As the Nigerian Breweries’ sponsored 2016 Creative Writers’ Workshop gets underway in Lagos, it is gathered that over two thousand four hundred and fifty (2450) entries have been received nationwide.
This creative writers’ workshop is being organised by Farafina Trust have announced that 2450 entries were received for this year’s edition out of which 24 final participants were selected.
According to the organisers, the ten-day workshop kicked off on Tuesday, June 21, 2016 and will come to a close on Friday July 1, 2016 with a literary evening of readings, open to the public at the Lagos Oriental, Hotel. The workshop is led by internationally renowned Nigerian writer, Chimamanda Adichie. It takes the form of an interactive class session where participants are assigned a wide range of reading, as well as daily writing exercises. Participants are also exposed to creative techniques to help them bring different perspectives to the art of storytelling.
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, Eghosa Imasuen, medical doctor and author of To Saint Patrick and Fine Boys and the Caine Prize winning Kenyan writer Binyavanga Wainaina, who has been part of the faculty since inception as well as Norwegian culture administrator and Director of the National Library of Norway, Aslak Sira Myhre will co-teach the workshop alongside Adichie
