees by Abubakar Adam Ibrahim
I love Adam’s book! Why? Its sweetness is much more than that of an apple! This collection of short stories is one book I read and quickly, breathlessly, leaved through the next few pages to be sure the story wouldn’t end too soon. Many of the stories did and I nearly wept! Why wouldn’t you, if a book reduces you to a mere panting baby and its stories are like the spicy Northern suya or kilinshi? You are eating it, one spicy bite after the other and it finishes abruptly, you would likewise cry, or at least feel tormented. Earthy characters, unearthly circumstances. Wit, wit, sheer wit. Local colours, and the flavour, oh, the flavour!  Abubakar mischievously toys with the tender threads of his readers’ hearts, which isn’t fair, though nothing is even fair in the fairy world of enchanted butterflies, witches, ghosts and wicked fate he weaves around our imagination. Beautiful book from a well-cooked mind. And, I must’t forget, a great service to the Hausa language, just as Achebe and Chimamanda have done for the Ibo language. I envy them. I hope I can do that with my Idoma language when the muse lets loose prose butterflies over me. I love Adam’s book; the pages drip with honey, sweeter than apples. Surely, Abubakar is one budding Nigerian writer roaring to take the literary world by its jugulars! Sweet, sweet book. 

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
I shall break protocol to write about Three Cups of Tea. I shall remain tormented by literary conscience if I omit it. Though this large book is non-fiction, its style, the ambience and particularly the power of description, is simply unbelievable. Several times I gasped at a sentence, went over it five times like someone memorizing a Bible verse. In one rare moment of self-defeatism, I admitted I may never be able to write this well, after all, I am not even a native writer! What do you call a book that astounds your mind so much you feel like leaking the pages, or  you had to rush out to call the attention of family members to sentences--like when he described a Pakistani boy as an ‘apparition’? The book is about the exploits of  Greg Mortenson, an American mountaineer who lost his way in Pakistan on a tragic expedition to K-2, the world’s second highest mountain, stumbled on a remote village, an occurrence which triggered an educational humanitarian venture  via the Central Asia Institute in Pakistan and Afghanistan that would  later win him world acclaim. Sly humour. Details. Language, terrific use of language. One of my 2013 revolution perhaps would be to read the book again ten more times. I believe that would up my literary skills! The sad aspect is that the ‘real’ writer, journalist David Oliver Relin committed suicide about a year ago, robbing our world of more literary and journalistic offerings. That’s the saddest part! 

V-Monologues in Lagos in May

The V-Monologues return in May! Taiwo Ajai-Lycett, Ireti Doyle, Dakore, Kemi Lala, Bimbo Akintola & others hit the stage. 

This May, The Make it Happen Productions in collaboration with the Kudirat Initiative for Democracy (KIND), bring the classic V-Monologues, (The Nigerian Story) back on stage.

“The strength of a woman is in her ability to speak up and refuse to be put down. Nigerian women are tired of the violence and we are using the theater and performance tools to pass this message,” said the producer, Kemi Lala Akindoju. “The finest and best female actors in Nigeria have given themselves to this cause and will performing on the 3rd and 4th of May.”

Showing in Agip Recital Hall, The Muson Centre, Onikan, Lagos on May 3 and 4, 2013 at 6pm on the 3rd and 3pm and 6pm on the 4th.The V Monologues is produced and directed by Kemi Lala Akindoju and Ifeoma Fafunwa respectively. The Command performance for the play will hold on the 4th of May by 6pm.

Regular tickets are available for N3, 500 and VIP tickets are available for N5, 000 as well as the command performance tickets.

Countdown to PHWBC 2014

A special press conference was held on April 23rd 2013, to officially announce the countdown to Port Harcourt’s tenure as World Book Capital (WBC) 2014. The Garden City will assume the title on 23rd April next year which is World Book and Copyright Day. The press conference was called by the Deputy Governor of Rivers State, H.E. Engineer Tele Ikuru, Chairman of the PH WBC Committee, as planning for this exciting year of events is now underway.

Present was the distinguished panel to support the countdown; it included the writers Pa Gabriel Okara and Captain Elechi Amadi, Trustee of the Rainbow Book Club, Mrs. Judy Nwanodi and the Honourable Commissioner of Information Mrs Ibim Semenitari. Also in attendance were various members of the Port Harcourt 2014 WBC committee which is headed by the Deputy Governor and which includes high ranking Rivers State government officials. 

The press conference officially began with an opening address by H.E. Engineer Ikuru. He named other foreign cities that had worn the crown previously, including Yerevan, the 2012 holder which was handing over the WBC baton to Bangkok on the day of the press conference. H.E. Engineer Ikuru also spoke about the significance of Port Harcourt’s win to the city and the nation; he concluded by declaring that the official countdown to 2014 had begun.

Mrs. Nwanodi and Captain Elechi Amadi also gave speeches. Mrs. Nwanodi pointed out the historical significance of Port Harcourt and urged all stakeholders to join hands with the Rivers State Government and the Rainbow Book Club to ensure the success of the year-long activities. Captain Amadi began by congratulating the noble citizens of Port Harcourt on the WBC victory; he emphasized the benefits of reading and concluded with a call for writers to write more; publishers to publish more; printers to print more and readers to read more.

The UNESCO Abuja Officer-in-charge, Prof.(Mrs.) Hassana Alidou, though absent due to a previous commitment, sent in her address in which she congratulated the people of Port Harcourt and Nigeria as a whole  saying the win was ‘…a global recognition of Nigeria’s distinguished literary tradition.’

The press was invited to ask questions; many were concerned about the lasting benefits of the programmes for 2014. The panel assured them that the planned initiatives have been carefully created to ensure sustainability with all programmes for schools, libraries and writers having provision for the transfer of skills that will empower local stakeholders to be able to carry on with the programs long after 2015. 

Finally, the Honourable Commissioner for Information gave the closing remarks in which she called on all Nigerians to support the project and encouraged the press to ensure the story of Port Harcourt World Book Capital 2014 is told to the world.