EKO FICTION WRITING WEBINAR

MEET OUR INSTRUCTORS

GABRIEL SUNDAY AFOLAYAN

Gabriel Sunday Afolayan is a Nigerian newspaper columnist, a polytechnic lecturer, novelist, poet and public affairs commentator. His interest covers such genres as prose fiction, poetry and creative essays. He has been writing since his days in the university, contributing local news, articles and short stories for publication in national newspapers and magazines. He attended the Institute of Journalism, Benin City and later Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Enugu, as well as Nnamdi Azikwe University, Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria,where he bagged his M.Sc in Mass Communication. He is currently researching a Ph.D in “Media and Ethno-political Crises in Nigeria” from the Department of Mass Communication, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
The Ekiti State-born writer started his journalism career with the defunct National Concord, where he rose to the position of State Correspondent, later to the The Guardian newspaper as a Staff Reporter and Issues news magazine as Staff Writer. During his days in the news media, he extensively covered different beats, writing many lead stories on crime, political and allied metropolitan events and issues, with particular focus on investigative and interpretative journalism.
A prolific writer, Afolayan’s first published title - Beyond the Silent Grave, published in 2001 by Spectrum Books, Ibadan -was an instant success. The 251-page fast paced novel was later nominated for many awards, including the Cadbury/ANA Prose Prize and NLNG’s Nigeria Prize for Literature in 2004. The book was later awarded the FG/UBE Grant in 2013/2014 alongside some selected titles by different Nigerian authors for the education intervention programme of the Federal Ministry of Education.
Apart from his media experience, he has worked in the manufacturing industry and rose to the post of Marketing Manager in a vegetable oil company in Ondo State before taking appointment with the Ondo State Polytechnic, now, Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo, Nigeria, where he currently teaches journalism, media and communication courses in the Department of Mass Communication. As a public affairs analyst, he has been a regular personality on television and radio stations in Ondo State, featuring regularly on such programmes as Cross Fire, AM Today and Ojumo Ire – where topical issues affecting the society are discussed with other panelists.
Apart from a long dossier of about twenty well researched articles published in many reputable journals within and outside Nigeria, his works, ranging from full length novels, book chapters, poems and short stories in anthology collections, have enjoyed wide circulation and acceptance as literature reference materials in many universities across the globe. His other books also includeRomoke: the Little Orphan – published on the grant of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Pa Jeje’s Legendary Tales, The Recalcitrant King and The Sunshine Tales (an anthology of short stories),which he co-edited. His short story novelettes, particularly designed for primary school pupils, include Taiwo and His Naughty Friends, Death and the Three Greedy Rascals, The Richman and the Poor Beggars, among other titles.
As one of a few committed and established writers in the 21st century Africa, his works have been reviewed by different newspapers in Nigeria and scholars in first class institutions abroad. These include Safari Books, Channel Islands, UK, African Books Collective, Oxford, UK, University of Texas, Austin, USA,and World Literature Today, published at the University of Oklahoma, USA and some online platforms. One of his poems: Plagued by the Anger of Hunger was selected in 2021 as one of the “10 most outstanding entries” in the #EndSars poetry contest, organised by the Society of Young Nigerian Writers (SYNW) in collaboration with the US-based International Human Rights Arts Festival.
A literary activist and community development enthusiast, Afolayan is a member of the African Council for Communication Education (ACCE), African Journalism and Communication League (AJCL) Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) and currently the Chairman of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Ondo State Chapter and was once a member of the National Executive Committee of the association. He is married to former Miss Oluwatoyin Omodara and their union is blessed with godly and wonderful children.


ALBERT AFESO AKANBI


Albert Afeso Akanbi was born in Nigeria on 31 March, a writer, filmmaker & humanitarian, he holds a B.Sc. in Economics, a certificate in filmmaking and a 2017 RNTC Media institute in the Netherlands certificate in Persuasive Storytelling and Journalism.

One of his short stories was among 50 selected from 38 writers representing 16 countries that appeared in the African Book Club’s maiden anthology The Bundles of Joy and Other Stories from Africa published in the United State of America in 2014. As an alumni of the Sangam House International Writers' residency in India, his creative piece on the subject of dance and the writing craft was among the over 44 works selected from over 40 writers cut across 3 continents that appeared in the Vol 3 of the Sangam House reader, Other Windows, published in India in early 2017.

His short story That Sunday Afternoon won the maiden WordMaster Writers’ Challenge competition in May, 2015.

In 2018 he released two e-books, Urushi and Other Stories from Ososo and Christians and Muslims: A Collection of Articles to some critical acclaim.
In 2019, he launched a picture book about Ososo, the scenic town of streams and rocks caught in-between the undulating Somorika hills of southern Nigeria, and since then has gone on to make documentary films, all of them to critical acclaim.

His op-ed articles appear frequently in a handful Nigerian media platforms.

He is the author of OSOSO: Our Place, Our People & Our Patrimony, The Edge of Patience, Cold Black Night and November 5.

He runs a film making company Doppler Films in Nigeria.

He is a father.