Omale Allen and Abel Agbo will feature at the March 30 edition of the Guest Writer Session, a monthly initiative of the Abuja Writers’ Forum(AWF), which holds by 4pm at the Aso Hall of Nanet Suites, Ekiti House, Abuja.
Omale Allen Abdul-Jabbar writes poetry, fiction, drama and essays. Also known by the pen name Masaihead, he attended the University of Jos for his first degree in English/Lingustics, and currently holds a Masters in Law & Diplomacy.
He was a Finalist on Poetry.com in 2002 for the poem “Love Affair” and subsequently published in the anthology Letters from the Soul. His works have appeared in several publications including The Ker Review, Blackbiro online, ANA Review, and the anthology CAMOUFLAGE.
Omale is a two time consolation prize award winner with the Korea/Nigeria Poetry Prize ( 2011 and 2017). His is also the first prize winner of the maiden Saraba Nigeria/Pen poetry prize 2011.
His published poetry collection Behold, Your Scented Daughters is what he will be reading from at the session. Hisunpublished material include Destiny`s Eyes (novel), They Came for Me(Drama), The Front of the Past( short stories). Frozen Stories, his seminal poetry and Photography exhibition with the British Council is scheduled to hold later in the year.
He is influenced by the works of Toni Kan Onwordi, Helon Habila, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Ben Okri, Isabel Allende, Margaret Artwood, Pablo Neruda, Maik Nwosu, Toyin-Adewale-Gabriel and David Njoku.
He is Ex-Chairman, Association of Nigerian Authors, ANA, Plateau chapter, as well as Ex-PRO, Ex-Officio member of ANA National.
Married to Rahmah-Allah and blessed with four children, Omale works at the National Commission for Colleges of Education Abuja as a Principal Planning officer and chairman of the Workers` Union.
Abel Agbo will be on the “Take Five” segment and talk about the five books that have had the most impact on his life. He is the Managing Partner of the Abuja based accounting form, Nexia Agbo Abel & Co.
He trained at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and has degrees in Accounting and Business Administration.
His firm is part of Nexia International, is a multi-skilled and multi-discipline professional advisory firm committed to technical and professional excellence in the provision of accounting.
The Guest Writer Session apart from the reading segments, features live music and a raffle-draw for books, runs from 4-7pm and is open to the public. The Abuja Writer’s Forum also runs a weekly Critique Session and a regular Creative Writing Workshop series.