Ehikhamenor’s art inspired writers at Abuja festival workshop

A painting by visual artist Victor Ehikhamenor served as a picture prompt to writers at a creative writing workshop organised by the Abuja Literary and Arts Festival (ALitFest). The workshop which took place on Tuesday at Ventures Park, Abuja was tagged ‘Creative Writing Workshop, IWP Lines and Spaces Tour’. Participating writers were asked to write […]

A painting by visual artist Victor Ehikhamenor served as a picture prompt to writers at a creative writing workshop organised by the Abuja Literary and Arts Festival (ALitFest).

The workshop which took place on Tuesday at Ventures Park, Abuja was tagged ‘Creative Writing Workshop, IWP Lines and Spaces Tour’.

Participating writers were asked to write drawing inspiration from Ehikhamenor’s artwork ‘Hall of Leisure’, a rectangular and expansive piece depicting nude people in awkward postures. One writer’s story turned out to be a ‘pool party’ where students sprayed water on each other and another explored the shame of a rape victim.

The workshop was facilitated by four American authors: Christopher Merrill, a director of the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa, January Gill O’Neil, an English teacher at Salem State University and a member of the board of trustees for Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) and Montserrat College of Art, Emily Raboteau, a creative writing teacher at City College and Tom Sleigh, a Professor in the MFA Program at the Hunter College who has worked as a journalist in the Middle East and Africa.

ALitFest debuted last year. Its 2019 edition, which started on Thursday is ending today after a discussion on migration by Segun Adeniyi, author of ‘From Frying Pan to Fire’, and Arinze Orakwe from the Public Enlightenment department of National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), a drama performance from Zulu Sofola’s ‘Wedlock of the Gods’ and several more attractions.