Moveable Type: Spotlight on the African Poetry Book Series

September 1, 2012

African Poetry Book Series

The African Poetry Book Fund

James Redd, publicist for Prairie Schooner, the inter­nationally recognized literary journal affiliated with the University of Nebraska, wishes to announce the African Poetry Book Series.

From the press release: Kwame Dawes, Guggenheim Fellow and winner of the 2011 Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award, is excited to announce the establishment of the African Poetry Book Series. Beginning in January 2014, the imprint will publish four new titles by African poets each year. In addition, the Series will publish every few years an anthology represent­ing African regions, themes, and ideas. Of the four books published annually, one will be a winner of the Sillerman African First Book Prize for African Po­ets, and another will be a new and selected volume by a major African poet. The winner of the prize will also receive a $1,000 cash prize and publication with the University of Nebraska Press and Amalion Press in Senegal.

What is the first book in the series? Ghanaian poet, Kofi Awoonor, has signed up to be the first major African poet to be part of the Series. His new and selected poems, with an introduction by fellow poet and scholar, Kofi Anyidoho, will be published in 2014 by the African Poetry Book Series along with three other titles.

How is the series funded? The Series has been made possible through seed fund­ing from philanthropists, Laura and Robert F. X. Sillerman, whose generous con­tributions have facilitated the establishment of the African Poetry Book Fund. Mr. and Mrs. Sillerman have also welcomed the use of their name for the First Book Prize for African poets, the Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets, which will be part of the Series.

Who runs the series? The African Poetry Book Series will be the major feature of the work of the African Poetry Book Fund, established this year under Dawes’s leadership through the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. An Advisory Board has been established to support and guide the work of the African Poetry Book Fund. Confirmed members of the Fund’s Advisory Board include Laura Sill­erman, Elizabeth Alexander, Sulaiman Adebowale, Russell Goings, Peter Rorvik, Ellah Allfrey, and Glenna Luschei. Six gifted and internationally regarded poets will serve as the Editorial Board for the Series. Ghanaian-born poet Kwame Dawes is the founding Series Editor. Also serving on the editorial board are: the South African poet Gabeba Baderoon, the American novelist John Keene, the Nigerian poet and novelist Chris Abani, the Egyptian-American poet Matthew Shenoda and Bernardine Evaristo, award-winning novelist and poet from the UK.

Accepting manuscripts for the Sillerman Prize: September 15 through November 15, 2012

Website: http://africanpoetrybf.unl.edu

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