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Chris Abani

@chrisabani

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Poetry at Work | Allen University
April 15, 2026

🙏🏾🙏🏾 Grateful I had time to make it to Allen University to hear just a portion of this remarkable discussion with 4 of our most gifted wordsmiths— @chrisabani (Chris Abani),@kwame.dawes (Kwame Dawes), @paeonypoet (Nikky Finney), and @jennibb55 (Jennifer Bartell Boykin, Poet Laureate of the City of Columbia, SC).

Organized by our long-time collaborator, Dr. Charlene Spearen, the program—The Poet’s Charge: Civility, Social Justice, and Speaking Truth in Troubled Times—was held at Allen’s Boeing Institute for Civility, housed in the historic Good Samaritan-Waverly Hospital.

Just a few lines from my notebook:
-Writing against erasure. 🖋️
-Pushing against silence. 🎤
-We are stamped by the voices that went on before. 🗣️
-Be a poet of your times.📓

-Remember those who tried to silence the drum, stop the dance, and kill the men and women who could read and write. 🥁💃🏿📖✍🏾 taken in Allen University by @chrisabani

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6 months ago

woke up to my poem "the art of losing" on poem a day and I am thrilled!! I have wanted to see my poem on ports.org for as long as I have been a poet. truly a dream come true 🥰 so grateful to @chrisabani for selecting this poem and to @poetsorg for publishing it 🧿🧿🧿

swipe for a behind the scenes of the poet seeing her poem a day first thing in the morning 💕💕🧿 by @chrisabani

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8 months ago

Kumi Na Moja: New-Generation African Poets, A Chapbook Box Set
Edited by: Chris Abani and Kwame Dawes

This 11 piece, limited-edition box set—an African Poetry Book Fund (APBF) project—features the work of ten new African poets.

https://www.akashicbooks.com/catalog/kumi-na-moja-new-generation-african-poets-a-chapbook-box-set/

#bookstagram #poetry #poetrylovers taken in Brooklyn, New York by @chrisabani

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10 months ago

Happy Pub Day to Chris Abani and Kwame Dawes and all of the great poets involved in “Kumi Na Moja: New-Generation African Poet!” This 11 piece Chapbook Box Set is available now from Akashic Books at
https://www.akashicbooks.com/catalog/kumi-na-moja-new-generation-african-poets-a-chapbook-box-set/

This 11 piece, limited-edition box set—an African Poetry Book Fund (APBF) project—features the work of ten new African poets.
“Dawes and Abani have taken on the vital project of publishing short collections by contemporary poets from Africa, packaged together in beautiful boxed sets.”
—New York Times Magazine
#poetry #bookstagram taken in Brooklyn, New York by @chrisabani

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10 months ago

Kwame Dawes and the African Poetry Book Fund (APBF) team will present research findings from the African Poetry Book Distribution Project. Funded by a Poetry Foundation grant, the Project studied poetry book distribution in African countries to improve accessibility and foster sustainable partnerships with publishing and literary stakeholders throughout Africa. The event also features readings from Midwest-based APBF poets, including Chris Abani, Rabha Ashry, and Cheswayo Mphanza. by @chrisabani

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a year ago

I’m doing this exercise where I read Nigerian author’s works and follow through on their work and how it progresses over the years and as you can tell I’m still on “A”s, it’s a long list.

I read kalakuta republic and these were the words that bled out of me, I have no more words.
A sentence without a full stop. A full stop that doesn’t need a sentence ( without a precedence) .

Thank you so much Chris, thank you for sharing this with us, thank you for sharing these intimate parts with us. I hope to attend a writers workshop where you teach or hopefully organize one where you teach.

I’m on “Hands washing water “ now, just after “becoming Abigail” , it’s taking a beautiful emotional toll on me and I’m loving this ride I’m on. by @chrisabani

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a year ago

Day 5 of promoting Nigerian Literature

This collection of short stories is a remarkable one. In fact, one of the stories in A Kind of Madness also appears here.

#nigerianliterature #lagosnoir #noirstories #shortstories #nigerianshortstories #shortstoriescollection by @chrisabani

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a year ago

APBF founder Professor Kwame Dawes and Professor Chris Abani discuss building an archive of African poetry on Tuesday, August 12th!

Sign up for the online event here: https://citylights.com/events/kwame-dawes-chris-abani-siwar-masannat-toward-a-living-archive-of-african-poetry/ by @chrisabani

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a year ago

FREE VIRTUAL EVENT!! NEXT TUESDAY! Register at citylights.com/events 🔥 by @chrisabani

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a year ago

📚 Author Spotlight: Chris Abani ✨
@chrisabani

This week, we shine a light on Chris Abani, a Nigerian-born writer known for his powerful storytelling across novels, poetry, and essays. His works explore themes of identity, exile, resilience, and the complexities of the human experience, often drawing from his personal journey and Nigerian heritage.

Abani’s critically acclaimed books include Graceland, The Virgin of Flames, Song for Night, and Becoming Abigail—a deeply moving novella that explores love, loss, and survival through the eyes of a young Nigerian girl navigating a difficult world. His writing is poetic, thought-provoking, and emotionally gripping, making him one of the most compelling literary voices of our time.

His contributions to literature have earned him numerous awards, including the PEN/Hemingway Award and a Guggenheim Fellowship. If you enjoy deep, reflective storytelling, Chris Abani’s books are a must-read.

Have you read any of his works? Share your thoughts in the comments! 👇🏾📖

#welovechrisabani #ZODML #AuthorSpotlight #ChrisAbani #AfricanLiterature #BecomingAbigail #Poetry #booklovers #zodmlbooktalk taken in Zaccheus Onumba Dibiaezue Memorial Libraries by @chrisabani

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2 years ago

Chris Abani joins the SAL podcast! Season 5 now has two episodes. Listen to several decades of SAL authors at www.lectures.org under the Community section of our website.

Nigerian poet Chris Abani does not shy away from the messy reality of exile in geography, culture, and memory. Get your poetry fix by hearing his incredible reading in this latest episode of SAL/on air.

@chrisabani
#chrisabani
#salpodcast
#salonair
#seattlepodcast
#seattlepodcasters
#seattlepodcasts by @chrisabani

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2 years ago

Smoking the Bible is long listed for the PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry. Thank you @penamerica @northwesternu by @chrisabani

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4 years ago