A creative writer from Athi River in Machakos County has been longlisted for the annual Babishai Niwe Poetry prize 2018.
Daniel Many was long listed alongside two other Kenyan writers Wafula Pius Khisa, a poet from Western Kenyan and Janet Kali from Nairobi. The rest of other contestants for the prize are from Uganda (1), South Sudan (1), Ethiopia (1), Malawi (1), Zimbabwe (2) and Nigeria (31).
He has been longlisted for his poetry works ” Cut my breasts today”, “A premature sunset” and “Names carry tribes…names carry war” for Wafula Pius Khisa and Janet Kali respectively.
Many’s poems have also been published in Jalada Africa; a Pan African collective and some are forthcoming in Kalahari Review. Also, he has contributed poems for Parents Magazine and articles for Hivisasa, Saturday Nation and the Standard digital.
Babishai Niwe poetry prize is an annual poetry prize held in Uganda. The prize, initially for writers from East Africa, has since been expanded to include writers from the rest of other African countries.
According to the literature blog www.jamesmurua.com, The Babishai Poetry Prize was founded in 2009 by Ugandan Beverley Nambozo Nsengiyunva to shine a light on the East African country’s women poetry scene.
The prize would go to Lillian Aujo (2009), Sophie Brenda Alal (2010), followed by Sanyu Kisaka (2011), and Susan Piwang (2012).
The judges for this years Babishai Niwe poetry award are Professor Remi Raj, (Nigeria), Rehema Nanfuka, (Uganda) and Alfred Msadala,(Malawi).
The winner will be announced in August during the annual Babishai Niwe poetry workshop which will run from August 2nd to August 5th in Uganda.
The winner will walk away with 500 US Dollars.