Enu Dun Ju'yo - Mouth Sweeter than Salt - Mike Adenuga

The Constant reincarnation of KEN SARO WIWA

CALL FOR PAPERS—RAL Special Issue on Ken Saro-Wiwa as Public Intellectual

Guest Editor: Stephanie Newell

Since his execution by the Nigerian authorities in 1995, Ken Saro-Wiwa has received global recognition as a key figure in the struggle for minority people’s environmental and political rights. This special issue of Research in African Literatures focuses on Saro-Wiwa’s textual outputs and literary experiments and his legacy as a Nigerian and African “literary activist.” Contributions are invited from scholars with an interest in Saro-Wiwa’s popular media productions and political writings, in his poetry and creative prose, and in his broader influence over Nigerian literary culture. The aim of the volume is to debate Saro-Wiwa’s role as a public intellectual in all senses of the term and to highlight the ways in which his controversial appeal to local audiences (through TV series such as Basi & Co and books from Saros International) coexisted with his status as a political activist.

Close readings of Saro-Wiwa’s individual works are welcome, but the editor particularly invites comparative and contextual approaches and essays in which Saro-Wiwa’s significance to African public culture is addressed. Areas of interest may include:

Media, Creativity, and Publics: Saro-Wiwa’s television productions, journalism, YouTube/web presence, and popular media audiences;

Book History: Saros International Publishers and post-Independence publishing in Nigeria;

Local History: the ways in which Saro-Wiwa’s life and works are remembered and discussed locally;

Social and Political Satire: the operation and effects of humor and satire in Saro-Wiwa’s work;

Biafran War: Saro-Wiwa’s place in the canon of Biafran War writers;

After Saro-Wiwa: literary engagements with political activism, environmentalism, and ecocriticism since 1995.

All finished manuscripts are expected to conform to the standard RAL guidelines published in every issue of the journal and all submissions will be subject to peer review. Prospective contributors should send their 300–500 word abstracts by 31 May 2015 and expect notification of selection by 30 June 2015. Final papers are due by 30 November 2015 and will be subject to peer review. The guest editor encourages potential contributors to establish early contact via email to ral@osu.edu (with the subject line “Ken Saro-Wiwa Special Issue”).

PEN INTERNATIONAL/NEW VOICES AWARD 2015 CALL FOR ENTRIES

PEN INTERNATIONAL/NEW VOICES AWARD 2015

CALL FOR ENTRIES

PEN International has set up an annual New Voices Award to encourage new writing in

the countries in which we operate and to provide a much needed space for young and

unpublished writers to submit their work. The award will actively encourage entries

from diverse linguistic regions and communities.

Before PEN International was established in 1921, its founder C. A. Dawson Scott set up the

Tomorrow Club as a space for aspiring writers to network with more established writers. In 1928,

Herman Ould, International Secretary, felt strongly that it was important for PEN to maintain focus on helping emerging writers, and so established a ‘Young PEN’ chapter. The PEN International/New Voices Award builds on these ideas, simultaneously reconnecting

with our past and moving into the future.

NEW VOICES AWARD: AIMS

The annual PEN International/New Voices Award aims to:

- work closely with our Centres, to encourage new writing worldwide;

- encourage writers aged 18-30 to write short stories, creative non-fiction, journalism,

and poetry;

- to promote freedom of expression, literature, and the tenets of the PEN Charter;

- foster new forms of writing appropriate to our time;

- promote translation, especially into ‘bridge’ languages such as English, French, and

Spanish;

- provide a (much needed) space for emerging writers to submit their work;

- help emerging writers by providing advice on how best to work towards a career as

a writer;

- to cement PEN’s profile as the world’s oldest and pre-eminent writers’ organisation

PEN INTERNATIONAL/NEW VOICES AWARD: STRUCTURE

Details of the award’s terms of entry and judging structure are set out below:

1) TERMS OF ENTRY

- each PEN Centre, or officially-recognised Chapter, may nominate and mentor a

maximum of two writers. One male, one female;

- we only accept entries by email and from an accredited PEN Centre. Entries that

come directly from candidates will not be accepted;

- any nomination from a Chapter must be sent to PEN International by one of their local

PEN Centres;

- the nominating PEN Centre must include a correctly filled-out entry form with their

application;

- official entry forms will be sent directly to all PEN Centres prior to the opening of the

award;

- all proposed candidates must be over 17 & still under the age of 30 at the time of the

closing date;

- writers who have published books may not enter, but those who have existing

contracts with publishers for forthcoming books may enter. A nominee must not have

had any book published during the entire duration of the award;

- writers who have published pamphlets, or work in magazines and journals are allowed

to enter;

- writers nominated do not have to live in the country of the nominating PEN Centre, but

ideally should write in the working language of said PEN Centre;

- all manuscripts entered must be the work of one author only;

- prose entries must be between 2,000-4,000 words;

- poetry entries may take the form of individual poems, a sequence, or one long poem of

no more than 2,500 words in total;

- writers may only submit one prose work;

- all texts nominated must remain unpublished during the entire duration of the award;

- all submissions should be translated into English, French, and Spanish. The original

text must also be submitted. The nominating PEN Centre is responsible for organising

these translations where possible; in cases where PEN International arranges translations

PEN International is not responsible for their quality;

- the winning entry will be published by PEN International;

- the winning writer will receive an award of $1,000 USD;

- a longlist of six writers may request feedback on their entries;

- the shortlist of three writers may be asked to participate in later events through PEN

International;

- the winning writer will be announced during Congress;

- all translators will receive full accreditation and recognition;

- there will be no entry fee

2) JUDGING THE AWARD

- the Nigerian pre-award selection will be open to submissions February-April 2015;

- the submission window will close on 22 April 2015 no late entries will

be considered;

- the Nigerian Secretariat will have the entries assessed and the winning two entries one in each category would be translated to English, French and Spanish for easy assessment by the international judging panel;

- the International Secretariat will also arrange an assessment of the entry in its original

language;

- PEN National and International’s judging panel of experts, aims to reflect and be representative of PEN’s global remit and aims;

3) GUIDELINES

- amendments cannot be made to entries after they have been submitted, nor

substitutions made;

- it is not possible to confirm receipt of entries by phone or email;

- poems to be single-spaced and a line count noted at the top of the first page;

- short stories to be double-spaced and a word count noted at the top of the first page;

- the filename of online entries must be the title of the entry and it must be either a .doc,

.docx, .rtf file: we cannot accept PDFs

- if poetry is part of the nomination, all poems by one poet should be in one single Word.

document;

- all entries are judged anonymously: do not include the entrant’s name on the

document, only in the cover mail;

- the judges' decision is final and no individual correspondence can be entered into;

To enter and for further information please contact Secretary General, PEN Nigeria Centre

Ropo Ewenla: firo_po@yahoo.co.uk

PEN Nigeria, an affiliate of Pen International, promotes literature and freedom of expression and is governed by the PEN Charter and the principles it embodies: unhampered transmission of

thought within each nation and between all nations. Founded in 1921, PEN International

connects an international community of writers from its Secretariat in London. It is a

forum where writers meet freely to discuss their work; it is also a voice speaking out for

writers silenced in their own countries. Through Centres in over 100 countries, PEN

operates on five continents. PEN International is a non-political organisation which

holds Special Consultative Status at the UN and Associate Status at UNESCO.

International PEN is a registered charity in England and Wales with registration number

1117088. www.pen-international.org

PEN INTERNATIONAL/NEW VOICES AWARD 2014

PEN INTERNATIONAL/NEW VOICES AWARD 2014

PEN International’s 2^nd annual New Voices Award is to encourage new writing in

the countries in which it operates and to provide a much needed space for young and unpublished writers to submit their work. The award will actively encourage entries from diverse linguistic regions and communities.

Before PEN International was established in 1921, its founder C. A. Dawson Scott set up the Tomorrow Club as a space for aspiring writers to network with more established writers. In 1928,Herman Ould, International Secretary, felt strongly that it was important for PEN to maintain focus on helping emerging writers, and so established a ‘Young PEN’ chapter.

The PEN International/New Voices Award builds on these ideas, simultaneously reconnecting with our past and moving into the future.

NEW VOICES AWARD: AIMS

The annual PEN International/New Voices Award aims to:

- work closely with our members, to encourage new writing nationwide;

- encourage writers aged 18-30 to write short stories, creative non-fiction, journalism, and poetry;

- to promote freedom of expression, literature, and the tenets of the PEN Charter;

- foster new forms of writing appropriate to our time;

- promote translation, especially into ‘bridge’ languages such as English, French, and Spanish;

- provide a (much needed) space for emerging writers to submit their work;

- help emerging writers by providing advice on how best to work towards a career as a writer;

- to cement PEN’s profile as the world’s oldest and pre-eminent writers’ organization

PEN INTERNATIONAL/NEW VOICES AWARD: STRUCTURE

Details of the award’s terms of entry and judging structure are set out below:

1) TERMS OF ENTRY

- each PEN Centre, or officially-recognised Chapter, may nominate and mentor a

maximum of two writers. One male, one female;

- all proposed candidates must be over 17 & still under the age of 30 at the time of the closing date;

- writers who have published books may not enter, but those who have existing

contracts with publishers for forthcoming books may enter. A nominee must not have had any book published during the entire duration of the award;

- writers who have published pamphlets, or work in magazines and journals are allowed to enter;

- all manuscripts entered must be the work of one author only;

- prose entries must be between 2,000-4,000 words;

- poetry entries may take the form of individual poems, a sequence, or one long poem of no more than 2,500 words in total;

- writers may only submit one prose work;

- all texts nominated must remain unpublished during the entire duration of the award;

- the winning entry will be published by PEN International;

- the winning writer will receive an award of $1,000 USD;

- a longlist of six writers may request feedback on their entries;

- the shortlist of three writers may be asked to participate in later events through PEN International;

- the winning writer will be announced during Congress;

- all translators will receive full accreditation and recognition;

- there will be no entry fee

2) PRE-JUDGING THE AWARD IN NIGERIA

- the award will be open to submissions January-March – 05, 2014;

- the submission window will close on 12 midnight of 5th May 2014 and no late entries will be considered;

- the National Secretariat, will draw up an initial longlist with input from the panel of judges

- PEN Nigeria’s judging panel of experts, aims to reflect and be representative of

PEN’s global remit and aims;

-         There would be no less than three judges evaluating each of the genres;

-         Each of the judges, working independently, would come up with a list of three, scored over a hundred;

-         Two successful entrants in each genre would be provided official entry form for the international grand finale

- Two  shortlisted candidates would be eligible for a one year online mentorship programme starting from 2015

3) GUIDELINES

- amendments cannot be made to entries after they have been submitted, nor

substitutions made;

- it is not possible to confirm receipt of entries by phone or email;

- poems to be single-spaced and a line count noted at the top of the first page;

- short stories to be double-spaced and a word count noted at the top of the first page;

- the filename of online entries must be the title of the entry and it must be either a .doc, .docx, .rtf file: we cannot accept PDFs

- all entries are judged anonymously: do not include the entrant’s name on the

document, only on the covering mail;

- the judges' decision is final and no individual correspondence can be entered into;

To enter and for further information please contact Secretary General, PEN Nigeria, Ropo Ewenla: firo_po@yahoo.co.uk

Entries must bear the subject: NV 2014 ( Title of work)

PEN International celebrates literature and promotes freedom of expression. Founded in 1921, our global community of writers now comprises 146 Centres spanning more than 100 countries. Our programmes, campaigns, events and publications connect writers and readers for global solidarity and co-operation. PEN International is a non-political organisation and holds consultative status at the United Nations and UNESCO. www.pen-international.org

EBEDI 2014

It is an all-female affair at the Ebedi International Residency, Iseyin, Oyo State as its January-February 2014 edition opens. The writers are Jumoke Verissimo, Gertrude Uzoh, and Funmi Aluko. Based on the relationship between Verissimo and Aluko, both poets, one can indeed say it is a session of writer-friends. According to the profiles given in a statement signed by Uche Umez, Verissimo has participated in festivals across Nigeria and in Europe. Her poetry book, I am Memory, won two national awards and got an honourable mention from the Association of Nigeria Authors Poetry prize. She holds a Masters in African Studies (Performance) and is a recipient of the Chinua Achebe Centre Fellowship. She will be working on a collection of short stories.

“Gertrude Uzoh is a graduate of Computer Science from the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. Her debut novel One Love , Many Tears garnered rave reviews when it was released in 2012. In pursuit of her passion, she will be working on her second novel at Ebedi,” it adds.

Known mainly as a performance poet among her peers, Funmi Aluko has participated in P.L.A.Y. 2009, P.L.A.Y. 2010 – a pan-Nigerian Poetry Festival; Black Heritage Festival 2010 and 2012 respectively, etc. She has a Masters in Performance Studies from the University of Ibadan and will be completing a new poetry collection at Ebedi. Umez also notes that the Ebedi Board of Directors has appointed Kofi Sackey, as an administrative manager to oversee the day-to-day running of the residency. Kofi is a Ghanaian and alumnus of the Ebedi Int’l Residency. His latest poetry collection is Verses from the Wilderness, which he completed at Ebedi.

WRITE FOR PEN NIGERIA AND STAND A CHANCE OF WINNING $1000.00, ONE YEAR MENTORSHIP PLUS OTHER CHANCES.

Nigerian PEN Centre is calling for entries in prose and poetry in order to shortlist a male and female writer in the age bracket of 18-30 years old to represent the centre in the PEN INTERNATIONAL/NEW VOICES AWARD 2013.

Eligibility in the Nigerian shortlist process is based on the exact rules of the international competition as stated below. Contestants should thus note that the ultimate prize money is accessible only after scaling the Nigerian hurdle.

PEN International has set up an annual New Voices Award to encourage new writing in the countries in which we operate and to provide a much needed space for young and unpublished writers to submit their work. The award will actively encourage entries from diverse linguistic regions and communities. 

Before PEN International was established in 1921, its founder, Catharine Amy Dawson Scott, set up the Tomorrow Club as a space for aspiring writers to network with more established writers. In 1928, Herman Ould, International Secretary, felt strongly that it was important for PEN to maintain focus on helping emerging writers, and so established a ‘Young PEN’ chapter.

The PEN International/New Voices Award builds on these ideas, simultaneously reconnecting with our past and moving into the future.  

 PEN/NEW VOICES AWARD: AIMS

The first annual PEN International/New Voices Award aims to:

- encourage writers aged 18-30 to write short stories, creative non-fiction, journalism, and poetry;

- to promote freedom of expression, literature, and the tenets of the PEN Charter;

- foster new forms of writing appropriate to our time;

- promote translation, especially into ‘bridge’ languages such as English, French, and

Spanish;

- provide a (much needed) space for emerging writers to submit their work;

- help emerging writers by providing advice on how best to work towards a career as a writer;

- to cement PEN’s profile as the world’s oldest and pre-eminent writers’ organisation

PEN INTERNATIONAL/NEW VOICES AWARD: STRUCTURE 

Details of the award’s terms of entry and judging structure are set out below:

 1) TERMS OF ENTRY

- all candidates must be over 17 & still under the age of 30 at the time of the closing date;

- writers who have published books may not enter but those who have existing contracts with publishers for forthcoming books may enter;

- writers who have published pamphlets work in magazines and journals are allowed to enter;

- prose entries must be between 2,000-4,000 words;

- poetry entries may take the form of individual poems, a sequence, or one long poem of no more than 2,500 words in total; 

- writers may only submit one prose work;

- a longlist of six writers will receive feedback on their entries from distinguished experts;

- Two winning writers, a male and a female would have their entries sent to PEN International as Nigeria’s entry that might stand a chance of winning the ultimate prize money

-The winning entries would be translated into English, French, Spanish and one or two Nigerian Languages

- there will be no entry fee

2) JUDGING THE AWARD

- the award will be open to submissions from March15th to May 15^th, 2013;

- the submission window will close 12 midnight on 15 May 2013 and no late entries will be considered;

- our team of judges will offer online mentorship for a shortlist of six for not more than one year after the competition

3) GUIDELINES

- amendments cannot be made to entries after they have been submitted, nor substitutions made;

- poems to be single-spaced and a line count noted at the top of the first page;

- short stories to be double-spaced and a word count noted at the top of the first page;

- the filename of online entries must be the title of the entry and it must be either a .doc, .docx, .rtf, .wps, .pdf or .txt file;

- all entries are judged anonymously: do not include the entrant’s name on the document, only on the application sheet;

- worldwide copyright of each entry remains with the author, but PEN International will have the unrestricted right to publish entries in the e-anthology, in print, on the website, and in any relevant promotional material;

- the judges' decision is final and no individual correspondence can be entered into;

To enter send your entry with subject as PEN NEW VOICES 2013 to Secretary General, Nigeria Pen Centre, Ropo Ewenla: firo_po@yahoo.co.uk.

PEN International celebrates literature and promotes freedom of expression. Founded in 1921, our global community of writers now comprises 146 Centres spanning more than 100 countries. Our programmes, campaigns, events and publications connect writers and readers for global solidarity and co-operation. PEN International is a non-political organisation and holds consultative status at the United Nations and UNESCO. www.pen-international.org.