African poetry press gets two Nigerian columnists

A new African poetry press, Konya Shamsrumi, has announced five new columnist-bloggers, which includes two Nigerians, for its website. The columnists are Maryam Gatawa (Kano-based poet and promoter) and poet Siraj A. Sabuke. Also, double NAMA award-winning Zimbabwean poet, Tinashe Tafirenyika, Harriet Anena (a Ugandan poet who won the 2018 Wole Soyinka Poetry Prize), and […]

A new African poetry press, Konya Shamsrumi, has announced five new columnist-bloggers, which includes two Nigerians, for its website.

The columnists are Maryam Gatawa (Kano-based poet and promoter) and poet Siraj A. Sabuke. Also, double NAMA award-winning Zimbabwean poet, Tinashe Tafirenyika, Harriet Anena (a Ugandan poet who won the 2018 Wole Soyinka Poetry Prize), and Andrea Grieder, a Swiss national who runs Rwanda’s Transpoesis.

In a statement issued in Uyo, Nigeria, Collective member Umar Sidi welcomed the new columnist bloggers, saying, “Our vision is to make Konya Shamsrumi the hotspot of African poetry and this is a step in that direction. 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.”

The press has gained attention with its recent release of its two collections, Umar Sidi’s ‘The Poet of Dust’ and Richard Ali’s ‘The Anguish and Vigilance of Things’. Two chapbooks by Funmi Gaji and Rasaq Malik Gbolahan are expected before the end of the year.

The new columnists-bloggers will add more colour to the poetry publisher’s website which already offers the weekly #FiveQuestions series of interviews with emerging and established poets on the continent ranging from Tunisian Laila Chatti to the Sudanese Nehal El-Hadi. It also hosts the #BlackPoets segment that features the work and a short bio of a notable African or Africa-descended poet each week. Nigeria-based Konya Shamsrumi was conceived as an Africa-centric, traditional-style publishing outfit run by the KSR Collective.