Nigerian poet Saddiq Dzukogi announces the forthcoming publication of an epic poem Bakandamiya. The book will be published in the Fall of 2025 by the University of Nebraska Press under the auspices of the African Poetry Book Fund.
Bakandamiya is an epic story of the cultural transformation of Nigeria over the past 500 years. Here is what the editor, Kwame Dawes, has to say about it:
Bakandamiya is a groundbreaking work of beauty and urgency, a stunning book-length epic poem set in Northern Nigeria, scans over 500 years of cultural transformation that constitutes a truly impressive work of lyric and poetic ambition. Dzukogi moves from passages of mythic power to elegant lyricism with remarkable skill.
The poem, which draws elements from Hausa griot traditions as well as animist thought, is being compared to Okot p’Bitek’s classic Song of Lawino. Bakandamiya is highly anticipated and will no doubt add another powerful contribution from a poet who has long been a significant presence on the African poetry scene, with recognition by the African Poetry Prize, the Nigeria Prize for Literature, Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry and the 2021 Julie Suk Award for Your Crib, My Qibla.
Dzukogi, who is now being represented by Greyhound Literary, is currently an assistant professor at Mississippi University. He has published two collections of poetry: Inside the Flower Room, a chapbook in the African Poetry Book Fund New Generation African Poets series and Your Crib, My Quibla, an elegy that captures the feelings of a father’s grief after experiencing the death of a child.
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