Every last Friday of the month, the Abuja Literary Society hosts an event called BookJam@Silverbird, in collaboration with Silverbird Lifestyle and anchored by Jide Attah, co-host of the Abuja Poetry Slam.
The BookJam consists of book reading, book signing, musical presentation, raffle draw, and discussion by guest writers. Also there is usually a special poetry performance by some of Abuja’s poetry champions. On 25th May 2012, BookJam featured Unoma Azuah (a US college professor), Abubakar Ibrahim (a journalist), and Hajo Isa (a lawyer).
Ken Ike, a poet, journalist, literary activist and Slam Master of the Abuja Literary Society, sent the following brief biography of the guest writers:
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| HAJO ISA author of Shadow Fall, a poetry collection |
HAJO ISA (author of Shadow Fall, a poetry collection)
Born and bred in Zuru, Kebbi State, Hajara Isa is lawyer and staff of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, Abuja. She graduated from the Faculty of Law, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in 2004. As a secondary school student of the Federal Government College, Jos, Hajo, as she’s fondly called took particular interest in poetry. She had been fascinated with words from a young age and her parents actively encouraged her. Moving to Abuja after NYSC, she became an active member of the Abuja Literary Society. She would read her poetry at every reading and patiently noted the peer review of her writing, making sure she wrote the comments down. In later readings, she would read the amended version of the same works and it was interesting seeing her evolution from her quaint, uncertain early writings to her later poetic flourish; becoming a mature poet filled with the poise and confidence of a writer who has finally found her voice. Recently, she has dabbled into prose, beginning with short story writing. She enjoys African prose the most, finding them “very rich in culture and passion; they have influenced my appreciation and dedication to the art of poetry and short fiction writing.” Hajo, writes best when she’s inspired and says, “I find art to be my best muse; I find it in music, reading a good book, being outdoors surrounded by nature, beauty in living and animate objects or art. Inspiration for me is very erratic so I try my best to incorporate creative hobbies in my life.” Hajo aspires to serve on the legal bench some day.
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| ABUBAKAR IBRAHIM author of The Whispering Trees, a short story collection |
Abubakar Adam Ibrahim has been fascinated with writing since he was a boy, which was what motivated him to dump the sciences and study Mass Communications at the University of Jos. He has dabbled into poetry and plays but is more at home with prose. He won the BBC African Performance Prize in 2007 and the ANA Plateau/Amatu Braide Prize for Prose the following year. He also emerged runner-up in the ANA Plateau Poetry Prize. He is a fellow of the British Council Radiophonics creative writing workshop and has been selected for the Fidelity Bank Creative Writing Workshop as well as the Caine Prize for African Writing workshop (2012) – which he could not attend because of the Nigeria-South Africa Yellow fever row. His radio drama, A Bull Man’s Story which fetched him the BBC African performance Prize in 2007 was highly commended by the judges for the writer’s ‘ability to enter the minds of his character’. He published his first novel, The Quest for Nina, was published in 2009 and several of his works have appeared online and in literary journals. Abubakar was educated at the University of Jos, Nigeria, where he obtained a degree in Mass Communication.
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| UNOMA NGUEMO AZUAH author of Edible Bones, a novel |
Unoma Nguemo Azuah is a college professor in the US. She got her first degree at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where she edited the English Department literary journal—The Muse – and received awards as the Best Creative Writing Student for two consecutive years: 1992 and 1993. Her other awards include the Hellman/Hammett Award, the Urban Spectrum Award, the Leonard Trawick Award and the Association of Nigerian Authors/NDDC Flora Nwapa Award for her debut novel Sky-high Flames and the Aidoo-Snyder Award for her latest novel, Edible Bones. Her collection of short stories, The Length of Light, reflects the predicament of everyday choices in life. The enigmatic gap between ordinary people and their dreams is dramatized in scenes that reveal severed roots, patriarchal intrusions, socio-economic impositions, inhuman cultural values, and hostility. Unoma has conducted writing workshops and seminars in some major cities in Nigeria, US and Canada. For instance, she has conducted writing workshops for incarcerated mothers and women in prison as a way of creating outlets for their expressions. Part of her focus in such workshops is to assist women in channelling their energy into literary expressions as a way of freeing their spirits in spite of their physical imprisonment. She is also involved with "The Griot Collective," a poetry group that organizes workshops and readings for adults and high school students in the West Tennessee area. Her contributions to this group earned her the Griot Hero Award in 2006. In the same year, she received The Best Faculty Award at Lane College for her outstanding teaching, research and service to the college community.
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