Seventeen poets have been named on the 2017 Babishai Haiku Award shortlist. The award is an initiative of the Babishai-Niwe Poetry Foundation whose director is Beverly Nambuzo Nsengiyunva.

Here are their names and countries.

  • Charlotte Akello (Uganda).
  • Usman Karofi (Nigeria).
  • Kariuki wa Nyamu (Kenya).
  • Anthony Itopa Obaro (Nigeria).
  • Ahmad Holderness (Nigeria).
  • Fred Kweku Forson (Ghana).
  • Acen Miriam Carolyne (Uganda).
  • Kwao Jonathan Tetteh (Ghana).
  • Nnedi Ezenwa Ohaeto (Nigeria).
  • Alawonde Theophilus Femi (Nigeria).
  • Justice Joseph Prah (Ghana).
  • Osemwengie Zion (Nigeria).
  • Kuadegbeku Pamela (Ghana).
  • Abubasam Fahad Mutumba (Uganda).
  • Akor Emmanuel Oche (Nigeria).
  • Dan’bala Umar (Ghana).
  • Obaji-Nwali Shegun (Nigeria).

The judging panel comprises: Adjei Agyei-Baah, co-founder of the Africa Haiku Network; Mercy Ituri, a landscape designer and award-winning haikuist from Kenya; and Emmanuel Kalusian, editor of the Mamba Journal.

Three winners, who will be announced on 6 August at the Babishai 2017 poetry festival dinner, will receive cash prizes and be published in Mamba journal, as well as participate in selected literary festivals around the continent.

The shortlisted haikus can be read HERE.

Congratulations to the poets.