this time, it's a kenyan call out...

The Kenya-based journal Kwani? just sent out a call for poetry submissions for it's sixth issue, around the theme "The Kenya I Know." Here's the call:

Following multiple conversations on "The Kenya We Want," and our recent "The Kenya I Live In" short story competition, Kwani Trust would like to invite writers to submit poems that explore the multiple realities we live in, the moments that define our public and personal lives, be they located in our parents, our childhood; high school and/or college, our adventures accessing and conquering (or not) workplaces, what parenthood begins to look like; the things that change, the things that remain the same.

We're looking for disarming poems written in song and dance, in colour or in black and white, in noise and silence, innocence or guilt – truths and lies as told by a new generation, spurred by new imaginations, revealed by new narratives and expressions.

Selected poems will appear in the upcoming Kwani? 06.

Submission Guidelines for poems on "The Kenya I Know."

• Up to 5 poems per submission
• Kwani? 06 is about a certain generation, and therefore only invites entries from writers born after September 12th, 1978
• The work can be in English, Kiswahili or Sheng. Kwani accepts submissions which have been previously published in magazines and other spaces, but not in a full-length book collection, unless solicited
• Do not make multiple submissions, or forward edits of your submission. Only shortlisted writers will be contacted
• Authors of accepted work will receive two thousand shillings
• Please send submissions by email, attached as a Word doc (not docx) to mypoetrykwani@gmail.com or by post as a typescript (no handwritten scripts please) to PO Box 2895-00100, Nairobi, Kenya

Formatting Guidelines

• On the coversheet: indicate the name of author, contact address, telephone number, date of birth and email address
• Use plain fonts (e.g. Times New Roman, Garamond, Arial, Calibri) at least 12 point
• Only one poem per page
• Include poem title, page number, and name of author on every page

Submission Deadline: 26 March 2010

The call is also posted on the Kwani website, as you might imagine...

This is a tremendous opportunity and more generally Kwani? is just one of those marvelous productions that's well worth reading and subscribing to (or otherwise supporting) even if you're now, officially, considered an old-fart by them.

chris abani on the big stage

The poet and novelist Chris Abani has given at least two TED talks which are, I think, worth watching. Little directly related to poetry in either -- though he concludes both with a reading/recitation (of a poem by Lucille Clifton in one and Yusef Komunkakaa in the other) -- but if we take all the world to be the stuff of poetry, then "relevance" is not an issue for us here...

These are interesting pieces by one of the younger, and in many respects, "anointed" voices. He reminds us that "there are no essential Africas," of the distinction between news and narrative, and, I think, that there is space and time and something worthwhile about listening. And reflection.

You also, I think, have to view these with an awareness of the audience he is addressing.

Like many, my first introduction to Abani was through his novel Graceland and only later (though not too much later) did I discover his poetry. It's a poetry I'm not entirely sure what to make of; perhaps because I've only read each volume once, and then in the heat and rush and bustle of the graduate school experience where I was very much a one man extractive industry.

I have to revisit the poetry. Though if pressed I would, for the moment, say that his novella, Becoming Abigal, is his strongest, most searing work.

Abani's website seems more focused on promotion than distribution, so I'd suggest looking elsewhere for his work. There's an entertaining interview on Poetix and an extended write-up on Abani and his work which includes links to a number of his poems on the Poetry Foundation website.

african poetry on a national (US) broadcast?!?

Indeed! Amazing as it is, some small segment of the poetry community of the Continent actually broke into a national broadcast with -- gasp!! -- poetry (instead of... oh, something like bringing Wole Soyinka on to talk about the crisis in the Niger Delta).

As part of its Emerging Cultural Voices from Africa series, National Public Radio's Morning Edition presented a piece on A Voice for South Africa's Post-Apartheid Generation way back on 7 August 2009 (this piece has been held in draft since).

It is a brief story about the South African poet, Lebo Mashile (and nominally, by extension, the "born-frees" -- those who came of age in South Africa after the demise of Apartheid). There are snippets of Mashile's readings and performances and she offers up the rather perplexing (to me) notion that growing up in the United States was good preparation for living in South Africa: "it helped me to understand my identity as a black person globally."

Though I think one of the most telling and spot-on comments in the story is offered up by a young man identified only as Mpho Slenda Lakaje: "we have to live our lives in such a way that it's not apologetic. We are the generation that's going to lead this country, for sure."

For sure. But unapologetically? Hmmm...

Some additional links of interest:

• Lebo Mashile's homepage
• Lebo Mashile on African Writing (brief bio and poems)
• Lebo Mashile on Kalavati (biography and performances)

Side note: Mpho "Slenda" Lakaje happens to be the BBC's reporter in Johannesburg. Does it "matter"? Not really. But it seems to me a rather artful omission in Ofeibea Quist-Arcton's reporting: lending additional township "cred" and authenticity by implication...

from the archives: syl cheney-coker on the cbc (2003)

Way back on December 7, 2003, the Sierra Leonean poet and novelist Syl Cheney-Coker appeared on CBC Radio One's Writers & Company with Eleanor Wachtel.

I managed to download and save the audio a few years ago; good thing too, as it's no longer available on the CBC website. You can stream it by clicking on the play button below.



Cheney-Coker is, to my thinking, one of the great poets of the second generation of African poets; and one whose work hasn't really been appreciated and recognized to the extent it deserves, within the academy at least.

Includes a reading of "Our Lady of Diamonds" -- which appears in Stone Child (a collection that was already "forthcoming" in 2003 but didn't appear in print until 2008). You can watch Cheney-Coker read the same poem at the 2007 Festival Internacional de Poesía in Medellín, Colombia.

Bits and pieces?

Sierra Leone did not face a civil war; it was, instead, "a naked case of lawlessness, banditry, thievery".

A marvelous, touching (and always melodious) evocation of his youth -- so much that I've read nowhere else -- yet clear-eyed: "all the affectations of a pseudo-English life".

He also reads, "Childhood" & "Bread" -- both from The Blood in the Desert's Eyes.

"...we all carry the tremendous weight of history on our head, and it crawls on our backs when we least expect it."

"I could read and understand Soyinka very well... but the deep symbolism of the masquerades and things like that was completely lost to me."

Cites the Congolese Felix Tchicaya U Tam’si and Peruvian César Vallejo as two central poetic influences on his work (though but two of hundreds he's read, and a certainty that his own voice has emerged).

"My life wasn't really threatened when I went to the Philippines or to Nigeria, it was just that the situation was just untenable in Sierra Leone."

"I miss being able to sit on my veranda and see the river flowing in front of my house. Yes, that is what I miss the most."

Closes with a reading of "On Being a Poet in Sierra Leone" -- from The Graveyard Also Has Teeth.

And much, much more, of course. Every time I hear that voice -- smooth, controlled, strong -- listen... Just listen. And read his poetry. It's not always easy, but it's always worth it.

another one for the (resident) south africans among us

There is an announcement on the Book SA website that the deadline for the inaugural Sol Plaatje Poetry Award has been extended to 1 March 2010 (original deadline appears to have been 31 January 2010).

Information on the award, eligibility guidelines, and details on how to submit are all in the posting.

The real exciting aspect of the prize? The award will be given "for poetry in all 11 South African languages".

The ten thousand rand award will be spread rather thin this way but what an opportunity -- and something I certainly wish you saw more often elsewhere.

I can't find anything about the Sol Plaatje Poetry Award on the Jacana Media/EU Awards webpages (Jacana Media seems to be the coordinator of the award), so look to the posting above for information -- and updates?

more fun with twitter

For the second year in a row, Ben Okri has fed out a poem via his Twitter account.

This year it's a poem titled "As clouds pass above our heads..." and can be read in full on the Ebury Publishing blog.

Last year's "I sing a new freedom" apparently created quite the buzz -- though surely for the novelty of it all more than anything else.

In both instances, though, very unlike the poetry collected in his An African Elegy: for those familiar with Okri's work -- certainly for me -- these tweeted poems are oddly (intentionally) aspirational/inspirational...

And thanks yet again to Book SA for leading me to it.

exclusive apr (usa) content on facebook

I'm thrilled to announce the launch of a new feature on the african poetry review's Facebook fan page: the Facebook-featured Poets for Fans.

Sarah Frost (South Africa) and Uche Nduka (Nigeria/USA) have generously contributed some of their poems just for the Facebook fans of apr (usa)!!

We'll be adding poems over the coming weeks and months, ad infinitum. While you're visiting be sure to read and comment on the wall -- I'd love to hear your thoughts. (And for you real poetry junkies, don't forget to check out the apr (usa) Twitter feed.)

So if you're on Facebook visit our fan page, become a fan, and enjoy Frost's "Grahamstown" and Nduka's "About It", "There's the Cove", and "Which In Fact".