Three Writers for
the May/June 2018 Ebedi Writers Residency Session
Three
Writers made up of a Kenyan and two Nigerians have arrived Iseyin, Oyo State
for the May/June 2018 Ebedi Writers Residency Session. They are; Troy Onyango, Socrates Mbamalu and T J Benson.
Troy Onyango is a Kenyan writer and Lawyer. His
fiction has appeared in various journals and magazines including Transition
Magazine Issue 121, for which his short story 'The Transfiguration' was
nominated for the 2016 Pushcart Prize. His short story 'For What Are
Butterflies Without Their Wings?' won the fiction prize for the inaugural
Nyanza Literary Festival Prize. He was shortlisted for the 2016 Miles Morland
Foundation Scholarship. He is a Founding Editor of Enkare Review – a
Nairobi-based literary magazine and the Fiction Editor of the East Africa issue
of Panorama: The Journal of Intelligent Travel. Troy will be using his
time at Ebedi to complete work on his novel, tentatively titled The Sound of a Dream. He will also mentor
secondary school students in Iseyin in the area of fiction writing.
Socrates
Mbamalu is a Nigerian writer whose works have appeared in Saraba Magazine, Deyu
African, Kalahari Review, African Writer. Sankofa Mag alongside other
magazines. He has participated in two editions of the Writivism workshop and
was recently shortlisted for the Saraba Nonfiction Manuscript. He was recently
commissioned by the Commonwealth Writers for a piece titled ‘The Lives of
Trailer Drivers’, which was published in November 2016. He is a book reviewer
for Olisa TV and has written a couple of articles for Waza Africa. To him,
words are magical, the very foundation upon which the world stands. Socrates
Mbamalu seeks to keep outdoing himself with every work he produces.
Mbamalu wishes to use his time in Ebedi to complete work on
his new novel. He also wishes to learn from the Iseyin environment and interact
with the locals. He would also mentor Secondary students in the Iseyin
community, either by helping them in English language and they in turn improving
his Yoruba. He will also encourage them to read more, through the organization
of reading classes.
The
third writer, Tee Jay Benson is a Fellow of the Ebedi Residency having attended
a previous edition a few years ago. He has among other things worked as an
Editor and Columnist for Aspire.org.ng, MGE UK Men’s fashion magazine,
Afrisphere.com and Kaanem.com. He has
also participated in the Yasmin El Rufai creative writing workshop and First
Bank Naked Canvas Competition. He was commissioned in February 2015 to produce
a collection of photography and poetry titled ‘Self’. A prodigious writer,
Benson has been published in Kalahari Review, Munyori Journal, Sentinel
Magazine, Paragram UK, Contempoary Literary Review Of India, Jalada Africa,
African Hadithi, Expound Magazine, Transition Magazine among others. In
September 2015, he completed ‘’The Devils Music’’ a collection of prose, poetry
and parables and won the Amab House of Books Literary Contest in 2016. That
same year, he won a publishing deal with Saraba Magazine to produce a novel;
‘’The Madhouse’’.
Tee
Jay Benson will use his time in Ebedi to complete a new manuscript as well as
mentor students in Iseyin Community in the areas of public elocution and
creative writing.
The
Ebedi International Writers Residency is a private initiative for writers to
complete their ongoing works in a conducive environment at no cost. Since its
inception, in 2010, the facility has hosted more than 100 writers from 10
different African countries. It also offers publishing opportunities to its
Fellows through an arrangement with one of Nigeria’s foremost publishing
outfit, the Literamed Publishers, Oregun
Lagos.
