Date: 3 April 2012
You are cordially invited to presentation of the Poetry Segment of the Lagos Black Heritage Festival, LBHF, on Tuesady (April 3, 2012) at the Freedom Park, Broad Street, Lagos, at 6pm.
The theme of the Segment is BLACK MEDITERRANEAN: THE AFRO-ITALIAN CONNECTIONS, and it features a collection of 16 Nigerian and 16 Italian Poets, who worked on varied sub-themes deriving from the main thematic framework, including Trade, Migration, Religion, Politics, Trafficking among others. The poems will also be published in a collection by Book Craft, Nigeria.
The Nigerians and some of the Italian poets will be read/perform their work at the event on Tuesday evening.
The cross-generational Nigerian poets featuring in the project are:
Richard Ali, editor Sentinel Nigeria Magazine, Divan of the Four Winds; Gimba Kakanda whose works have been published in various local and international media, including the Indian Journal Prosopisia: An Anthology of Poetry and Creative Writing; Razinatu T. Mohammed, whose collection of short stories titled, A Love Like a Woman’s and Other Stories won the maiden prize for the Association of Nigerian Authors/ Lantern Book Prize 2005; Uche Peter Umez, an alumnus of the International Writing Program (IWP), USA, and UNESCO-Aschberg Laureate; Tolu Ogunlesi's poetry, essays and fiction have appeared in World Literature Today, Transition, Wasafiri, The Caine Prize Anthology and translated into Chinese, Italian, Norwegian and Turkish; Jumoke Verissimo, author of the poetry collection I Am Memory, and winner of the 2009 Carlos Idzia Ahmad Prize for a first book of poetry, second prize 2009 ; among other prizes; Ify Omalicha (late), author Amidst the Blowing Tempest, They Run Still & Now that Dreams are Born;
Tade Ipadeola, author of two volumes of poetry – A Time of Signs (2000), and The Rain Fardel (2005).
Others are: Ben Omowafola Tomoloju, dramatist, poet, singer and author of Jankariwo, Askari among other works, and producer, director of the yearly poetry programme, P.L.A.Y.; Olufunmi Aluko, winner 1st Prize for Poetry in the Poetry/Painting Competition of the Communion and Liberation Movement; Deji Toye’s collection of poems Millennial Liege is awaiting publication; Chiedu Ezeanah’s first book of poetry,, Solar Energies (Book 1 of The Tristia Trilogy), is soon to be published; Chris Abani is author of the collections Sanctificum (2010), There Are No Names for Red (2010), Feed Me The Sun - Collected Long Poems (2010) and Kalakuta Republic(2001) among others; Ogaga Ifowodo, poet and writer, teacher of poetry and literature in English at Texas State University, USA is author of three collections of poetry: Homeland and Other Poems, Madiba, and The Oil Lamp; and Odia Ofeimun whose numerous collection of poems include The Poet Lied (1980), A Handle For The Flutist (1986), Dreams At Work and London Letter And Other Poems (2000).
Also included in the collection of poets are the Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, Playwright, Poet, Essayist and Human Rights activist, and John Pepper Clark Bekederemo, renowned poet and dramatist and recipient of the Nigerian National Merit Award for literary excellence (1991).
The Poetry Project is coordinated by Alessandra Di Maio (Italy) and Jahman Anikulapo (Culture Advocates Caucus, CAC, Nigeria) for the Lagos Black Heritage Festival.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Website: http://www.lagosblackheritagefestival.org/