Prairie Schooner and APBF to Partner with New Brunel University African Poetry Prize

Prairie Schooner and the African Poetry Book Fund are partnering with the Brunel University African Book Prize was which just announced. The announcement of this new prize follows:

The Brunel University African Poetry Prize is a major new poetry prize of £3000 aimed at the development, celebration and promotion of poetry from Africa. The prize is sponsored by Brunel University and partnered by Commonwealth Writers, the Africa Centre UK, and the African Poetry Book Fund USA.

British-Nigerian writer, Bernardine Evaristo, who has initiated the prize, describes her reasons for a new prize exclusively devoted to African poetry:

I have judged several prizes in the past few years, including chairing the Caine Prize for African Fiction in 2012, an award that has revitalised the fortunes of fiction from Africa since its inception in 1999. It became clear to me that poetry from the continent could also do with a prize to draw attention to it and to encourage a new generation of poets who might one day become an international presence. I am particularly interested in new voices who are exploring poetry that perhaps draws on the poets' own cultural aesthetics - doing something original, something different. African poets are rarely published in Britain. I hope this prize will introduce exciting new poets to Britain's poetry editors.

Prairie Schooner, one of the leading literary presses in the USA, having published continuously for eighty-five years, has committed to publishing some of the work of the winning poets of the Brunel University African Poetry Prize. Wasafiri, the leading British journal of international writing, will also publish the winner. Similar arrangements will be pursued with other major literary journals in the United Kingdom and the US.

Rules

• The prize will be for ten poems by an African writer who has not yet had a full-length poetry book published. (Self-published books, chapbooks and pamphlets are exempt.)
• The prize is open to poets who were born in Africa, or who are nationals of an African country, or whose parents are African.
• Only poetry written in English is eligible. Translated poetry is accepted but a percentage of the prize will be awarded to the translator.
• The prize opens for entries on October 26th 2012 and the winner will be announced in April 2013.
• There will be a distinguished panel of judges including the poet Kwame Dawes and the academic Mpalive Msiska. There will also be an advisory committee. All to be announced.

In collaboration with the African Poetry Book Fund, the Brunel University African Poetry Prize will develop a series of poetry workshops and courses in Africa in its efforts to provide technical support for poets writing in Africa.

For more updates and additional information go to the Facebook page of the Prize or contact Bernardine Evaristo. Additional information about the Brunel University African Poetry Prize will be available at the website of  the African Poetry Book Fund.

Chimamanda Adichie at Calabash Lit Fest in Jamaica

Photo by Andre Bagoo

The Calabash International Literary Festival returned after a one-year break to offer a full feast of readings, conversations and discussions about writing, and music from May 25 to 27 at its customary location, Jakes in Treasure Beach, Jamaica. Although located in a remote village, the festival, which scheduled a mix of local and international talent, is the most popular event of its kind in Jamaica, pulling an attendance of thousands over the three days. The organisers—led by film producer Justine Henzell and poet and lecturer Kwame Dawes—had as the theme “Jubilation”, in recognition of Jamaica's 50th anniversary of political independence.

The opening evening, Friday, slated Nigerian writer, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and New York City native, Victor Lavalle, under the banner “Two the Hard Way”. Although the organisers usually stay away from naming headliners, Ms Adichie was the pulling card for the hundreds who made her presentation their main event. Adichie's two novels, Purple Hibiscus and Half of a Yellow Sun, are well known to recreational readers in Jamaica, so her audience was excited to see her and they showed her love from the moment she touched the stage. She, in turn, seemed to sense the good vibe and executed a flawless delivery.

Her appearance in her trademark cosmopolitan styling went down well with the crowd which was made up mostly of professionals, academics, corporate executives and practitioners in the creative industries.

Photo by Andre Bagoo

Not all writers are captivating readers, but Ms Adichie had the full package. Adichie selected to read material about her own life and family in Nigeria and her natural voice has warm tones which carry her own words calmly, with conviction and with beauty. Perhaps unknown to her, she is a package that is already known to us—and beloved by us—the flowering of the daughter of a leading academic, exposed from a young age to good writing, informed discussions about ideas, and also passionately patriotic about her country.

Adichie’s first reading was recollections of the university campus house where she was raised, and which had been previously lived in by Nigerian writer, Chinua Achebe—one of her writing influences. She presents the home as a quiet place for reflections, dreams and a place to return to and feel rooted in. It is also where she started her first writing projects.

Achebe is the African writer that most Jamaican readers would know. He spoke a few years ago at the University of the West Indies, Mona, and many at the festival would have attended that event. For those in the audience who had the memory of his reading informing their senses as they listened to her, the dual experience would have seemed satisfying and meaningful.

May is a rainy month in Jamaica, even in the water-parched region of Treasure Beach, but it did not rain this year. Somehow, mosquitos find a way to survive and they bit into Adichie as she started her second selection. A volunteer lady-in-waiting, clad in unadorned white linen, wafted out of the audience and generously misted Adichie with repellent. She graciously acknowledged the pampering and flowed into the second reading.

Recollecting her Uncle Mai was a much more intimate reading. Adichie opened up on her personal experience of losing a loved one—a beloved uncle who died recently from a chronic disease. As writer, Adichie expertly handled bearing witness to the ongoing deterioration of someone who was close to her; and the inevitable committal of the body. Her words were clear, calm, accepting of what the family had to face, especially with his decision to limit his options for treatment.

Adichie became known to many in Jamaica through a speech that she delivered with thoughts on The Danger of a Single Story. That video went viral because of how she delivered that oft-lamented petulance that stories outside of the interest of major media outlets are not told. One listener said it was "revolutionary" because she was able to use her platform of fame to further the message with a clear, calm and beautiful delivery. Adichie packed those characteristics into her reading in Treasure Beach and at some time in the future she will know that Jamaicans reward that respect of audience with long memories of affection.

—Gwyneth Harold is a writer in Jamaica. Her book for young adults Bad Girls in School was published by Harcourt and is a part of the Caribbean Writers Series. She is currently working on another novel.

The Lit Bash at Jamaica's Calabash

Jamaica's famous Calabash Festival returned from a one-year hiatus to celebrate the Caribbean island's 50th independence anniversary with a great line-up of authors that included Nigeria's Chimamanda Adichie and the Jamaican National Book Award-winning writer and academic, Orlando Patterson. The festival ended successfully this past weekend, and in this blog post we have collated a number of reports.

Find photos and an ultra-short report over at Andre Bagoo's blog. A snippet:

Like the recently concluded Bocas Lit Fest in Trinidad, the programme featured a wide range of talent from the Caribbean, the diaspora and all over the world. Readers included Adichie, Jamaican writer and poet Olive Senior, Orlando Patterson, Victor Lavalle, and many more.

At Tallawah Magazine you can read about the Panama Canal and mosquitoes, as well as a short interview with Olive Senior and a longer one with Orlando Patterson. About his rise to literary prominence, Patterson says:

I saw my future mainly as a literary person, and I did quite well in England while I was a graduate student. I published my second novel and was publishing stories in all the major newspapers and so on, and I was doing reviews for the Times Literary Supplement. So I saw the trajectory primarily as one as a novelist. But there were times I was rethinking what I should be doing with my life because financially I felt a strong sense of responsibility to help look after my parents.

And finally, from the web pages of Jamaica's most respected newspaper, The Gleaner, comes this bit of info:

The Gleaner asked one of the organisers, Kwame Dawes, if the festival was on track for next year. He responded by saying although they were committed to carrying on the festival, it would be dependent on the funding. He, however, noted that entry for the event would remain free. Dawes said to host the event, approximately US$100,000 (J$8.7 million) is needed. So far, they have had a fund-raising dinner and they have instituted a system where people can donate money to the festival. Dawes said the Jamaica Tourist Board has supported the event and he is hopeful that they will get the required funding to continue the festival, not just from the tourist board, but in general.