Contributions wanted to new anthologies
I am editing an anthology of immigrant writing scheduled for publication shortly. My aim is to provide an outlet for non-mainstream writers in a publication that is truly ethnic and reflecting an immigrant perspective. For a writer to be included in the publication, he/she has to have immigrant roots from Africa, Asia, the Middle East or Eastern Europe, possibly someone with another language other than Greek, Spanish, English, German or French. I think there is need for a publication that focuses on immigrant experience in the USA. Feel free to share this idea with other people that you know who might be interested in contributing. I am interested in poetry, short stories, creative non-fiction and essays. Deadline for submissions is Friday November 28th 2008. Submissions can be made via email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
AND........
I am editing an anthology of new fiction from Africa. The focus is on unpublished work, but I will include any previously published work if the author owns the copyright. I would prefer that submissions be sent to me via email; however, a query letter should precede the submission. All contributors to this anthology will be paid for their work. No deadline has been set for this publication.
For snail mail, send your contribution to:
Jide Osikomaiya
PO Box 20714
Piedmont, CA. 94620
Lingering Issues In Achebe’s
Female
Characterisation
Recently,
(Saturday April 12, 2008), I was at the National Theatre, Lagos, because of
Prof Chinua Achebe, Africa’s best known and most widely read author, who many
regard as the indisputable father and rallying point of African
Literature. The Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) had organized a
forum to commemorate the Fiftieth Anniversary of the publication of Achebe’s
classic novel, Things Fall Apart, published in London by William Heinemann in June
1958. More----
QUOTABLE QUOTE
Nigerian
writers who made their debut in the 1950s and 1960s were invariably published
in Europe, by foreign publishers who used their multinational networks to promote
their books. You received international attention with your first book, more or
less. The multinational publishers also took extra pains to promote promising
authors. Alan Hill brought Achebe to the literary world. Rex Collings did the
same for Wole Soyinka.
The
major literary awards which serve as parameters for evaluating the greatness of
a Nigerian creative writer are also foreign based and controlled. It was the
British Booker Award which automatically conferred greatness on Ben Okri. As
for the Nobel Prize in Literature, that is considered the highest crown of
glory on earth (by the Western World) for any writer. It is a well known fact
that no Nigerian writer, however brilliant, can hope to win the prize unless he
has a powerful lobby in Europe or the USA. The world acclaimed scholars of
African literature whose verdicts determine which Nigerian writer is worthy of
international attention are also foreigners who have been joined in their
foreign countries by many Nigerian literary scholars. We rejoiced that a new
era had dawned when the Obasanjo administration conferred a one million Naira
literary award on visiting Prof. Chinua Achebe. It soon became obvious that the
administration was more concerned with making a fitting cash presentation to Prof.
Achebe than with instituting a major literary award to promote Nigerian
literature.
Where
does all this leave the Nigerian writer? And Nigerian literature? The once
famous Heineman African writers series which brought Achebe, Aluko, Ekwensi,
Amadi, Nwapa, Munonye and many others to prominence ran aground decades ago.
Fontana Books which brought Ike, Soyinka, Obi Egbuna, Adaora Ulasi and others
into the limelight died in the early 1980s. The economic downturn which began
in the 1980s and has since continued, dealt the knockout blow on foreign
publishing. The abysmal value of the naira meant that a foreign publisher could
not market the published books in Nigeria, which has constituted a major
deterrent. The Nigerian publisher is too apathetic and preoccupied with
competing for textbook adoptions to fill the vacuum. The Nigerian government
has remained indifferent. Its shocking lack of appreciation of the centrality
of culture to national development is clearly written in the fortunes of our
ministry of culture.
