The Words Finesse

The 2018 Babishai-Niwe Poetry Award has announced a longlist of 35 names.

Twenty-six (26) of the longlist are from Nigerian, Three (3) from Kenya, Two (2) from Zimbabwe; while one (1) poet each from South Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda and Malawi, made it to the list.

The 2018 Award judged by Remi Raj, Rehema Nanfuka, and Alfred Msadala produced the following longlist:

The winner of this year Award will be announced at the 2018 Babishai-Niwe Poetry Festival from 3-6 August, in Kapchorwa and Mbale, Uganda.

Founded in 2009 by Uganda’s Beverly Nambozo Nsengiyunva, director of Babishai-Niwe Poetry Foundation, the BN Poetry Award was originally aimed at highlighting poetry by Ugandan women. 

The first winners were Lilian Akampurira Aujo in 2009, Sophie Brenda Alal in 2010), Sanyu Kisaka in 2011, and Susan Piwang in 2012. 

After the prize was expanded to all African poets, the winners were Tom Jalio in 2014, Adeeko Ibukun in 2015, and Sanya Noel and Moyosore Orimoloye in 2016.

Read the Longlisted Poems for the Awards

A controversial literary critic, Ikhide R. Ikheloa, in a Twitter chat on SynCity’s “Literary Lords and Ladies” series, asserted that the Caine Prize has degenerated to the celebration of mediocrity,  orthodoxy, and exhausted cliches.

Brittle Paper, an online literary site is calling for nomination of works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and essays or think pieces for consideration by its editorial team for the 2018 edition of its Awards.

Celebrated Nigerian author, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, has said that she feels sorry for men because they can’t have the experience of giving birth.

The Kenyan winner of the prestigious Caine Prize for African Writing, Makena Onjerika has said she will donate a tenth (£1,000) of her winnings to help rehabilitate street children in Kenya.

In her recent tweet she also said that she is hopefully working with others for the long term around children's affairs.

Speaking to BBC on how she will expend the remaining money, Onjerika said, "With the rest of the money I'll buy a car or maybe a motorcycle to get through traffic jams in Nairobi."

On why she chose to write about street children, she said she write about them because "Kenyans - me included - do not see street kids as children.

"There are children, and then there are 'chokora'," she added, explaining the derogatory Swahili term used by Kenyans which translates as "street urchins".

Onjerika, who is the fourth Kenyan to take the prize, won for her short story “Fanta Blackcurrant,” published in Wasafiri in 2017, in which a street child in Nairobi, who makes a living from sex trade is caught stealing and is beaten by local criminals.

Her story Fanta Blackcurrant was chosen from a shortlist of five.

Read or Listen to "Black Currant"