Arts Lounge Literary Magazine, in partnership with The French Embassy in Nigeria, the French Institute in Nigeria and Cookingpot publishing, announces call for submission from performance poets across Nigeria, for The Green we Left Behind Poetry Slam. The Green we Left Behind Poetry Slam will be in celebration of the 2023 world environmental day, and a reinforcement of our effort to create awareness on the climate crises in Nigeria, which seem to have worsened in recent years. 

The Poetry Slam will have poets across Nigeria tackle the issue of climate change from the lens of mitigation and adaptation. Poets all over Nigeria will have the chance to participate by sharing their poetry performance on the theme of climate change. A shortlist will be announced on the 1st of June, 2023. Shortlisted poets will participate in the poetry slam to be held at the French Institute in Nigeria, Abuja, on the 9th of June, 2023. This event will also merge the launch of the Green Photo book, which documents the visual representation of the climate crisis in Nigeria, a project that involved Nigerian artists and photographers in climate change activism, through the sponsorship of the French Embassy in Nigeria and the Brittle paper.

Three winners and three honorary mentions will be selected from the slammers and awarded cash prizes at the end of the event. 

Prizes

First prize —200,000 naira

Second prize —150,000 naira

Third prize —100,000 naira

3 Honorary mentions 50,000 naira each

Submission Guidelines 

1) Send only original, previously, unpublished performance poem on the theme of climate change. 

2) Send only poems that can be performed.

3) Entries will be accepted from 16th of May-30th of May, 2023.

4) Poems should be well edited, single spaced and in New Times Roman.

5) The name of the poet should not appear on the document that has the poem. 

6) Entry should be accompanied by a cover letter that has the name, nationality, location and biography of the poet. 

7) Send entry to artsloungenyc@gmail.com with the subject: Climate Change Poetry Slam

8) Questions and inquiries about the prize should be sent to the same email address. 

9) All long-listed poems shall be published as part of our climate change poetry series.

Rules for Shortlisted Poets

1) All shortlisted poets must be present at the event in Abuja, in other to participate in the poetry slam, and to receive their prizes in case they emerge winners. 

2) Note that all shortlisted poets outside Abuja will be given cash tokens for transportation to Abuja for the event. 

Judges

Unoma Azuah is a climate change activist and the co-curator of The Green We Left Behind project. She has edited a couple of books on climate change and has judged numerous prizes on the same theme. She is a professor of English at Wiregrass Georgia Technical College, Georgia, USA. 

In 2011 she was listed as one of the top professors at private colleges and universities in the United States. Additionally, she is recognized by The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education under the topic, “Honors for Four Black Educators.”  She is a 2023 creative writing judge for the prestigious UK based Page Turner awards. Some of her award-winning books are Edible Bones, Sky-high Flames, and Night Songs. Her writing awards include the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Flora Nwapa award, Aidoo-Snyder award, Leonard Trawick award, and the Urban Spectrum award. She shares her time between Nigeria and the United States.

Denja Abdullahi is a poet, playwright, literary essayist and culture technocrat. He has been writing poetry for over three decades since his days as a student of English and literature at the University of Jos, Nigeria, where he was the best graduating student of the 1990 set. He also has a Masters in Literature-in-English, acquired at the University of Ilorin, Nigeria in 1992. His poems and other literary pieces have appeared in anthologies such as A Volcano of Voices (1999), Uncle Bola’s Promise (2003), Confluence Blues (2004) Abuja Acolytes (2000) Five Hundred Nigerian Poets (2005) Camouflage (2006) Crossroads(2008) Pyramids (2008),Fireflies(2009), Agogo(2009) and in several other newspapers, reviews, journals and magazines.

His first published poetic volume Mairogo: a Buffoon’s Poetic Journey around Northern Nigeria (2001) received honourable mention for the prestigious ANA/CADBURY 2001 Poetry Prize. Denja Abdullahi has taught English and Literature at various levels of education in Nigeria. He has also worked as a journalist and editorial consultant in several media and was the former President, Association of Nigerian Authors. (ANA).

About The Green we Left Behind Project

The Green we Left Behind is a climate change awareness project founded by Adaeze M. Nwadike in 2021. Under the umbrella of Arts Lounge Literary Magazine, its main goal is to use literature and the Arts as tools of awareness, education and all else, in climate change activism and environmental justice.

So far, Arts Lounge has carried out a total of six national scale projects on climate change, which include:

1) The Green we Left Behind: A Collection of Creative Nonfiction Stories from Nigeria on Climate Change. Sponsored by The French Embassy in Nigeria, The French Institute in Nigeria, Cookingpot publishing, USA, AND edited by Unoma Azuah and Adaeze M. Nwadike.

2) The Green we Left Behind: Visual Narrative of the Climate Crises in Nigeria. Sponsored by the French Embassy in Nigeria, Brittle paper, and curated by Adaeze M. Nwadike.

3) The Green we Left Behind: A Collection of Inter-generational stories on Climate Change from Nigeria. Funded by UMIFund, supported by Parents for Future Nigeria and Our Kids climate, edited by Unoma Azuah and Adaeze M. Nwadike.

4) The Green we Left Behind: A Guide to Involving Children from the Global South in Climate Action developed by Adaeze M. Nwadike.

5) On going: The Green we Left Behind: Climate change Poetry Slam. In partnership with The French Embassy in Nigeria, The French Institute in NIgeria, Cookingpot publishing, USA and curated by Adaeze M. Nwadike

6) Scheduled: The Green Photo book launch, in partnership with The French Embassy in Nigeria, curated by Adaeze M. Nwadike.