[New-Poetry] WorldPo: Nigeria

[Sigauke, Emmanuel]

Most of these are highly talented, hardworking writers. I always talk about the African literary rennaissance, especially in the area of fiction where emerging writers like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie of Nigeria, Heron Habila of Nigeria, Uche Umez of Nigeria, and (insert name) of Nigeria and others like Valerie Tagwira of Zimbabwe have attracted the attention of major publishers in the US and Europe. This is very important because these authors are directing the attention of many readers to a continent that's not often thought of in terms of literary production. Nigeria, in particular, has always been the literary hub (in Anglophone writing) of the continent. 
 
And the poets? There is practically a poetic explosion as these young poets take a candid look at the state of Africa today. Whether it's a South African performing poet talking about the demise of a post-apartheid SA to a Zimbabwean poet writing about the economy of Zimbabwe to a Ghanian or Nigerian poet experienting with new form, these writers are certainly working hard, participating in the new global something of poetic expression. 

 
________________________________

From: new-poetry-bounces at wiz.cath.vt.edu on behalf of TheOldMole
Sent: Mon 12/3/2007 5:48 PM
To: NewPoetry: Contemporary Poetry News & Views
Subject: Re: [New-Poetry] WorldPo: Nigeria



More on poetry and Nigeria:

http://www.sentinelpoetry.org.uk/0607/editorial.htm


and an interview with Obi Nwakanma:

http://magazine.biafranigeriaworld.com/chinua-achebe/2006jul10-chinua-achebe-foundation-oyibo-odinamadu-interview-part-1.html

Emmanuel -- you've published much African Poetry. Your thoughts on these
poets?

Sigauke, Emmanuel wrote:
> Great argument.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* new-poetry-bounces at wiz.cath.vt.edu
> [mailto:new-poetry-bounces at wiz.cath.vt.edu] *On Behalf Of
> *jforjames at aol.com
> *Sent:* Monday, December 03, 2007 1:20 PM
> *To:* new-poetry at wiz.cath.vt.edu
> *Subject:* [New-Poetry] WorldPo: Nigeria
>
> http://allafrica.com/stories/200712031006.html
> Nigeria: Writing and the Nation - ANA Prizes and Canon Making
>
> 
> Vanguard (Lagos)
> 2 December 2007
> Posted to the web 3 December 2007
> Obi Nwakanma
> Lagos
> TWO weeks ago, the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) concluded its
> annual convention at Owerri, the heartland city of the East. The
> various prizes administered by ANA were also announced and the winners
> proclaimed.
>
> My own collection of poems, The Horsemen & Other Poems was on the
> shortlist for both the ANA/Cadbury Prize and the ANA/Gabriel Okara
> Prize. My collection did not win the prizes, both of which went to
> Hyginus Ekwuazi's Love Apart. I have not read Ekwuazi's winning
> collection of poems, but I feel certain that it deserves the prizes,
> and I congratulate Ekwuazi, who has worked mostly in film, but who now
> has shown his paces as a poet of considerable ability and perhaps even
> significance.This is what the ANA prizes are all about: the
> affirmation of the work of the contemporary Nigerian literary
> imagination, and maintenance of the canon of Nigerian literature. I
> will come back to the meaning of the Nigerian canon shortly, but I
> would like to draw attention to developments preceding the
> announcement of the prize, which for me, and I'm sure for many others,
> has the potential of detracting from the significance of the Nigerian
> prize.
>
> This specifically has to do with the poet, Niyi Osundare's sudden
> withdrawal of his book, one of the three on the shortlist for
> consideration in the ANA/Cadbury Prize.
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--
Tad Richards
http://www.opus40.org/tadrichards/
http://opusforty.blogspot.com/

The moral is this: in American verse,
The better you are, the pay is worse.
  --Corey Ford

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