• Are you a young poet aged 16-26?

• Are you Nigerian or do you have Nigerian heritage?

• Do you have an interest in exploring additional languages in your poetry?

The Poetry Translation Centre (UK) and Book Buzz Foundation (Nigeria) are looking for poets in London and Lagos to take part in a fully-funded writing development programme through a poetry competition. The programme will help develop young writers and spoken word performers with an interest in multilingual poetry. We want to ignite a passion for poetry in many languages by helping to infuse your English-language practice with creativity from other languages.

The winning poets will be:

• Published in the Aké Review 2022 journal

• Invited to read your poem as part of an international online event

• A participant in the international Undertow programme in 2023

To enter, submit a 30 line poem on the theme of Homecoming here.

The deadline for submission is Sunday 4 September 2022.

About the Undertow programme – participants will:

• Have set writing tasks and prompts to encourage multilingual creativity

• Participate in creative translation workshops

• Have one-to-one feedback sessions with a professional tutor

• Attend seminars from arts professionals building up practical skills and offering insights into earning a living working in the arts

• Be part of a peer support network

• Have opportunities to perform in events

The Lagos-London Poetry competition is funded by the British Council.