PRESS RELEASE-THE INAUGURAL #BABISHAIMENTORSHIP PROGRAM

PRESS RELEASE-     THE INAUGURAL #BABISHAIMENTORSHIP PROGRAM 

10 NOVEMBER 2015

The Babishai Niwe Poetry Foundation launches its pilot online mentorship scheme, which will run from November 2015 to May 2016. This first of its quest, this program is part of the #Babishaipoetry  annual prize, awarded to the shortlisted poets, who are some of the most highly imaginative, exceptionally talented and unswerving poets. This mentorship scheme in a sense, will enable them to foster a professional writing relationship with dedicated mentors to African poetry, nurturing their craft and building their confidence as performers. Some poets on the program are also winners from previous years. Amongst our mentors, whom we are most privileged to have are:-

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Nick Makoha represented Uganda at Poetry Parnassus as part of the Cultural Olympiad held in London. A former Writer in Residence for Newham Libraries, his 1-man-Show My Father & Other Superheroes debuted to sold-out performances at 2013 London Literature Festival and is currently on tour. He has been a panelist at both the inaugural Being A Man Festival (Fatherhood: Past, Present & Future) and Women Of The World Festival (Bringing Up Boys). In 2005 award-winning publisher Flippedeye launched its pamphlet series with his debut The Lost Collection of an Invisible Man. Part of his soon to be published 1st full collection The Second Republic is in the anthology Seven New Generation African Poets (Slapering Hol Press). Nick was a joint winner of the 2015 Brunel African Poetry prize and has poems that appear in the TriQuarterly Review and Boston Review and emerged third in the #Babishai2015 Poetry Award.

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Kwame Dawes

Ghanaian-born Jamaican poet, Kwame Dawes is the award-winning author of sixteen books of poetry (most recently, Wheels, 2011) and numerous books of fiction, non-fiction, criticism and drama. He is the Glenna Luschei Editor of Prairie Schooner, and a Chancellor’s Professor of English at the University of Nebraska.   Kwame Dawes also teaches in the Pacific MFA Writing program.  Dawes’ book, Duppy Conqueror: New and Selected Poems was published by Copper Canyon in 2013.Kwame is also the founder of the African Poetry Book Fund and African Poetry Book Series.

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 Stephen Derwent Partington.

Poetry is his primary hobby and passion. He began to write poetry at school. He describes his poetry as accessible. His early writing was full of Modernist allusions and foreign languages, but as he accessed more contemporary poetry this disappeared.

He’d probably also describe it as hybrid in the sense that while he has sought to fit into the Kenyan (and wider African) traditions of broadly Anglophone verse, lots of influences from his pre-Kenya days remain. He has been published widely in various anthologies and also,

published in; . Two collections, one in Kenya (SMS and Face to Face) and one from the UK (How to Euthanise a Cactus).

Harriet Anena is a Ugandan author, poet, and journalist. She is the author of a collection of poems, "A Nation In Labour" and currently works at African Centre for Media Excellence. Anena worked with the Daily Monitor newspaper as a reporter, sub-editor and deputy chief sub-editor from 2009 to September 2014. Her journalistic articles have been published in the Daily Monitor, New Vision and The Observer (Uganda). She has previously taught Specialized Writing at Islamic University In Uganda. (courtesy photo

Sopelekae Maithufi (courtesy photo)

 Associate Professor in the Department  of English Studies, University of South Africa. He generally researches how people in liminal positions discursively perform context-specific identities. This is an interest that he pursued with considerable earnestness subsequent to his MA degree candidacy in Postcolonial Literary Studies in English at the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg. His PhD (Wits, 2009) explored the suitability of Njabulo Ndebele's cultural studies model, the ‘ordinary’, to the representations of textures of everyday life in several South African short story writers. It reveals Maithufi's continued keenness in the novel ways in which subjects appropriate positions of authority beyond antinomian lines. As somebody who teaches mostly African literatures, literary and cultural studies theories from across the world, Maithufi attempts to highlight dynamic interplays between primary texts and theoretical frameworks.

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Aderemi Raji-Oyelade, popularly known as Remi Raji, Nigerian poet, scholar, literary organiser, and cultural activist. He graduated with a B.A. Hons degree, Second Class Upper, in English from the University of Ibadan in 1984. He got his Master’s degree in Literature in 1986 and his doctorate degree in African American and African literatures in 1994 from the same university.Professor Raji-Oyelade has published a number of books and essays in African, African American and Caribbean literatures, literary theory, contemporary Nigerian poetry, cultural studies and creative writing. A visiting professor and writer to a number of institutions including Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, Universities of California at Riverside and Irvine, University of Cape Town, South Africa, Stockholm University, Sweden, and Cambridge University, UK, his scholarly essays have appeared in journals including Research in African Literatures and African Literature Today. He is the author of six collections of poetry including A harvest of laughters (1997) which has won national and international recognition, Webs of Remembrance (2001), Shuttlesongs America: A Poetic Guided Tour (2003), Lovesong for My Wasteland (2005), Gather My Blood Rivers of Song (2009), and Sea of my mind (2013).In December 2011, he was elected as the President of the Association of Nigerian Authors, the largest umbrella body of writers in any African country. He served for two terms. Remi also serves on the board of the Babishai Niwe Poetry Foundation.

We intend to host the mentors and their poets at the #Babishai2016 Poetry Festival, which runs from 24 to 26 August 2016 in Kampala under the theme of Abundance: Poetry From Contemporary Africa.

The poets on the pilot scheme are:-

1.      Lua Nsume Davis (Cameroon/U.S)

2.      Olajide Salawu (Nigeria)

3.      Tolase Ajibola  (Nigeria)

4.      Roxanna Kazibwe (Uganda)

5.      Sheila Okongo Nyanduaki  (Kenya)

6.      Ann Waruguru Kiai (Kenya)

7.      Babajide Olesugun (Nigeria)

8.      Sanya Noel  (Kenya)

9.      Famia Nkansa  (Ghana)

10.  Adhiambo Agoro   (Kenya)

11.  Gbenga Adesina   (Nigeria)

12.  Tom Jalio  (Kenya)

13.  Kelly Taremwa  (Uganda)

14.  Adeeko Ibukun  (Nigeria)

15.  Rashidah Namulondo  (Uganda)

This scheme will run annually and there will also be open calls for submissions next year.

Contact

Beverley Nambozo Nsengiyunva

Email: babishainiwe@babishainiwe.com

Twitter: @BNPoetryAward

Facebook: Babishai Niwe Poetry

Rashida Namulondo, winner of 2013 BNPA shares her Storymoja story

Rashida Namulondo receiving her winning prize, BNPA 2013. Photo by Buyondo. >p>Rashida reflects on Storymoja Hay Festival 2013 Earlier this year my poem TIME was announced winner of 2013 BN Poetry award, this came along with a cash prize of $500,autographed books from four authors and a trip to Story Moja Hay festival. My experience at story Moja was ecstatic.

We set off on the 18th September so we could be in time for the festival on the 19th which was to run up to 22nd September. Having signed up for the master classes, 10.00am found me seated in a session about Publishing by Kwame Dawes a renowned poet. In this session we discussed various options for a writer who wants their work published, options like journals, publishing houses, prizes and many more. Kwame’s resonating words: ‘writing is a craft, you have to keep building your craft, learn and learn all options you have the more you know the more you can easily create and improvise’ he related this to a jazz a player to be able to improvise he must have learnt a variety of cords.

The second session of my day was by Dr.Neal Hall a surgeon and writer of an award winning book Nigger For Life. In his session Dr.Neal Hall talked about voices of a poem. He emphasized that the most important voice is our inner voice, it’s what inspires us to write and we should practice to listen to what our inner voice says to us and write down and build on it.

Dr.Neal Hall’s session included readings from all the attendants of their own work, it was fun and encouraged all the writers to find their voices above anything else. ‘Your inner voice is the greatest inspiration’ he said.

My third session found me laughing my head off about how to write Non-fiction humor by Zukiswa Wanner the writer of a hilarious book the Madams she empasized to be able to write humorous facts you have to be aware of what’s around you, pay attention to everything around you and you will be able to pick small facts that can make a situation hilarious but more than ever you have to draw the line know what to say and what not to say.

That night all the writers met at a kanga party, where we all interacted, shared experiences. I had interesting conversations with some of the writers about their work like Teju Cole (Open City), Dilman Dila (a commonwealth writer) and many more. Day two found me in The short story session by Richard Crompton journalist and author of ‘The Honey Guide. He elaborated on types of a short story, structure of a short story emphasizing that the language of a short story should be economically, pertinent, concise and appropriate. A short story is an allegory for a long story he concluded by saying ‘if you are to continue writing, read read and read.

My second session of the day found me laughing my heart out as Atinuke the inspiring story teller, read from her children book No.1 Car Spotter, a hilarious book that illustrates a life of a young village boy. Good for young readers and inspiring to young writers as it tackles your sense of creativity. My next stop was in the Creative writing session by Jackson Biko a lifestyle writer and editor at Gecko publishing. He emphasized to write differently and creatively,’ learn to put faces to situations. ’the rule of creative writing is to break the rule’ he said smilingly. His session was eye opening and educative in how to write about frequent situations differently.

Koroga by Michael Onsando, an interesting workshop where we got to put words to pictures. It was amazing at how different pieces with different dimensions emerged from the interpretation of the same picture by the poets, the session showed how stories can be created by stirring together different disciplines.

Warsan Shire, Dr.Neal Hall, Mongane Wally Serote in Voicing The Unspoken. The writers each read from their books, Warsan’s work from her book ‘teaching my mother to give birth’ was about experiences of growing up from another country and the nostalgia of home, Wally shared his experience of activism in the apartheid regime and what motivated him to write he shared pieces from(Yakhal’Inkomo) that talked about reconciliation, ‘when we talk about reconciliation we look at black and white, but we black people haven’t come to terms with the wounds in our past, our societies are broken because we haven’t recovered from the injustices done to us. We have to reconcile with ourselves within communities, tribes and our past to achieve true peace’ this phrase decoded in my own understanding did make me think about our future and our past.

Dr.Neal Hall read from his book (Nigga for Life) his readings illustrated the continued struggle of black Americans not to be judged by race not to be marginalized because of their color. He made two statements that remain strung on my mind. ‘it’s not in the calling us Niggers that we should fight against but in the treating us as niggers” ‘don’t be afraid of being angry, hang on, on your pain and fear, don’t be afraid but let it inspire you positively. This session moderated by Njeri Wangari (mines and minefields) was very interactive covering topics like exploitation, reconciliation, exile and freedom.

The play I knew a man called Livingstone is a hilarious story about David Livingstone from the perspective of his African friends by Mara Menzies. I later on proceeded to a discussion by Ng’endo Mukii and Tazim Elkington on Ng’endo’s film shadism that talks about discrimination arising from our convoluted ideas around beauty and skin colour. Later that day it was my turn to hold a session, the poetry session East engages West hosted by Beverley Nambozo consisted of poets from the east, Rashida Namulondo, Pamela Orogot, Kelly Taremwa (three finalists in the BN Poetry 2013 award) and Clifton Gachagua from the west Africa we had Nii Parkes, Kwame Dawes and Fatou Were each poet read three pieces and answered questions from the audience, it was an interesting session that brought forward questions of music and its relevance in poetry.

However one of the poets from the west who was to be in the session with us, the renowned poet Kofi Awoonor was not available as he was a victim of the Westgate terrorism attack that happened that evening which brought an abrupt end to the festival. Prof. Awoonor was later pronounced dead, may HIS soul rest in peace. We returned home with the promise to return the next year.