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The Nigerian
Academy of Letters (NAL) has called for entries for a creative writing
workshop holding in Ibadan, Oyo State, from November 8 to 12, 2010.

The workshop, being
organised in collaboration with the Nigeria LNG Limited, will focus on
poetry, prose fiction, short stories, and drama.

It will be recalled
that Chima Ibeneche, managing director of the NLNG, had, after no
winner emerged at the 2009 award ceremony for the Nigeria Prize for
Literature, awarded the $50,000 prize money as grant to NAL to “develop
literature in the country.”

The forthcoming
workshop, to be facilitated by established writers and publishers, is
in fulfilment of Ibeneche’s charge. The workshop may also be intended
to silence critics who had criticised the NLNG 2009 cash windfall,
questioning what NAL had ever done for Nigerian literature till that
point.

A release statement
from Dan Izevbaye, fellow and past president of NAL, said participants
are to submit samples of their works to the Secretary, Creative Writing
Empowerment Grant planning committee, NAL Secretariat, Faculty of Arts,
University of Ibadan, Oyo State, no later than September 30.

Intending
participants, he added, “must have a flair for writing and must have
been published in a creative outlet or must have unpublished samples of
creative materials.” A comprehensive curriculum vitae including mobile
phone numbers should be included in each application.

Writers interested
in poetry are expected to include three samples of their works in their
entry, while those interested in prose fiction are to submit a
composition of no more than 5,000 words with their application.

“If meant to be a
full length novel, then the writer should indicate, as clearly as
possible, the extent and development of the plot,” said Izevbaye.

Three pages of
text, typed double-spaced, should be included in the entry of writers
interested in short stories, while a short dramatic sketch of not more
than three pages is compulsory for those applying for drama.

Successful applicants, Izevbaye disclosed, will be entitled to a
roundtrip transport allowance to and from workshop venue; hotel
accommodation for the duration of the workshop; lunch and spending
money for the duration of the workshop.