Unbound: An Anthology of New Nigerian Poets Under 40

The generational debate in Nigerian poetry has been shaped by the interventions of such anthologies as Voices from the Fringes (1988), edited by Harry Garuba, Poets in their Youth (1988), edited Uche Nduka and Ositadinma Ike, Gems Out of Africa: A Wake Anthology of 100 Nigerian Poets (1998), edited by Eddie Ayo-Ojo, Obafemi Obadare and Mac Amarere, and Camouflage: Best of Contemporary Nigerian Writing (2006) edited by Nduka Otiono and Odoh Diego Okenyodo. Featuring the Governor General award-winning Nigerian-Canadian poet, Tolu Oloruntoba, and other notable poets resident in Canadian, Unbound is such an agenda-setting anthology. But more importantly, it is the first anthology to zoom into the works of the emerging generation of Nigerian poets born in the late twentieth century and early twenty-first century. The anthology showcases some of the most brilliant as well as struggling members of the new generation of Nigerian poets under the age of forty, most of whom launched their writing careers on social media.

NDUKA OTIONO is an Associate Professor and Director of the Institute of African Studies, Carleton University, in Ottawa, Canada. He is the author and co-editor of several books of creative writing and academic research including Oral Literary Performance in Africa: Beyond Text (2021). Prior to turning to academia, he was for many years a journalist in Nigeria and General Secretary of the Association of Nigerian Authors. His research has appeared in top-ranked journals, and his creative writing books include his recently re-issued debut, The Night Hides with a Knife, which won the ANA/Spectrum Prize for Fiction; Voices in the Rainbow (poems), which received Honorable Mention for the ANA/Cadbury Poetry Prize; and Love in a Time of Nightmares, for which he was awarded the James Patrick Folinsbee Memorial Scholarship in Creative Writing. His professional honors include a Capital Educator’s Award for Excellence in Teaching; Carleton University Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Early Career Award for Research Excellence; Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship; and Black History Ottawa Community Builder Award. Otiono is President of the Canadian Association of African Studies (CAAS) and a member of the board of directors of the Canadian Authors Association. DisPlace: The Poetry of Nduka Otiono, is his most recent book published by Wilfrid Laurier University Press.