Give Me Some Love Finalists

Happy Valentine’s Day! Thank you to everyone who sent us a poem.

We have done our bit and picked the best five poems and now it’s up to YOU.

Have a read and let us know which poem is your favourite. Tweet your favourite poems with #FaveGiveMeSomeLovePoem or write it in the comments below. Voting ends 17 Sunday @ midnight and the winners of Chimamanda Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus will be announced on 18 Monday.

To the poets with poems posted below – CONGRATULATIONS. Direct message us on twitter if you would like us to tweet an extract of your poem to your loved one. Good Luck!

UNNAMED
Through my ring of defence have you broken
Slipped through like a sylph into a place
Too long closed and that I feared to open.
Now, daily, I seek to see your face.
Swept away by svelte and gentle graces,
And by words not so much spoken as sang;
Swayed by your sweet looks that swamped my senses,
My heart went out with a flutter and bang.
And the strings, having been pulled wide, are now,
Like matching keys on the piano, melding
In tunes smooth, sublime, serene, and mellow;
Uplifting, lilting, and liberating.
Marianna, you have made me complete:
For this heart, with your love, is now replete.

SAMUEL ORUBU

LOVE ME ON VALENTINE’S DAY.
Love me on valentine,
when long-suffering switch bad my song,
like rotten fruits from the vine.
I have waited this long
for the world to bring this time.
I am orphaned and lent to streets, a lost child
messaging the poet page us on rhyme.
I have lived mild…but still in wild
hours of the night; like roses
smell, your love smell like perfume richer
than the rottenness of time past; our loses
are our gain, because your love keeps us bigger
than the sour times so bad;
burnt hearts sing for valentine’s free, against the life we had.

 DONALD WILLIAMS

 FOR AS LONG AS YOUR LOVE REMAINS
And for as long as your love remains,
In shards of gray, or shades of glee,
I know I’ll feel seventeen again.

Your love, an answer to my calling faith,
Helping me believe in the strength of my own will,
This I’ll remember for as long as your love remains,

Knowing you was by Heaven’s free grace,
A miracle of sheer bliss,
I’ll remember you as long as your love remains,

More of you is all I crave,
Thirsty for your kiss,
That makes me feel seventeen all over again,

In sweetness, and in pain,
And for as long as I breath,
I’ll remember you, as long as your love remains,

I’ll love you in the winter’s rain,
Summer’s sun, forever and everyday in- between,
And for as long as your love remains,
I promise I’ll feel seventeen all over again.

dr2103.anonymous

 OVER TROUBLED WATER
How shall i challenge the wind of love?
How shall i break the wind of change?
Nor from those stormy wind that rumble,
Which has led me to the fence a little shaky?
Fetter’d by love, compelled by the beads,
Teeter’d by the melodious song bird,
Left to mourn the faithless kiss and feats-
Are these the roads down in the valley of dirge?
Amid the clashing strife, i only stand unbent,
Till thou hast imprisoned me within thine arms,
For every swelling tide of woes unfurled,
Like the flag which i have learnt to fly the low part.
Over the tempestuous sea;
My love, our love, will soar above the wave peak.

 IZUCHUKWU UDOKWU

WILL YOU STILL LOVE ME TOMORROW?
Today,
as a couple we did together pray.
Before dawn
you picked up an apron
and fixed me a delicious breakfast
of my favorite repast.
86400 seconds we spent in each other’s arms,
killing ourselves in a romantic fray.
Every beat of our hearts a quaver of ecstatic psalms;
as subtle soft rhythms from the harp of our ribs did sweetly play.
We had a great time,
O! How I cherish and hold each moment we’ve shared sublime.
Yet one thing still I long to know; will you still love me tomorrow like you do today?
Or will all these mushiness with this fleeting night also fade away?

 SOON NATH

The Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets

The Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets

The Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets

The Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets is part of the recently established African Poetry Book Fund and Series. The winner of this prize will receive USD $1000 and publication through the University of Nebraska Press and Amalion Press in Senegal.

Please note that there is no submission fee and entry closes on the 15th of November 2012.

For useful information about the prize, such as when to send a manuscript, eligibility, judging, and how to submit to the prize, click here.

Apple to Replace Orange as Sponsor of Fiction Prize?

The Telegraph reports that Apple has been in talks to support the Orange Prize for Fiction, an award that celebrates women’s writing throughout the world, replacing the UK mobile operator after 17 years of sponsorship.

Orange’s parent company, Everything Everywhere, announced that it would relinquish sponsorship of the prize in May, prompting suggestions that another fruit company would step in to fill the void. As The Telegraph points out, this may become a reality with discussions between Apple and the award’s organisers entering “advanced stages.”

However, it may face competition from device maker, Kobo, which offers a range of popular e-book readers similar to Amazon’s Kindle.

Culled from thenextweb.com. Read the rest of the article here. 

“WE WANT YOUR FILM!”: Announcing LCA 2012

 

Wherever you are in the world, and whether you are reading this at film school, in your basement, secret laboratory or elsewhere: WE WANT YOUR FILM!

The second Lights, Camera, AFRICA!!! (LCA) Film Festival takes place in the vibrant city of Lagos, Nigeria, from 28th September to 1st October 2012, with the theme “Shine Your Eye”.

Against a background of political movements, seismic and even incremental shifts across the African continent in the past year, we have witnessed a spreading spirit of community mobilisation with the growth of ‘Occupy’ movements, each one emboldening the ones that come after. This growing sense of urgency has fuelled the courage of ordinary citizens to actively participate in change that proves to be inevitable. ‘Shine Your Eye’ – a Nigerian pidgin English phrase used to encourage awareness – embodies the resolve of the active citizen asking questions, seeking answers and possessing their space.

LCA 2012 brings you the very best of the brightest ideas in African cinema, and this year we introduce a prize for Festival Favourite.

The start date for entries is 16th  July 2012, and you can send us your films via post to LCA 2012 Film Festival, Block A1 – A10, Suite 306, Sura Shopping Complex, Simpson Street, Lagos. You can find the online form for entries and all necessary information at www.lightscameraafrica.com.

Please note that films need to have been made after January 2011, and must be received by us on or before 30th August 2012.

We look forward to watching your films.

This message is brought to you by the Life House Team. For more information, email info@thelifehouselagos.com or call +234 703 403 0683.

 

Jon McGregor wins Impac Award

Jon McGregor

British author, Jon McGregor, has won the 100,000 euro International Impac Dublin Literary Award for his third novel, Even the Dogs. The book emerged winner, from 146 other shortlisted titles, of the world’s largest prize given to a novel published in English.

According to publisher, Bloomsbury, Even the Dogs is “an intimate exploration of life at the edges of society.”  McGregor is the third British author to win the lucrative prize. On his Twitter feed, McGregor said it was “a great prize” to win and that he felt “in good company.” Among the shortlisted books, whittled down from submissions nominated by 162 public libraries from 45 countries, were Aminatta Forna’s The Memory of Love and Karl Marlantes’ Matterhorn.

The Impac Award is organised by Dublin city libraries on behalf of Dublin City Council and is sponsored by Impac, an international management productivity company. It is open to novels written in any language by authors of any nationality, provided the book has been published in or translated into English.

Culled from the BBC website.

2012 Orange Prize winner announced

Madeline Miller has been declared 2012 Orange Prize winner for her debut novel, The Song of Achilles, a retelling of the story of Achilles and the battle of Troy. Miller is the fourth consecutive American writer to win the prize, and will be the last to win it in its present name, the Orange Prize, as Orange will no longer be sponsoring the prize.

The Guardian reports:

In one of the biggest upsets in literary prize history, the mobile services company, Orange, recently announced that it will not be renewing its sponsorship of the prize for women’s fiction that has borne its name since the award’s inception 17 years ago.

The prize, which was set up to “celebrate excellence, originality and accessibility in women’s writing from around the world”, is given annually to the best book by a woman written in English. Winners, who in the past have included Marilynne Robinson, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Zadie Smith, are presented with a cheque for £30,000 and a bronze figurine known as “the Bessie”.

Despite the termination of what is at this point the longest continuous arts sponsorship in the UK, Kate Mosse, the award’s co-founder and honorary director, was upbeat about the prize’s future. Speaking to The Guardian, she praised Orange’s sponsorship of the prize, but said that while she was “very sad” not to be working with them anymore, “we’re excited at the idea of taking the prize on for another 17 years, and working with a new sponsor to grow it. It’s very rare for a sponsorship like this to come onto the market – the investment generates something in the region of £17.5m a year in advertising, and the cultural capital of the women’s prize for fiction is practically second to none. The potential is very exciting.”

Culled from The Guardian

Announcing Commonwealth Prize regional winners

Commonwealth Writers has announced the regional winners for the 2012 Commonwealth Book Prize and Commonwealth Short Story Prize. Representing Africa, Asia, Canada and Europe, Caribbean, and the Pacific regions, these new writers will now compete for overall winner, which will be announced on 8 June.

Commonwealth Book Prize
Regional Winner, Africa
Jacques Strauss, South Africa: The Dubious Salvation of Jack V (Jonathan Cape)

Regional Winner, Asia
Shehan Karunatilaka, Sri Lanka: Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew (Random House)

Regional Winner, Canada and Europe
Riel Nason, Canada: The Town that Drowned (Goose Lane Editions)

Regional Winner, Caribbean
Alecia McKenzie, Jamaica: Sweetheart (Peepal Tree Press)

Regional Winner, Pacific
Cory Taylor, Australia: Me and Mr Booker (The Text Publishing Company)

Commenting on the winners, Chair of the Commonwealth Book Prize, Margaret Busby said, “We were wonderfully spoilt for choice among some strong regional contenders on the shortlist, and although we could not take every favourite further, the books that triumphed are a reminder of what the best fiction can be: moving, entertaining, enlightening, exciting, engaging our thoughts and emotions, while creating an intimate connection with someone else’s imagination…”

Commonwealth Short Story Prize
Regional Winner, Africa
Jekwu Anyaegbuna, Nigeria: “Morrison Okoli (1955-2010)”

Regional Winner, Asia
Anushka Jasraj, India: “Radio Story”

Regional Winner, Canada and Europe
Andrea Mullaney, UK: “The Ghost Marriage”

Regional Winner, Caribbean
Diana McCaulay, Jamaica: “The Dolphin Catcher”

Regional Winner, Pacific
Emma Martin, New Zealand: “Two Girls in a Boat”

Chair of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize, Bernardine Evaristo, said: “The five regional winning stories this year rose to the top of a pool of 2200 entries and are the result of vigorous debate among the judges. We discussed not only the quality of the storytelling but the context of their respective literary cultures including notions of stereotypes and ‘the prize-winning formula’. Our final choices encompass range, depth, beauty, unpredictability and re-readability. These short stories will take you on a journey that spans cultures, eras, generations, and diverse ways of being and seeing. To read them is to inhabit other worlds.”

Congratulations to all the winners!

Culled from the Commonwealth Writers website.

2012 BBC International Radio Playwriting Competition

The BBC International Radio Playwriting Competition 2012 is on. The competition opened  on 1st May, 2012 and will close on 31st July, 2012. The competition is organized by the BBC World Service and the British Council, and creates several opportunities for budding and professional writers of non-UK residency.

There are two categories for the competition: the first is for writers with English as their first language, and the second for writers with English as their second language. Prizes include a trip to London to watch the play being recorded, attendance at an awards ceremony and £2,000.

The competition is open to writers above the age of 18, and all scripts submitted must be a minimum of 45 pages of A4 paper (or equivalent) and a maximum of 65 pages. The drama must be a 53-minute radio play with about six characters, and writers can explore any theme they wish. All entries should be the original work of the author(s), and must be submitted alongside the entry form, questionnaire and synopsis to radioplay@bbc.co.uk. Entries can also be delivered at any of the local British Council offices.

Entry forms can be downloaded here. Also read the rules here and ensure that you follow them to the letter. For more information, visit the BBC World Service website or the Commonwealth Foundation website.

No 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

This year, for the first time in 35 years, the Pulitzer Prize board failed to select a winner for the highly coveted award for fiction. The Pulitzer prizes, announced on April 16 2012, include prizes for investigative reporting, photography, editorial cartooning and more.

Having narrowed the field down to three novels – David Foster Wallace’s The Pale King, Karen Russell’s Swamplandia and Denis Johnson’s novella, Train Dreams – Pulitzer Prize administrator, Sig Gissler, said none of the works received a majority from the three-man panel. This has generated mixed reactions from writers, publishers and the general public: while some are disappointed, others see it as a call to writers to be more innovative. This brings to mind the 2009 Nigeria Prize for Literature, for which no winner was announced and no prize awarded.

Ann Patchett, author and entrepreneur, has this to say about the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for fiction:

What goes on during a deliberation is a private matter for the jurors alone; the rest of us are privy only to the verdict. That holds true for book awards as well as murder cases. So when the Pulitzer Prize Board announced on Monday that there were three finalists for the fiction prize and no winner, we were left to draw our own conclusions.

So far I’ve been able to come up with two: either the board was unable to reach a consensus, or at the end of the day the board members decided that none of the finalists, and none of the other books that were not finalists, were worthy of a Pulitzer Prize.

What I am sure of is this: most readers hearing the news will not assume it was a deadlock. They’ll just figure it was a bum year for fiction.

As a novelist and the author of an eligible book, I do not love this. It’s fine to lose to someone, and galling to lose to no one.

Read the rest of the article here.

What are your thoughts on this?

Call for Submissions: Korea-Nigeria Poetry Fiesta 2012

In 2011, the Korea-Nigeria Poetry Fiesta was held for the first time to celebrate the 2011 World Poetry Day. This year, Arojah Concepts, in collaboration with the Korean Cultural Centre of the Republic of Korea embassy, calls on poets to send in entries for the second Korea-Nigeria Poetry Fiesta, which is scheduled to hold on Wednesday, March 21 2012, in commemoration of World Poetry Day.

Interested poets are to send in five poems each, based on the theme “Intangible cultural heritage ties between Korea and Nigeria”, to arojahconcepts@yahoo.com on or before March 10 2012.

“Intangible cultural heritage” means the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills – as well as the instruments, objects, artifacts and cultural spaces associated therewith – that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage. This intangible cultural heritage, transmitted from generation to generation, is constantly recreated by communities and groups in response to their environment, their interaction with nature and their history, and provides them with a sense of identity and continuity, thus promoting respect for cultural diversity and human creativity.

Selected poems will be featured/performed at the World Poetry Day event, the Korean Cultural Centre website and in a proposed cross-cultural anthology. For more information, please call 0818 200 5597.