A UK based writer who is originally from Nigeria is celebrating the success of a partnership with a worldwide Organisation which put him on a global stage, supporting African writers.
Tolu A Akinyemi partnered with The African Writers to introduce a global writing challenge based around his first book, Dead Lions Don’t Roar. The African Writers is an organization that supports budding authors and writers from Africa based across the globe through mentoring, writing conferences and events, competitions and challenges, collaboration and a vibrant online community.
The challenge set by the partnership was to write a poem no longer than 15 lines long, cultivated from the title of Tolu’s book, Dead Lions Don’t Roar. The entries could be posted on Tolu’s and The African Writers Instagram.
The challenge received over 350 entries, of which all the writers have received encouragement from Tolu to grow and aim for their dream of being a writer.
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| The winning poem |
Tolu said:
“The entries were judged on creativity, originality, uniqueness, word flow, clarity, communication of idea and ability to evoke emotion. The standard was out of this world but we chose @derricktopaz as the winner. His poem pushes the reader into a state of hysteria as it challenges you that your Unique roar can still be heard long after we are gone.
“I am now of the belief that many people in the UK have the same writing power but have no platform to share it on. I will therefore be launching an ultimate writing challenge in the UK sometime soon.”
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| Tolu Akinyemi |
The challenge awarded places to the top ten entries whose work is all featured on The African Writers website. 50 people are listed with accolades for exceptional entries. Faith Moyosore, who runs The African Writers, said:
“Hosting these challenges are always an exhilarating experience for myself and my team. They give you an insight into the level of untapped talent existent in Africa. The challenge had so many exceptional entries. And I must also say that working with Tolu on this was amazing.
He is someone that the African Writing Community has great respect for due to his writing prowess, it’s no wonder that he was endorsed by the Arts Council England. It was a pleasure to work with him.”
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