Naijastories Christmas Nostalgia Contest

NaijaStories.com is pleased to announce another online writing contest titled “The Christmas Nostalgia Project”. The purpose in running this particular contest is to encourage the writing of Narrative Non-fiction and also celebrate the season. While we love the massive increase in the number of fiction pieces submitted to the site, there is just something heartwarming about reading true to life recollections.

In Nigeria, only politicians and war generals seem to write or need (auto)biographies, but this should not be the case. In order to prevent collective amnesia, a communities memory is painted in by the personal stories of the individuals that make it up. Naijastories therefore, wants to encourage memoirs, diaries, and non-fiction of the personal variety. As a start, we are keying in to the Christmas spirit, and hereby call for entries recounting experiences of Christmas past in Nigeria, either as a child or an adult.

Dates for Contest:

The contest opens December 12 and submissions end on January 5th 2012.

First round Polls – January 6th – 12th

Judging – January 6th – January 12th

Final Judging – January 13th to January 19th 2012

The winner will be announced by January 20th 2012.


Prizes :

There will be one (3) overall winners in this contest.

First Prize – 100,000 points ($100)

Second Prize – 70,000 points ($70)

Third Prize – 30,000 points ($30)


There will also be 7 consolation prizes of 1000 points each


Contest Guidelines:

1. You must be a registered member of Naijastories.com.

2. Submit your entry as a post with a title that defines your entry.

3. In the body of the post, provide the following;

a, the year and location in which the incident you’re recounting happened,

b, since we cannot determine your reality or fiction, the only rule is that the entry must be written in the first person, “I”,

c, stories should be set in or around the month of December or the 25th specifically,

d, we encourage happy or funny recollections but this is not mandatory .

4. Your entry should be between 500 and 1000 words.

5. Put the entry in the category of “Christmas Nostalgia” and press the button, “Submit for Review”.

Contest Procedure:

There will have 3 stages for determining the winner;

Stage 1. – All the entries that meet the contest rules will be put to the public poll.

Stage 2. – At the same time, the Naija Stories team will score all the accepted entries. This will be added to votes polled on NaijaStories.com to select the top 10 entries. These will proceed to the last round.

Stage 3. – Ikhide Ikheloa will select the winners. (Read about Ikhide HERE)


Judging Criteria:
- The initial site editor will make sure that entries stick to the criteria of non-fiction and the use of first person.

- Second round judges will be checking for clean use of the English language, so polish your grammar and keep typos to a minimum please! We will also be looking for creativity, so go on and give it your all.

- The final judge will be looking for great writing. Be genuine! Be unique! Be original! Use this as an opportunity to pay tribute to the best/worst/funniest Christmas of your life.

If you have any questions, please send a mail to info@naijastories.com.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Bookaholics! Enjoy!

Christmas Season



by Roger W Hancock


Church Bells ringing, carolers singing,

this the time of Christmas season.

Jesus Christ our celebration,

of His birth to a virgin, Mary.



Forest tree cutting, bows decorating,

this the time of season cheering.

Gifts of wise men start tradition,

gifts between us, friends and family.



Turkey trimming, great pie fillings,

this the time of Christmas feasting.

Christ’s last supper, our convention,

remembering Christ at Calvary.



Church Bells ringing, Carolers singing,

this the time of Baby Jesus.

Born to die for our redemption,

within our spirits, souls be merry.



(c) December 9, 2008 Roger W Hancock PoetPatiot.com

Introducing Book Republic by Emotion Press

Book Republic is a Nigerian literary blog established by Emotion Press. It is basically dedicated towards promoting the reading culture in Nigeria.


In our creative way, as usual, we plan to write on both old and new books and other things that matter in the Nigerian literary scene.

Every forth night, from January 2012, we will be hosting a Guest writer. The Guest writer series will feature essays and interviews by the writer.

The Book Republic blog is http://www.progresspublishing.wordpress.com/

As Emotion Press' two releases - The Man In The Moon and The Grasshopper Race - will be out in December, the first ten followers of the blog will be given the electronic copy of those books free of charge! They will be the first ten people to read the books.

Book N Gauge VII: Poetry Party

Just like yesterday, the year began; just like this morning, we started Book N Gauge. We have been here for seven months, reading books, asking questions and entering the worlds of imagination. We think this calls for celebration.  We have the Saraba Mag team with us on this; they would be giving out awards for the PEN/Saraba Poetry Prize.

What are we waiting for? We have an interesting line-up of poets and activities; let’s dive in even as we hope that you RSVP the event, share the event on your blogs, Facebook profiles, invite your friends and get more people interested in reading. That’s the small request we have? And yes, the poetry party is our Christmas gift to all booklovers 

Benson Eluma: Poet and Academic

Born in Abeokuta, grew up in Lagos. Eluma has a degree in Communication, Language Arts and Classics, from the University of Ibadan. A confirmed Academic and poet, his interests range from caricatures and rhetorical analysis, psephology, ethnography of conflicts, art criticism, sexualities, the politics of language and virtual society. We guess he will tell us more about these big big words on Saturday. He is currently a PhD Student at the Institute of African Studies while he works as a Research Fellow at the Institut Français de Recherche en Afrique (IFRA), Ibadan.

When Benson is not thinking of Tolulope Odebunmi, he is drinking beer with a riotous conclave of friends while doing stuff online or battling with words in the early hours of the morning or coming to terms with the absurd. Go figure!

Akeem Lasisi: Journalist, Poet and Academic

Looking for the physical definition of “son of the soil’? We present to you, Akeem Lasisi. Born in Ibadan in 1967; attended Ibadan District Council School, Solalu; Iroko  Community Grammar School, Iroko; Oyo (now Osun),  Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife and the University of Lagos for his Masters and is at present a doctoral candidate in the English Department.

Lasisi is the Features/Arts Editor of PUNCH by day and poet by night. He is a two-time winner of the ANA/Cadbury Prize for Poetry.  He has three albums of music poetry, ‘Post Mortem’, (1999), ‘Ori Agbe’ (2004), ‘Wonderland/ Eleleture’ (2011). Traditional poetic forms like  Ijala, Esa Egungun, Iremoje, Ekun Iyawo, Ege Egba and Oku Pipe are a great source of inspiration to Lasisi, who is renowned for toeing the steps of Yoruba oral poets.  He is also the author of works ‘Ekun Iyawo: The Bride’s Chant’, ‘Right Option English: Lexis and Structure for Secondary School Students’ and ‘Goodness and Messi: A Collection of Jokes.’

He has performed at events organised by the Ford Foundation, British Council, French Cultural Centre, the USIS, Goethe Institut, GTBank and MTN.  He performed at POETRY Africa in Durban, South Africa in (2003) and Africultures, Berlin, Germany (2009).

Omale Allen Abdul-Jabbar: The Writer-as-a-Civil-Servant

Omale Allen Abdul-Jabbar has a Master’s degree in Law & Diplomacy. He has a rich working experience with the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) at the state and national levels. He writes poetry, fiction, drama and essays.  His work has been published in Hints, Daily Times, Weekly Trust, Fifty Nigerian Poets, Punch, THESE! Magazine online. He was a Finalist on Poetry.com in 2002 for the poem "Love affair" and subsequently published in anthology "Letters from the Soul.”  He writes with the pen name Mmaasa Masai. Married to Rahmah-Allah and blessed with a daughter, Imani, he is currently a Planning Officer at National Commission for colleges of education, Garki, Abuja. Speaking of the “writer-as-a-civil-servant.”

Ekweremadu Franklin Uchenna: Writer

Ekweremadu Franklin Uchenna resides in Kaduna State of Nigeria. Apart from poetry, he also writes short stories and drama. His works have appeared in Flashquake, Sentinel Nigeria Literary, A&U American AIDS Magazine, Wilderness House Literary, and elsewhere. He is working on his first novel.

We have special appearances of poets Niran Okewole, Jumoke Verissimo and Tade Ipadeola.

Performers

Ijofire: For the first time on Book N Gauge, we will have a dancer and choreographer; well that’s why it’s a poetry party ;) Ijofire, improved his dancing as a student of the Department of Drama, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. He has thrilled many crowds with his dancing. Dancefire performed at the Nike Art Gallery, Osogbo; choreographed for Ajantala, for the 50th Anniversary and for the Osun Contingent at the Abuja Carnival last month.

Plumbline studied as a Geo-scientist, rather than digging oil pipes; he “mines” words. Influenced by poets like the late Mamman Vatsa and the late Ken Saro Wiwa, the songwriter and spoken word artist wrote poetry from his secondary school days.  He performs Spoken Word Poetry at most Lagos Events like Wordslam, Anthill, Taruwa and hosts Chill and Relax. His words dash straight through the heart of the audience and leaving them with thoughts, little mementos to take home.

Aduke is a lady of the strings, with a fantastic voice to complement it. She has opened many shows. She is also an active member of Crown Troupe. Aduke is a different person on stage, in a role; different character on stage with a guitar. Watch out for her album next year.

Auction Session: There will be an auction session. What do you get? Latest books that you can only find online. Hot CDs that are yet to be on the streets (loads of them!). A CD of all Saraba Mag editions (I bet that’s a collector’ item!). The lovely purple Pulpfaction Club T-Shirt (A few people have the shirt!). And yes, the big one: a Kindle so you can take your books everywhere you go. What can we say? E fit be you o!

Open Mic: For the first time ever, we will be giving upcoming poets the stage. Do you have a favourite poem, yours, an old Saraba poem or just a classic? Then send us a short profile with the title of the poem you would love to perform: pulpfactioner@gmail.com

Also:                                        

·        A one-on-one interaction between authors, performers and readers.

·        A platform for book enthusiasts to meet, interact and network. (Members of PulpFactionClub on Facebook and followers on Twitter would have a grand opportunity to meet).

·        Freebies, lots of it. Let’s start with this. Invite five friends, ensure they come for the event and win a free book.

·        Live performances by: Jeffrey Plumbline and Aduke

·        Book signing.

DATE:  17th December, 2011

TIME: STRICTLY 2pm – 5pm

VENUE: Debonair Bookstore, 294, Herbert Macaulay Way, Sabo, Yaba.

Remember: Bring five friends and win a free book! Gifts are available for early birds too.

RSVP EVENT here 

Introducing: Lumina Literary Agency

The progress of any nation is inter-twined with the quality of the imagination of the people and Lumina Literary Agency has taken up the mandate to contribute to the sustenance of both the quality and quantity of Nigerian writers. It is this self-imposed cultural agenda that necessitated the birth of Lumina Literary Agency (one of the subsidiaries of the Lumina Foundation) in Nigeria. The new agency is poised to aggressively scout for new and undiscovered talents, edit manuscripts, and provide publishing opportunities and publicity as a means of promoting these writers.

Due to the dearth of publishing in Nigeria, thousands of gifted Nigerians eager to share their stories have limited or no outlets for their writing. Hence, Lumina Literary Agency has arrived to fill the void.

The relationship between creative enterprises and commercial enterprises may not be very obvious in a society such as ours, and in such interesting times we live and produce. What is visible is the amount of creative resources Nigeria as a country is blessed with. These resources as we can perceive need nurturing and careful mentoring. It is on this premise that Lumina Literary Agency has chosen to search, edit, and publish talents as our entry point into the business of imagination and imageries. The Agency will be working in collaboration with Oracle publishers in Lagos, Nigeria. It is interested in adult fiction, collections of short stories, children’s fiction, and Poetry. At least one of each of these genres will be published every year.

Lumina Literary Agency will also provide editing and proof-reading services at the rate of N300 (naira) per page. However, writers selected for publication will not pay for anything. In due course, more information can be obtained at: www.luminafoundationsoyinkaprize.com 

To kick off its activities, Lumina Literary Agency hereby calls for short stories of not more than 2,500 words from Nigerian Writers. Other African writers living anywhere in the world can also submit their stories. Sixty of these short stories will be selected and their authors will be invited for a workshop in Lagos in July 2012. At least one Nobel Laureate will be one of the facilitators of this workshop.

Deadline for submission is January 31, 2012. After the workshop, further selections would be from the work done at the workshop and these will be published in three collections. Royalty will be paid to the authors in the published collections accordingly. Reading sessions and short tours will also be organized to give the authors and their work ample publicity.

For submissions and for further inquiries, contact the coordinators:

ogochukwupromise@yahoo.com and unomaazuah@gmail.com

Ogochukwu Promise and Unoma Azuah

Coordinators.

Book N Gauge VI: Pictures

Who says Nigerians are not reading? Next Book N Gauge holds on December 17, 2011 at Debonair Bookstores, Yaba. 2pm. It is always fun with music, readings and question sessions. Where would you rather be?

IRep Film Show

On Saturday, Irep would be showing Pina at Silverbird Galleria. Pina is a feature length dance movie in 3D featuring th unique and inspiring art of great German Philosopher, Phillipina "Pina" Bausch who died in the summer of 2009. the film was directed by German director, Wim Wenders.

RSVP event here