Eight African writers have been elected into the Royal Society of Literature (RSL) as part of its 40 Under 40 initiative: poets Warsan Shire and Inua Ellams, novelists Sabrina Mahfouz, Nadifa Mohamed, Irenosen Okojie, and Chibundu Onuzo, , and playwright Bola Agbaje. Beyond the 40 Under 40 initiative, there were two more inductees: street rapper Mojisola Adebayo and poet Kwame Dawes, […]
Tag Archives: kwame dawes
Kwame Dawes Is Developing a Digital Portal for African Poetry and Artifacts, from the 1800s to the Present
Kwame Dawes—Emmy-winning poet, founding editor of African Poetry Book Fund (APBF), and editor of Prairie Schooner—is developing a digital portal for African poetry at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where he is also a Chancellor’s Professor of English, reports The Daily Nebraskan. “The African Digital Portal,” to be launched in 2019, “will feature artifacts, newspapers and manuscripts related […]
“New-Generation African Poets: A Chapbook Box Set (Tano)”: See the 11 Covers
Africa Poetry Book Fund (APBF)—which administers the Brunel International African Poetry Prize, the Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets, and the Glenna Luschei Prize—is set to publish its annual New-Generation African Poets: A Chapbook Box Set, containing work by new voices from the continent. Begun in 2014, the limited-edition series, which is published by Akashic Books, “seeks […]
Kwame Dawes Named Chancellor of Academy of American Poets
Kwame Dawes, Emmy-winning poet and founding editor of Africa Poetry Book Fund, has been named a chancellor of the Academy of American Poets. The honourary position has been held in the past by such distinguished names as W.H. Auden, John Ashberry, Elizabeth Bishop, Lucille Clifton, Yusef Komunyakaa, Adrienne Rich, and Mark Strand. The poets Marilyn […]
New-Generation African Poets 2017 Box Set Featured in Vogue Magazine
African Poetry Book Fund’s New-Generation African Poets: A Chapbook Box Set (Nne) has been featured in Vogue magazine. The feature, written by Tariro Mzezewa, who is Zimbabwean, is titled “In Times of Division, Finding Refuge—and Fighting Back—Through Art.” It explains how poetry and the writings of black women constitute important resistance in the age of […]
Read Kwame Dawes’ 13-Point Twitter “Memo to Poets”
In the space of one month and one week, from February 6 to March 13, Emmy Award-winner and Prairie Schooner editor Kwame Dawes dished out thirteen writing tips for poets on twitter. The tweets, which we covered in our monthly literary digest for February, are essentially the do’s and don’t’s of writing poetry, and to […]
African Literary Digest: 14 Must-Reads from February, 2017
Every month, we compile a list of reads from around the internet that we find illuminating. For January, we chose eight pieces. For February, we have fourteen items. They include non-fiction, fiction, essays, speeches, and even tweets. While numbered, this list is unranked. *** 1. “Since Everything Was Suddening into a Hurricane” | By Binyavanaga Wainaina | Granta | Non-fiction […]
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