A-list authors lined up for Abuja Book Jam
Hajo Isa was born and bred in Zuru, Kebbi State and is a lawyer and staff of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, Abuja. She graduated from the Faculty of Law, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in 2004. Recently, she has dabbled into prose, beginning with short story writing. She enjoys African prose the most, finding them […]
Hajo Isa was born and bred in Zuru, Kebbi State and is a lawyer and staff of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, Abuja. She graduated from the Faculty of Law, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in 2004. Recently, she has dabbled into prose, beginning with short story writing. She enjoys African prose the most, finding them “very rich in culture and passion; they have influenced my appreciation and dedication to the art of poetry and short fiction writing.” Hajo, writes best when she’s inspired. “I find art to be my best muse; I find it in music, reading a good book, being outdoors surrounded by nature, beauty in living and animate objects or art. Inspiration for me is very erratic so I try my best to incorporate creative hobbies in my life.”
Abubakar Adam Ibrahim has been fascinated with writing since he was a boy, which was what motivated him to dump the sciences and study Mass Communications at the University of Jos. He has dabbled into poetry and plays but is more at home with prose. He won the BBC African Performance Prize in 2007 and the ANA Plateau/Amatu Braide Prize for Prose the following year. He also emerged runner-up for the ANA Plateau Poetry Prize.
He is a fellow of the British Council Radiophonics creative writing workshop and has been selected for the Fidelity Bank Creative Writing Workshop as well as the Caine Prize for African Writing workshop (2012) – which he could not attend because of the Nigeria-South Africa Yellow fever row. His radio drama, A Bull Man’s Story which fetched him the BBC African Performance Prize in 2007 was highly commended by the judges for the writer’s ‘ability to enter the minds of his character’. He published his first novel, The Quest for Nina was published in 2009 and several of his works have appeared online and in literary journals.
Unoma Nguemo Azuah is a college professor in the US. She got her undergraduate at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka where she edited the English department literary journal—The Muse and received the awards of the best Creative Writing student for two consecutive years: 1992 and 1993. Her other awards include the Hellman/Hammett award, the Urban Spectrum award,the Leonard Trawick award and the Association of Nigerian Authors/NDDC Flora Nwapa award for her debut novel Sky-high Flames and the Aidoo-Snyder award for her latest novel, Edible Bones. She has conducted writing workshops for incarcerated mothers and women in prison as a way of creating outlets for their expressions. Her contributions to this group earned her the ‘Griot Hero’ award in 2006. In the same year, she received ‘The Best Faculty’, award at Lane College for her outstanding teaching, research and service to the College community.