The Hausa International Book and Arts Festival (HIBAF) has announced six finalists for the Crossing Tongues Poetry Residency, with one poet set to be selected for a 10-day residency in Scotland.
The finalists are:
- Hidaya Mahmoud
- Shafa’atu Mohammed
- Majeed Bin Saleeh
- Zakiyyah Dzukogi
- Bash Amuneni
- Hassan Ibrahim
Crossing Tongues is a new international poetry exchange connecting Nigeria and Scotland, organized by Open Arts alongside Push The Boat Out, Edinburgh City of Literature, Creative Scotland, and the British Council. The programme runs in both directions: bilingual Hausa–English poets from Nigeria travel to Scotland for a creative exchange with poets writing in English, Scots, and Scottish Gaelic, while a Scottish poet is selected to undertake a 7-day residency in Nigeria each December, timed to coincide with the Hausa International Book & Arts Festival (HIBAF). Beyond travel, the residency is designed as a deep dive into translation as creative practice, pairing poets to explore how language, oral tradition, and form move across cultures.
Congratulations to the finalists of the Crossing Tongue Residency!
