Hello, wonderful contributors! Check out our weekend’s featured artist, Testimony Odey, as she swiftly takes us across some literary speculations about poetry.
“Writing this lecture was a thrilling and thoughtful experience for me, as I’d never written anything like that. And sharing this lecture with you all in this video is a dream come true! —Testimony Odey.
Biography
Testimony Odey is a Nigerian storyteller, YouTuber, spoken word artist and author of two award-winning novels. Her short story won the inaugural African Teen Writers Awards (2022) and she was honoured to judge the second edition of the same prize the following year. Her poem was shortlisted for the global Writing Ukraine Prize (2023), while her essay titled, ‘In My Country, A Woman’s Body is Forever at War with The Culture of Patriarchy’ won third place in the Give Girls A Chance (GGAC) Essay Competition. Her short story was shortlisted for the Africa Human Rights Short Prize (2023) and her first lecture, ‘Poetry is God,’ was featured on Issue 13 of Poetic Africa Magazine, a rich and diverse African trilingual magazine. She’s also a recipient of the HIASFEST Star Prize (2023), a prize acknowledging teen writers promoting creativity, literature and positively influencing their peers. Her short story won Bronze for the Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition (2021), and her poem was a finalist of the 1st Intercontinental Poetry Anthology: Voice of Peace (Africa Edition). Her flash fiction, ‘The Murderer’s Issue’, was longlisted for the ‘Show, Don’t Tell’ Globe Soup Flash Fiction Contest. While, YOUR FUTURE,’ her short horror story, was added to the Horror Short Stories Podcast. She’s the creator of writerglow.mystrikingly.com, a website meant to help writers solve their writing challenges and become the best version of their creative selves. Her short stories, articles, and poems have appeared on anthologies, websites, journals and magazines such as Brittle Paper, Fiction Attic Press, Paper Lanterns, Tilted House Review, Green Black Tales, ArtNews, Calabash Journal, Salt & Citrus, Kepressng Anthologies, Voice of Agape (VOA) Teens Magazine, My Woven Poetry, Teen Lit Journal, Reedsy andelsewhere. This year, her poems are forthcoming on Rising Phoenix Press (2024). She is a finalist of the inaugural poetry slam at Edo’s International Book and Art Festival and have performed at the Benin Arts and Books Festival and Abuja Literary and Arts Festival. Having been interviewed by media outlets such as Arts Lounge, ELSA Media, TOTB, Writers Space Africa, Blessing Kolajo Poetry Workshop and HCAF Stars Series, Testimony enjoys speaking about her artistic journey and life. Currently a fiction editor for Northern Writers Forum (NWF) Journal, she keeps her eyes open for bold and beautiful stories. You can find her across social media @testimonyodey .
