I STARTED READING BOOKS AT THE AGE OF TWO, HOW ABOUT YOU? #BABISHAIBOOKS

“I started reading books at the age of two, when did you start reading?” That is what Asiimwe, Rachel and other children of Epitome Kindergarten in Muyenga will say. When people see their ability to articulate in exceptional ways, their highly imaginative ability, they will say that it's because they started reading from the age of two.

Thanks to their head-teacher, Joyce, who organized a book week from 2^nd to 6^th November. The shelves were filled with animations, folk-tales, fairy-tales, animal stories, fantasy books and jolly phonics, all with the aim of changing a generation. We were privileged as Babishai Niwe Poetry Foundation, to donate books to the children. Chijioke Amu-Nnadi, a critically acclaimed poet from Nigeria, winner of the 2014 Glenna Luschei Prize with three globally sought after poetry collections to his name, donated a large amount of books to the Babishai Children’s Book Drive. Grassroots Uganda, run by Lee Anyadwe, generously donated children’s material to the drive as well and for that we are eternally grateful. These donations came during the Babishai Poetry Festival in August 2015. It was the first ever poetry festival in Uganda and came with close to 250 guests from 11 different countries. Our next festival will be held from 24 to 26 August 2016 under the theme of Abundance: Poetry From Contemporary Africa. Amongst the confirmed guests are Kenyan actor and playwright, John Sibi Okumu, The Head of Literature at Makerere University, Botswana’s highly acclaimed poet, TJ Dema, amongst others.

#Babishai2015 launching poetry on the mountain and speaking with Sara Kaweesa

Sara Kaweesa, board member.

Our #Babishai2015 winners

Mercy

Deo Lubega, Patron of the Mountain Club of Uganda

#Babishai2015 photos of the master-classes-Photos by Zahara Ab

Dr. Danson Kahyana, Makerere University

BODA BODA ANTHEM AND OTHER POEMS LAUNCH-#BABISHAI2015-PHOTOS BY ZAHARA ABDUL

Prof Rem Raj

The poets in smiles.

Mother of selfies

Anena and Susan

Babishai HM

Jackee Batanda and Mulumba Ivan Matthias

Regina Asinde of Femrite

Nyana Kakoma of Sooo Many Stories

Sam Ssemaganda-what? 3poems

Tom Forrest

Roxanna Kazibwe

Farida Bagaalaliwo

Becky from 104.1 Power FM

Nabweru Rwabukuku

Joseph Ssemutooke

ADEEKO IBUKUN WINS THE #BABISHAI2015 POETRY AWARD

ADEEKO IBUKUN WINS THE #BABISHAI2015 POETRY AWARD, FROM NIGERIA

CONGRATULATIONS!CONGRATULATIONS!CONGRATULATIONS! CONGRATULATIONS! CONGRATULATIONS!CONGRATULATIONS! CONGRATULATIONS! CONGRATULATIONS! CONGRATULATIONS! CONGRATULATIONS! CONGRATULATIONS! CONGRATULATIONS! CONGRATULATIONS!

PROFILING SALAWU OLAJIDE #BABISHAI2015 SHORTLIST (NIGERIA)

 

Salawu Olajide is a B.A Literature degree holder from the prestigious Department of English and Literary Studies, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. He is presently a postgraduate student of the same Department. He has published strings of works on Saraba Magazine, Stony Thursday (Ireland), Kalahari Review, ZODML, among others. He currently works as a freelance reporter and digital writer for The InfoStride. He enjoys listening to dadakuada music at his leisure time. When he was asked: ‘what piqued your interest in poetry?’ He answered, ‘the nothingness of its everything. Once I am grabbed again in my inside lab, I begin to experiment with those verse-able words.’

His shortlisted poem is here:

                        WOMEN LOVERS by Salawu Olajide (Nigeria)

                        
 

She first said her biology was failing, and then her look, then her smile, then her feeling, then her heart. We look at each other on the rocking chairs. Listen, she says. The tube of her mouth holds something venal and serious. We long for each other. Finally. The finally comes as if it is the only intended word in the middle of the phrasing. She has a way of meaning her adverb. Did you moan on each other’s thigh ‘cept for sex? She says nothing but a nod which means yes. The sun seems to be gossiping through the window, I unhinge the curtain and let darkness swallow us. There are things they must not know. I whisper some calmness into her heart. She adjusts her gown and shows the part of her breast where she last kissed her. It is as if I have never loved before.

The winner will be announced during the #Babishai2015 Poetry Festival, 26 to 28 August at The Uganda Museum.

PROFILING ARIZE IFEAKANDU (NIGERIA) #BABISHAI2015 SHORTLIST

Arinze Ifeakandu was born in Kano State, Nigeria, in 1995, and currently studies literature at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.  In 2013, he was shortlisted by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie to attend the annual Farafina Trust Creative Writing Workshop in Lagos. He is currently an Emerging Writer Fellow under the program run by A Public Space Magazine, and currently the editor of The Muse, a student journal of the department of English, UNN. 

Like Scented Mangoes    by Arinze Ifeakandu (Nigeria)

 

 I used to like the quiet in this place

Both of us

Seated under the mango tree

Sipping our tea in paper cups

Mum used to come and check on us

—Don’t climb up the mango tree, she said

But after she left you sprinted up

Agile as a monkey

And climbed branch after branch

The sunlight bathing you in the finest gold

And between us the scent of rotting mangoes

I was the fearful little one

Who watched with longing from below

As, balanced on a sturdy branch, you stared down at me

And smiled—You see? You see?

And then, clambering down, we stood side by side

Watching the sunset turn all bloody red

We have grown up too quickly

And I have traveled the world

Tokyo, Japan

Accra, Ghana

America, Everywhere

I have returned to this place

Where the silence now gnaws like rats’ teeth

Gentle-gentle, coolly-coolly

Between us, distance like scented mangoes

Mum’s grave white and marble

Behind the shrubs

Where once we lay side by side

And tasted the fading tea on each other’s tongue

Hands lingering at certain places

Your breath on my neck like warm-water air—

In Memory of a Loving Mother

—Memory like a frozen smile on a fading picture

Like childhood music at Sunday School

            La lala

I look up and the flowers are budding between green leafs

Two paper cups lie buried in sand and twigs

I squat to pick them up

But I pick only dust.

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The winner will be announced on August 28th at the #Babishai2015 Poetry Festival, Uganda Museum Kampala.

PROFILING SHEILA OKONGO OMARE NYANDUAKI (KENYA) #BABISHAI2015 SHORTLIST

Nyanduaki Sheila lives and works in Nairobi, Kenya. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics and Statistics from Kenyatta University, and has a great love for words, music, unconventional furniture and open front sweaters. In her early years she wrote book reviews for Young Nation Magazine and in 2005 and 2008 was among the national winners in the Scenarios from Africa Contest. In 2010, Sheila participated in the Young Writers' project-Nairobi,  an experience that reaffirmed her as a writer. On poetry, she says, 'I'm mostly drawn to poetry that is simple and that speaks delicately as well as honestly about the human condition.' Understandably so, she cites two of her favourite poems as  I know a man by Yehuda Amichai and I taught myself to live simply by Anna Akhmatova. On being included in the BNP 2015 shortlist, she says, 'it is an exciting journey that I'm on. It really is!'

Her shortlisted poem is here:

The Ghost of Jevanjee by Nyanduaki Okongo  Omare (Kenya)

You knew he would visit you,

sitting on the concrete bench, alone, pretending to be immersed in an old book

He greets your silence like an old friend

and stays there.

He will bother to describe the trees to you

each one of them

points at the shrubs by your feet and say- choose the one that speaks to you most and I'll give you its  name.

The sun will burn your back for attention

 the ants will pilgrimage up your skin like hungry hands

but you will do nothing about it.

He will tell you this- when the imminent rain comes, don't run away from it

allow it to wash your shadow clean

until it no longer darkens the ground above you.

And that even there,

in the midst of  love oaths

buried earthworms

hands pressed together in worry

planned sabbaticals

eagles' droppings

'I am the bread of life' sermons

thieves with no faces

memories of sex

great jokes told with closed mouths

smooth stones and potted flowers.

Even there,

you will find two friends:

Wrath, which burns but is sweeter

and Mercy, which suffocates but is lighter.

Choose one,

and it will give you your name.

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