From Caves of Rotten Teeth

On Boko Haram and Nigerians in Switched On

2012-01-26T09:46:00.001+01:00

Nearly twenty-four hours after the January 20 bomb and gun attacks by the Boko Haram sect in the ancient city of Kano, the Special Adviser (Media and Publicity) to the President of Nigeria sent out a press release stating that seven people were confirmed dead from the attacks. As I write this, the Nigerian Leadership newspaper reports that the death toll from the attack stands at 215 bodies, while the BBC reports that one of its reporters in Kano counted 150 bodies in one morgue. (Continue.)

New Fiction Forthcoming in Recess Magazine

2012-01-26T09:32:00.000+01:00

A new story will be published in the first edition of the online magazine Recess. Read an interview between the magazine and its editors here.

Favourite Books of 2011 in The Millions

2011-12-29T13:18:00.001+01:00

Here.

New Fiction Forthcoming in Provincetown Arts

2011-12-22T14:48:00.002+01:00

In the 2012 issue of Provincetown Arts, which will be published in July.

Favourite Reads of 2011 in Books LIVE

2011-12-21T14:19:00.005+01:00

From Books LIVE: Barrett asked several writers, editors and industry professionals to reveal some of the books they enjoyed most this year. The first chapter in this three-part article was published in The Guardian Nigeria on [Sunday] and includes, among its contributors, Books LIVE members Henrietta Rose-Innes and Zukiswa Wanner. The second installment will be published in The Guardian Nigeria on Christmas day, followed by part three in The Millions on 29 December. Don’t miss the full twenty-eight contributions! [Here.]

Lauren Beukes' Recommended Reading Gift Guide

2011-12-20T11:31:00.002+01:00

South African writer Lauren Beukes, on her Books Live blog, writes this introduction to Part 1 of her Recommended Reading Gift Guide:

This year, I figured I’d ask interesting friends what books they’d like to give or get for the holiday season in the wholly selfish interests of hearing about cool stuff I wouldn’t have found on my own–and also providing a handy gift-guide for the season.
It’s thrown together, from a list of cool people who sprung to mind, and there are tons of people I’ve left out accidentally or who didn’t have time to contribute. (Feel free to chip in with your own recommendations in the comments.)
But here are some top notch pithy recommendations from some stellar people – novelists, designers, journos and activists from South Africa, the UK, US and Barbados. You should check out their work too.

In Part 2, I contribute the following:

I have read every book by Gabriel García Márquez that I’ve come across, and read each more than once. Except his memoir, Living to Tell the Tale, which I borrowed, started reading, and stopped, sacrilegiously bored. Memoirs do that to me every time. Until this year, when I opened Binyavanga Wainaina’s memoir, One Day I Will Write About This Place, and found myself dragged oohing and ahhing all the way to the end by language that was nothing short of immorally dazzling. I turned the last page of this gorgeous book with sadness that the journey had ended, but also with the happy knowledge that for many years to come I will return again and again to it.

Favourite Books of 2011 in The Guardian

2011-12-18T22:15:00.009+01:00

From The Guardian: As 2011 draws to an end, writer A. Igoni Barrett asks several writers, editors and publishing professionals to name the books they enjoyed the most in the outgoing year. From Ethiopia to England, South Africa to the United States, HERE are their responses.

Part 2 of the list, published on Christmas day, can be read HERE.

David Kaiza Critiques the AWS in Transition 106

2011-12-13T13:50:00.001+01:00

In a brilliant essay in Transition 106, David Kaiza appraises the legacy of the African Writers Series. An excerpt:

If it is true that writers read other writers to see how they write, it is also true that they are the most unforgiving of readers. For my generation of writers, those born in the 1970s, the AWS was classroom text. To know how to really write, we naturally turned to the American stylists. To know about human nature, we turned to the Russians and the Japanese. It was the order of things. Ngugi might teach you how to feel, from Achebe you learned how to integrate African ideas into your writing, and Okot p’Bitek taught you how to sound authentic. But you also needed to be wary of these subjects.

And another excerpt (which happens to be the reason the essay is featured on this unashamedly self-publicizing blog):

A parallel story builds up when you follow the transition of metaphor and motif from old to new African writing, to trace how the “very” in Obi’s “Lagos is a very big place” punctuates rapt wonder at the new city, to the characters of Igoni Barrett’s short stories who barely notice the city. No longer outsiders to Lagos, Barrett’s characters’ concerns are dental hygiene and the efficiency of the bus service: Lagos domiciled, Umuofia the curious outpost, villages to which Adichie’s Kambili and Jaja now travel in a Mercedes to experience the strangeness of pre-modern ways.

Read the essay here. And buy the magazine if you can; it features new short fiction by the Ugandan writers Doreen Baingana and Monica Arac de Nyeko.

Binyavanga's London Metro Shout-out

2011-11-18T11:15:00.001+01:00

Read the article on Binyavanga Wainaina here.

New Fiction in Switched On + The Sunday Sun

2011-11-17T16:20:00.000+01:00

Read it here. Or buy the November 20 edition of the Sunday Sun.

Short story in Happano-no-Kofu

2011-11-09T20:44:00.001+01:00

My short story The Shape of a Full Circle (originally published in Kwani? Online) has been published in translation in the Japanese online journal Happano-no-Kofu.

New Fiction in Black Renaissance Noire

2011-11-04T13:36:00.001+01:00

A short story from my forthcoming collection has been published in the current issue of the NYU-based print magazine, Black Renaissance Noire. The issue also features the work of Jeffery Renard Allen, Sherwin Bitsui and Ishmael Reed, among others.

2011 Internazinale Festival, Ferrara: Video

2011-10-25T10:49:00.000+01:00

2011 Internazionale Festival, Ferrara: Photostream

2011-10-17T12:11:00.000+01:00

View Internazionale's Flickr photostream here.

The Wylie Agency: 2011 Catalogue

2011-10-15T15:04:00.001+01:00

View the catalogue here.

New Fiction in Guernica

2011-10-12T21:10:00.000+01:00

Painting by Bas Zoontjens.

Guernica is running a Flash Fiction Series on it's blog. My flash fiction piece entitled To Fall Twice for the Same Trick has just been published there.

Bellagio Center + Internazionale Festival: Photos

2011-10-06T15:20:00.000+01:00

Chatto & Windus

2011-09-22T16:49:00.000+01:00

Chatto & Windus has bought the UK rights for my second book.

Internazionale Festival: Programme

2011-09-01T10:27:00.001+01:00

From September 30 to October 2, 2011, journalists, writers, artists and readers will find themselves in Ferrara (the vibrant and beautiful Renaissance city in northern Italy) to attend the International Festival. Admission to all events is free. See the festival programme here.

5 Writers, 1 Evening: Meet the Jalaa Writers

2011-08-10T16:44:00.005+01:00

Graffiti on the wall of Freedom Park, which used to be a prison

TIME: Saturday, August 13 / 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

LOCATION: Freedom Park, Broad Street, Lagos

You've read their interviews; you've read their book excerpts; you've read the book reviews; you've joined the Jalaa Facebook page. Now is the time for a book reading with the Jalaa Writers Collective as they read from their works, address questions about publishing in Nigeria and what a writers' collective may offer, what Jalaa Writers Collective offers. So here's your chance to meet 5 Jalaa writers in one place at the same time, real life not online.

Readings by:

A. Igoni Barrett, one-time editor of Farafina magazine, is the recipient of a Chinua Achebe Center Fellowship, a Norman Mailer Center Fellowship and a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Residency. His first book, the story collection From Caves of Rotten Teeth, was published in 2005 in Nigeria. His second story collection is forthcoming from Graywolf Press in 2013.

Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo is a lecturer, writer, novelist, critic, essayist, journalist, and administrator. She has written over twenty books. Her latest work, Roses and Bullets, published by Jalaa Writers’ Collective, is about the Nigerian Civil War. The former winner of the NLNG Prize for Literature, the biggest prize for literature in Nigeria, heads the prize’s panel of judges this year.

Jude Dibia is the author of Walking With Shadows, Unbridled (winner of the 2007 NDDC/ANA-sponsored Ken Saro-Wiwa Prize for Prose and finalist in the 2007 NLNG Nigeria Prize for Literature) and the newest, Blackbird.

Odili Ujubuonu is the award-winning author of Pregnancy of the Gods (winner, 2006 ANA/Jacaranda Prize for Prose), Treasure in the Winds (winner, 2008 ANA/Chevron Prize on Environmental Issues) and the newest, Pride of the Spider Clan.

Uche Peter Umez is one of the 24 winners of the 2006 Commonwealth Short Story Competition. He is also the winner of the 2006 ANA/Funtime Prize for Children Literature for his unpublished novel, Sam and the Wallet. He is the author of Dark through the Delta (poems), Tears in Her Eyes (short stories) and Aridity of Feelings (poems). His latest work, The Runaway Hero, is on the NLNG Prize shortlist for 2011.

Blog Post in Electric Literature's The Outlet

2011-08-05T15:17:00.001+01:00

Here.

Norman Mailer Writers Colony: Photos

2011-07-29T13:30:00.005+01:00

Of Strangers In Strange Places

2011-07-16T22:40:00.001+01:00

I wrote a short post on The Mailer Fellowship Blog about my arrival in the United States for the 2011 Norman Mailer Center Fellowship. Read it here.

The 2011 Taschen Mailer Fellowship in Fiction

2011-07-04T17:38:00.000+01:00

Here.

Graywolf Press

2011-06-23T20:11:00.001+01:00

Graywolf Press has bought the North American rights for my second book.

A. Igoni Barrett: A Biography

2011-06-07T15:35:00.004+01:00

Portrait of the artist as a hairy young man [image by Numero Unoma]

A. Igoni Barrett was born in Port Harcourt, Nigeria in 1979. He is the recipient of a Chinua Achebe Center Fellowship, a Norman Mailer Center Fellowship and a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Residency. His first book, the story collection From Caves of Rotten Teeth, was published in 2005 in Nigeria. His second story collection is forthcoming from Graywolf Press (US) and Chatto & Windus (UK) in 2013.

Internazionale Festival 2011

2011-05-27T18:13:00.001+01:00

I've been invited to this festival in Ferrara, Italy. I'll be a guest speaker at an event organised for the writers featured in the 2010 December Fiction Issue of Internazionale, which was guest edited by Binyavanga Wainaina.

Profile in The Gleaner

2011-05-23T10:11:00.002+01:00

Here.

Irie FM Interview: Sunday May 15

2011-05-16T00:40:00.001+01:00

Download the audio file of the interview here.

New Fiction in The Africa Report

2011-05-03T13:34:00.000+01:00

My flash fiction piece entitled Like Spilled Blood has been published in the May 2011 issue of The Africa Report. Read it on page 82.

Jalaa Titles: May 2011

2011-05-02T18:12:00.002+01:00

Places in Nigeria where Jalaa titles can be bought:

LAGOS

Shoprite Supermarkets

Ebeano, VGC

Ebeano, Lekki

Chynol, VGC

Tolani Idris Stand, Eko Hotel

Globus, Lekki

Everbright, Surulere

Just Unique, Allen, Ikeja

Mate Supermarket, Adeniyi Jones, Ikeja

Rennies Store, VGC

Ashmart, Agidingbi, Ikeja

Spendless, Magodo

Mr Tunde, Allen Ikeja

Mr Anjorin, Local Airport

Bookworm, Adeola Odeku, VI

Lifestyle, Silverbird Galleria, VI

BG Mart, Maryland, Ikeja

BG Mart, Ikoyi

Domino Stores

Healthserve, Anthony

Bazaar Supermarket, Ilupeju

Audrey, Ilupeju

De-prince Stores, Magodo

De-prince Stores, Gbagada

Pattabah Bookshop, Surulere

Tuga Supermarket, Magodo

Jimmy Riche

Chuks

ABA ZONE

Edy Robb Store, Abia Hotel

Chinyere, Aba

ABUJA

Akpan Innocent, Abuja Airport

Sahad Supermarket, Garki II

Mohammed Stand, Abuja Airport

H Mendix 1 Supermarket

H Mendix 2, Pharamacy

H Mendix 4, Supermarket and Pharmacy

Iloba, Abuja Airport

Easy International, Transcorp

UNEX Zone 1, beside NDE

Grand Square

Aisha Store, Abuja Airport

Mercy Store, Abuja University

Elliot Supermarket

ONDO STATE

Sunview Hotel, Akure

Kris Supermarket, Akure

FAMEX, Akure

Lasco, Akure

Davidson, Akure

Ceci Supermarket, Akure

Modas Store, Akure

Chris Ike Supermarket, Ondo town

BENIN

Zoro Supermarket, Airport Road

Bestland Stand, Benin Airport

Coka Pharmacy&Coka Chemist

Crown Supermarket, GRA, Benin

Mr. Foreign Supermarket, Sapele Road

CALABAR

Mrs. Edem Stand, Calabar Airport

Collins Place, Bassey Duke Street

Austino Stand 1&2

Divine Favour Supermarket

Production Store

Favourite Supermarket

ENUGU

Pentagon Shopping Complex, Abakaliki Road

Favourite Supermarket 1, Chile Avenue

Nike Lake Resort

Great Timmy, Enugu Airport

JOS

Modern Bookshop, Ryan Street

Star Supermarket

Olateju Stand, Congo Junction

Ayuba, Jos Airport

Onigbinde, Ahmadu Bello

Monak Supermarket

KADUNA

Ola Akins, Hamdala Hotel

News Trade, Leventis Roundabout

Lismart

Elvis JFK, Kaduna Airport

KANO

Fantasia Supermarket, Bompai Road

Sahad Store

Country Mall Supermarket, Farm Centre, Kano

Jama’a Supermarket, Kano

Rayaa Supermarket, GRA, Kano

JIGAWA

Sahad Store

GOMBE

Omega Bookstore

OGUN

Justrite, Sango

PORTHARCOURT

Mrs Sholalere, Arrival, PHC Airport

De-Giant, PHC

Next Time

International Magazine, PHC

Everyday Supermarket

Silverbird Group

Danatex Supermarket

Bestway Supermarket, Bonny

UYO

Sheer Grace Uyo Town

Jane Juliet, Uyo Town

Hair Dot Com

Top Sales Supermarket

Merit Supermarket

WARRI

Park n Shop, Warri

Sunny Stand, Midwest Inn Hotel

Total Filling Station Warri

YENAGOA

De-Giant Supermarket

Amby Supermarket

Surplus Supermarket

OWERRI

Destiny Store, Ikenegbu

Nobel Supermarket, Ikenegbu

Harold Supermarket

Everyday Supermarket

ASABA

Friendly Supermarket

Delta City Store

Macro Supermarket

JSC

Orotere

IBADAN

Mrs. James Store

Mr. Oladele Stores

For delivery within Lagos, call: 07029435374 (includes transport costs)

You can also purchase Jalaa titles on your Amazon Kindle

For further enquiries, call:

08033338915

080372726590

08053570984

Talking Trees Lit Fiesta Line-Up

2011-04-27T09:27:00.002+01:00

Here.

“I am Joy”: Notable Story for 2010

2011-04-19T15:48:00.003+01:00

“I Am Joy” has been named a notable story for 2010 by the judges of the storySouth Million Writers Award. The top ten stories of the year will be released on May 20th, with the public vote for the top story beginning then. Go here to read the story.

Nelson Fiction Series: Anthology

2011-04-08T11:55:00.002+01:00

Nelson Publishers last year announced the inauguration of the Nelson Fiction Series. The writer and editor Adewale Maja-Pearce is the series consultant. I was approached to contribute a short story to the proposed NFS short story anthology, and they are seeking more stories as well as completed novel manuscripts. Submissions should be emailed to nelsonfiction@gmail.com.

Writers Without Frontiers

2011-04-06T01:05:00.002+01:00

I've been invited to contribute a short story to this project, which is coordinated by the Spanish organisation Escritores Sin Fronteras.

Reading Bridges Interview

2011-03-29T13:20:00.001+01:00

I was interviewed by Port Harcourt-based Reading Bridges magazine in the first quarter of 2010, and the interview now appears in the current issue, which happens to be the second.

Rockefeller Foundation Residency

2011-03-24T22:53:00.001+01:00

I've been awarded a residency at the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center. I'll be writing in Milan, Italia from September to October, 2011.

New Fiction in ITCH Online

2011-03-22T15:23:00.000+01:00

My flash fiction piece entitled You has just been published in issue e.08 (otherwise known as the ||| issue) of ITCH Online. Read it here.

The Wylie Agency

2011-03-01T21:11:00.002+01:00

Good company.

Talking Trees Literary Fiesta

2011-02-28T01:06:00.004+01:00

Here.

Ebedi Writers' Residency: Press

2011-02-20T14:00:00.005+01:00

Go here to read a .jpeg file of The Saturday Sun report. Read reports in 234Next, Nigerian Tribune and Daily Trust.

The 2011 Million Writers Award

2011-02-18T23:28:00.000+01:00

The short story “I Am Joy”, which was published in the online literary journal Fox Chase Review, has been nominated by the editors for the 2011 Million Writers Award. Readers can nominate stories here.

Norman Mailer Center Fellowship

2011-02-10T11:11:00.004+01:00

I've been awarded a 2011 Summer Fellowship at The Norman Mailer Center in Provincetown, Massachusetts. The fiction director is the American poet, short story writer and novelist, Jeffery Renard Allen. There will be meetings at the home of the late, great, gravel-voiced Norman Mailer.

Against Homophobia

2011-02-04T17:27:00.005+01:00

On the Murder of David Kato, the Ugandan Gay Rights Campaigner

We the undersigned condemn in the strongest possible terms the murder of Mr David Kato the Ugandan gay rights campaigner. We wish to state emphatically that homosexuality is neither a sin nor a social or cultural construct. It is a biological given. Homosexuals are human beings like everybody else. Scientific research has been helpful in clearing the fog of ignorance entrenched by some religious texts in regards to homosexuality. Our opinions of homosexuality must change for the better just as our opinion of slavery has changed even though it was endorsed by those same religious texts. All violence against gays and people deemed to be gay in Africa must cease forthwith.

We call on the government of Uganda to find and prosecute all those involved in the murder of Mr Kato, including the newspaper that called for the hanging of gays. We also call on African governments to learn from the South African example by expunging from their laws all provisions that criminalize homosexuality or treat homosexuals as unworthy of the same rights and entitlements as other citizens. African states must protect the rights of their citizens to freedom and dignity. Homosexuals must not be denied these rights.

Undersigned

1. Wale Adebanwi, PhD, University of California, US

2. Diran Adebayo, Writer, UK

3. Kayode Adeduntan, PhD, University of Ibadan, Nigeria

4. Biola Adegboyega, University of Calgary, Canada

5. Shola Adenekan, Editor, The New Black Magazine, UK

6. Pius Adesanmi, PhD, Carleton University, Canada

7. Akin Adesokan, PhD, Indiana University, US

8. Joe Agbro, Journalist, Nigeria

9. Anthony Akinola, PhD, Oxford, UK

10. Anengiyefa Alagoa, Writer, UK

11. Ellah Allfrey, Deputy Editor, Granta Magazine, UK

12. Alnoor Amlani, Writer, Kenya

13. Ike Anya, Public health doctor and writer, UK

14. Bode Asiyanbi, Writer, Lancaster University, UK

15. Sefi Atta, Writer, US

16. Lizzy Attree, PhD, University of East London, UK

17. Damola Awoyokun, Writer, UK

18. Doreen Baingana, Writer, Uganda

19. Igoni Barrett, Writer, Nigeria

20. Tom Burke, Bard College, US

21. Jude Dibia, Writer, Nigeria

22. Chris Dunton, PhD, National University of Lesotho, Lesotho

23. Ropo Ewenla, PhD, Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria

24. Chielozona Eze, PhD, Northeastern Illinois University, US

25. Aminatta Forna, Writer, UK

26. Ivor Hartmann, Writer, South Africa

27. Chris Ihidero, Writer, Lagos State University, Nigeria

28. Ikhide R. Ikheloa, Writer, US

29. Sean Jacobs, PhD, New School, US

30. Biodun Jeyifo, PhD, Harvard University, US

31. Brian Jones, Professor Emeritus, Zimbabwe

32. Martin Kiman, Writer, US

33. Lauri Kubuitsile, Writer, Botswana

34. Zakes Mda, PhD, Ohio University, US

35. Colin Meier, Writer, South Africa

36. Gayatri Menon, PhD, Franklin and Marshall College, US

37. Valentina A. Mmaka, Writer, Italy/South Africa

38. Jane Morris, Publisher, Zimbabwe

39. Mbonisi P. Ncube, Writer, South Africa

40. Iheoma Nwachukwu, Writer, Nigeria

41. Onyeka Nwelue, Writer and filmmaker, India/Nigeria

42. Nnedi Okorafor, PhD, Writer, Chicago State University, US

43. Ebenezer Obadare, PhD, University of Kansas, US

44. Juliane Okot Bitek, Writer, Canada

45. Tejumola Olaniyan, PhD, University of Wisconsin, US

46. Ngozichi Omekara, Trinidad and Tobago

47. Akin Omotosho, Actor and filmmaker, South Africa

48. Kole Omotosho, PhD, Africa Diaspora Research Group, South Africa

49. Samuel Sabo, Writer, UK

50. Ramzi Salti, PhD, Stanford University, US

51. Brett L. Shadle, PhD, Virginia Tech, US

52. Lola Shoneyin, Writer, Nigeria

53. Wole Soyinka, Nobel Laureate for Literature

54. Olufemi Taiwo, PhD, Seattle University, US

55. Kola Tubosun, Writer, Fulbright Scholar, United States

56. Uzor Maxim Uzoatu, Writer, Nigeria

57. Abdourahman A.Waberi, Writer, US/Djibouti

58. Binyavanga Wainaina, Writer, Kenya

59. Ronald Elly Wanda, Writer/Lecturer, Uganda

60. Kristy Warren, PhD, University of Warwick, UK

As published in Wordsbody, Book Southern Africa and The Guardian.

New Fiction in Kwani? Online

2011-01-27T13:47:00.005+01:00

My short story The Shape of a Full Circle, an excerpt of which has been published in Guernica (you can also read a very early draft of a related story here), is now published online in its entirety in Kwani? 06 Redux. Read the story here. (On the BookSA Book Chat page, author James Clelland says this about the story.)

Ebedi Writers Residency

2011-01-14T11:26:00.003+01:00

I've been granted an Ebedi Residency. I'll be writing in Iseyin for 6 weeks. Find out more about Ebedi here.

Top Ten in The Drum

2011-01-01T01:32:00.001+01:00

The short story My Smelling Mouth Problem, which was published as an audio file in The Drum Literary Magazine, is one of the top ten listener's favourites for 2010.

Short Story in Internazionale

2010-11-22T10:31:00.006+01:00

A modified version of the short story "Dream Chaser" has been published in translation in the December Fiction Issue of the Italian magazine Internazionale. The issue was guest edited by Binyavanga Wainaina.

Short Story in Kwani?

2010-11-15T19:19:00.001+01:00

Kwani? 06, to which I contributed a short story, was launched at the Kwani? Litfest.

Pushcart Prize Nomination: 2011

2010-10-30T12:57:00.000+01:00

The short story “I Am Joy”, which was published in the online literary journal Fox Chase Review, has been nominated for the 2011 Pushcart Prize.

The Launch of AGNI 72

2010-10-26T08:21:00.000+01:00

On November 10 AGNI magazine celebrates contemporary African fiction with an afternoon panel discussion (4:00 p.m., at BU’s African Studies Center, 232 Bay State Road, Boston) and an evening reading and reception, plus Senegalese drumming and traditional African dance (7:00 p.m., at BU’s Photonics Center Auditorium, 8 St. Mary’s Street, Boston). These events mark the release of AGNI 72: Portfolio of African Fiction and features, among other acclaimed writers, the Ugandan author of Tropical Fish, Doreen Baingana. You can order the print half of AGNI 72 here.

2010 Storymoja Hay Festival: Report

2010-10-09T18:00:00.004+01:00

Read a report of the "Authors in Conversation" session at the British Council tent on Day 3 of the festival.

Op-ed in Next

2010-09-26T08:58:00.006+01:00

Forget It, Get a Job, or Kill Yourself: You're Not a Writer.

2010 Storymoja Hay Festival

2010-09-18T10:12:00.003+01:00

The 2010 Storymoja Hay Festival, Kenya.

New Fiction in The Drum

2010-09-09T15:20:00.002+01:00

Listen to (or download) the story here (or here)

Jalaa Writers' Collective

2010-09-08T15:29:00.005+01:00

See the press release in Switched On. Read a report in Next. A Jalaa member talks about how the collective started. Visit the Jalaa website.

Chinua Achebe Center Fellowship

2010-09-07T14:13:00.002+01:00

Find out more about the CAC here.

New Fiction in Fox Chase Review

2010-09-02T12:10:00.003+01:00

Here.

The AGNI Portfolio of African Fiction

2010-08-23T08:54:00.000+01:00

Here.

FCoRT on the Kindle

2010-07-28T16:33:00.000+01:00

Here.

BookJam 6

2010-07-26T12:54:00.001+01:00

See photos here

Read reports here and here

The BookJam @ Silverbird: The 6th Edition

2010-07-20T12:42:00.000+01:00

BookJam 5

2010-06-28T13:20:00.000+01:00

See photos here

Read reports here, here, here, here and here

Kwani Short Story Workshop

2010-06-23T12:56:00.002+01:00

Kwani Trust is pleased to announce the holding of the Kwani short story competition workshop between Tuesday 23–26 June 2010 at the Lenana Conference Center. Up to 12 writers will attend the 4-day workshop facilitated by Kwani editors, the judges from the short story competition and other African short story writers. The participating writers were long-listed in the recently concluded Kwani short story competition.

The workshop will involve lectures, interactive seminars and practical sessions in elements of short fiction and will feature guest speakers Tom Odhiambo, Jackie Lebo, Muthoni Garland, Wambui Mwangi and Nigerian writer, Igoni Barrett.

The BookJam @ Silverbird: The 5th Edition

2010-06-21T10:17:00.000+01:00

Two Online Reviews of FCoRT

2010-06-14T15:25:00.004+01:00

Here and here.

Interview at Incessant Scribble

2010-05-23T21:24:00.000+01:00

Here.

BookJam 4

2010-05-23T21:19:00.001+01:00

View photos here

Read reports here, here, here, and here

The BookJam @ Silverbird: The 4th Edition

2010-05-15T18:50:00.000+01:00

BookJam 3

2010-04-25T09:46:00.001+01:00

View photos here

Press reports here and here

The BookJam @ Silverbird: The 3rd Edition

2010-04-17T14:31:00.000+01:00

BookJam 2

2010-03-28T12:01:00.000+01:00

Photos of Bookjam 2 here and here.

Press reports here and here.

The BookJam @ Silverbird: The 2nd Edition

2010-03-20T17:01:00.000+01:00

CLR Reviews The Phoenix

2010-03-03T16:54:00.002+01:00

Here.

BookJam 1

2010-02-28T12:48:00.000+01:00

Read reports at book.co.za, Nigerian Compass and 234next.com.

BookJam Banner

2010-02-17T15:12:00.001+01:00

The BookJam @ Silverbird: The 1st Edition

2010-02-12T08:51:00.000+01:00

New Year, Old Hopes

2010-01-19T16:52:00.002+01:00

Ireyimika Oyegbami of Next has High Hopes for the New Year.

Daylight Media at the GCLF

2009-12-22T12:40:00.004+01:00

A. Igoni Barrett: A Profile

2009-12-14T17:22:00.006+01:00

A. Igoni Barrett [image by Folarin Shasanya]

A. Igoni Barrett was born in Port Harcourt, Nigeria in 1979. He attended the University of Ibadan to study agriculture, but left in his final year to pursue a writing career. His short fiction has been published in many print and online magazines, including AGNI, Guernica, Eclectica Internazionale, Kwani? and Stickman Review. His work has also appeared in the anthologies Incommunicado: Tales from across the Empire (2006) and The New Gong Book of New Nigerian Short Stories (2008). In 2005, he won the BBC World Service short story competition. In 2007, he joined Farafina magazine, where he was managing editor until his exit in 2009. In May 2009, he initiated and managed “9 Writers, 4 Cities: The Book Tour,” which was a 6-week reading tour by several prominent Nigerian writers, including his father, the Jamaican poet, essayist and novelist, Lindsay Barrett.

In September 2009, Barrett was a guest writer at the Garden City Literary Festival, alongside Ngugi wa Thiong’o, J.P. Clarke and Sefi Atta. He was the founding organiser of the BookJam reading series in Lagos, Nigeria, which featured the writers Michela Wrong, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Binyavanga Wainaina, Helon Habila and Tsitsi Dangarembga, among others. In September 2010, he was awarded a 3-month Chinua Achebe Center Fellowship to Mombasa, Kenya. In October 2010, he was a guest writer at the Storymoja Hay Festival Kenya, alongside Michela Wrong, Doreen Baingana, Petina Gappah and Benjamin Zephaniah.

A. Igoni Barrett is the author of a story collection, From Caves of Rotten Teeth. The Orange Prize-shortlisted author Laura Hird described the book as ‘a brilliant debut collection’, and in a 2007 interview with the literary magazine Pulp.Net, she named ‘The Phoenix’, a short story in the collection, as one of the best short stories she had ever read. The BBC World Service broadcast of ‘The Phoenix’ on January 2, 2006 was a Radio ‘Pick of the Day’ in The Guardian. In 2006, From Caves of Rotten Teeth was selected as a ‘book of the year’ by the Scottish newspaper The Sunday Herald. In 2009, it was chosen as a ‘book of the festival’ at the Garden City Literary Festival.

Year of the Nigerian Short Story

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In The Guardian, Anote Ajeluorou writes: Last year, two authors came out with two important collections, one of which has continued to make waves in the international literary scene. Igoni Barrett came out with From Caves of Rotten Teeth. It is a quite an accomplished work packed with intense descriptive power . . . [Read the full article here].

Pushcart Prize Nomination: 2009

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My short story published in New Madrid has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. “Even As an Angry Wind Leaves Nothing in its Path” is one of the 14 short stories collected in the second edition of FCoRT.

2009 NLNG Prize

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Read Lindsay Barrett's statement at Next.

New Fiction in TQR

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Read it here.

On the NLNG and its Literature Prize

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The controversy surrounding the 2009 NLNG Literature Prize.

234Next Interview

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Read the interview here.

Press Coverage of GCLF 2009

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Portrait by Diseye Tantua

Read reports of GCLF 2009 at The Sun, AllAfrica, Next, Next [again] and The Nation.

Review in African Writer

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Ivor W. Hartmann reviews From Caves of Rotten Teeth in African Writer; the GCLF organisers pick it as a "Book of the Festival".

2009 Garden City Literary Festival

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Lindsay Barrett on NLNG Shortlist

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Lindsay Barrett, author of the poetry collection A Memory of Rivers and a participating writer in the 9 Writers, 4 Cities book tour, has been shortlisted for the 2009 NLNG Nigeria Prize for Literature.

"9 Writers" to Appear at GCLF 2009

2009-08-08T18:46:00.004+01:00

The "9 Writers 4 Cities" book tour returns for an encore performance at GCLF 2009.

Profile in Peoples Daily

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Here.

Short Story in New Madrid Journal

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The short story "Even As an Angry Wind Leaves Nothing in its Path" (FCoRT, p.72) appears in the Summer 2009 issue of New Madrid. New Madrid is the national journal of the low-residency MFA program at Murray State University.

AWF Reading: Report

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Here.

AWF Reading: Photos

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Tales From the End

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Read report at Next.

More Press Reports of 9 Writers

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Jude Dibia blogs about the final reading of the "9 Writers" here. Next publishes a report of the Ibadan reading. Finally, Baroka writes a measured piece on the "renaissance" of Nigerian literature.

The Palms Reading

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Next covers the reading at The Palms.

Odia Ofeimun Reciting a Poem

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AWF Reading

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Culled from The Guardian (Nigeria): The June 27 edition will be a double-header, the second since the inception of the Guest Writer Session in June 2008, featuring A. Igoni Barrett and Patricia Keeney. The Lagos-based Barrett is a short story writer whose "The Phoenix" won the BBC World Service short story competition. He has been published in several print and online journals such as Farafina, Guernica, Mississipi Crow, Eclectica, Istanbul Literary Review and Stickman Review. His debut collection of stories is the highly-rated From Caves of Rotten Teeth.

Canada-based Patricia Keeney, who is appearing courtesy of the Nigerian High Commission in Canada and the Canadian High Commission in Nigeria, is a poet, novelist, editor, critic, and lecturer. A member of the international editorial board of UNESCO's World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre, she has been teaching Creative Writing and other literary subjects at York University since 1983.