Issue 14: Contributors

Allen Qing Yuan, born in Canada and aged 18, attends the University of British Columbia and lives in Vancouver, where he co-publishes Poetry Pacific with his mentor poet father Changming Yuan. Recently interviewed by Nostrovia!Poetry, Yuan has poetry appear in 69 journals/anthologies cross 16 countries, including Contemporary American Voices, Cordite Poetry Review, Istanbul Literary Review, Literary Review of Canada, Mobius, Paris/Atlantic, Poetry Scotland, Spillway, Taj Mahal Review and Two Thirds North.

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Chiagozie Fred Nwonwu writes fiction and non-fiction. He has a bias for speculative fiction and feels the pull from the immense material for stories of that nature around him. His short story “masquerade stories” was part of AfroSF, the first Pan-African science fiction anthology, published last year by story time. Another short story “annihilation” is part of Nigeria’s first science fiction anthology, “Lagos 2060”, upcoming from Dada books.

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Ifesinachi Okoli-Okpagu is an adventurous writer; playing in various genres and fields of writing such as prose, screenplay and copywriting. A former participant in the Farafina Trust Creative Writing Workshop, British Council Radiophonics Workshop and BBC World Service Trust Workshop, she has been published in various online journals and anthologies including The Maple Tree Literary Supplement, Sentinel Nigeria, African Roar 2012, World Pulse International Women’s Magazine among many others. When she is not crafting stories or managing her Marketing Communications business, she is thinking of new ways to support women to live better lives. Ifesinachi is an alumnus of the University of Benin where she studied Fine and Applied Arts before obtaining a Masters Degree certificate in Marketing Communications from the Pan African University in Nigeria. Her first novel is currently under consideration for publishing.

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Kechi Nomu writes from Warri. In 2012, she took part in the Farafina Trust Creative Writing workshop. Her work has appeared in Sentinel Nigeria.

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Neo Ntsoma is the first woman recipient of the CNN African Journalist Award for photography. Among many of her other recognitions, she is also the recipient of the National Geographic All Roads Photography Award. Her photo-project, “Kwaito culture – South African Youth ID:,” was exhibited in the Netherlands, Norway, Italy, Bangladesh and USA; and also appeared in a book, Moving in Time, an anthology of work in celebration of the 10 years of South Africa’s democracy. She is the co-editor of a photographic book, Women by Women, a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the 1956 Woman’s March, published by Wits University Press.

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Ndaba Sibanda is a published writer, former National Arts Merit Awards (NAMA) nominee, a writers’ association chairperson, an English lecturer, an international ESL and EFL teacher and tutor, book editor, conference producer and researcher, and freelance journalist. In 2005, he published the book Love O’clock, and edited a poetry anthology, It`s Time. In 2007, he was in a team of young writers/mentors on a British council project, Echoes of the Young. 2010 saw him contribute to the anthology, Poems for Haiti, a South African anthology.

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Nebeolisa Okwudili is a student at Federal University of Technology, Minna. His poems and short stories have been published in The Latin Heritage Foundation, New Black Magazine, The Sun Newspapers, Blueprint Newspapers. He won third place at the 2012 Asian International Writing Competition in the poetry category.

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Okwiri Oduor is an East African writer. She lives in Nairobi, mainly avoiding a career in law. She is currently working on her first full length novel.

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Olalekan Jeyifo is a Nigerian-born, Brooklyn-based artist and designer. In May of 2000 he received a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from Cornell University where his focus of study was primarily on investigating the relevant potential for a variety of computer software within the fields of art, design and architecture. After graduating he enjoyed a 4 year tenure as a senior designer at the inimitable dbox before continuing on to pursue his creative compulsions full-time. Since then he’s been fortunate enough to exhibit his artwork in venues throughout the world as well as create beautiful visuals for a variety of amazing clients.

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Paul Sika is an artist in photography. He was born on the 13th of July 1985 in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire. Spending a considerable part of his younger years playing video games and programming calculators, he decides to study Software Engineering in order to also be able to make the electronic entertainments he loves so much. The United Kingdom and more specifically England is the land that welcomed him for his further education after obtaining a baccalaureate from Lycée Blaise Pascal, the French Lycée of Cote d’Ivoire.

In London, Paul falls in love with cinema; a love that leads him to explore his imagination together with photography. Upon graduating from Westminster University with a BSC in Software Engineering, he decides to leave the field of computers when he goes back to his native country. When flabbergasted friends and fellow countrymen would ask why he came back, when he could have stayed there and get a really good career and a nice salary or even enter the respected London College of Communication that wanted him, he would answer: “It had to be done. The future will tell us why.” He can be reached on www.paulsika.com; facebook.com/PaulSikaWorld

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Peter Gikandi is an artist from Kenya living in Canada. He studied illustration and animation in California where he lived and worked for 7 years until his visa expired. The U.S. immigration is extraordinarily tough, so he fled north to the border. Fortunately V?r sikker pa at du har lest noye gjennom og forstar vilkarene og betingelsene pa siden fordi noen kan potensielt blokkere gevinster om brukeren prover a ta ut penger for disse vilkarene og betingelsene er fulgt. the Canadians let him into their country because, well, it’s rather empty. He has lived in Canada for 7 years as well, causing a bit (sometimes a lot) of trouble in the video game industry in various roles spanning 3D and 2D artwork, design, direction and writing. Lately, he’s been chasing other random things, such as writing short (and longer) fiction and painting strange things at DJ shows. He has a thirst for interesting things and different truths, different lives, beautiful lives, darker lives. So he travels, draws, paints and writes to expose these. It’s an itch he has to scratch. And he love scratching it.

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Serge Gay Jr. is a Grammy nominated illustrator/fine artist/graphic designer currently based out of San Francisco, California. The story of Serge Gay Jr. began with his birth in Port-au Price, Haiti and developed during his years in the U.S. His art infuses inspiration born from living in cities from coast to coast. Influence in his work can be found from the culture of his homeland, New York, Miami and Detroit. Currently the story continues to evolve from the west coast of the United States. He is the youngest of three boys and a third generation artist. Art is in his blood and he has felt this talent as long as he can remember. Serge wasted no time in blazing a path for himself. Early on he embarked on a journey of self-discovery aimed at unlocking the potential of his deep seeded creativity through education. The first major step was attending one of the top art high schools in America, New World School of the Arts. This Miami institution exposed him to relationships, concepts and experiences to nurture, develop and channel his artistic instinct. The College for Creative Studies in Detroit would then help him to further refine his skills and build the foundation for his art career. Since graduating, Serge has taken residence in San Francisco where he continues to explore and share his talent with the world through career oriented and non-profit freelance projects.

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Serubiri Moses is a known violinist, writer and photographer on Kampala’s growing arts scene. A period in Malaysia caused him to question his individual voice; in 2010, he graduated from New York Institute of Photography and was shortlisted in the Storymoja Hay Festival Poetry Competition.

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Sihle Ntuli is a 22 year old aspiring South African writer, and Rhodes University Graduate. His work can be seen on SangBleu, Itch, PoetryPotion, Jiggered Magazine, The Grounds Ear Anthology, Aerial 2010 Anthology amongst others.

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Tom Pescatore grew up outside Philadelphia, he is an active member of the growing underground poetry scene within the city and hopes to spread the word on Philadelphia’s new poets. He maintains a poetry blog: amagicalmistake.blogspot.com. His work has been published in literary magazines both nationally and internationally but he’d rather have them carved on the Walt Whitman bridge or on the sidewalks of Philadelphia’s old Skid Row.

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Ukamaka Olisakwe is a writer based in South-Eastern Nigeria. She is a young mother of two daughters and one son. Her debut novel, Eyes of a Goddess, was published in March 2012.

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Uzeyir Lokman Cayci is a poet, a writer, a versatile artist. He was born in 1949 in Bor, which is one of the beautiful cities of Turkey, and attended primary and high school there. He graduated as an Architect – Designer of Industry from The Fine Arts Academy of State in Istanbul. His important works are, Akşamların Durağı, Karar; he has many poetries, stories and articles as well. He’s called everybody’s attention to his fine arts drawing/painting pictures since 14 years of age. His poetries were translated into French by Yakup YURT who loves art. The Reward of Eagerness was given by The Radio NPS of Holland in 1999 and The Reward of Palmares was given by The Organization of Les Amis de Thalie in France to him. He placed in a poem competition from the same Organization at the same year too. He works in The Center of Adult Education (AFPA).

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Victor Ehikhamenor is a Nigerian artist, writer, photographer, and news media designer. He worked at NEXT newspapers as the creative director, as well as the Daily Times Nigeria as CEO/Editor-in-Chief. Apart from publishing, painting, photographing, and exhibiting his works around the world, he runs a strategic communication and branding firm. He is the author of best-selling book Excuse Me! His short story, The Supreme Command, won the Association of Commonwealth Broadcasters Award; and his poetry collection, Sordid Rituals, was published in 2002.

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Yomi Ogunsanya lives in Ibadan, Nigeria. He is an anthropologist and has written a few poems, short stories and a play. The excerpt in this issue of Saraba is from his unpublished novel Aiyedun