Poets in Nigeria (PIN) will publish eight titles in the third edition of PIN Chapbook Series initiated in 2018 to engage the upsurge of interest for poetry writing and reading amongst the younger generation.
Slated for release on Friday 16th of July, 2021 on PIN website and digital sales channels like Amazon, the poery chapbooks address a wide range of themes including COVID-19, identity, social injustice, spirituality, mortality, self-discovery, domestic violence, corruption, grief, rejuvenation, love, patriotism and personal growth. Remarkably, forthcoming in the 2020 – 2021 Series is the PIN 10-Day Poetry Challenge anthology moderated by Ifunanya Juliet Ottih and Shehu Mubarak Sulaiman.
The selected titles are as follows:
- COVID RIFTS – Onyekachi Onuoha
- MACABRE AND THE DEATH OF ROSES – Fubaraibi Anari Benstowe
- PRESERVE THIS LIGHT – Odukoya Adeniyi
- CATHARSIS – Ozota Gerald Obinna
- THINGS I HAVE COME TO LEARN ABOUT SADNESS – Haruna Abdulmajid
- COLOURS OF LAGOS – Oluwakeji Daniel Onabajo
- THE TRUMPETERS – Daniel Singfuri Yohanna
- PIN 10-DAY POETRY CHALLENGE – Ifunanya Juliet Ottih and Shehu Mubarak Sulaiman (Moderators)
The poets were selected having affirmed their substantive writing talent in line with the relevance of their messages.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Fubaraibi Anari Benstowe hails from Bonny Kingdom, Rivers State Nigeria and attended the Niger Delta University in Bayelsa State. His poetry focuses on social sanity, injustice, and celebration of Africa. His works have been published in Praxis magazine, Nigeria/South-Korea Poetry anthology, Mariner ANA Bayelsa literary Magazine, Journal of the association of Faculty of Art Students, University of Ibadan 2020, and 20.35 Africa: An anthology of Contemporary African Poetry. He was a guest poet at the Ake Art and Book Festival in Abeokuta, Ogun State in 2014, a top ten finalist in the Africa-Wide BN Poetry Award based in Uganda in 2014, and a first runner-up for the Eriata Eribhabor Poetry Prize 2014. He is a recipient of the Certificate of Excellence from the Girl Child Creativity Concept of Zimbabwe in collaboration with the Society of Young Nigerian Writers (2013) and in 2018, he was listed as a role model by the African in Diaspora.
Onyekachi Peter Onuoha is an alumnus of University of Calabar and University of Lagos respectively. He teaches African Digital Literature and Creative writing at the Department of English and Literary Studies, University of Calabar. He is a Street Biographer and a recipient of Volkswagen Foundation Scholarship on Digital Humanities, 2018. He has also won awards of “Special Recognition” by Street Priests for his literary contributions on street children in his book Earth Corners, 2020. He has contributed book chapters and scholarly articles to national and international journals. He is widely published with the following titles: Idara, Moonlight Lady (Kraftbooks, 2012), MyFather Lied, The Scream of Ola (Kraftbooks, 2013), Ijeuwa (Authorhouse UK, 2015), Identity, The Fears of Mama (Kraftbooks 2015) The Heresy of Gossip, Aluta Struggles (Celbestbooks, 2011), Smell (AMABooks, 2017) Earth Corners (Kraftbooks 2019) African Digital Prose (EbonyBooks 2020), Practical Approaches to Creative Writing (Celbestbooks, 2020), Women in Continue Punning Men-boys (Celbestbooks 2021), amongst others.
Daniel Singfuri Yohanna was born in the early 90s. He is a graduate of University of Maiduguri and the author of Heaven’s Gate and Other Poems. His works have appeared in Poemify magazine, Parousia Magazine, and Upwrite Magazine, Fifth Chinua Achebe Poetry/Essay Anthology, The Markas (International Anthology), and others. He has flair for satiric, erotic and gospel poetry.
Ozota Gerald Obinna writes from somewhere in Enugu, Nigeria. He was long-listed in the 2020 Nigeria Students Poetry Prize with his poems “Walls”. His works have appeared in The Shallow Tale Review, Rising Phoenix Review, Kalahari Review, Praxis Magazine, Grand-Little-Things, Nanty Green and other notable magazines. He is an advocate of mental health and seeks to break stereotype through his writing.
Haruna Abdulmajid is a Nigerian poet. He has poems published in crêpe and Penn, Vaughan double streets, NSPP anthology (2020) and elsewhere. His poem My Beautiful Home won the third-place prize for Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria in the UNDP GEP_SGP National Art And Essay Competition for undergraduates in Nigeria. In 2017, Abdulmajid was a finalist for the CYPAN peace essay competition. His essay on the critical analysis of the poem ‘A PLEA’ by Pamela Ajayi was considered for the Dawn Project Prize in 2020.
Oluwakeji Daniel Onabajo is a final-year student of Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology (OAUSTECH), Okitipupa where he majors in Mathematics. He is a literary enthusiast with a preference for poetry. His works appear on a number of platforms including Naija Pidgin Worldwide, Petals of Wisdom poetry anthology, and various online sites. Colours of Lagos is his debut poetry collection. When he is not writing or reading, he explores the world of web design and web development. He hails from Ikorodu in Lagos State, Nigeria.
Odukoya Adeniyi is an undergraduate of English and Education at Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife Nigeria. His works have appeared/ forthcoming on several literary magazines.