PRESS RELEASE: POETRYGANZA-JANUARY TO JANUARY

PRESS RELEASE- 11 FEBRUARY 2015
A YEAR OF POETRYGANZA.


On behalf of the board of the BN Poetry Foundation, I am pleased to share some of our literary and creative poetry events in the next few weeks. We invite you to be a part. The Babishai Niwe (BN) Poetry Foundation is an establishment that coordinates annual poetry competitions for African poets, publishers work of African poets, organizes literary festivals and uses a unique toolkit called Poetricks, to make poetry possible for children.
We invite you for our reading on Friday 13th February 2015 for a reading based on the theme, Love, Romance nebigenderako mu Kampala. We expect poems, spoken word and stories on the issues of Love, specific to Kampala City. It will take place from 10:30am to 12:30pm at 32° East | Ugandan Arts Trust in Kansanga, opposite Bank of Baroda. On that day, we’ll also sell what reviewers have termed the most dynamic anthology of African poetry to date; A Thousand Voices Rising, we’ll hold a mini launch of A Nation in Labour, a poetry collection by Harriet Anena and in partnership with Poetry-in-session, give the participants an early Valentine’s surprise.

From 15 January to 15 May, we’ll be receiving submissions for the BN Poetry Award. The details are on the website at www.bnpoetryaward.co.ug. Our judges this year are Antjie Krog is a poet, writer, journalist and Extraordinary professor at the University of the Western Cape. She has published twelve volumes of poetry in Afrikaans and three non-fiction books in English:Country of my Skull, on the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission; A Change of Tongue about the transformation in South Africa after ten years and recently Begging to be Black about the different ethical frameworks operating in the country’s democracy. Her works have been translated into English, Dutch, Italian, French, Spanish, Swedish, Serbian and Arabic.

Krog has been awarded most of the prestigious South African awards for non-fiction and poetry in both Afrikaans and English. International recognition came through the award of the Hiroshima Foundation for Peace and Culture (2000); Open Society Prize (2006) from the Central European University (previous winners Jürgen Habermas and Vaclav Havel);Research fellowship at Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin 2007/2008 and an Honorary Doctorate from the Tavistock Clinic of the University of East London UK.
Mildred Barya:
Mildred Kiconco Barya, a Ugandan doctorate fellow at The University of Denver. She holds a Masters Degree in Creative Writing from Syracuse University and a Masters Degree in Organisational Psychology from Makerere University.

She is the author of three award-winning poetry collections, namely:-
Give Me Room to Move My Feet, published in 2009 by Amalion Press in Senegal, The Price of Memory after the Tsunami, published by Mallory Publishers in UK and Men love Chocolates But They Don’t Say, self-published collection in 2002. Mildred serves on the advisory board of African Writers Trust where she is also a founding member. She is devoted to social change through creative works and blogs regularly at mildredbarya.com.

Richard Ali:
Richard Ali is a lawyer, author and poet born in Kano, Nigeria. Author of the warmly received 2012 novel, City of Memories, Richard is also Editor-in-Chief of the Sentinel Nigeria Magazine and was a runner-up at the 2008 John la Rose Short Story Competition. He edits the quarterly Sentinel Nigeria Magazine and serves as Publicity Secretary [North] on the Association of Nigerian Authors. Richard completed a 6-week Residency at the Ebedi Writers Residency Program in 2012, attended the Chimamanda Adichie-led Farafina Workshop in 2012 and was a Guest at the 2013 Ake Book and Arts Festival, Abeokuta. He lives in Abuja where he practices law and runs the northern office of Parrésia Publishers Ltd where he serves as Chief Operating Officer. He is unmarried and enjoys chess, reading and travelling. He is working on his debut collection of poems, The Divan.

In March, we’ll be holding a mini poetry festival in Kabale. This coincides with the Kabale University Language Day. We’ll hold readings, share the stage with the students in spoken word and donate books towards their library.

In May, we head to Nakuru with a delegation of poets for the inaugural Nakuru based Storymoja Festival. The BN Poetry Foundation sent the first ever Ugandan poets to the Storymoja Festival in 2012 and the partnership has grown ever since.

In July, we will announce the shortlisted poets of the BN Poetry Award and in August, hold a poetry festival in Kampala, as we announce the 2015 winner.

September, together with Bayimba Foundation, we’ll launch the first ever poetry anthology on the theme of Kampala City, during the Bayimba Festival.
We look forward to sharing more this Friday at the Love, Romance reading.

Beverley Nambozo
Founder, BN Poetry Foundation
Tel: +256 751 703226