Warri Literary Society - WLS

08/01/2025

*ANTHOLOGY OF POETRY CHALLENGES: CALL FOR SUBMISSION OF POEMS*

Guided by its philosophy of poetry for service and eternally interested in supporting/showcasing the works of poets and poets' undying love for poetry challenges, we have over the years, monitored the growing culture of self-propelled poetry challenges by poets in Nigeria and across the globe. Accordingly, Poets in Nigeria Initiative desires to curate the production of a pioneer compendium of Anthology of Poetry Challenges as part activities marking PIN @10 later this year. In this regard, we are excited to invite poets who have over the past 10yrs engaged in a form of challenge or the other to submit their best works under the following guidelines.

*Submission Guidelines:*

- Submit your top 5 poetry entries from a particular challenge
- Mention nature/number of days of the challenge
- Social media proof of date challenge started and ended
- Entries must be original works of poets
- Submitted poems should not have been featured in any other anthology
- Add Poet's bio, photo and telephone contact
- Minimum of two (2) entries per poet-entrant/per challenge will be selected for publication
- This call is open to poets from all over the world
- Poets of selected poems will be entitled to e-version of the anthology
- The anthology of poetry challenges is part of activities marking PIN @10 Anniversary celebration.

*Submission Details:*

Email your entries alongside above evidences to: [email protected]

Deadline: February 15th
_________________________________
MODERATING JUDGES

All submissions will be critically appraised by a team of judges comprising:

Blessed-Chinatu Orji, Asst Secretary Poets in Nigeria Initiative

Awele Ilusanmi, author of Comforting Arms, a compilation of poems published in 2004, multiple award-winner, extremely passionate literacy advocate,
celebrated for her invaluable support and contributions to the Nigerian literary landscape.



Eriata Oribhabor, author of Crossroads & The Rubicon and President Poets in Nigeria Initiative

Blessed-Chinatu Orji,
Asst Secretary, PIN
For: PIN Anthology of Poetry Challenges

31/10/2024

LABAF 2024: FEATURING PIN ARTHUB LIVE

Under the aegis of PIN ARTHUB, Nigeria's leading spoken word poet, Sage Hassan is set to lead a team of A-list performance/spoken word poets to the 26th edition of Lagos Book and Art Festival (LABAF). In the team are foremost Comrade Poet and curator of Aj House of Poetry, Lagos Dagga Tolar, award winning storyteller and poet Toby Abiodun, artist/performance poet, Evelyn D'Poet, winner of several performance and spoken word poetry contests, Kemi Bakare (aka Kemistree), Adigun Olushola (Solaspeaks) and renowned performance/spoken word poets, Bold Seth, Tirwister Tiwistar, Solutionist Clementina and Jacob Sukpa respectively. I am Indomitable, Gabriel, Favour, Marvel and Treasure Obi are rising spoken word poets that are bound to establish their feet on the acclaimed LABAF stage.

Further details of the entire PIN Arthub will be shared subsequently.

Date: 12th November, 2024
Time: 5pm

Endeavour to be part of this all-important event.

RSVP:
1) Funke Awodiya - 07034815063
2) Shola Phebian - 0703816 7920
3) Clementina Owumi - 08076500936
4) Emma Abiodun Dada - 0806 672 0940

09/08/2024

To promote poets and poetry, Poets in Nigeria Initiative (PIN) is calling on all interested poets/literary minds across Nigeria and beyond to join our team in hosting a poetry event in diverse locations tagged Cross-Country Poetry Celebration.

The theme for this edition is: Power and Pleasure of Poetry.

3RD EDITION OF CROSS-COUNTRY POETRY CELEBRATION (CCPC): CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS

Keynote speaker:
Prof. Niyi Osundare

Date: 26th October, 2024

Indication of interest to host the CCPC anywhere in Nigeria and beyond should be forwarded to the moderator via:
07068828488 (WhatsApp only).

Call for indication of interest closes: 31st August, 2024

Basira Rabiu Idris
Moderator, CCPC 2024

15/06/2024

CCPC 2024: ONGOING HOSTS' SIGN UP

CCPC stands for Cross Country Poetry Celebration, an initiative of Poets in Nigeria that headlines poets during a simultaneous reading and performance of poetry across the country. This edition, is scheduled to hold on Saturday 26th October, 2024. It promises to be bigger and more impactful.

So far, we have hosts in the following 18 states; Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kaduna, Oyo, Bauchi, Taraba, Lagos, Sokoto, Nasarawa, Akwa Ibom, Plateau, Anambra, Ekiti, Jigawa, Niger, Osun and Benue. You can be part of this.

To host the CCPC, please click this link: https://bit.ly/Host-CCPC.

Please, feel free to ask questions on the way forward.

Eriata Oribhabor
For: PIN Initiative

To promote poets and poetry, Poets in Nigeria Initiative (PIN) is calling on all interested poets/literary minds across Nigeria and beyond to join our team in hosting a poetry event in diverse locations tagged Cross-Country Poetry Celebration. The theme for this edition is: Power and Pleasure of Poe...

21/04/2024

WARRI HOSTS Ebidenyefa Tarila Nikade , PhD.

Please join us at today's literary fellowship.
You would love you did.

Time: 4pm
Venue: Oduah Hotel and Suites
IFFIE ESTATE, off Refinery Rd., Warri.

18/04/2024

POETS IN NIGERIA INITIATIVE TO CELEBRATE PROF. WOLE SOYINKA@90

(A call for submission of poems for an anthology of carefully crafted poems in honor of the global literary Icon)

Poets In Nigeria Initiative is inviting poets across the globe to send in carefully crafted poems to be featured in an anthology titled: *Decades of Nine Hills and Thrills (Poems in honour of Prof. Wole Soyinka @90).

*THEMED - "The gift of grey wits and socio-cultural strength", this literary offering celebrates Prof. Wole Soyinka's decades of multidimensional conscientisation of people for socio-cultural development globally.

*A brief on our Literary Icon:*
Akínwándé Olúwọlé Babátúndé Ṣóyíinká; born 13 July 1934, known as Wole Soyinka is a Nigerian playwright, novelist, poet, cultural icon, and essayist in the English language. He was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature for his "wide cultural perspective and poetic overtones fashioning the drama of existence", the first sub-Saharan African to be honoured in that category.

*SUBMISSION GUIDELINES*

* Poems should reflect the thematic thrusts bordering on the Icon's overall lifestyle encompassed in the stated theme.

*Poems should not exceed 35 lines.

* Each entrant is entitled to a poem Only.

*The title of this call must not be used as the title of the entry.

* Entries must be the original intellectual property of the entrants (never previously published in any form).

*Entries should be submitted in the body of the mail to:* [email protected]

• Attached emails would be overlooked

•Exceptional entries will have slots for physical performance at celebratory events in honor of Prof. Wole Soyinka.

*Submission Deadline:* 20th April - 20th May, 2024.

Shola Phebian Oguntoyinbo Adekunle
For: POETS IN NIGERIA INITIATIVE

15/04/2024

YOU ARE INVITED TO A SPECIAL BOOK READING IN WARRI FEATURING EBIDENYEFA TARILA-NIKADE, PhD.

On Sunday 21st April, 2024 friends, and members of the Literati in Warri will be hosting the author of "The Other Room and Other Poems" Ebidenyefa Tarila-Nikade, PhD to an evening of Book Reading, Conversations and Signing. Alongside the mentioned book, she will be reading from:

1. Ebiama: The Gloryland
2. 14 Letters To My Lazy Lover On Valentine's Day

Date: Sunday, April 21, 2024
Time:4 pm
Venue: Oduah Hotel & Suites,B11, Iffie Layout
Behind Iye Plaza,Off Refinery Road, Ekpan, Delta State

Members of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Delta, South South Writers, Warri Literary Society - WLS and Literary minds in Warri, Effurun, Osubi, Otokutu, Jeddo, Ughoton, Gbokodo, Ubeji, Agbarho, Sapele, Abraka, Ughelli, Benin-city are specially invited to this literary hang out.

Please reach out to me or any of the following:

Erumena Akpoghene Adaiah - 08033119934
Oyem Gary - 08134581257
Perpetua Iyere - 08055452190
Mstdeprof Ogwara Amaka - 08196413291
Oghenero Ezaza - 09014313177

Special Guest:
Prof. Sunny Ahwefeada
Dean, Post Graduate School, Delta State

RSVP- Eriata Oribhabor - 08117991678
RSVP - Ibrahim Omo Otokiti - 08077316481
Warri, Nigeria

06/03/2024

If you have never known of this page, please connect -https://web.facebook.com/naijapidginworldwide/

24/02/2024

REST IN YOUR PEACE

Hello,

It's been a while of lost years,
Truth of a touching disconnect,
Abiding pain of mixed feelings
About your trip to yonder land
And fear of the unknown
That stole you from us.

We did find beauty in tenderness
Didn't fathom the bleakness
In a union that blasted off smoothly
But went crashing at the success
Of three bells of fruitfulness,
That couldn't stop a sliding home.

Hello,

A flash back of moments
Of me and you, do bring back
Our first encounter of sweet love,
It reminds me of the rowing ship
Of our friendship, cut short by a deep
cut, left in me by a mum who turned her
Son, into a play toy for her divisive wishes.

You have become the challenge
Of all challenges, and mum, like you
Is blind to changes of unimaginable
Progress, of our bells, ringing across
Worlds of creative pushes, winning
Laurels, but pained, by your absence.

Hello,

We had seen nights of many nights
And some that came with long knives,
We had seen mockery and mock fights,
The mirage of barefaced witchery,
And won't stop laughing at them
Who wanted sleep, dead.

A whiff of a sudden act in politics,
Breaks with surprising spotlights
About transient ways and why
The drummer uses the same drums
At both joyous times of celebration
And moments of mourning.

Hello,

It's me Osaro...the one who made you a man
When many saw only darkness on your path,
The light whose shine was a torment
To them playing the clock of all-time.
Today, I and your bells are paces of ringing
Inspiration for many, who ask; why me?

It's me Osaro...it's about us...
Gbenga and Osaro, pulled apart
At a time we boldly promised to make
A difference for ourselves, for love
And sincerity of purpose, until a curve
Of evil hand, foisted forever distraction.

Hello,

Your voice still rings in mine
I sleep and wake up thinking of the time
Blindfolded ones like you would see lost
Times of unplanned disconnect with their
Hearthrobs, like me who wonder how c**k
Crows, have suddenly meant nothing to me.

I didn't quite get you...a pain in my ear!
Did you just say what wouldn't be fear
To me that saw nights of long knives
At close quarters? Haven't I known about
Wicked ones who say, death isn't for them?
And, we must come begging them for life?

Hello,

People like her never die...they die
Whenever they chose to die,
On their chests-crested is a line
Madly cherished by boastful ones-
"....the world lives in our pockets"
Claiming God is a lovely past time.

It's 25 yrs anniversary of your flight
From me and our bells who speak light
Of your actions because you went blind
From the machinations of faith winders.
Darkness has flown from your world,
You have regained your sight.

Hello,

Gbenga, your voice will recognise mine
Any day and happily, it still rings in mine.
What about not holding back your tears?
What about years of burnt fears?
We are stringing a son for you that
Has reconnected with his gongs.

We shall hear homilies about eulogising
Sordidiness that must be forgiven,
We shall play back wasted moments
And open the pages of boldness,
That rode over a journey of turbulence
Saying - "...mum, rest in your peace."

Eriata Oribhabor
Lagos, Nigeria

27/01/2024

BLESSED-CHINATU ORJI APPOINTED AS ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF POETS IN NIGERIA INITIATIVE

We are thrilled to announce the appointment of Blessed-Chinatu Orji as the Assistant Secretary of Poets in Nigeria Initiative, working directly with the Executive Secretary and the PIN Central Network on administrative matters.
Having served as the Lead Representative for the Poets in Nigeria University of Cross River Connect Centre (UNICROSS) from 2019-2021 and contributed to Festival Poetry Calabar as Welfare team lead, Chinatu brings invaluable experience.

Currently, she serves as the Moderator of PIN Connect centres. Her journey reflects an unwavering dedication to poetry and community building.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
PROFILE
Blessed-Chinatu Orji is a broadcast journalist, creative writer, poet, voice-over artist, safe learning spaces advocate, and a graduate of the University of Cross River State. Her work appeared in the Nigerian Students Poetry Prize (NSPP) 2021 anthology, Providus Bank 2022 Anthology, and other notable publications.

Kolade Olanrewaju Freedom
Executive Secretary PIN

21/01/2024

POETOURISM - PLEASE CHECK OUT WHAT'S HAPPENING-https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=677685334464814&id=100066700590509&mibextid=Nif5oz

POETOURISM will take you places.
Together, we will raise burn fires for poetry.

Follow for updates on POETOURISM 2024.

10/12/2023

ERIATA ORIBHABOR (LITERARY PEDIGREE)

Eriata Oribhabor’s literary pedigree dates back to his days in Uwheru Grammar School, Uwheru (in the then Ughelli Local Government Area of Delta State) where he served as the library prefect and president of his school’s Press club and represented the same in Inter-schools Quiz and Literary competitions. He started writing for newspapers (Letters to the Editor) while in the secondary school and participated actively in different literary contests on both local and international radio/tv stations, winning different prizes. Radio listening was his first love and happily had a stint as an A*o Radio Abuja - On Air Presenter of MEK WE YAN, dedicated to the usage of Pidgin words and slangs.

Eriata prides himself as one who started his foray into poetry writing using the Nigerian Pidgin at a time the language faced its stiffest opposition from our nation’s literati, people and government. His very first book of poetry is titled “Abuja na Kpangba and other poems” published by Something for Everybody Ventures in 2011 followed successively by an anthology of poems (edited) titled: IF YOU HEAR SEY I DEY PRISON and an anthology of plays titled: AMEBO YARD. Eriata is a frontline promoter of Nigerian Pidgin and attended the Institute for French Research in Africa (IFRA) first conference on Nigerian Pidgin at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria in 2009. His undying passion for the promotion of Nigerian Pidgin saw him attending an International Conference on Arts, Society and Sustainable Development (ICASSD) in June, 2011 at the Tshwane University of Science and Technology, Pretoria South Africa where he presented a paper titled “The Role of Naija (Nigerian Pidgin) in Achieving Nigeria’s Language Policy and Integration of its People.” Before coming to Lagos in 2014, Eriata wrote a weekly column titled NAIJA LANGWEJ A-Z on Leadership Newspaper. His new works in Naija Pidgin are: MEK WE YAN, ONE LEG FORWARD, TWO LEG FORWARD and ONE FOR DI ROAD respectively.

Eriata enjoys whatever he does especially the promotion of creativity and highly inspired by travels and tours, well captured in all his books whether written in English or Naija Pidgin. Also called a Poet-tourist, he is passionate about the Poets in Nigeria’s POETOURISM Initiative that had taken poets on tour of the EPE Resort, Comrade Joseph Evah - Niger Delta Hall of Fame, Lagos facility of OYASAF and the world class YEMISI SHYLLON MUSEUM OF ART situated at the PAN ATLANTIC University, Lagos.

Eriata is happily married with children to ELAYE from the great EVAH family of Ekogbene in Delta State, Nigeria.

07/12/2023

WE SEASONS

We are a cruising band
Of lovely poets, who hand
Their all as miles of grand
Lines, telling how we stand
The gaps for all in a land
Of tampered whispers.

We are a synced community
Of creatives whose conviality
Speaks volume above formalities.
With strength of our commonality,
We are crafts of moving consistency
United by the ideals of poetic fervency.

Not overwhelmed by our world
Of printed missives, we are words
Of weaved writings, hardly found
With many who lack the sounds
Of needed lyrics and rounds
Of concern for motherland.

Together we hold forth for you and me
Up-standing on helms of younger trees
Burning wild with awesome novelties.
Believing in standards across board,
We openly share and never hoard
Homes of brightened meanings
Written for all seasons.

Eriata Oribhabor

07/12/2023

Eriata Di Poet

You can connect with my main profile by clicking the following link:
https://www.facebook.com/oribhabor?mibextid=ZbWKwL

17/11/2023

PIN NATIONAL POETS RESIDENCY

You may not have heard of the National Poets Residency, an initiative of Poets in Nigeria. We look forward to partnering with individuals and corporate bodies committed to supporting society via poetry.

Please check it out and reach out to me.
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064488980878&mibextid=2JQ9oc

Eriata Oribhabor
For: PIN Initiative