Where Stephen writes about his writing and other writing things, and some other things as well.
Aké Festival 2022 – Lagos
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Stephen Discussing the Sauúti Collective
What an absolute adventure attending Aké Arts & Book Festival 2022 in Lagos, Nigeria!
The Aké event was held at the Strong Tower Events Centre – down the gauntlet of car hooters, traffic and vibrant and excited chatter in the bus. This was part of the atmosphere which carried through into the hall decked out with round tables and chairs – encouraging people to mingle and share ideas... and BOOKS!
The writing on the wall prompt: I LOVE BOOKS BECAUSE…
“…they build worlds in the minds of the readers that goes beyond what the writer wrote.”
Aké Review 2022
WEDNESDAY, 23th NOV 2022:
Arrived! At Ake Arts & Book Festival in kind of one piece. 😁❤️Meeting the 2021 Nobel Prize winner, Abdulrazak Gurnah and his lovely wife Denise DeCaires Narain, and so many people I’ve met virtually.
Abdulkareem Baba Aminu
Abdulrazak Gurnah and Denise DeCaires Narain
Wole Talabi
James Murua
Toni Kan
Me!
THURSDAY, 24th NOV 2022:
Day One 🔥❤️
The writing on the wall prompt: I LOVE BOOKS BECAUSE…
“…they build worlds in the minds of the readers that goes beyond what the writer wrote.”
FRIDAY, 25th NOV 2022:
What an awesome panel event at Aké Festival and what a day it was, sharing The Sauúti Collective with everyone and the buzz afterwards 🔥⭐️🔥⭐️
I’m really proud of what our ten-person The Sauúti Collective has achieved so far, and to be representing them at Aké Arts & Book Festival and supported by Syllble is an experience on another level. The feedback continues to inspire us onward and upward. We cannot wait to share it with those of us who were unable to attend but were here in Spirit. 🔥❤️💫
Watch the teaser to the The Sauúti Collective Creation Myth, which we kicked off with for our panel at Ake Arts & Book Festival.
Check out the full panel session on The Sauúti Collective from yesterday at Ake Arts & Book Festival A great experience all around and lovely support from everyone. ❤️💫
In the group (top left) with Professors Abdulrazak Gurnah and Wole Soyinka
In the group (middle left) with Professors Abdulrazak Gurnah and Wole Soyinka
Flora Nwapa and "The Lake Goddess":
So many exciting things happening in Lagos. I met with Ejine Nzeribe, eldest daughter of Flora Nwapa, for exciting literary developments for 2023 ❤️ and Flora Nwapa’s legacy – publishing Flora Nwapa's posthumous novel "The Lake Goddess". 🔥
Stephen & Ejine Nzeribe
Bones & Runes:
For sale
On the shelves
Somto!
Ifeoma
The James Currey Anthology:
Giving writers their physical contributor copies in person is great! So glad for them to feel their words in their hands and the fruits of their labours seeing the world. Nzube Nlebedim it was great to finally meet and get a chance to chat! ❤️🔥
2015-2024 Fiction: 'Land of Light' : 'Imagine Africa 500' speculative fiction anthology (2015/2016) (Speculative Fiction). 8,000 words. Read more... (Malawi)/(UK reprint 2017) 'Veiled ': 2016 'Beneath This Skin' Edition of Aké Review (2016) (Fiction). 1,450 words. Read here... (Nigeria) 'Water' : 'The Short Story is Dead, Long Live the Short Story! Vol.2' anthology (2017) (Fiction). 3,100 words. Available on Amazon or Read Online (South Africa) 'Sub Migratio' : the debut edition of Enkare Review (2017) (Speculative Fiction). 3,500 words. Read here... (Kenya) 'Inktober' : 2018 edition of 'The Bloody Parchment' (2018) (SF/Horror). 1,250 words. Available on Amazon . (South Africa) 'The Girl with Two Bodies' : The Kalahari Review (Nov 2018) (Fantasy). 7,050 words. Read here... (South Africa) 'Journal of a DNA Pirate' : Volume 3 of 'AfroSF' (Dec 2018) (SF). 8,150 words. ...
It was a real pleasure to be able to create something unique for a friend and Sauúti Collective colleague – Cheryl Ntumy – for her new novella coming out with Atthis Arts press: a custom display typeface and title design. Design & Typography: Stephen Embleton, Illustration: Akintoba Kalejaye Find Atthis Arts here. A latinised version of the Adinkra alphabet from Ghana (because Cheryl is Ghanaian!), it has some fantastic characteristics and a very modular form which made it a fun, yet simple, design to work on. I first focused on the letters needed for Cheryl's book cover, and then fleshed out the other characters, as well as creating a "light" version. One happy accident for the cover design was incorporating the "working" components of each letter in the design itself. i.e. when I work on fonts, I find the common weights (stroke thicknesses) and common shapes, and move these around to exact positions. And by making them separate bright colours enables m...
I am extremely grateful to say I have been awarded a grant by the Royal Literary Fund . It’s not something I would have thought I would need, or even thought existed, if it weren’t for a Brittle Paper article in June . I am always grateful to Brittle Paper for everything they do for our literary community. The criteria for applying, the process and the care and sensitivity from the people involved is rather humbling as well as encouraging, given that the literary merit of my body of work is thoroughly considered along with my financial circumstances. Financial circumstances being the main reason for the existence of the RLF since the 1700s. Apart from having to be a British citizen, they had to read physical copies of two works published in the UK ( Soul Searching and Bones & Runes ). And it is encouraging to know that genre fiction is viewed as having literary merit. Also considered are any broader activities related to writing, from lecturing, public speak...
