Public speaker and performance poet, Kingsley Ekpenyong, popularly known as “Keesh Rowland,” is the current Poetry Grand Slam Champion of the Abuja Literary Festival 2024. The title had been crafted neatly to his name, on October 25, at the British Council, after a fierce battle with the other fourteen slam royalties.
Five contestants were knocked out in the first round and ten proceeded to the second round of the slam. At the end of the second round, five more contenders were eliminated. The following slam royalties made it to the final battle for slam champion and runner ups:
Sa’ada Isa Yahaya
Elizabeth Kj Umoru
Dear Society
Abdulrazaq Salihu
Keesh Rowland
Abdulrazaq Salihu clings to the title of First runner-up, and Sa’ada Isa Yahaya, the youngest royalty, clings to the title of Second runner-up.
Winner’s Biography
Keesh Rowland (Kingsley Ekpenyong) is a sterling Performance Poet, Public Speaker, Resume Writer and Creative Writer. He is passionate about using his creative and analytical skills to meet standard needs within and beyond his immediate environment.
As a poet, his works interrogate several social concepts while advocating for social justice and change. He is the Slam Champion of the AlitFest Slam 2024, Second Runner up of Lagos International Poetry Festival Slam 2023 and the first runner up of the Fact Check Slam 2022 organized by US Missions in Nigeria. He was amongst a group of artists selected by United Nations Nigeria to perform at the Irish Embassy during the 75th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
As a Public Speaker, he employs Storytelling, humor and popular lingo to shine light on and draw lessons from the stories of everyday Nigerians. He’s also passionate about organizing and adjudicating at Debate Tournaments. He is the Winner of Speak Forward Public Speaking Competition, Abuja 2024, Second Runner Up of Royal Rhetorics Public Speaking Competition 2023 and Winner Voices Against Suicide Public Speaking Competition 2019.
Fun fact- Keesh Rowland was once a professional hip hop dancer. He even owned and led a dance crew.
Winner’s Biography
Abdulrazaq Salihu, TPC I, is a Nigerian poet and member of the hilltop creative arts foundation. He won the SOD poetry contest , BPKW poetry contest, Poetry archive poetry contest, Masks literary magazine poetry award, Nigerian prize for teen authors(poetry), Hilltop creative writing award, and others. He has received fellowship and residency from IWE writers residency, SPRINg, Frances Thompson writers studio and elsewhere. He has his works published/forthcoming in Uncanny, Bacopa, Consequence, South Florida poetry, Eunoia review, strange horizons, Unstamatic, Bracken, Poetry Quarter(ly), Rogue, B*k, Jupiter review, black moon magazine, Angime, Grub Street mag and elsewhere. He enjoys the aesthetics of language and the simplicity of things. He tweets @Arazaqsalihu; instagram: Abdulrazaq._salihu. He’s the author of Constellations (poetry) and hiccups (Prose).
Winner’s Biography
Sa’ada Isa Yahaya (she/her) is a Nigerian teen writer of Ebira descent. She is a student of Jewel Model School, Kubwa, Abuja and a member of Hill-Top Creative Arts Foundation, Abuja. She is a two time winner of the on-the-spot poetry prize at HIASFEST, a runner up for the bkpw contest and a finalist for the Dawns Project. Sa’ada is a passionate lover of art and regards herself as God’s own piece of art. Her works appear on Blue Marble Review, Kalahari Review, Conscio , Stripes Lit Magazine and elsewhere.
