FINE DINING & DINING FINE THE AFRICAN WAY AT NOK BY ALARA

Photo credit: Olutayo Irantiola

The heart of the Island is experiencing a culinary difference at the moment. It is the Nok by Alara restaurant, a natural space to enjoy your African fine dining at its best. Nok by Alara is located at 12, Akin Olugbade Street, Victoria Island, Lagos.

The ambience of the restaurant is all African and it looks quite rustic at every time of the day. The waitresses are dressed in traditional iro and buba while there are an array of drinks to order and different meals across West Africa from Senegal to Lagos. The wall has different pictures showcasing the metropolitan city of Lagos.

The outdoor area of the restaurant is artistic; the setting is less formal with stools made of iron and wood. The plants on the exterior also make it the ideal place to relax after a day’s job with an ample supply of oxygen. There is also a table top football soccer board game to play with as you await your orders.

Why not give yourself a treat by visiting this restaurant that gives you a memorable day and a desire to visit whenever you have the opportunity. You will dine fine at Nok by Alara!

HUMOUR, LOVE AND HISTORY IN GHANA MUST GO BY YVONNE OKORO

Titile of Movie: Ghana Must Go
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Production company: Desamour Productions Limited
Movie Release Date: June 10 2016
Reviewer: Olutayo Irantiola

Ghana Must Go is such an interesting romantic comedy about Ama and Chuks, a Ghanaian lady who met a Nigerian man in London while they were both on postgraduate studies. The father of Ama who is a  retired Army Brigadier General, Alex Scanda, vehemently opposed the marriage of the duo who had gone to a registry in London. The General drove him to the airport in Accura in annoyance.

Both Chuks and the Army General discussed the history of the Ghana Must Go.  Chuks explained that the Ghanaian government pushed Nigerians out of the country in 1969 while Nigeria did same in 1983. The army general expressed his  his rage whenever he sees those bags.

Osofia in his usual comic nature got into the scene to appease to the impending in-law in Accura where he called Ankara while his wife corrected him that they are in Akara. He went in hundreds of Ghana Must Go bags, a goat and chicken.

The play changed its course when Osofia and his wives met their father in-law, Alex. The General told his daughter that he was not happy with the turn of events. Chuks appealed to his father in-law about what he has brought on the family.

Ama prepared banku and tilapia soup. Osofia made jest of the food that eventually purged the entire family. That caused an issue between the two fathers who engaged in physical combat while the children came to separate them. After Osofia learnt that the General 's anger was based on his animosity for Nigerians, he also flared up but was appeased by emotions expressed by his daughter in-law.

The humour is great, the love between Ama & Chuks is obvious, the acrimonious relationship between the fathers and the historical antecedent cannot be overlooked. Visit the cinemas in Nigeria from June 10 2016 to have a feel of this intriguing movie.

Herein are pictures from the Lagos media screening

Brunel University African Poetry Prize Announces 2016 Winners

The Brunel University African Poetry Prize
in partnership with Commonwealth Writers

PRESS RELEASE – WINNERS 2016   

The joint winners of the 2016 Brunel University African Poetry Prize are Gbenga Adesina(Nigeria) and Chekwube O. Danladi (Nigeria). 

Gbenga AdesinaGbenga Adesina lives and writes in Nigeria. His poetry, essays and reviews have been featured or are forthcoming in Harriet’s Blog for the Poetry Foundation and in Jalada, Premium Times, Brittle Paper, Africanwriter.com, One Throne, Vinyl, Prairie Schooner andSoar Africa. In 2015, he was an Open Society Foundation Resident Poet on Goree Island, off the coast of Senegal. His first chapbook, Painter of Water, will be published by APBF in the spring of 2016. Follow him @Gbadenaija. The judges said: ‘Adesina’s poems are powerfully political, beautiful and truly searing. This is a poet with a compelling voice addressing concerns of injustice, memory, migration and family.’

Chekwube O. DanladiChekwube O. Danladi was born in Lagos, Nigeria and raised there, as well as in Washington DC and West Baltimore. A Callaloo Fellow, her writing prioritizes themes of teleological displacement, navigations and interrogations of gender and sexuality, and the necessary resilience of African and Afro-diasporic communities. She is currently working towards an MFA in Fiction at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. The judges said: ‘Danladi’s poems are glorious, risky, ambitious and fresh. There is a powerful sense of social justice and serious engagement with contemporary and historical African concerns.’

This is the fourth year of The Brunel University African Poetry Prize, a major poetry prize of £3000 aimed at the development, celebration and promotion of poetry from Africa. The prize is sponsored by Brunel University London and Commonwealth Writers. It is open to African poets worldwide who have not yet published a full poetry collection. Each poet has to submit 10 poems to be eligible.

The judges this year are the poets, critics and academics: Dr Kwame Dawes (University of Nebraska), Dr Tsitsi Jaji (University of Pennsylvania), Dr John Keene (Rutgers University), Dr Helen Yitah (University of Ghana), and Chair and founder, Dr Bernardine Evaristo, Professor of Creative Writing at Brunel University London. Out of a record-breaking 900 entries, the judges came up with a shortlist of ten poets. These were: Gbenga Adesina (Nigeria); Victoria-Anne Bulley (Ghana); Mary-Alice Daniel(Nigeria); Chekwube O. Danladi (Nigeria); Amy Lukau (Angola); Ngwatilo Mawiyoo(Kenya); Momtaza Mehri (Eritrea/Somalia); Saradha Soobrayen (Mauritius); Warsan Shire (Somalia) and Chimwemwe Undi (Zambia/Zimbabwe/Namibia)

Previous winners2013   Warsan Shire (Somalia)
2014   Liyou Libsekal (Ethiopia)
2015   Safia Elhillo (Sudan) & Nick Makoha (Uganda)

The Prize works closely with the African Poetry Book Fund (APBF) at the University of Nebraska. The winners and most of the shortlisted poets of the past three years have had poetry pamphlets published with APBF in their ‘New Generation African Poets’ series of box sets, in partnership with the publishers Slappering Hol Press and Akashic Books in the USA.

The poets are available for interview and can be contacted via

UPDATE ON THE CAINE PRIZE FOR AFRICAN WRITING

The Caine Prize for African Literature received a record breaking number of entries which included 166 short stories from writers representing 23 African countries.
The 2016 judges, who were announced in London last month, are billed to meet in early May to decide on the shortlisted stories, which will be announced shortly thereafter.

Leading the panel of judges this year will be distinguished author and broadcaster Delia Jarrett-Macauley. She will be joined by the acclaimed film, television and theatre actor, Adjoa Andoh; the writer and founding member of the Nairobi based writers' collective, Storymoja, and founder of the Storymoja Festival, Muthoni Garland. Also on the panel are Associate Professor and Director of African American Studies at Georgetown University, Washington DC, Dr. Robert J Patterson and South African writer and 2006 Caine Prize winner, Mary Watson.

Commenting on the entries, Caine Prize Director Dr. Lizzy Attree said: "Once again we have received a record number of entries and we are delighted that so many of the best writers and publishers in Africa chose to submit their work. We are also excited to see an increase in the number of countries represented among the work submitted. Alongside nations with long histories of representation in both our shortlist and the roll call of winners, countries like Ethiopia, Burundi, Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Gambia, entered work which our judges now have the onerous task of reading and judging."

The 2015 edition won by "The Sack" and written by Zambian Namwali Serpell has been included in the Caine Prize 2015 anthology Lusaka Punk, which includes all shortlisted stories and others.
Once again, Blackwell Hall, Bodleian Libraries, in Oxford, UK, will host the Caine Prize award ceremony on Monday 4 July 2016.

SUBMISSION FOR 2016 GOLDEN BAOBAB PRIZE

The 2016 Golden Baobab Prize was launched on April 2, 2016 as we commemorated the International Children’s Book Day. This is a very special launch, because we are also celebrating the 7th anniversary of the Prize. To mark this anniversary and the growth of the prize, we have introduced a refreshed identity for the the Golden Baobab Prize and refined award categories and guidelines.

The Golden Baobab Prize is committed to discovering, celebrating and nurturing talented African writers and illustrators. The prize has received nearly 2000 entries since its beginning and its jury has included notable literary personalities such as Meshack Asare, Bernadine Evaristo, Nii Ayikwei Parkes and Paul O. Zelinsky. Funding for the prize has come from organizations such as Echoing Green, Tigo Reach for Change and the African Library Project.

This year there are 4 prizes to be awarded: The Golden Baobab Prize for Picture Books, the Golden Baobab Prize for Early Chapter Books, the Golden Baobab Prize for Illustrators and the Golden Baobab Lifetime Achievement Prize. They come with $20,000 in prize money and publishing opportunities for winning stories.

The Golden Baobab Prize is committed to discovering, celebrating and nurturing talented African writers and illustrators. The prize has received nearly 2000 entries since its beginning and its jury has included notable literary personalities such as Meshack Asare, Bernadine Evaristo, Nii Ayikwei Parkes and Paul O. Zelinsky. Funding for the prize has come from organizations such as Echoing Green, Tigo Reach for Change and the African Library Project.

If you are an African writer, illustrator/artist, get excited and ready to submit! And spread the word among other authors and illustrators you know. For more submission details – www.goldenbaobab.org

Culled from Golden Baobab

2016 WINNERS OF THE REGIONAL COMMONWEALTH STORY PRIZES RELEASED

The 2016 Prize attracted nearly 4000 entries from 47 countries. After an initial sift by a team of international readers, the global judging panel, representing each of the five regions of the Commonwealth – Helon Habila (Africa), Firdous Azim (Asia),  Pierre Mejlak (Canada and Europe)  Olive Senior (Caribbean), and Patrick Holland (Pacific) – chose the shortlist. From this shortlist, the judges selected the five regional winners below.

Chair, South African novelist and playwright Gillian Slovo, said of the regional winners:

“From Faraaz Mahomed’s ‘The Pigeon’ with its playful tone and unreliable narrator, Parashar Kulkarni’s ‘Cow and Company’, a witty satire that engagingly immerses the reader in its world, and ‘Eel’, a simply told and moving story of childhood by Stefanie Seddon to Lance Dowrich’s comedic ‘Ethelbert and the Free Cheese’ and Tina Makereti’s ‘Black Milk’, which impressed with a lyricism that takes the reader into another world while keeping us always on earth, these were all worthy winners and show how well the short story is flourishing in the Commonwealth.”

The regional winners will now compete to be selected as the Overall Winner of the 2016 Commonwealth Short Story Prize, to be announced at the Calabash International Literary Festival in Jamaica on 5 June.

Commonwealth Writers has partnered with Granta magazine to give regional winners of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize the opportunity to be published by Granta online. One story will be available to read every Wednesday until 1 June. At the same time, a conversation between the regional judge and the regional winner will be available as a podcast below.

Pacific Regional Winner – ‘Black Milk’ by Tina Makereti (New Zealand)

"It's a wonderful surprise to win the regional prize with this strange little story. It couldn't have existed without Fiona Pardington's photography, which requires us to see in a different way. Good fiction makes us see in a different way also, so it makes me very happy that 'Black Milk' might have achieved that."

Tina Makereti

"The Pacific shortlisted stories evoked a marvellous sense of place – that is, their settings seemed inevitable, essential – and they were gripping tales. ‘Black Milk’ stood out from the pack as an incredibly strange and powerful tale of a culture – at least one phase of that culture – in its twilight."

Patrick Holland, 2016 Judge

Patrick Holland in Australia speaks over Skype to Tina Makereti in New Zealand about her winning story 'Black Milk'.

'Black Milk' will be available to read on Granta shortly.

The Birdwoman came into the world while no one was watching. It was her old people who sent her, the ones who hadn’t chosen to make the transition, who stayed in their feathered forms, beaks sharp enough to make any girl do what her elders told her.
“It’s time,” they said. “They’re ready.”

READ AN EXTRACT

Asia Regional Winner – ‘Cow and Company’ by Parashar Kulkarni (India)

"I have been trying to write for many years now and I feel encouraged to continue. I am thankful for the opportunity to share my work with Commonwealth Writers, and with Granta. I am also looking forward to reading new and exciting voices that emerge from this initiative."

Parashar Kulkarni

"The Asian stories were really remarkable, representing a wide array of themes and styles. Humour, which is always a difficult mood to convey in a short span of time, was also one of the hallmarks of the stories from the Asian region. Congratulations are due to Parashar Kulkarni as ‘Cow and Company’ embodies all the best qualities in the stories. It is politically grounded, funny and keeps the reader engrossed as the story twists and turns and shows the connections between culture and commercial interests."

Firdous Azim, 2016 Judge

Parashar's winning story 'Cow and Company' will be available to read on Granta from 11 May.

‘Cow and Company’ is about four men in search of a cow. Eventually they do find one and take her to their office. It is part of a larger project set in colonial India.

READ AN EXTRACT

Africa Regional Winner – ‘The Pigeon’ by Faraaz Mahomed (South Africa)

"I am an unseasoned writer, who continues to struggle with the insecurities and anxieties of inexperience. Winning the Commonwealth Prize for the African region is more than an accolade, it's a prompting to continue down this path."

Faraaz Mahomed

"The Africa region included stories on almost every conceivable theme, accentuating the endless complexity and beauty of the continent; a testament to the inexhaustible talent that abounds there. 'The Pigeon' is a carefully and patiently woven tale about love, lust, guilt, and escape. It illustrates just how, as humans, we will always come short of our ideals, and we must learn to live with that."

Helon Habila, 2016 Judge

Faraaz's winning story 'The Pigeon' will be available to read on Granta from 18 May.

The story of a brief and turbulent affair, reflected through the narrator’s close relationship with a peculiar confidant.

READ AN EXTRACT

Canada and Europe Regional Winner – ‘Eel’ by Stefanie Seddon (UK)

"'Eel' is a very personal story to me. Its 'rite-of-passage' theme is a universal one, and its setting is the South Island of New Zealand, where I spent the first half of my life. I think you never really lose the view you grow up with, and when you see it through a lens of time and distance, it can be a great source of inspiration for fiction writing."

Stefanie Seddon

"With Hemingway-esque simplicity, ‘Eel’ tells the unforgettable story of a boy on an eel-fishing trip with his friends. It is a story about childhood slowly making way for adulthood through an experience many readers can relate to. It is an exceptional short story, full of insights into life, beautiful imagery and heartfelt emotions, meriting the title of regional best."

Pierre Mejlak, 2016 Judge

Stefanie's winning story 'Eel' will be available to read on Granta from 25 May.

On the West Coast of 1920s New Zealand, a boy battles eels and older brothers on a quest for independence.

READ AN EXTRACT

Caribbean Regional Winner – ‘Ethelbert and the Free Cheese’ by Lance Dowrich (Trinidad and Tobago)

"Winning the Regional Prize celebrates the simplicity of laughter that is so commonplace in Caribbean life. As small states we typically look outwards for references including humour. This prize says that not only can we laugh at ourselves but we can allow others to laugh with us. As we laugh we remain confident that we are talented and that we can impact the world."

Lance Dowrich

"Ethelbert and the Free Cheese' captures the carnivalesque spirit of Trinidad street life where a born loser's destiny is everyone's topic. While the tale is rooted in the Caribbean’s strong oral storytelling tradition, the author's command of his material - character, plot, pace and the authenticity of language - leavened with a delicious wit, lifts the story into the pantheon of exuberant comic tales."

Olive Senior, 2016 Judge

Lance's winning story 'Ethelbert and the Free Cheese' will be available to read on Granta from 1 June.

Ethelbert, son of Tantie Lucy, lives in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago and has committed himself to his working class job in a deliberate attempt to mask his loneliness and loveless life. In a chance encounter he recognizes the power of cheese to win him love, status and a brand new life.

READ AN EXTRACT