DEAR FAMILY, FRIENDS AND FANS,

ITS THE MOMENT EVERYONE HAS BEEN WAITING FOR AS THE LITERARY WORLD HAVE BEEN ASKING, WHICH OF THE THREE OF THE TEN FINALISTS WILL BE SHORT-LISTED FOR THE Tony Tokunbo Fernandez INTERNATIONAL POETRY COMPETITION AND WHO WILL BE CROWNED THE POET OF THE YEAR?

EVEN THOUGH WE HAVE THREE SHORT- LISTED WINNERS, I AM PROUD TO SAY IN MY BOOK, THEY ARE ALL WINNERS, WITH A GREAT FUTURE AHEAD OF THEM AND I WILL DO THE LITTLE I CAN, TO EMPOWER THEIR LITERARY CAMPAIGNS NOW IN THE FUTURE

About Alok

BIO – BARBARA TAH GWANMESIA

Barbara Gwanmesia is one of a small group of artists and academics who have managed to gain a following in two independent fields: writing and singing. Born in Cameroon, Barbara took to singing and writing instinctively – settling in the Netherlands as a researcher, writer, editor and singer. Her almost fanatical focus on reverence for life has led to the use of her music, writing and research as instruments of hope and opportunity for herself and others.

AS A SINGER

Almost unobserved, Barbara Gwanmesia has quietly grown on audiences around the world, turning unsuspecting heavyweights like New York’s Deep-House legend Jephte Guillaume and South Africa’s parliamentarian Alan Winde into instant fans. When Archbishop Desmond Tutu, along with an audience of over 1300 listeners in the Dutch city of Deventer, rose emotionally to her A-capella delivery of How Great Thou Art, Barbara’s fan base moved from musical legends, political bigwigs, business and corporate leaders to Nobel laureates. With Acapella renditions that slide from dramatic depths of longing to vast realms of delight, Barbara fuses lyrical dialectics unimaginable to the ear never once exposed to the croon of her voice. Born in Cameroon at a time when South Africa’s Makeba and Mali’s Keita were making their marks on different levels, Barbara grew up soaked in both artists’ expansive range. But it would be Makeba’s use of music to inform, empower and educate that set the bar for Barbara – placing music’s relevance for her far beyond the arts. With a voice variously described as “Golden”, “Healing”, “Sensual” and “Dramatic”, Barbara has sung for ambassadors, mayors, national political leaders, heads of industry and a varied public.

AS A WRITER

Barbara Tah Gwanmesia began writing at the age of 12, producing stories that resulted in her award- winning first Novel Vasona’s Secret. In the course of the years, Barbara has written poetry, syndicated columns and books. Her first non-fiction is a real life legal thriller with a foreword by Holland’s most illustrious crime reporter Peter R De Vries. The book will be published in the Spring of 2015 by world renown Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke’s Dutch publishers ‘Galilee’.

RESEARCHER AND MAGAZINE EDITOR

As a researcher, Barbara is responsible for one of the most important studies on the social and economic

significance of migrant churches in the city of Rotterdam. Her research work has led to many city-wide discussions on the issue, but most importantly, to her understanding of the lives and challenges of migrant women in the Netherlands. The result has been the creation of the first magazine in mainland Europe, but particularly in the Netherlands, for black African women. Due to experience borne in the creation of that magazine, Barbara is working now towards the birth of a broader, Europe-based magazine.

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: CAMEROON

COUNTRY OF RESIDENCE: THE NETHERLANDS

OCCUPATION: WRITER, SINGER, EDITOR & PUBLISHER

CONTACT DETAILS: barbaragwanmesiata@gmail.com

Ava Brown is the author of the book “Bamboo & Fern” her recently published biography. She is a woman of many talents and is a Speaker, Trainer, Coach and Global Business Development Manager. She received her 2nd MBA from The University of Wales and her 1st from Newport University California. Ava also has a Bachelor in Business Administration and a Diploma in Secondary Education from the University of the West Indies Mona, Jamaica.

Recently nominated for London Leadership Peace Award, Finalist for Fashion Fair Diva Author of Colour International Women’s Day 2015 as well as featured In the Financial Times, The Guardian, The Voice Newspaper & the Jamaican Gleaner. Ava has been featured on Decision and Various International Radio Shows.

Over the years Ava has worked in a wide variety of professional capacities namely: education, finance, maritime, telecoms and business development before deciding to embark on her own business. She currently works as a coach, mentor, and motivational speaker as well as helping businesses develop and grow. In addition to her multiple work activities, Ava is a regular contributor to the education magazine Be Magazine published in West Africa and The Children Hope Newspaper on topics such as “Hope for this Generation“, “Location and Education” to name a few. She is actively involved in assisting African students in accessing tertiary education in the UK, via distance learning. She is now in the process of collaborating with friends to publish the anticipated recipe book with her favourite treats. Reading and writing and of course music given her strong Jamaican background. Ava is an extremely motivated and driven individual who now resides in London with her daughter Chardonae Elizabeth and son Mikhel Kai.

She lives by the motto that “sometimes life will throw you down however; you must find the will power to pull yourself up above your circumstances.” She believes that everything is about correct timing and tapping into the Universe for that which you need. Opportunities will knock, but we have to be able to recognize them and take full advantage.

One of her books is titled “Bamboo and Fen ”

Bamboo and Fern documents Ava’s life growing up in Jamaica. From mango seller to gaining an MBA, Ava Brown turned her life around, overcame adversity and poverty. Her story starts in a poor rural area, where the need to find food often won out over school attendance and follows her journey through her adolescent years, which were encased in the dark shadows of incest and sexual abuse, to her young adult years when the event of being held at gunpoint finally led her to flee her home country in order to save her sanity. Yet, her resilience and love for her native country allowed her to see all of her harsh and disappointing experiences as stepping stones to becoming a strong and self-reliant woman, one who is capable of helping our society to break the cycle of poverty and its effects.

This book is a tribute to everyone who has tried and failed, to everyone who took on something new and felt the fear of failure and the exhilaration of success. This book is here to remind us that failure and success are not separate from each other as we have been taught, it is here to highlight the fact that you can’t get to success without experiencing failure. It is natural and normal; we are made to experience life through a series of refining moments, until we reach our desired goals. Failure is just an indicator that we are not there yet. Her Books are Bamboo and Fern This can be purchased through WHSMITH and Amazon or better still, you can get a SIGNED COPY via her website. Ava has also Co –author the book Born For This The Journey to Success In Love Life & Business.

She can be contacted at info@avabrown.org or http://www.avabrown.org

THE DOWNING KITE- Written by ABU ABDULKADIR

We sank our young chests
Into forest sharps
Seeking the finest of sticks
To propel our kite.

We crafted our darling kite
Daring as witched ravens
Camping in the clouds
We then delibrated
And ‘Hope’ it was christined

Then we found the loudest
Of stars
Plucked them from the sky
Packed them in palm packs
And tied them to ‘Hope’s back
As a parcel for God

Accept our ‘Hope’ dearest Lord

Let us grow green
Branching skywards
Beyound heights where
‘Hope’ cannot touch
Amen

Let our hands be scoured clean
By new rains
And place our plate
Among the big circle of clasmen
Amen

But

‘Hope’
was
punctured
By hooded infidels
And we watched it

downing
Scattering
madly
Descending
heavily

Upon our worn chests
The black children

And we retired home
Wearing our cheeks
Between our palms
Too grieved for tears

My name is Peter Junior Njovu, I am from Zimbabwe. I am a student waiting to proceed to university in August. I live in Harare, the capital city of Zimbabwe. I was born in 1993 and I am 21 years of age. I was born in a family of five children, all boys. I am a poet and writer. I usually write non-fiction stories. In poetry ,I like writing narrative and rhyme style poetry. I even write plays sometime.

‘The Africa I know’ – Written by Peter Junior Njovu

The Africa I know

Is a sanctuary of awe and wonders

A rainbow with plentiful colours

Where flowers blossoms with joy

And trees grow bigger buttress roots

The Africa I know

Is a woman with great charisma

Who bore Zulu pride and Naija power

Who bore Shona zeal and Nyanja fame

Longer and longer she reigns

The Africa I know

Is a gentleman in a black suit

Who seeks and finds respect

Like a lion he roars

And like the river Nile he flows

The Africa I know

Has it all and more

From the tasks of Ivory coast

To Kimberly and her diamonds

What more is there not to admire?

The Africa I know

Shouts from Kilimanjaro

Quenches his thirst from Lake Victoria

And smokes with no fire from Victoria falls

The Africa I know is more than just proud

-She is blessed

My name is Mesioye Johnson,a male,22year old ND graduate of banking and finance at federal polytechnic ilaro. Ogun state
Resides in ibadan.

THE FATE WE FACE”- written by Mesioye Affable Johnson

On our shadows,shady skulls always sit
With bald plans,shaggy promises,blind might,
To spit sick words for thumbs not to be fit
In deciding morrow despite now’s fright.

Our dreams they hide in holy regalia
Feeding them all with fiery sacraments,
Spreading death on lean hope like bacteria
And our hearts filled with bombing fulfillments.

Our brothers’ bone now fills up road’s potholes
We needed water,mums’ blood beats supply,
After the soil had abundance in holes-
Plant’s sustenance if rain doesn’t comply.

Check the gap between riches and stitches
And you will see it’s as wide as a sea,
Morrow’s leaders now dwellers in ditches
Licking untimely dusts death made us see.

Life and death made to meet at dagger’s drawn,
Injustice serves as the big battle field
Where gavel becomes still like dew at dawn,
Only active when pockets are refilled.

We called them wELDERS ’cause they melted dreams
With lies-coated furnace and mean bellows
Pumping their bags while we remain sans beams
For unborn,as born ones pant in hollows.

We see only dripping sweats sans rewards
But always flicked away with bitterness
On the nauseous sore we all nurse inwards
Hoping to see it heal not something less!
…………………………………………………………..

WILLIAMS O’SEUN is a young poet and graduate historian. Born in the early 90s, O’Seun is blessed with an awe-inspiring creativity and ingenuity. He is an affable nature-lover. His poems are purposive, moralistic and never obscurantist. Plans are in top gear to publish his debut poetry anthology in no distant time.

NOCTURNAL RHYTHMS – BY WILLIAMS O’SEUN

I sing
Nightly melodies
With sealed lids
And closed lips
I sing
Nasalised tunes

I sing
Rhythmic symphonies
But my songs are routine
Sang unconsciously
I sing
A song of snores

I sing
Bassy nocturnal rhythms
Sonorous sounds
Sang in chorus
With toads and crickets
I sing
A song of snores.

I sing
Thick-voiced cacophonic tunes
Like a snouting pig
Nightly, irksome to any conscious audience
I sing
While I sleep
A song of snores!