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Home , Ama Ata Aidoo, Cassava Republic Press, Daughters of Africa, Goretti Kyomuhendo, Lola Shoneyin, Louise Meriwether

YARI YARI NTOASO CONTINUING THE DIALOGUE

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LITERATURE BY WOMEN OF AFRICAN ANCESTRY ● , ● 2013 ● ORGANIZATION OF WOMEN WRITERS OF AFRICA ● UNIVERSITY MBAASEM FOUNDATION THE WOMEN FOR AFRICA FOUNDATION

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YARI YARI NTOASO CONTINUING THE DIALOGUE

Thursday, 16 May through Sunday, 19 May 2013

Sponsored by The Organization of Women Writers of Africa, Inc. Institute of African American Affairs

Hosted by Mbaasem Foundation

Lead Partner Fundación Mujeres por África/The Women for Africa Foundation

Supported by New York University Africa House New York University Accra New York University Africana Studies Program The Haiti Illumination Project

Planning support provided by: The New York Council for the Humanities a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities

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CONFERENCE ORGANIZERS

The Organization of Women Writers of Africa (OWWA) Founded in 1991 by African-American poet, performing artist, and activist and Ghanaian playwright and scholar , the Organization of Women Writers of Africa, Inc. (OWWA) establishes connections between professional African women writers around the world. OWWA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit literary organization concerned with the development and advancement of the literature of women writers from Africa and its Diaspora. OWWA is also a non-governmental organization associated with the United Nations Department of Public Information (UNDPI). www.owwainc.org and www.indiegogo.com/owwa - also on Facebook and Twitter #YariYari OWWA Co-Founders: Ama Ata Aidoo & Jayne Cortez Executive Board: J.e. Franklin, Rashidah Ismaili, Rosamond S. King, Board of Directors: Ama Ata Aidoo, , Gabrielle Civil, Alexis DeVeaux, Latasha N. Diggs, Zetta Elliott, Donette Francis, Paula Giddings, Cheryll Y. Greene, Renee Larrier, Tess Onwueme, & Coumba Touré Advisory Board: , Maryse Condé, Nancy Morejón, Sapphire

The Institute of African American Affairs (IAAA) at New York University was founded in 1969 to research, document, and cele- brate the cultural and intellectual production of Africa and its diaspora in the Atlantic world and beyond. IAAA is committed to the study of Blacks in modernity through concentrations in Pan-Africanism and Black Urban Studies. http://africanastudies.as.nyu.edu/page/IAAA Staff: Manthia Diawara, Director Jaïra Placide, Associate Director Iris Cofield, Administrative Aide Linda Morgan, Administrative Secretary

CONFERENCE HOST Mbaasem Foundation (“women's words, women's affairs”), founded by Ghanaian author Ama Ata Aidoo, was established to spe- cifically support African women writers and their works. A combination of the realities of the current African environment actively deprive African writers of facilities and resources that make writing a little easier and more effective. There are few supporting structures for writers outside their own resources. The foundation was established to address the problems that all Ghanaian and African –but especially women- writers have to struggle with.

LEAD PARTNER Fundación Mujeres por África is a private organization. It was founded with the intention of becoming an exemplary body in Spain and internationally with its commitment to sustainable economic and social development, human rights, peace, justice and dignity for people and especially for women and girls in Africa. http://mujeresporafrica.es/

CONFERENCE SUPPORTERS New York University Africa House is an interdisciplinary institute devoted to the study of contemporary Africa, focusing on eco- nomic, political, and social issues on the continent and programs in the Arts. Part of Africa House’s core mission is to advance the understanding of the links between Africa and the rest of the world, through the social, historical, economic and other lenses. http://www.nyuafricahouse.org/

International education is a long-standing part of New York University’s global mission, which includes a wide range of initiatives both in the and abroad to facilitate the exchange of knowledge. At New York University Accra students have an exciting opportunity to experience firsthand the diversity and complexity of West Africa. http://www.nyu.edu/global/global- academic-centers/accra.html

Africana Studies at New York University is an interdisciplinary undertaking devoted to scholarship on the histories, political and cultural movements, institutions, economies and identities of Africans and the African diaspora across the globe. http://africanastudies.as.nyu.edu/page/home

Haiti Illumination Project HIP’s mission and primary commitment is to change how Haiti is understood, especially in the popular imagination. HIP recognizes and considers representation as a force for change. To that end, we actively attempt to demys- tify Haiti beyond the stereotypes.

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YARI YARI NTOASO STAFF & VOLUNTEERS

Conference Director Videographers Special Thanks to: Rosamond S. King, OWWA Nathaniel Phillips Manthia Diawara Ed Parada Ulrich C. Baer Conference Co-Director Akosua Anyidoho Jaïra Placide, NYU-Institute of African Consultants Awam Amkpa American Affairs Rashidah Ismaili Yaw Nyarko

Louise Meriwether Roger Joseph Kingsepp Local Organizing Committee Margit Edwards Ama Ata Aidoo, Mbaasem Foundation Collaborating Organizations Kingsley Lims Nyarko Akosua Anyidoho, NYU-Accra The Pan-African Writers’ Association Tameka Hipp Kinna Likimani, Mbaasem Foundation Haiti Illumination Project Megan Goins-Diouf Kingsley Lims Nyarko, NYU-Accra The Ghana Association of Writers Iris Cofield Martina Odonkor The Writers Project of Ghana Linda Morgan Kuukua Dzigbordi Yomekpe Witness Tree Literary Arts Education

The following New York University pro- Legacy Committee grams, departments, offices, and Acknowledgements schools Mel Edwards NYU Office of the Provost / Margit Edwards Black Renaissance Noire Globalization and Multi-Cultural Laura Rice SABLE LitMag Affairs Rosamond S. King

NYU Africa House Margaret & Quincy Troupe The organizers would like to ac- NYU Accra April Silver knowledge the generous support of the following individuals: NYU Africana Studies Victoria Honsford Maya Angelou NYU Corporate and Foundation

Sapphire Relations Publicity & Administrative Consultants The Cortez-Edwards-Coleman family NYU Accra staff and student volunteers Marsha Jean-Charles

Megan Goins-Diouf Special Thanks to: Jessica Lynne Gabrielle Civil Yari Yari logo designed by

Zetta Elliott Melvin Edwards Tweetmeister Donette Francis Tara Betts Kadija George

Madhu H. Kaza Facebook Maven Gina Athena Ulysse Latasha N. Diggs

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Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of the Organization of Women Writers of Africa (OWWA) and our cosponsors and collaborators, welcome you to the historic Yari Yari Ntoaso: Continuing the Dialogue – an international symposium on literature by women of African descent. ( Yari means the future in the Kuranko language of Sierra Leone; Ntoaso means understanding and agreement in the Akan language of Ghana.) This is the third Yari Yari conference, and the first in Africa. It gathers more than 60 partici- pants from more than 20 countries, the majority based in the global South, to have exciting and informative conversations about women’s literature and activism.

Friends, I was not supposed to write this letter. In the midst of planning Yari Yari Ntoaso, in December 2012, Jayne Cor- tez, the Co-Founder of OWWA, the originator of Yari Yari, a world-renowned poet and performer, and my mentor and friend, passed away. As I write this, Jayne became the first African-American granted a special plot of land by an Oba of Benin, . We will honor her work during Yari Yari Ntoaso, and the entire conference is a tribute to her legacy.

The theme of this gathering – chosen by Jayne herself – is “continuing the dialogue.” The panels, workshops, and per- formances will continue the dialogues of the first two conferences – Yari Yari: Black Women Writers and the Future (1997) and Yari Yari Pamberi: Black Women Writers Dissecting Globalization (2004), which together connected hundreds of women writers, scholars, and artists of African descent in conversation with thousands of audience members. In Accra, we will dialogue about our creative and political work, from the challenge of getting and keeping our work in print, to the necessity of responding to our political and environmental realities, to the complexities of our creative processes.

This gathering will also connect our current work to our ancestors, elders, youth, and future descendants. We will explic- itly and implicitly dialogue with Jayne’s work and that of other Yari Yari attendees who have passed away since 2004, in- cluding Octavia Butler, Elizabeth Catlett, Bob Chrisman, , Lily Golden, Ousmane Sembene, and Fatou Ndiaye Sow – and all of our predecessors. And in order to dialogue across generations, for the first time Yari Yari includes pro- grams for children and youth.

The 21 st century has witnessed the creation or reestablishment of women’s and writers’ organizations throughout Africa and its diaspora. Often these organizations both support and are staffed by emerging writers or those whose writing has yet to receive international recognition. Yari Yari Ntoaso marks this moment. Our goals are: to provide an opportunity for the exchange of ideas; to encourage, support, and promote the work of young and emerging writers, as well as older and more established authors and audiences; to address issues related to the planning and development of cultural insti- tutions; and to encourage ongoing communication amongst attendees through new technology.

We encourage you to tweet frequently at #YariYari and to post your reflections and photos on social media. You can also follow us at www.twitter.com/owwainc and like OWWA’s facebook page.

We welcome you to Accra and hope your experience is informative and enriching!

Rosamond S. King, Yari Yari Ntoaso Director

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Yari Yari: Black Women Writers and the Future (1997) Yari Yari Pamberi: Black Women Writers & Globalization (2004)

Highlights: ♦ Over 300 authors, critics, and artists participated ♦ Participants were from more than 30 countries and spoke over a dozen languages; ♦ Over 2,000 individuals attended ♦ The programs included dozens of panels, as well as readings, conversations, performances, exhibits, and concerts, as well as workshops in poetry, fiction, screenwriting, playwriting, publishing, and other topics ♦ Over 30 films were shown ♦ Award-winning documentaries of each conference continue to be shown at festivals and in classrooms around the world. They are available through Third World Newsreel http://www.twn.org/

Yari Yari Awardees:

Octavia Butler (USA) Nancy Morejón (Cuba)

Lucille Clifton (USA) (Egypt) (Haiti/USA) H.E. Barbara Masakela (South Africa)

Tananarive Due (USA) Andrée-Nicola McLaughlin (USA) Lindiwe Mabuza (South Africa) Robert Chrisman (USA) (USA) Marcia Ann Gillespie (USA) Organização de Mulher Angolana (Angolan Women’s Robert P. Moses & The Algebra Project (USA) Organization) Margaret Walker (USA)

Ousmane Sembene (Senegal)

Previous Participants Included: Kathleen Neal Cleaver (USA) Patricia McFadden (Swaziland) Maryse Condé (Guadeloupe) Diva Moreiera (Brazil) Julie Dash (USA) (USA) Doudou Diène (Senegal) Micere Mugo () Christiane Yandé Diop (Cameroon) (USA) (Nigeria) Euzhan Palzy (Martinique) (Jamaica) Faith Ringgold (USA) Suheir Hammad (Palestine/USA) Sonia Rivera Valdès (Cuba) Aminata Sow Fall (Senegal) Zohra Saed (Afghanistan/USA) Farrah Jasmine Griffin (USA) (USA) Jackie Kay (Scotland) Regina Taylor (USA) () Coumba Touré (Mali/Senegal) Desiree Lewis (South Africa) (USA)

Both Yari Yaris were held in , and were organized by the Organization of Women Writers of Africa and the New York University Institute of African-American Affairs. Previous partners and funders included: the Ford Foundation, the New York State Council for the Humanities, Poets House, and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

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Jayne Cortez (1934-2012) FIND YOUR OWN VOICE & USE IT!

The life and work of Jayne Cortez will be celebrated at Yari Yari Ntoaso

Friday 17 May, 5-6:30pm at the conference venue

Jayne Cortez was “a poet and performance artist whose work was known for its visceral power, its political outrage and above all its sheer, propulsive musicality … In the summers of 1963 and 1964, Ms. Cortez worked with the Student Nonviolent Co- ordinating Committee, registering black voters in Mississippi. It was this work as much as anything, she later said, that caused her to regard art and political action as an indivisible whole. “One of the central figures of the Black Arts Movement — the cultural branch of the black power movement that flour- ished in the 1960s and ’70s — Ms. Cortez remained” a prolific writer, performer, and artist. “As performed, Ms. Cortez’s poems were not so much set to music as they were a part of the music. They were chanted more than recited, employing carefully cali- brated repetitions, shifts in tempo and modulations of vocal tone. It was as if her verse, which often took on large, painful subjects like racism and misogyny, had become an instrument itself — an instrument, Ms. Cortez felt strongly, to be wielded in the service of social change.” “Jazz isn’t just one type of music, it’s an umbrella that covers the history of black people from African drumming to field hollers and the blues,” she told The Weekly Journal , a black newspaper in Britain, in 1997. “In the sense that I also try to reflect the fullness of the black experience, I’m very much a jazz poet.”

- from obituary by Margalit Fox

“The poet Jayne Cortez, who has died aged 78, was unambiguous about her craft: ‘Words are musical – there's nothing more to say about it. That's it! … There is the sound of the voice … and your attitude you put on top of it.’ A passionate cultural activist, both on page and platform, Cortez transformed elements of her personal history and that of the African diaspora into cut- ting-edge blues poetry . "No ravine is too perilous, no abyss too threatening for Jayne Cortez," observed Maya Angelou. “Her band, the Firespitters, which featured Denardo, provided a complementary jazz-funk-blues response to Cortez's rhythmic, often incantatory delivery, her mood ranging from militancy to lyricism, dynamic surrealism to raw emotion. She spoke compellingly of social and environmental issues in a global context; fought injustice wherever she found it; was in the frontline struggle for racial and gender equality; and celebrated the all-pervading power of music.” - from obituary by Margaret Busby

Recordings include: Celebrations and Solitudes (1974), Unsubmissive Blues (1979), There It Is (1982), Maintain Control (1986), Eve- rywhere Drums (1990), Poetry & Music (1992) Cheerful and Optimistic (1994) and Taking the Blues Back Home (1996), Boarders of Disorderly Time (2002), Find Your Own Voice (2003)

Books include: Pissstained Stairs and the Monkey Man's Wares, was published (1969); Festivals and Funerals (1971), Scarifications (1973), Mouth on Paper (1977), Firespitter (1977), Coagulations (1984), Poetic Magnetic (1991), Fragments (1994), Somewhere in Advance of Nowhere (1996), Jazz Fan Looks Back (2002), and The Beautiful Book (2007).

Some 1,000 people from many countries attended a memorial service for Jayne in February in New York City. Dozens of individuals have posted remembrances on her website, http://www.jaynecortez08.com/

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SCHEDULE ● MAY 16 - 19,

Yari Yari NTOASO: Continuing the Dialogue Accra, Ghana 2013 SCHEDULE OF PANELS, WORKSHOPS, READINGS, PERFORMANCES & FILMS Unless otherwise noted, all events will be held at Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons No. 54 Independence Avenue Near Ridge Roundabout

Thursday, 16 MAY

10:00am-4:30: Registration

10:00am-4:30pm: Book Tables & Vendors

10:30-11:00: Welcome & Orientation Welcome from representatives of the conference sponsors and collaborating organizations

11:00-1:00pm: Master Translation Class This class is first-come, first-served; please arrive a few minutes early. Led by (Kenya)

1:00-3:00pm: Performance Art Workshops Workshops are first-come, first-served; please arrive a few minutes early. Led by Gabrielle Civil (USA/Haiti) and Wura-Natasha Ogunji (Nigeria/USA)

3:15-4:30pm – Identity & Creativity How authors’ and characters’ identities affect the creative process. Gladys Francis (Guadeloupe); Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro (Puerto Rico); Mamle Kabu (Ghana); Cheryl Sterling (USA); Helen Yitah (Ghana)

4:45-6:15pm – Opening Plenary Greetings from representatives of The Republic of Ghana & Conference Organizers Plenary Speakers: Ama Ata Aidoo (Ghana), Sapphire (USA), (USA), Rosamond S. King (The Gambia/Trinidad & Tobago/USA)

6:30-8:00pm – Opening Reception Sponsored by NYU Accra

8:00-9:00pm – Open Mike

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Friday, 17 MAY

9:00am-5:00pm: Registration

9:00am-5:00pm: Book Tables & Vendors

9:30-11:00am: Roundtable: Getting the Work out (for emerging authors) Writers, editors, and administrators discuss the many venues through which emerging authors can put their work in front of readers. Doreen Baingana (Uganda); Latasha N Nevada Diggs (USA); Kadija George (Sierra Leone/UK); Nana Ayebia Clarke (Ghana/UK); Writers’ Project of Ghana representative Moderator: Tara Betts (USA)

11:00am-12:15pm: Ghanaian Writers & Scholars in Conversation Authors and scholars discuss their work and the current literary scenes in Ghana. Amma Darko (Ghana); Faith Ben-Daniels (Ghana); Ruby Yayra Goka (Ghana); Famia Nkansa (Ghana), Naana Opoku-Agyemang (Ghana) Moderator: Ghana Association of Writers representative

12:15-1:30pm – Lunch – Visit the book tables and vendors, and network!

1:30-1:45pm – Author Portrait Slide Show Presentation: “Her Word as Witness: Women Writers of the African Diaspora” – African Premiere! Laylah Amatullah Barrayn (USA)

2:00-3:15pm: African & Diaspora Children’s & Young Adult Literature, Now & in the Future Deborah Ahenkorah (Ghana), Ayo Ayoola-Amele (Ghana); Akachi Ezeigbo (Nigeria), Michelle Martin & Rachelle Washington (USA), Esi Sutherland-Addy (Ghana)

3:30-4:45pm: Authors & Action How authors respond to environmental and man-made disasters. Angelique Nixon (Bahamas/USA); Tess Onwueme (Nigeria); Hermine Pinson (USA); Eintou Pearl Springer (Trinidad & Tobago); Dzodzi Tsikata (Ghana) Moderator: Ira Dworkin (USA/Egypt)

5:00-6:30pm: Tribute to the Life, Writing, & Activism of Jayne Cortez (1934-2012)

7-8:30: Pan-African Writers Association and Ghana Association of Writers Reception, Reading & Open Mic At PAWA House; address: Roman Road, Roman Ridge, Accra Hosted by PAWA Secretary General Atukwei Okai, Featuring Natalia Molebatsi, Angelique V. Nixon, Hermine Pinson, & Ghanaian authors TBA

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Saturday, 18 MAY

8:45am-5:00pm: Registration

9:00am-5:00pm: Book Tables & Vendors

9:00-10:45am: Screening of : The Berlin Years – 1984-1992 – African Premiere! Discussants: Gina Dent (USA) & Olumide Popoola (Nigeria/Germany/UK)

9:00-10:30am: Children’s Storytime (boys and girls welcome!) Ayo Ayoola-Amele (Ghana); Ruby Yayra Goka (Ghana); Akachi Ezeigbo (Nigeria); Eintou Pearl Springer (Trinidad & Tobago); Elizabeth-Irene Baitie (Ghana)

9:00-10:30am: Writing Workshop for Youth (young men and young women ages 13-19 welcome!) Work- shops are first-come, first-served; please arrive a few minutes early. Poetry workshop led by Natalia Molebatsi (South Africa); Fiction workshop led by Deborah Ahenkorah (Ghana)

11:00am-12:15pm: The Creative Process Writers discuss craft and the creative process in written and oral literature. Camille Dungy (USA); Rashidah Ismaili (Benin/USA); Natalia Molebatsi (South Africa); (Uganda/Ghana); Wanguri wa Goro (Kenya) Moderator: Madhu H. Kaza (India/USA)

12:15-1:45: Lunch – Visit the book table and vendors, and network!

2:00-3:15pm: Writing Sexuality Samiya Bashir (Somalia/USA); Virginia Phiri (Zimbabwe); Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah (Ghana); (Nigeria); Anita Cobbinah (Ghana) Moderator: Kuukua Dzigbordi Yomekpe (Ghana)

3:30-4:45: Youth Open Mike Writers under 20, whether or not they attended the workshop, are invited to read short pieces – everyone else, cheer them on!

5:00pm-6:30pm: Writing Through the Body: Performance Art Gabrielle Civil (USA/Haiti); Rosamond S. King (USA/Trinidad/The Gambia); Wura-Natasha Ogunji (USA/Nigeria)

6:00-7:30 SABLE Reading Hosted by SABLE Editor Kadija George & Featuring Nana Akosua, Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro, Khadija Ibrahim, Mamle Kabu, Lola Shoneyin, & Dorothea Smartt

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Sunday, 19 MAY

9:30am-1:00pm: Registration

9:30am-6:00pm: Book Tables & Vendors

10:00-11:15am – Configuring the Past & the Future Zetta Elliott (Canada/USA); Lucía Charún-Illescas (Peru/Germany); Gina Athena Ulysse (Haiti/USA), Ishraga Mustafa Hamid (Sudan/Austria) Moderator: Dorothy Randall Tsuruta (USA)

11:30am-1:00pm – New Venues, New Audiences; Literature and Technology These speakers discuss editing, publishing, distribution, and the use of other media to network and communicate Joanne Braxton (USA); Khadija Ibrahiim (UK); Fungai Machirori (Zimbabwe); Wana Udobang (Nigeria) Moderator: Jason King (USA)

1:00-2:00pm – Lunch – Visit the book table and vendors, and network!

2:15-3:30 – Continuing the Dialogue: Keeping Our Work in the World Editors and arts administrators discuss the logistics of keeping women’s writing available. Janet Badjan Young (The Gambia); Bibi Bakare-Yusuf (Nigeria); Margaret Busby (Ghana/UK); Roshnie Moon- sammy (South Africa); Ghana Writers Association representative Moderator: Maureen Ngozi Eke (Nigeria/USA)

3:45-5:00pm – Closing Plenary Doreen Baingana (Uganda); Tess Onwueme (Nigeria); Véronique Tadjo (Cote d’Ivoire); Évelyne Trouillot (Haiti); María Teresa Fernández de la Vega (Spain) Closing remarks by OWWA members Rashidah Ismaili & Rosamond S. King

5:00-6:15 – Closing Reception

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SPECIAL PROGRAMS

Children’s Storytime – Saturday, 18 May, 9-10:30am Girls and boys under 10 years of age are invited to come and hear stories told by several dynamic authors from around the world.

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTIONS All workshops are held at the main conference venue and are first-come, first-served until spaces are full. Please arrive a few min- utes early!

Master Translation Class – Thursday, 16 May, 11:00am-1:00pm Led by Wangui wa Goro This session will introduce participants to major concepts necessary to consider when translating literature from Africa and its dias- pora.

Performance Art Workshop – Thursday, 16 May, 1:00-3:00pm Led by Gabrielle Civil & Wura-Natasha Ogunji Incorporating writing, speaking, and moving alone and with others, this two hour workshop invites participants to engage their bodies as a primary tool for voice, story, action, archive and dialogue. This workshop will also reveal and explore key elements of performance art practice. Participants should be dressed in loose, comfortable clothes and be prepared to move. All levels wel- come.

YOUTH WRITING WORKSHOPS – Saturday, 18 May, 9-10:30am Poetry Writing Workshop Led by Natalia Molebatsi Fiction Writing Workshop Led by Deborah Ahenkorah (Ghana) Young women and men ages 13-19 are invited to this workshop focused on narrative prose writing.

Youth Open Mic – Saturday, 18 May, 3:30-4:45pm Writers under 20 years of age, whether or not they attended the workshops, are invited to read short pieces. Please arrive a few minutes early to sign up.

FILM & PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTIONS Audre Lorde: The Berlin Years – 1984-1992 – Saturday, 18 May, 9:00-10:45am Audre Lorde, the highly influential, award winning African-American lesbian poet came to live in West-Berlin in the 1980s. During her stay as a visiting professor, she was the mentor and catalyst who ignited the Afro-German movement. Lorde also had a decisive impact on white women, challenging them to acknowledge the significance of their white privilege and learning to deal with differ- ence in constructive ways. http://www.audrelorde-theberlinyears.com/

“Writing through the Body” Performances – Saturday, 18 May, 5:00-6:30pm Performances are in the order they will be presented.

Wura-Natasha Ogunji will perform a selection from a series entitled: Mo gbo, mo branch (Yoruba for I heard and branched myself into the party ). These performance works focus on the presence of women in public space in , Nigeria.

Rosamond S. King will perform Crossings, a walking meditation in honor of Jayne Cortez and Syneta Elvina King. The movements used are inspired by those of Legba/Ellegua, and the rhythms of Caribbean and African-American music. Participants are invited to walk with the performer; Civil’s performance will take place at the site where King’s ends.

Gabrielle Civil will perform a reconfiguration of her performance work "Fugue," a meditation on diaspora movement, memory loss and homeland, inspired by the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

YARI YARI NTOASO 13

Joanne Braxton Gina Athena Ulysse

Ama Ata Aidoo

Sapphire Helen Yitah

Gladys M. Francis

Laylah Amatullah Barrayn Eintou Pearl Springer

Jason King Latasha N. Diggs Fungai Machirori

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Angela Davis Amma Darko

Cheryl Sterling

Esi Sutherland-Addy Évelyne Trouillot

Camille T. Dungy

Madhu Kaza

Kadija George

Faith Ben-Daniels

Zetta Elliott Gabrielle Civil

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PARTICIPANT BIOGRAPHIES

Deborah Ahenkorah is the co-founder Caribbean themes. Her website: http:/ Elizabeth-Irene Baitie 's novel, The and executive director of the Golden narrativadeyolanda.blogspot.com/ Twelfth Heart won the first prize in the Baobab Prize, a literary award that Burt Award for inspires African writers to create sto- (Ghana) in 2010. In 2002, her novel ries for young readers. She graduated Ayo Ayoola-Amale is an educator, Lea’s Christmas was short-listed for from Bryn Mawr College where she lawyer, poet, writer, peace worker and the Macmillan Writers Prize for Africa started Project Educate In Africa, a public speaker living and working in (senior readers). Four years later, her student movement that promotes Accra. She is the Founder and Director children’s story “A Saint in Brown San- literacy and education in Africa. Deb- of Splendors of Dawn. Ayoola-Amale’s dals” won the Macmillan Prize for Af- orah has recently been named one of creative work projects is created at the rica (junior readers). She is a clinical Ghana’s leading social entrepreneurs intersection of technology, nature, biochemist and runs a medical labora- by Playing for Change. She loves trav- aesthetics and ethics. She has re- tory practice in Adabraka, Ghana. eling and in the past 3 years has lived ceived numerous accolades such as

in different countries in 3 continents. the Muse of Poetic Harmony in Africa, GHA Ambassador of Harmony for Af- Laylah Amatullah Barrayn is a New

rica, and Universal Ambassador of York based photographer. She has Award-winning author Ama Ata Peace to mention but a few. been creating images through analog Aidoo 's first play, The Dilemma of a and digital photography since the late Ghost , was staged while she was still a '90s and has been exhibited nationally student at the . Its Bibi Bakare-Yusuf is the co-founder of in group and solo shows. Her writing publication in 1965 made her one of Cassava Republic press, where she has appeared in Vibe , Essence , and Africa's first published women play- provides editorial and strategic direc- Complex among other publications. A wrights, and a mother of Ghanaian tion in publishing and marketing. Her recipient of numerous grants and literature. She has since published life’s work is to contribute to the awards, Laylah was recently profiled in many plays, children's books, and nov- transformation of the African conti- exposure , the journal of The Society els, including the classics Changes , No nent through production of alternative for Photographic Education. Her latest Sweetness Here , Our Sister Killjoy and, narratives and knowledge. CRP shares solo exhibition entitled, "Her Word As most recently, Diplomatic Pounds & stories written by and for Africans, in Witness: Women Writers of the Afri- Other Stories . She is the editor of Afri- an effort to develop a reading culture can Diaspora," is currently touring the can Love Stories , a former Minister of across the continent. Several books U. S. and will be published in fall 2014. Education of Ghana and the co- published by the press have been in-

founder of OWWA. cluded in Nigeria’s national curricu- lum. A feminist and independent Samiya Bashir ’s second book of po-

scholar, Bakare-Yusuf has worked as a ems, Gospel , was a finalist for both the Monica Arac de Nyeko is from consultant for ActionAid, Unifem, and Hurston/Wright Legacy Award and Uganda. She was shortlisted for the the European Union. along with her first collection, Where Caine Prize for African writing in 2004 the Apple Falls , the Lambda Literary for 'Strange Fruit,’ winning the prize in Award. Her poetry most recently ap- 2007 for 'Jambula Tree'. She is working Doreen Baingana is the author of peared in Poet Lore , Michigan Quar- on a novel. Tropical Fish: Stories out of Entebbe , terly Review , and Crab Orchard Review which won an AWP (Association of among others. An Ann Arbor, Michi-

Writing Programs ) Prize for Short Fic- gan, native and recent NEA Writer-in- Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro was awarded tion (US) among others. Baingana was Residence at the Virginia Center for an Insituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña Managing Editor of Storymoja, a Ken- Creative Arts, Bashir teaches creative Literary Prize 2012. She is the author yan publishing house, for two years, writing at Reed College. of Caparazones (2010), the first les- and has taught creative writing in the

bian fiction novel written in Puerto US and various African countries. She Rico, published by Editorial Egales in is currently the chairperson of FEM- Faith Ben-Daniels is currently a lec- Spain. She is Chief Editor of the literary RITE: the Uganda Women Writers As- turer of English at the University of magazine journal Revista Boreales . She sociation, which supports Ugandan Education, Winneba and is pursuing a has published several books in English, and other African women writers by PhD in English from the Kwame Spanish, French and Hungarian about through training, advocacy, publica- Nkrumah University of Science and immigrants, sexual diversities and Afro tion and networking opportunities. Technology. She has written television dramas for Ghanaian television: For-

16 YARI YARI NTOASO

tune Island and Opha K , and the up- tions. For the past twenty years she Nana Ayebia Clarke is a Ghanaian- coming Yellow Café . Her first novel has worked independently as a writer, born publisher currently resident in entitled A Quarter Past Midnight will editor, critic, consultant and broad- the UK. She has a BA (Hons) and MS in be published in 2013. Her area of re- caster. She has been a judge for sev- Women's Studies from the University search interest is new forms in African eral literary awards and a participant of Oxford. She was submissions editor drama and the African art of storytel- in various cultural events and confer- of the highly acclaimed Heinemann ling, and their contribution in creating ences internationally in the fields of African and Caribbean Writers Series an indigenous African theatre of the literature, art, music and theatre. She for 12 years where she published and storyteller. edited the pioneering vol- promoted prominent writers and No- ume : An Interna- bel Prize winning authors. She

tional Anthology of Words and Writing founded Ayebia Clarke Publishing Lim- Tara Betts is the author of Arc and by Women of African Descent (1992), ited with her husband David in 2003, Hue . Betts is a Ph.D. candidate at Bing- has contributed to many publications and they were later joined by their son hamton University and a Cave Canem and has written drama for BBC radio Nick Kweku in 2012. Becky Nana Aye- fellow. Her work has appeared most and the stage. bia Clarke was awarded an Honorary recently in RHINO , Court Green , Belle- MBE by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II vue Literary Review , Saul Williams’ in 2011 for services to the British pub- CHORUS: A Literary Mixtape (MTV Lucía Charún-Illescas , born in Lima, lishing industry. www.ayebia.co.uk Books, 2012), VILLANELLES ( Everyman Perú, is a novelist and essayist. Her Publishing, 2012) and A Face to Meet novel Malambo is arguably the most the Faces: An Anthology of Contempo- accessible Afro-Peruvian work avail- Anita Cobbinah is the Assistant rary Persona Poetry (The University of able today. Her writing is the subject Women’s Director of CEPHERG, The Akron Press, 2012). She is co-editor of multiple symposium, classroom Center for Popular Education and Hu- with Afaa M. Weaver of Bop, Strut, instruction and academic research. man Rights – Ghana, a community- and Dance . Though the setting of the novel is based organization that operates pri- Peru, vast connections can be made marily in the eastern and central re-

with the history of the African Dias- gions of Ghana and Greater Accra. Joanne“Jodi” Braxton is a poet, play- pora at the time of the slave trade. CEPHERG focuses on prevention, edu- wright and scholar from Lakeland, African ancestored cultures and com- cation and advocacy for a broad range Maryland. The author of numerous munities that rose from the Black At- of marginalized and at risk communi- works on women writers of African lantic demonstrate that the histories ties. descent, she edits the Women Writers of black folk are indivisibly inter- of Color Biography Series for Praeger twined. Amma Darko was born in Koforidua, Press. A distinguished professor of Ghana, and studied at the University African American literature, Braxton of Kumasi. After living for some time teaches at the College of William and Gabrielle Civil is a black woman poet, in Germany, Darko now lives in Accra, Mary where she directs the Middle conceptual and performance artist, the Ghanaian capital. She is the author Passage Project. She is currently col- originally from , Michigan. She of several novels – her first, Beyond laborating with colleague Prof. Wilhel- has premiered almost forty original the Horizon , was originally published in mina Donkhah of performance art works nationally German. Other novels include Faceless Technical University in Ghana on com- (Minneapolis, Chicago, NYC) and inter- and Not without Flowers . She works as memorations for African sites. http:// nationally (The Gambia, Puerto Rico, a tax inspector, which gives her a lot of www.wm.edu/sites/middlepassage/ Mexico). In 2013, she will launch In inspiration because she deals with about/biography/index.php; https:// and Out of Place: Making Black Femi- interesting cases and people. She is www.facebook.com/pages/Joanne-M- nist Performance Art in Mexico, the married and has three children, so Braxton/ 266991080097238?ref=hl catalogue of her 2008-2009 Fulbright- García Robles Fellowship project. She altogether there is not as much time is also circulating Swallow the Fish , her for writing as she would like to have. Margaret Busby OBE, was born in critical/creative text on black feminist performance art practice. https:// Ghana and educated in Britain. She Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah is a feminist sites.google.com/site/gabriellecivil2/. was co-founder and editorial director activist, communications professional, of the -based publishing com- entrepreneur and a writer. She cur- pany Allison & Busby Limited, and later rently manages the communications editorial director of Earthscan Publica-

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portfolio at the African Women’s De- A native of Harlem, LaTasha N. Ne- Encyclopedia of Race and Racism , A velopment Fund, is a co-owner of vada Diggs , writer, vocalist, and sound Companion to 20 th Century American MAKSI (a Clothing and Events organiz- artist, is the author of three chapbooks Poetry , Encyclopedia of the Harlem ing Company) and curates which include Ichi-Ban and Ni-Ban Renaissance , among other venues. He “Adventures from the Bedrooms of (MOH Press), Manuel is destroying my is currently writing a book on the influ- African Women,” a highly acclaimed bathroom (Belladonna Press), and the ence of the Congo on African Ameri- and widely read blog on African album, Televisíon . As a vocalist, she can literary, visual, political, and reli- women and sexuality at www. adven- has worked with Vernon Reid, Akilah gious cultures since the late nine- turesfrom.com. Oliver, Gabri Christa, Shelley Hirsch, teenth century. Jayne Cortez, and Burnt Sugar to name

a few. As an independent curator and Angela Davis is the author of nine artistic director, Diggs has co- Kuukua Dzigbordi Yomekpe charac- books and has lectured throughout the presented and directed literary/ terizes herself as a memoirist, essayist, United States as well as in Europe, musical/theatrical events at Symphony and writer of social commentary. She Africa, Asia, Australia, and South Space, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, is the author of several essays and America. Her work as an educator – WBAI, The Schomburg Center for Black prose poems. Some of her essays have both at the university level and in the Culture, BAM Café, Dixon Place, and El been anthologized in African Women larger public sphere – has always em- Museo del Barrio. Writing Resistance (UW Press) and other venues. Her essay, “The Audac- phasized the importance of building communities of struggle for economic, ity to Remain Single: Single Black racial, and gender justice. She draws Camille T. Dungy is author of Smith Women in the Black Church,” won the upon her own experiences in the early Blue , Suck on the Marrow , and What Marcella Althaus-Reid Award for best seventies as a person who spent eight- to Eat, What to Drink, What to Leave “Queer Essay,” and is anthologized in een months in jail and on trial, after for Poison , and editor of Black Nature: Queer Religion II (Praeger Publishers). being placed on the FBI’s “Ten Most Four Centuries of African American A few of her many projects include : Wanted List.” Davis is a founding Nature Poetry . Her honors include an The Coal Pot, a Culinary Memoir cele- member of Critical Resistance, a na- American Book Award, two Northern brating her Ghanaian roots, and The tional organization dedicated to the California Book Awards, a California Innocents , an adolescent mystery dismantling of the prison industrial Book Award silver medal, a fellowship novel. You can follow her work at: complex. Mostly recently she spent from the NEA, and two NAACP Image ewurabasempe.wordpress.com fifteen years at the University of Cali- Award nominations. Dungy's poems fornia Santa Cruz where she is now and essays have been published Maureen Ngozi Eke is a Professor of Distinguished Professor Emerita. widely in anthologies and print and online journals including Poetry, Cal- Language and Literature at Central laloo, and The American Poetry Re- Michigan University, and a former Gina Dent is Associate Professor of view . Dungy is a Professor in the Crea- president of the African Literature Feminist Studies, History of Conscious- tive Writing department at San Fran- Association. She is the co-editor of ness, and Legal Studies at the Univer- cisco State University. http://www. Gender and Sexuality in African Litera- sity of California, Santa Cruz. She is camilledungy. com ture and Film . also the current Director of Graduate Studies for the UCSC Feminist Studies Born in Canada, Zetta Elliott ’s poetry doctoral program. She is the editor of Ira Dworkin is Assistant Professor of has been published in several antholo- Black Popular Culture and the author English and Comparative Literature gies, and her plays have been staged in of articles on race, feminism, popular and Associate Director of the Prince New York, Chicago, and Cleveland. Her culture, and visual art. Her forthcom- Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Al- essays have appeared in Horn Book ing book Anchored to the Real: Black saud Center for American Studies and Magazine , School Library Journal , and Literature in the Wake of Anthropology Research at The American University Hunger Mountain . She is the author of is a study of the consequences – both in Cairo (AUC). He is the editor of three books for young readers includ- disabling and productive – of social Daughter of the Revolution: The Major ing Ship of Souls , A Wish After Mid- science’s role in translating black writ- Nonfiction Works of Pauline E. Hopkins night , and the award-winning picture ers into American literature. (Rutgers University Press 2007). His writings have been published in Ameri- book, Bird . She is Assistant Professor can Literary History , Atlantic Studies , of Ethnic Studies at Borough of Man- hattan Community College and is cur-

18 YARI YARI NTOASO

rently working on a book about African grants. Her research involves Diaspora, and a campaigner for human rights in American speculative fiction for young Transnational, Post/Colonial, Film and Africa and Europe. She has been in- readers. Gender Studies (in the regions of the volved in rights for race, gender equal- French Caribbean, the Maghreb, and ity and democracy for over twenty

Sub-Saharan Africa). She has two years. Her book (co-edited with Kelly Akachi Adimora Ezeigbo was born and forthcoming books: one on gender- Coate and Suki Ali) has been significant raised in Eastern Nigeria, but now lives violence in Francophone women’s in shaping debates about human in Lagos. Raised partially in a rural en- writing, and the second one on ele- rights, identity, location and democ- vironment and partially in the city, she ments of human rights, democracy, racy. She is a pioneer in the transla- combines these two factors, as back- and sustainable development in tion of African literature and her trans- ground and setting for her children's French Caribbean artistic productions. lation of Ngugi wa Thiong'o's work stories and adult fiction. Though born from Gikuyu to English brought her in Eastern Nigeria, she has lived in dif- global acclaim. Her research interests Kadija (George) Sesay is the founder/ ferent parts of the country - East, are in the field of human rights and publisher of SABLE LitMag and SABLE North and West. She has travelled translation. She also translates ground LitFest. She is the editor of several extensively in Africa, Europe and in the breaking and award winning authors anthologies of work by writers of Afri- USA. She obtained her Bachelor of from French to English. can and Asian descent. including Red: Arts and Masters degrees in English Contemporary Black British Poetry from the University of Lagos and her (2010). She is also an Associate Editor Ph.D. from University of , in Ishraga Mustafa Hamid is a Sudanese- for Callaloo , the premier journal of Nigeria. A lecturer, writer, novelist, Austrian human rights activist, femi- arts, letters, and cultures of the Afri- critic, essayist, journalist, and adminis- nist, and poet currently living and can Diaspora. She has published her trator, she was appointed a professor working in Vienna. She has published own poetry, short stories, essays and of English at University of Lagos in several collections of poetry in Ger- articles in magazines, journals, an- 1999. man and Arabic, including Trotzdem thologies and encyclopedias in the UK, singe ich and Ahazan Schahiga , as well USA and Africa and has been broad- as a book about the empowerment of María Teresa Fernández de la Vega is cast on the BBC World Service. She is a black women in Vienna. She became the President of Fundación Mujeres co-coordinator various literary events, politically involved in the Sudanese por África/Women for Africa Founda- such as ‘Word from Africa’ at the Brit- feminist movement while in high tion, a Member of the Civil Society ish Museum (2008). Her poetry collec- school, and is currently a member of Advisory for UN Women, and a perma- tion, Irki (which means ‘Homeland’ in PEN Austria and coordinator of the nent member of the Spanish State the Nubian language) was published organization of female migrant writers Council. She is the former First Deputy by Peepal Tree Press. in Austria. Prime Minister of Spain (2004-2010), and was also a Member of the Spanish Parliament, Spain’s Supreme Judicial Ruby Yayra Goka is a dentist by pro- Born in the city of Leeds,England, Council, and its Secretary of State for fession, a writer and an avid reader. Khadijah Ibrahiim is of Jamaican par- Justice. She has long been an active She writes fiction for all categories of entage. She is the Artistic Director of member of the feminist movement, people--adults, young adults and chil- Leeds Young Authors and the Producer and has authored books and essays on dren. Two of her books for young of the Leeds Youth Poetry Slam festi- labour law, human rights and the adults, The Mystery of the Haunted val. Peepal Tree press published her Council of Europe. House and The Lost Royal Treasure poetry collection Rootz Runnin in won awards in the 2010 and 2011 Burt 2008. She toured with the Fwords

Award Competition. A third, When the Creative Freedom writers and has per- Gladys M. Francis a native of Guade- Shackles Fall, was shortlisted for the formed across Britain, the USA, the loupe and France, is an Assistant Pro- Burt Award prize for 2012 and is in the Caribbean, and Africa. Recently, she fessor of French and Francophone process of being published. She has became one of the first international Studies at Georgia State University in also published two adult books: In the writers to attend the El Gouna Writers Atlanta, USA. She is the author of nu- Middle of Nowhere and Disfigured . Residency in Egypt, 2010. merous articles published in the Carib- bean, North America, and Europe, and Wangui wa Goro is an academic social the recipient of various international critic, researcher, translator, writer,

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Rashidah Ismaili is a writer of short aspiring music entrepreneurs at Tisch Fungai Machirori is a poet, writer and stories, plays and poetry. She is widely School of the Arts, New York Univer- journalist who has a passion for shar- anthologized and has four collections sity. A consultant for record labels and ing narratives using various media of poems. Her plays have been per- music technology start-ups, he has such as blogging, photography, video formed internationally as well as na- brought numerous guests to the NYU, and audio. In 2012, Machirori founded tionally. She has read her poetry solo from De La Soul to Alicia Keys to Rus- a women's digital media platform and with musical instrumentation, and sell Simmons to Swizz Beats. He is the called Her Zimbabwe, which brings has been a writer in residence at many author of The Michael Jackson Treas- together the stories and voices of Zim- colleges and art centers in the country. ures , which has been translated into babwean women across borders and Originally from West Africa, Ismaili has more than 7 languages, and a book contexts. Her Zimbabwe is a member taught French and English-speaking called Blue Magic , on the role of meta- of The Guardian Africa Network, coor- African writers, literature of the Afri- physics and energy in the music of dinated by The Guardian , which brings can diaspora and the Harlem Renais- artists like Roberta Flack and Jay Z, together alternative narratives about sance and Negritude literary move- forthcoming from Duke University Africa. ments. Her books include: Cantata for Press.

Jimmy , Missing in Action & Presumed Michelle H. Martin became the Au- Dead , and Oniybo . gusta Baker Endowed Chair in Child- Rosamond S. King is a creative and hood Literacy at the University of critical writer, performer, and artist. South Carolina in the School of Library Mamle Kabu was born in Ghana and Her poetry has been published in over and Information Science in August moved to the United Kingdom in her a dozen journals and anthologies, the 2011 after 12 years of teaching Chil- early teens. She resides in Ghana chapbook At My Belly and My Back dren’s and Young Adult Literature in where she works as a freelance con- and the just-released Kindergarde: the English Department at Clemson sultant in development issues. Kabu Experimental Poetry for Children. Her University. She published Brown Gold: has written a number of short stories, scholarly book, Island Bodies: Trans- Milestones of African-American Chil- all of which have been published in gressive Sexualities in the Caribbean dren’s Picture Books, 1845-2002 with various anthologies and journals. In Imagination, is forthcoming from the Routledge in 2004 and co-edited (with 2009 she was nominated for the Caine University Press of Florida. King has Claudia Nelson) Sexual Pedagogies: Prize for African Writing for her story performed around the world, and her Sex Education in Britain, Australia, and “The End of Skill.“ Her young adult handmade books have been widely America, 1879-2000 (Palgrave, novel, The Kaya-Girl , was published exhibited. Honors include fellowships 2003). She has published articles in under the name Mamle Wolo. This from Poets House, the Fulbright Pro- The Lion and the Unicorn , Children’s book won her the 2011 Burt Award for gram, and the Ford, Mellon, and Literature Association Quarterly , African Literature in Ghana. Kabu has Woodrow Wilson Foundations. She is Sankofa: a Journal of African Children’s also written poetry, two screenplays an Assistant Professor in the English and Young Adult Literature, and Obsid- and is working on a novel. She is a co- Department of Brooklyn College, part ian III , among others. director of the Writers’ Project of of the City University of New York. Ghana and a mother of two. www.rosamondking.com Natalia Molebatsi is the editor of We are: a poetry anthology , published Madhu Kaza was born in Andhra Kinna Likimani is the Programs Direc- through Penguin Books, (showcasing Pradesh, India and raised in India and tor and a Board Member of the the work of the likes of Lebo Mashile, Detroit, Michigan. She lives in New Mbaasem Foundation. She is also the Mak Manaka, Napo Masheane, Shelley York City where she is a writer, per- author of the literary blog Kinna Barry and Phillipa Yaa de Villiers), and formance artist, translator and educa- Reads. The feminist and social activist is author of Sardo Dance , published tor. She is currently at work on her works with many organizations to use through Ge’ko. Molebatsi has recently first novel. technology and social media to in- released Come as You Are: Poems for crease participation in Ghanaian cul- Four Strings , a cd/book with Simone ture and civic society. She holds de- Serafini (Italy) on Double Bass. She is a Jason King is associate professor and grees from Smith College and Colum- co-founding member of the interconti- the Artistic Director of The Clive Davis bia University (USA). http:// nental jazz/funk band, Soul Making. Institute of Recorded Music, an inno- kinnareads.wordpress.com/ Natalia works with high school learn- vative leadership training program for

20 YARI YARI NTOASO

ers on human rights, career guidance explores the presence of women in Virginia Phiri was born in Bulawayo, and counseling. public space in Lagos, Nigeria. Ogunji Zimbabwe in 1954. She is an account- has received a number of awards and ant by profession and is also an African

has performed at various spaces in the orchid expert. Her works include the Roshnie Moonsammy is the Executive USA and Africa. She lives in Austin and books Desperate (2002) and Destiny Director and Founder of the Urban Lagos. www.wuraogunji.com (2006), co-authorship of several pri- Voices Poetry Festival and its mother mary school readers, and the editing body the Southern African Arts Ex- of Zimbabwean anthologies of change (SAAE). Urban Voices takes Tess Onwueme is the esteemed Uni- women’s fiction and nonfiction. She place in three South African cities: versity Professor of Global Letters at has been a writer in residence at Le Johannesburg, Cape Town and Dur- the University of Wisconsin, USA. The Chateau de Lavigny, Switzerland and ban. author of over twenty plays joined this Villa Waldberta in Germany. Phiri was exclusive rank of accomplished writ- the acting director of the Zimbabwe ers/scholars like Professors Chinua International Book Fair and writes fic- Angelique V. Nixon is an Afro- Achebe and , after her tion, non-fiction and art criticism, and Caribbean woman writer, scholar, eighteen years of exemplary academic has written in English, Shona and Nde- teacher, community worker, and poet and administrative service as Distin- bele. born and raised in The Bahamas. She guished Professor of Cultural Diversity teaches and writes about Caribbean and Professor of English. Productions and postcolonial studies, African dias- of her plays like The Broken Calabash , Hermine Pinson has published three pora literatures, feminist and post- Wazobia , and Tell it to Women, etc. poetry collections, most re- colonial theories, and gender and have been featured at theatres in La- cently Dolores is Blue/ Dolorez is sexuality studies. She is completing gos, the USA, Canada, Europe, and the Blues . Her first CD was Changing the her first scholarly book titled Resisting Caribbean, as well as the BBC World Changes in Poetry & Song , in collabo- Paradise: Tourism, Diaspora, and Sexu- Drama Service. Onwueme has won ration with Estella Majozo and Pulitzer ality in Caribbean Literature and Cul- many exalted international honors and -prize winning poet Yusef Komunya- ture , which examines the material ef- awards. Among them are: the Fonlon- kaa. Her most recent CD is Deliver fects of tourism and neocolonialism on Nichols award (2009); the Phyllis Yourse lf with the Harris Simon Caribbean culture and identity. Her Wheatley for Distinguished Black Writ- Trio. Pinson’s poetry, fiction, nonfic- work as a scholar and poet has been ers Award (2008); the Martin Luther tion and critical essays have appeared published widely in academic and King, Jr. Distinguished Writers Award in numerous anthologies and journals, creative journals. Her latest creative (1989/90). and she has received fellowships from project is a literary artwork titled Salt- Cave Canem, Macdowell Colony and water Healing – A Myth Memoir . Yaddo. As an associate professor, she Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang is the teaches creative writing and African first ever female Vice-Chancellor of a Famia Nkansa is a Ghanaian writer, American literature at the College of public University in Ghana. Prof. poet, blogger and social commentator William and Mary. Opoku-Agyemang has researched and who is still trying to scatter her words published extensively in areas includ- like pebbles and write her way back ing Literature by Women from Africa, home. She is currently in the final Olumide Popoola is a London-based Oral Literature in Ghana, Higher Edu- stages of completing a novel and a Nigerian German author, poet, per- cation in Ghana, and Africa and the book of short stories. former and speaker who often col- Trade in Enslaved Africans. At the na- laborates with musicians or other art- tional level, she has chaired or been a ists. She has published fiction, drama, member of over 20 Ghanaian boards A performance and visual artist who poetry and essays in magazines, jour- and committees, and has been a mem- works in a variety of mediums, Wura- nals, newspapers, memoirs and an- ber of the Governing Board of the Natasha Ogunji is perhaps best known thologies since 1988, including the United Nations Educational Scientific for her videos, in which she uses her novella this is not about sadness and and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) own body to explore movement and the play Also by Mail . The scope of her and the Selection Committee of the mark-making across water, land and work concerns critical investigation African Humanities Project of Carnegie air. Her current performance series into the 'in-between' of culture, lan- Corporation, USA. entitled “Mo gbo mo branch/I heard guage and public space where a, and I branched myself into the party” sometimes uncomfortable look at

YARI YARI NTOASO 21

complexity is needed. In 2004 she won history of African people in the Dias- beginning, in 1988, with Lord of the the Poetry Award (the first pora. www.idakedagroup.com Dance, an African retelling. Tadjo has Black International Literature Award in also written award-winning books for

Germany). adults, including As The Crow Flies, Cheryl Sterling currently teaches Afri- The Shadow of Imana, Travels in the

can and African Diaspora studies in the Heart of Rwanda, and Red Earth/ Sapphire is the author of two collec- Global Liberal Studies Program at New Laterite. tions of poetry and two bestselling York University. She has published novels, The Kid ( 2011) and Push extensively in the areas of African Lit- (1996). The film adaption of her novel, erature, Media and Culture, Post- Born in Port-au-Prince, Haïti, Évelyne Precious (2009), won an Academy Colonial theory and its application in Trouillot lives and works there as a Award for Best Screenplay and Best the African Diaspora. Her recent book, French Professor at the State Univer- Supporting Actress. In 2009, she was African Roots, Brazilian Routes: Cul- sity. She published her first book of awarded a United States Artist Fellow- tural and National Identity (Palgrave short stories in 1996. In 2004, Trouillot ship. She lives in New York City. Macmillan 2013), explores the ways received the Prix de la romancière Afro-Brazilians construct their sense francophone du Club Soroptimist de of Africanness and Blackness through Grenoble for her first novel Rosalie Lola Shoneyin was born in Ibadan, their traditions of Candomblé and l’infâme . In 2005, her first piece for Nigeria, and spent her childhood in Quilombo agency, and Black Power the theater Le bleu de l’île received the Nigeria and at boarding school in Edin- ideology from the U.S. She is the also Beaumarchais award from ETC burgh. She studied English at Ogun the co-founder and editor of the Caraïbes. Her two books of poetry are state University and currently lives in online arts journal, AfroBeat Journal . Sans parapluie de retour (in 2001), and Abuja, Nigeria where she teaches Eng- Plidetwal (in Kreyol, 2005. Her latest lish and Drama at a local secondary novel, Absences sans fron- school. She writes a weekly blog for Esi Sutherland-Addy , Hon D.Litt. tières (Editions Chèvrefeuille étoilée, Next newspapers, the paper founded (Winneba), Hon. Fellow of the College 2013), depicts a family in Brooklyn and by Pulitzer Prize winner Dele Olojede, of Preceptors, U.K is Professor at the Port-au-Prince separated by migration. and also contributes articles in UK Institute of African Studies in the Lan- newspapers. Her books include Song guage Literature and Drama Section. of a Riverbird, So All the Time I Was She has served on over 70 commit- Dzodzi Tsikata is the Director of the Sitting on an Egg, and The Secret Lives tees and commissions nationally and Centre for Gender Studies and Advo- of Baba Segi’s Wives. internationally and was once Deputy cacy, Vice-President of CODESRIA, and Minister for Culture and Tourism and Associate Professor at the University Higher Education. She leads the FAWE of Ghana. Her research is in the areas Eintou Pearl Springer is an interna- project on African Women in Institu- of gender and development, the poli- tionally recognized dramatist, poet, tions of Higher Education at the Uni- tics of land reforms, and rural and and storyteller. She has performed as versity of Ghana. Her research inter- urban livelihood systems. She is the a storyteller and poet in North Amer- ests are in written and oral literature, author of Living in the Shadow of the ica, the UK, South and West Africa, gender, performing arts, education Large Dams: Long Term Responses of throughout the Anglophone and Fran- and cultural policy. Selected publica- Lakeside and Downstream Communi- cophone Caribbean, Mexico, Vene- tions: Women Writing Africa , West ties of Ghana’s Volta River Project and zuela and other parts of Latin America Africa and the Sahel (Ed. with Aminata co-editor (with Pamela Golah) of the as in her native . Diaw, The , CUNY) and book, Land Tenure, Gender and Glob- She was Poet Laureate of her country The Legacy of Afua Sutherland (Ed. alisation: Research and Analysis from from 2002 – 2009. She is Cultural Di- with Anne Adama, Ayebia Clarke). Africa, Asia and Latin America. Active rector of the Emancipation Support in the Ghanaian women’s movement Committee of Trinidad and Tobago, since the 1980s, she is a founding which hosts the world’s largest Pan Véronique Tadjo is a writer, academic, member of the Network for Women’s African festival. She has published four artist and author of books for young Rights in Ghana (NETRIGHT). collections of adult poetry and two people. Born in Paris, she grew up in collections of poetry and stories for Abidjan (Côte d´Ivoire) and now lives children. Her plays are ritual pieces in South Africa. She has written and which document the traditions and illustrated several books for children

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Dorothy Randall Tsuruta is Chair of Rachelle Washington is an Assistant Africana Studies at San Francisco State Professor of Teacher Education and University (SFSU). She teaches African Children’s Literature at Clemson Uni- American literature; her research in- versity. Her research interests are: the terests include womanist theory and social context of education, schooling advanced composition. She is faculty narratives, literacy and social justice in advisor to the SFSU Black Studies Jour- early and elementary education, and nal and on the National Council for ethnic children's literature. Black Studies Board of Directors. Her poetry has appeared in The Black Scholar and Best of Show , having Helen Yitah is Associate Professor of placed among the winners in the Paul Literature and Chair of the Depart- Lawrence Durbar Poetry Contest. ment of English, University of Ghana, Legon (UG). She is founder and direc-

tor of the University of Ghana Writing Wana Udobang is a journalist, radio Centre. Her areas of teaching and re- host, writer, poet, feminist, health search include gender identity in lit- care advocate, and culture enthusiast. erature, oral and written Ghanaian In the UK, she has worked as a free- literature, African literature, African lance features producer for the BBC American literature, immigrant Ameri- world service, Camden Central radio can literature, children’s literature, and Resonance FM. She currently British literature, research methods, works as a radio presenter and pro- composition, and literary theory and ducer at 92.3 Inspiration FM in Lagos, criticism. She has presented at numer- Nigeria. She has been a freelance ous programs and is a member of vari- writer and contributor for various jour- ous boards and committees: Read a nals and is the founder of the 1k4can- Book a Week Radio Programme, UG; cer project which raises funds to assist Secretary, AAWORD, Ghana Chapter; women from low income families with Vice President, Student Aid Legon; their cancer treatment. She also runs Board Chairperson, Swift Aid Ghana; Guerilla Basement Productions, a crea- Editorial consultant, MBAASEM Foun- tive content provision company. dation, Accra; Resource Person, Mmofra Against Aids Project, Accra.

Gina Athena Ulysse has published numerous articles, poems and non- Every effort has been made to Janet Badjan-Young , a prolific Gam- fiction pieces and is the author obtain complete and accurate bian playwright, has lived around the of Downtown Ladies: Informal Com- information regarding our partici- world in Sierra Leone, in Kenya, in Ni- mercial Importers, A Haitian Anthro- pants by the publication deadline. geria, and in the Caribbean, where she pologist and Self-Making in Ja- We regret any omissions or inac- worked as a journalist, a communica- maica (Chicago, 2007). She is cur- curacies. tion consultant and in different other rently finishing her second book On functions as UN staff. She has created What (Not) to Tell: Reflexive Tales of a troupes in Freetown (The Drama Cir- Haitian Feminist Anthropolo- cle), in Nairobi (The Tamaduni Play- gist as well as developing her ers), and in Banjul (The Ebunjan Thea- new performance/installation pro- tre Troupe). ject, VooDooDoll, What if Haiti Were a Woman: On ti Travay sou 21 Pwen or an Alter(ed)native in Something Other than Fiction. She is associate professor of anthropology and African-American Studies at Wesleyan University in Mid- dletown, CT.

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Hermine Pinson Mamle Kabu

Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah

Khadijah Ibrahiim

Ruby Yayra Goka

Michelle Martin

Yolanda Arroyo Pizarro

Samiya Bashir

Wana Udobang

Tara Betts Rashidah Ismaili

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Monica Arac de Nyeko Rosamond S. King

Tess Onwueme

Ayo Ayoola-Amele

María Teresa Fernández de la Vega

Véronique Tadjo

Margaret Busby

Doreen Baingana

Natalia Molebatsi

Wura-Natasha Ogunji Angelique Nixon

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COLLABORATING ORGANIZATIONS

The Pan-African Writers’ Association With OAU and UNESCO support, representatives from over 36 countries formally signed the Declaration and Constitution that led to the establishment of PAWA in 1989. PAWA believe that literature is the testimony of the people’s creativity and that it has a determining influence on national conscience development for the political and socio- economic liberation of the continent. http://www.panafricanwritersassociation.org.gh/

The present Ghana Association of Writers according to Michael McMullan, started as a “Writers Circle”, which eventually trans- formed itself into the Ghana Writers Society in 1957, the year Ghana attained its independence. In subsequent years, the name was changed from the Ghana Writers Society to the Ghana Association of Writers. www.ghanawriters.org

The Writers Project of Ghana is a charitable organization dedicated to helping Ghanaian writers explore and affirm their identity and culture. In order to achieve these goals, WPG is dedicated to reaching out to all Ghanaian writers through various programs and activities. http://writersprojectghana.com/

Centre for Popular Education and Human Rights - Ghana CEPHERG ’s mission is to improve and expand the provision of human rights and HIV and AIDS services for young people and sexual minorities through information, education and empower- ment. https://sites.google.com/site/cepehrg/

SABLE Lit Mag 's umbrella concept is ‘Art is the heArt of a nation,’ an ethos based on using Art as a means to build strong commu- nities. We aim to show how the literary arts can be used effectively to promote cultural understanding and social cohesion in com- munities and across borders. www.sablelitmag.org

Witness Tree Literary Arts Education, Inc. is dedicated to revealing the liberatory force of literature in diverse communities. WTLAE has organized writing workshops and creative experiences for a variety of populations, including youth and the incarcer- ated in the USA, Trinidad and Tobago, India, and The Gambia.

Organization of Women Writers of Africa

Mbaasem Foundation

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