The Institute of African Studies at the Carleton University is calling for submissions of a Poetry Anthology in Honour of Pius Adesanmi. As part of a collage of initiatives to memorialize the meteoric life of Pius Adesanmi, they hereby invite submissions of original poems for an anthology in his memory.
On Sunday, March 10, 2019, Pius Adebola Adesanmi, writer, scholar, educator, and public intellectual, was killed along with 156 others from 35 countries in the Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed close to Addis Ababa airport shortly after take-off. Prior to his death, Payo (as he was fondly called by many) was the Director of the Institute of African Studies, Carleton University, in Ottawa, Canada. His tragic demise at the age of 47 has left people in the communities where he conducted his professional work and social activism reeling with pains.
The Institute is interested in poetry that celebrate Pius Adesanmi and his work, that may also philosophically reflect on existence, mortality, immortality and/or offer hope for the living. Poets who knew (or did not know) the poet should exorcise the pains of loss through provocative poems that pour out their beating hearts with all-consuming passion. Well-woven “wreaths” in the form of Requiems, Orikis, Spoken Word, Haikus, Limericks, Lyrics, Free Verse, etc. are welcome. Poems will be assessed by their poetic quality, thematic relevance, technical competence, and emotive force. The anthology is scheduled for publication by a reputable Nigerian publisher in the summer of 2019.
Eligibility
- Submissions must be original, previously unpublished poems
- Submissions attached to emails may consist of ONE to THREE poems of no more than FIVE pages maximum)
- Submissions must be single-spaced and page-numbered.
- Contact information, (name, mailing address, and email address) must appear on the first page of the submission. A short, third person biography of no more than 100 words should be included.
- Preferred file formats: Word doc, docx (please no PDFs)
Application
All submissions should be sent to The Editors via [email protected]
For more information, visit Wreaths for a Wayfarer.