Zahra Gordon

Introducing: The Centre for African Poetry

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If you’re into poetry and African culture then the new Centre for African Poetry will probably interest you and I recommend you check it out! This website, magazine and actual (?) centre, CAP is starting to look a movement to watch. The project is launched in the fitting month of April – poetry month. In the Inaugural Statement, directors Chielozona Eze and Afam Akeh state that the magazine comes at an “interesting” time. In an age where African fiction writers such as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Noviolet Bulawayo and Binyavanga Wainaina have attained international critical acclaim, it could be difficult to be an African poet. I definitely experienced people suggesting I write fiction, or asking why I don’t write fiction and the answer is: I am not a fiction writer. I am a poet. Well, I hope the CAP can achieve rebirth and foster interest both local and international that  they hope to. I was also extremely pleased to see that the CAP did not define African identity by birth and residence alone (as I have seen with other similar initiatives and competitions), but by origin origin/heritage as well. Below are some excerpts from the CAP’s Inaugural Statement. Read the entire piece and find out more here: Centre for African Poetry. 

“African Poetry magazine and indeed the entire Centre for African Poetry project arrives at a challenging but interesting moment for poetry practice in Africa and the rest of the world. What we do have in the African practice, as demonstrated by the establishment of this Centre, is renewed confidence in our capacity to move things forward, hopefully make them better, certainly make them different, make them mean and matter more to our poetry public and beyond.” 


“The Centre for African Poetry and its house magazine exist to generate and support renewed energies and enthusiasm for the development, organization, celebration, discussion and study of poetry practice by Africans, wherever else they may live and also call home. We primarily work with poets who are Africans by birth or residence, but we also have an inclusive ‘Africanworld’ perspective which seeks to understand and feature poets and information of African origin. Anyone from anywhere interested in the Literature of African and the Africanworld is welcome at the centre for African Poetry. We are a platform for constructive and sustained exchange between the African practice and poetry elsewhere. We recognize the many varieties of the African practice and want to develop capacity for celebrating all. we honour all the languages of the African conversation and want to grow cross border interest in work from all of them through.” 

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