By Sabiu Abdullahi
The Flame Tree Writers’ Project, in partnership with the Heinrich Böll Foundation, has announced a call for applications for a writers’ workshop targeting emerging writers from Northern Nigeria.
The initiative aims to support young writers in honing their craft and envisioning a more democratic and peaceful Nigeria.
According to Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, founder of the Flame Tree Writers’ Project, “This has been a passion project of mine for so long, and I am excited that, with the support of the Heinrich Böll Foundation, it is coming to fruition.”
The workshop, scheduled for June 24–28, 2024, in Abuja, will be co-facilitated by NLNG Nigeria Prize–winning authors Abubakar Adam Ibrahim and Chika Unigwe.
Participants will receive guidance in writing a short story suitable for publication in an anthology.
Ere Amachree, Program Manager at the Heinrich Böll Foundation, noted, “The foundation is excited about the Flame Tree Writers’ Project, as it advances our vision of promoting writing as a means of political expression, just like Heinrich Böll, the German writer after whom our foundation is named.”
The call for applications is exclusively for writers from the 19 Northern States of Nigeria, aged between 18 and 35. Female emerging writers are strongly encouraged to apply.
Interested participants must meet the eligibility criteria and submit their applications to flametreewritersproject@gmail.com by June 1, 2024.
Encouraging writers to apply, Mr. Abubakar said, “It’s not just a workshop but a project that will publish the stories from the workshop in an anthology of new writing and get them into institutions of learning, where they will be taught as part of the growing and exciting corpus of literature from this part of the country.”