ANA, LSN Interrogate Emergent Poetics, Migration, Climate Concerns

Amby Uneze in Owerri

The 2025 joint annual conference of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) and the Literary Society of Nigeria (LSN), held from November 3rd to 6th, 2025, in Awka, the Anambra State capital, convened scholars, writers and literary practitioners from Nigeria and the diaspora to examine the evolving relationship between literature and society amid contemporary global challenges.
Hosted at the Faculty of Arts Auditorium, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, the conference received commendation from the Anambra State Government, with Governor Professor Chukwuma Charles Soludo thanking the organisers for sustaining a literary platform that promotes intellectual engagement, cultural dialogue and national development.
He noted that the calibre of discussions and diversity of speakers reaffirmed Anambra’s position as a hub for scholarship and creative thought.

The three-day conference themed: ‘Society, Literature, and the Intersections of Emergent Poetics: Contemporary Implications’, explored literature’s responses to pressing social, cultural and environmental concerns, including migration, identity formation, climate change, ecological justice and Africa’s complex engagement with Western literary traditions.

Participants engaged in plenary sessions, panel discussions and paper presentations that reflected the shifting landscapes of African literary production in a globalised world.

Among the featured speakers were UK-based Nigerian writers Sylvanus Chinedum Emecheta and Chinonso Elom Mathias, as well as Mmaduabuchi Udenwa, a United States-based student lecturer and literary scholar.

Speaking on African Literature and Western Culture, Chinonso Elom Mathias who’s also member of the UK Society of Authors reflected on the cultural dislocation and societal shocks he encountered following his migration to the United Kingdom.

He examined the tensions African writers face within Western intellectual spaces, highlighting issues of misrepresentation, marginalisation and exclusion from dominant literary canons.

Mathias argued that migration not only reveals how Africa is perceived globally but also compels Africans to confront internal developmental challenges.

“Migration exposes how Africa is perceived globally,” he said. “But it also forces us to interrogate our failures in governance, healthcare, education and literary infrastructure.”

He urged African writers to resist romanticised portrayals of the continent and instead produce narratives grounded in lived realities shaped by displacement, inequality and global power relations.

In his presentation under the sub theme, ‘The Next Generation of Voices’, Emecheta, a London-based author, education professional and member Society of Authors Uk, charged emerging writers to approach storytelling as a form of social responsibility rather than a purely aesthetic pursuit.

Drawing from his experience within the United Kingdom’s education sector, Emecheta observed that young people possess a heightened awareness of social injustice and must be empowered to articulate their experiences through literature.

“Literature is not merely an artistic pursuit,” he said. “It is a social mirror, a cultural archive and a voice for the unheard.”

He paid tribute to literary icons such as Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Buchi Emecheta, noting that their works expanded the global reach of African literature while confronting difficult social realities.

A significant portion of his address focused on his novel ‘Unspoken’, which explores the rarely discussed issue of male child molestation. Emecheta described the work as an attempt to challenge societal silence and stigma surrounding abuse against boys across cultural and socio economic divides.

“We cannot build a just society by ignoring the trauma carried by male survivors,” he said. “Their stories matter, and so does their healing.”

Also contributing to the conference discourse was Mmaduabuchi Udenwa, PhD, who presented a paper on ‘Climate Fiction and Eco-Literature’. He examined the growing relevance of literature in interrogating environmental degradation, climate anxiety and ecological injustice, particularly in the Global South.

Udenwa argued that climate fiction offers writers an imaginative framework to engage present ecological crises rather than distant speculative futures.

“Eco-literature allows writers to document ecological trauma, resistance and survival,” he said, adding that African writers must foreground indigenous knowledge systems and local environmental realities in climate narratives.

The conference featured keynote and lead paper presentations by Professor Austine Amaze Akpuda of Abia State University, Uturu; Professor Sonny Awhefeada, Dean, School of Postgraduate Studies, Delta State University, Abraka and Professor Chike Okoye of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka.

In his remarks, Professor Awhefeada described emergent poetics as a response to contemporary anxieties and aspirations, while Professor Okoye emphasised the need for African scholars to develop indigenous theoretical frameworks rather than rely solely on Western critical paradigms.

Other sessions at the conference addressed digital humanities, migration and refugee narratives, feminist and queer theories, Afrofuturism, translation studies and the impact of globalisation on literary production.

Participants agreed that the ANA–LSN 2025 conference reaffirmed literature’s enduring relevance as a tool for social reflection and intellectual engagement, positioning African writers as critical voices within global cultural conversations.