The Gambia is one of only five recipient
countries on the continent to host a new African Poetry Library donated by the
African Poetry Book Fund, a foundation to promote poetry in Africa, based at
the University of Nebraska in the USA.
The African Poetry Library – a Reading
Library in The Gambia is thanks to the efforts of the African Poetry Book Fund
(APBF), Prairie Schooner, (the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln's literary journal), and University of
Nebraska-Lincoln's (UNL) Libraries in conjunction with individuals
and organisations in The Gambia, Botswana, Ghana, Kenya and Uganda.
The African Poetry Library Initiative is a
collaborative venture to establish accessible and user friendly small
poetry libraries on the African continent to support aspiring and established
poets giving them access to contemporary poetry in books and journals, and
serving as a resource for poets interested in publication in Africa and around
the world. Each library received
300 books, journals and magazines during the summer of 2014 and will receive a
further 300 books journals and magazines in 2015 and again in 2016.
The National Centre for Arts and Culture (NCAC) have
partnered on this prestigious project and are hosting the library at the
Centre’s Office in Fajara, behind GT Bank. The caretaker organisations of the
library are the African Homecomers Collective and SABLE LitMag who
have negotiated the discussion with the AFPB to install and receive the Reading
library which will be run by their volunteers.
