Poet, short story writer and public commentator Bob MajiriOghene will be the major featured writer at the August 25 edition of the Guest Writer Session, an initiative of the Abuja Writers’ Forum (AWF), which holds at Hamdala Plaza, Plot 23, Jimmy Carter Street, off Protea Hotel, Asokoro, Abuja. The other writers will be Onyinyechi Nwadinma and Ibrahim Zakama.
Author of Tears for a Birthday (poetry) and Deep Sighs (short stories), Bob MajiriOghene began expressing his writing flair as a student-columnist with the Nigerian Observer in 1991 with a column that gained rapid popularity called Acada Gist. He later worked with TELL newsmagazine first as staff, then as senior writer. He was also editorial assistant and columnist with Daily Independent Newspaper, Nigeria. His column identity then was Avant-garde.
MajiriOghene is published locally (Daily Independent, Pointer-on Saturday, TELL, The Guardian, The Nigerian Observer and Vanguard) and internationally by Associated Content aka YahooVoices, Equatorial Press, the German Kulturaustausch, Nigeriansinamerica and South Africa’s Urban Green File.
MajiriOghene has written numerous literary critiques and was also a thoroughbred SAT/TOEFL/Advanced Level Literature-in-English tutor with a track record of student success in those exams. He has manuscripts, one is SAT/TOEFL Essays: lesson notes, questions & Answers, being considered for publication in the United States of America as an e-book. The other is Secrets of a Diary, a story of love and hate narrated by a diary.
A graduate of English from the universities of Benin and Lagos, MajiriOghene was the recipient of two German fellowships organized by the International Institute of Journalism, IIJ of InWent, first in Ghana (Reporting on ECOWAS & its Institutions) and next in Berlin Germany (Environment Reporting) in 2008. He is in the process of undertaking postgraduate studies.
He runs his own media and publishing agency, Bob MajiriOghene Communications, and works as office manager and editorial consultant with the law firm of Jackson, Kargbo & Associates. His interests include chess, music, philately, writing, sports.
On the August bill with MajiriOghene will be Onyinyechi Nwadinma and Ibrahim Kabura. Ms Nwadinma , whose short story, “My Vacation”, is published in the recent anthology of stories, Dreams at Dawn edited by Helon Habila, Tsitisi Dangeremgba and Madelieine Thien and published by Fidelity Bank, organizers of the annual International Creative Writing Worskhop, is a graduate of University of Jos and intent on making a career in writing.
Ibrahim Kabura, aged 12, is a child-prodigy and has just published his debut collection of poems, The Beginnning of Silence. Formerly a pupil at Educare Private School, Jos and Funtaj International School in Abuja, he is currently at Belle Vue Boy’s School in Bradford, United Kingdom.`
The Guest Writer Session which started in June 2008 is generally regarded as the most consistent literary event in the country and has become the template for similar interventions. So far this year it has featured an interesting mix of writers namely Uche Ezechukwu, Steve Okecha, Oyibo Ameh, K K Iloduba, Betty Abah, Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, Chido Onumah, Richard Ali and Maero Ozako.
The August 25, 2012 edition of the Guest Writer Session starts at 4pm and will include the usual side attractions of poetry performance, mini art exhibition, and a raffle-draw as well as live music. The Abuja Writer’s Forum meets three Sundays each month and hosts a reading on every last Saturday at the International Institute of Journalism, Hamdala Plaza, Jimmy Carter Street, Asokoro, Abuja.
Abdullahi Abubakar,
Public Relations Officer (PRO),
AbujaWriters’ Forum (AWF),
Abuja.
08034519159
abujawriters@fastermail.com