User:Ayòmide Bayowa

Ayomide Bayowa is an award-winning Nigerian Canadian poet, actor, and filmmaker. He holds a B.A in Theatre and Creative Writing from the University of Toronto. He graduated from Supreme Basic College with a High School Diploma as the Best Graduating Student, Literature-in-English (class of 2016/ 2017) and Valedictorian of the class of 2016/ 2017. He came into the literary backdrop first as a shortlist of the 2018 Christopher Okigbo Inter-University Poetry Prize, after which he was a long list of the 2018 Nigerian Students Poetry Prize. Ayomide is a top-ten gold entrant of the 9th Open Eurasian Literary Festival U.K, a long list of both the Unserious Collective’s Fellowship and the 2021 Adroit Poetry Prize. He became a shortlist of the 2018 Eriata Oribhabor Poetry Prize, first place in the 2020 July Open Drawer Poetry Contest, the June/ July 2021 Edition of the Bi-monthly Brigitte Poirson Poetry Contest (BPPC), and evolved second place in the 2020 Poets In Nigeria’s On-Spot Poetry Writing Contest, the 2021 K. Valerie Connor Poetry Prize’s Student Category, and third place in Arojah Student Playwrighting Contest (maiden edition). A few years after migrating to Canada, he became the first youngest Poet Laureate of the city of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada (2021-24). In 2021, he was the second runner-up of the A New Touch of Africa’s Debut Writing Contest- AWC2021 (fiction category). He has appeared in a long list of literary magazines, some of which are Windsor Review, Kalahari Review, IceFloe Press, Barren Magazine, Agbowó, Guesthouse-Lit, Stone of Madness Press, Ampersand Review, Tipton Poetry Journal, The Offing, Beyond Words Literary Magazine. He is the editor-in-chief of Echelon Poetry, Canada and currently reads poetry for Adroit Journal. His chapbook, ‘Stream of Tongues; Watercourse of Voices,’ was published by Poets in Nigeria, 2019. His collection of poems, 'Gills' (a semi-finalist of the 2021 Cave Canem Poetry Prize), is published in Spring (2023) by Buckrider Books, Ontario, Canada.

INTERVIEWS & FEAUTURES:

CBC Radio (with Gill Beacon)– November 24, 2021

The Medium, UTM Newspaper: “Ayomide Bayowa Mississauga’s Poet Laureate Leaves Legacy Through Verse,” January 31, 2022.

The University of Toronto: “U of T Mississauga Student Aims to Inspire as The City’s Poet Laureate,” December 1, 2021.

A Talk with Ayomide Bayowa on Creative Writing: University of Ibadan’s Students Writing Club, February 3, 2022.

Advancement Equity Diversity and Inclusion Commitment Event, University of Toronto, St. George Campus: Poetry Performance by Ayomide Bayowa, March 7, 2022.

Poetry Reading by Ayomide Bayowa: Poets in Nigeria Initiative’s Celebration of International Poetry Day- March 21, 2022.

Poetry Workshop with Ayomide Bayowa, Mississauga Library: April 7, 2022.

Teen Writing Club with Ayomide Bayowa, Mississauga Library: April 20, 2022.

Mississauga’s Library’s Online Poetry Club: Reading Romeo Oriogun’s “Sacrament of Bodies” to Celebrate Poetry Month, April 27, 2022.