Four residents have arrived in Iseyin, Oyo State, for the April/May 2019 edition of the Ebedi International Writers’ Residency programme. EVELYN OSAGIE reports.
Ebedi International Writers Residency has opened its doors to four young writers, who came to the ancient town of Iseyin, Oyo State, for the April/May 2019 edition of the programme.
They are a Cameroonian and three Nigerian writers -Howard Meh-Buh (Cameroon),Rasaq Malik Gbolahan (Nigeria), Nseabasi Akpan (Nigeria) and Bello Muhammad Bello (Nigeria).
Since September 2010, the residency, which is a private initiative for the use of writers wishing to complete their ongoing works in a conducive environment at no cost to the writers, has consistently opened its doors to writers across Africa. It has since hosted about 120 writers from 10 African countries, many of whom have won several local and international literary prizes.The residencywill offer them its full boarding facility for six weeks.
The newest residents, like their predecessors, are expected to mentor secondary school pupils in Iseyin as part of their community service during their stay and have a publishing opportunity with a Lagos-based Publisher, Literamed Publishers.
Meh-Buh is a PhD student of Microbiology in the University of Buea, and a staff writer for Bakwa Magazine. His works have been published and/or accepted in a couple of anthologies and magazines, including The Africa Report, Bakwa Magazine, Brittle Paper, The Kalahari Review, and Aerodrome. He was one of the participants of the Literary Exchange Programme for Creative Nonfiction, organised by Goethe- Institut Nigeria, Goethe- Institut Cameroon, Bakwa Magazine, and Saraba Magazine in May and November 2017. This also made him a guest at the Ake Arts and Book Festival in 2017, in Abeokuta, Nigeria. In 2016, his story “Reef 32” was on the long-list of the Bakwa Short Story Competition.
During his time at Ebedi, he would be working on his debut novel, set both in Cameroon and Bangladesh, inspired by the time he spent there, studying for his Masters’ Degree. He would also work with secondary school pupils in Iseyin by teaching them French language and creative writing.
The second writer, Gbolahan, a graduate of the University of Ibadan, is a poet, who hails from Ibadan. Razaq was shortlisted for the Brunel International African Poetry Prize in 2017. He is one of the six nominees of the Poet Lore Puschart Prize. His works have appeared in various journals, including Michigan Quarterly Review, Poet Lore, Spillway and Sentinel among others. He is the author of the chapbook, No Home in This Land, which is edited by Professors Chris Abani and Kwame Dawes and will be published in the United States later this year. Razaq, whose attention to culture and folklore is remarkable, is a young Nigerian author expected to break the ceiling in the coming years. He hopes to use his time at the Ebedi Residency to complete work on his next Poetry collection and mentor Iseyin pupils in the art of performance poetry.
The third writer, Bello from Zaria, Kaduna State, is a graduate of the University of the District of Columbia, Washington, D.C. as well as Lee University, Cleveland, Tennessee United States. In 2013, he represented the University of the District of Columbia at a Conference for Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA). Bello, who is fluent in Arabic, English, Hausa and Yoruba, is the author of “Small World Golden Words: 234 Axioms and Aphorisms”, a book of original thoughts and observations. Apart from working to develop another manuscript of aphorisms and poems, Bello would use his time in Ebedi to engage secondary school pupils in Iseyin in the area of thinking and writing aphoristically.
The last but not the least is Akpan, a visual artist from Cross Rivers State. Akpan, who uses photography to express his artistic talent, has been involved in group photography exhibitions in the United States, Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, Benin Republic, Syria, Croatia and Ethiopia. In addition, Iseabasi has also organised various photographic workshops in Nigeria, Ghana, Ethiopia and Gambia. In 2018, he was part of the Open Africa Road Trip photography presentation in the Republic of Benin, Togo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Senegal and the Gambia. An award winning Photographer, Akpan is the recipient of the following Photographic awards; The Mo Ibrahim Foundation Photography Competition, One World Media Photography Prize, eLearning Africa Photo Competition Public Vote Prize,Accenture Skills to Success Award, European Union/African Union Photography Prize, The African Artists Foundation Art Award as well as the BBC Focus on Africa Magazine Photo Essay Prize. Akpan will spend his time at Ebedi to update his photography of rural life as well as mentor Iseyin pupils in the art of photography.
