The poetry collective and press Konya Shamsrumi (KSR) has announced new columnist-bloggers for its website. They are: Tinashe Tafirenyika, the two-time National Arts Merit Award-winning Zimbabwean poet and finalist for the 2018 Brittle Paper Award for Creative Nonfiction; Harriet Anena, the Ugandan winner of the 2018 Wole Soyinka Poetry Prize; Andrea Grieder, the Swiss organiser of Rwanda’s Transpoesis; Maryam Gatawa, the noted Kano-based Nigerian poet and promoter; and the Nigerian poet Siraj A. Sabuke.
In the press release to Brittle Paper, Konya Shamsrumi member Rasaq Malik Gbolahan stated that “the new columnists-bloggers will add more colour to [Konya Shamsrumi’s] website.” Currently, the website—www.shamsrumi.com.ng—features a weekly #FiveQuestions series with emerging and established poets on the continent, and also hosts the #BlackPoets segment which features the work and a short bio of a notable African or Africa-descended poet each week.
“Our vision is to make Konya Shamsrumi the hotspot of African poetry and this is a step in that direction,” said KSR member Umar Sidi. “I welcome friends Maryam, Harriet, Andrea, Siraj and Tinashe to Konya Shamsrumi and thank them for believing in us. We hope to add more columnist-bloggers in the coming weeks as well as even more features on the website in the run-up to the publication of Funmi and Rasaq’s poetry chapbooks.”
Founded as an “Africa-centric, traditional-style publishing outfit,” the Nigeria-based Konya Shamsrumi has gained attention for its recent release of its two debut collections: Umar Sidi’s The Poet of Dust and Richard Ali’s The Anguish and Vigilance of Things. The press will be releasing two chapbooks by Funmi Gaji and Rasaq Malik Gbolahan “before the end of the year.”
Visit Konya Shamsrumi.
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