As the closing date of May 20, 2016 approaches for submission of entries for the 2016 Creative Writers’ Workshop, the sponsors, Nigerian Breweries Plc and the organizers, Farafina Trust have announced that over 550 entries have been received for this year’s edition. The huge number of entries was recorded last week, exactly three weeks after it was launched.
To enter for selection, applicants are to send an email of a writing sample of between 200 and 800 words of either fiction or non-fiction and a few sentences about themselves to udonandu2016@gmail.com. The email is also to contain the applicants name and address with a subject titled ‘Workshop Application’. The organizers say all material must be pasted or written in the body of the e-mail and should not include any attachments.
According to the organizers, successful applicants will be notified by June 10, 2016 and accommodation would be provided in Lagos for all accepted applicants who are able to attend for the ten-day duration of the workshop scheduled to kick off from June 21 to July 1, 2016. The 2016 Creative Writing Workshop which will be led by internationally renowned Nigerian writer, Chimamanda Adichie, will take the form of an interactive class session where participants will be assigned a wide range of reading, as well as daily writing exercises. Participants will also be exposed to creative techniques to help them bring different perspectives to the art of storytelling. A literary evening of readings, open to the public, will be held at the end of the workshop on July 1, 2016.
Since 2009, Nigerian Breweries has sponsored the Creative Writers’ Workshop in partnership with Farafina Trust. The Workshop has helped to discover and sharpen literary skills in Nigeria. It has trained over 120 creative writers and has featured several international writers. The list of international writers include; Jeffery Allen, a Professor of English at Queens College of the City University of New York and an instructor in the Writing Program at The New School. Robert Spillman, Editor of Tin House, a ten-year-old bi-coastal (Brooklyn, New York and Portland, Oregon) literary magazine that has been honoured in Best American Stories, Best American Essays, Best American Poetry, O’Henry Prize Stories, the Pushcart Prize Anthology and numerous other anthologies. Amah Ata Aidoo, award winning Ghanaian writer and Chika Unigwe have also been part of the literary workshop. This year, the Caine Prize winning Kenyan writer Binyavanga Wainaina, who has been part of the faculty since inception and Norwegian culture administrator and Director of the National Library of Norway, Aslak Sira Myhre will co-teach the workshop alongside Adichie.
