The August edition of the Abuja Writers Forum’s Guest Writer Session will feature the trio of Numero Unoma,Tope Fasua and Su’eddie Vershima Agema on August 31 in Abuja.
Unoma is a visual artist and writer, Fasua , an economist, Chartered Accountant and Finance expert while Agema is an editor and development enthusiast.
Abdullahi Abubakar, AWF’s Public Relations Officer (PRO) in a statement said the speakers are poised to showcase various aspects of their creativity.
Unoma who calls herself an Afro-neo-feminist has her deepest roots in photography and poetry. She has lived and worked in many different cultures, and studied first psychology, then photography & multimedia.
She worked for many years in wealth management with Merrill Lynch, registered as a stock-broker on the NYSE and NYMEX. She left the corporate world to produce photographic work through her company Exposure DP, for among others Sir Terence Conran’s Conran Shop and Paperchase, selling in London, Paris, Berlin, New York and Sydney.
Natural progression led to her next company, Ethnic Majority which designed, produced and sourced African gifts and lifestyle mainly for the UK and Caribbean market. Her greeting cards, mugs and jewellery in particular became synonymous with the expression of a contemporary African identity from the diaspora.
Unoma has exhibited her work in the US, the UK, Europe and West Africa, exploring a range themes relating to environment, identity, sexuality, displacement and assimilation. She has published poems and essays in various media. She is a founding member of the Invisible Borders Trans-African Photography Initiative, and parted ways with the group after the third edition.
Fasua prides himself as one of Africa’s young modern historians and sociologists . Apart from keeping a column with the Abuja-based Sunday Trust newspapers and writing occasionally for other media houses in Africa, he is passionate about contributing his quota to the debate about Africa, using his home country, Nigeria, as case study. A position showcased in his debut book, CRUSHED, which is increasing garnering attention as a major out-of –the-box perspective.
His latest book, Things To Do Before Your Career Disappears, maintains his trend of thinking. Described as a clarion call, the book “ purviews beyond the problem of global unemployment, but speaks to economic and social decisions being made by individuals, households, companies and governments.”
Agema writes across the major genres, and is an editor as well as development and cultural enth Su’eddie has a love for Post-Colonialism, African Literature and New Writings. He is the Vice Chairman, Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA, Benue Chapter), an alumnus of the Benue State University’s Writers’ League and a member of the Abuja Writers’ Forum. He is also the team leader of SEVHAGE Literary and Development Initiative.
Agema has a degree in English from the Benue State University, Makurdi, where he is currently undergoing a Masters’ degree in Development Studies.He was exposed to literature at an early age by a father who kept the tradition of the moonlight tales, complete with acting roles, local lore, and cultural songs. His mother bought the best of African literary titles that helped build early seeds in him as a scribbler. Elder brothers, Taver, Sever and Gabriel led the path with stories, comics, and active imaginations. A continuing adventure along literary paths, fellowship with other writers + books too numerous to mention and Aôndo’s divine guidance keeps moulding the scribbler each day.
Agema has been published variously online and in print.His debut collection of poetry is Bring Our Casket Home: Tales One Shouldn’t Tell. He is currently editing a short story and poetry collection of writings from different writers themed on last year’s floods. He blogs at HYPERLINK “http://sueddie.wordpress.com” usiast.
The Guest Writer Session which started in June 2008 is generally regarded as the most consistent literary event in the country and has become the template for similar interventions. The August 31st edition starts by 4pm at the Nanet Suites and will include the usual side attractions of poetry performance, mini art exhibition, and a raffle-draw as well as live music. The Forum, apart from the celebrated Guest Writer Session, holds critique sessions of works in progress on Sundays at the International Institute of Journalism, Hamdala Plaza, Jimmy Carter Street, Asokoro, Abuja.
