Cara Waterfall

✨ New on #Archipel — The Small Work of Staying
Reflections from Abidjan on creative continuity, daily gestures, and how we hold steady in changing times.
Read: tinyurl.com/3h4469w7
#PoetryCommunity #TheSmallWorkOfStaying #WestAfricanPoetry #CreativeMentorship

"To write is to build home inside language."
Meet Nigerian poet & essayist Joel Oyèlékè, 📖 author of God Is a Poet (Faithful Global Publications, 2024).
Read The Philosopher-Poet in #Archipel Interview #28: 28https://tinyurl.com/bd4sx2h6
#NigerianPoet #PoetryOfPlace #CreativeCommunity

Nigerian poet Joel Oyèlékè writes where devotion becomes craft — where scripture and streetlight meet.
Read his story in Archipel: tinyurl.com/bd4sx2h6
#Archipel #CurrentsVoicesInMotion #FaithAndArt #PoetryCommunity #NigerianPoet

Archipel Alumni #2: 5 writers making waves: Featuring: @kimfahner.bsky.social, @robmclennan.bsky.social, Virginia Ryan, @kevinspenst.bsky.social & Zaynab Iliyasu Bobi.

Read, respond, relay → tinyurl.com/zc836xnf

#Poetry #CreativeCommunity #PoetsOfBluesky #CreativeCommunity

🌊 Currents Prompt #1 — Gbaka Grammar A writing prompt from Abidjan’s rolling archives: slogans, codes, and road-borne syntax on the city’s shared minibuses.

In Abidjan, the city writes itself.

Every gbaka—our shared minibus—is a poem in motion: Respect Obligé. Y’a Dieu Dedans. Turbo.

I call it **Gbaka Grammar**—Abidjan’s rolling archive of belief, hustle & humour.

🌊 Read the essay → tinyurl.com/ddfjk425

#Abidjan #PoetryOfPlace #CotedIvoire

Thank you so much, Frances!

Year Two starts now 🌊 Support the DEW Scholarship—and celebrate our inaugural scholar Isaiah Adepoju — by:
💳 subscribing, 🔁 sharing, or ✉️ emailing to underwrite a need.
Give an emerging poet a community & a compass 🧭.”
Begin here: carawaterfall.substack.com/subscribe
#Poetry #ArtsSupport #Mentorship

Announcing the Winner of the Donald E. Waterfall Scholarship Fund: Isaiah Adepoju Proof that every gift and gesture adds up to a big year for our first DEW Scholar.

Introducing our 1st DEW Scholar: Isaiah Adepoju:
“The least I expect is to win anything for poetry—I am still shocked.”
Our Judges: "Not ornament for its own sake, but cadence as a path to understanding."
Celebrate with us & read more: tinyurl.com/4eu52e2f
#Poetry #Mentorship #EmergingPoets

#27: Faith, Memory, Fire: A Conversation with Adesiyan Oluwapelumi A featured poet in Archipel’s new series, 🌊 Currents: Voices in Motion, spotlighting emerging West African voices.

🔬✍🏾 Med student → poet at the edge of language: **@ademindpoems**. Read the **Currents** feature: tinyurl.com/yzw7uhcr
If language falters, Adesiyan Oluwapelumi’s lines keep vigil.

🌊 New on Archipel: Currents launches: mentorship & multilingual poetics—plus a feature on Adesiyan Oluwapelumi's Mouthful of Cinders (@akashicbooks.bsky.social/APBF, Dec 2025). Read: tinyurl.com/yzw7uhcr
#PoetryCommunity #NigerianPoetry #AfricanPoetry #Chapbook

Travel was Elizabeth Jaeger’s pulse—6 continents, countless blog posts, always writing on the move.
Then the world stopped moving. Out of lockdown & grief came Stolen.
Read our Archipel interview → tinyurl.com/3skhrcfx
#WritersOfBsky #TravelWriting #COVIDMemoir

#26: Love, Loss & the Pages We Keep: A Conversation with Elizabeth Jaeger "The more I write, the more I record, the more that I'll be able to remember in the future."

New in Archipel: a dialogue with Elizabeth Jaeger on loss, persistence & memory. Her memoir Stolen is part diary, part testimony — a record of grief & resilience in the time of COVID.
@unsolicitedpress.bsky.social
Read→ tinyurl.com/3skhrcfx
#Poetry #WritersOfBsky #GriefLit #COVID19 #YearOfTheWomxn

I spent the summer writing poems & came back to Côte d’Ivoire full of pages. Two weeks into la rentrée & I already need another holiday. 😅 Excited to announce the first Donald E. Waterfall Scholarship Fund recipient soon! Until then… mountain nap. 💤
👉 carawaterfall.substack.com/p/sept-2025-...

🐍 In #MotherViper, snakes — once symbols of sin in my faith — became power, freedom, rebirth.”
Interview with Savannah Cooper on leaving the Southern Baptist church, reclaiming symbols & writing from the sacred & profane. tinyurl.com/mrxb353c
#poetry #UnsolicitedPress #YearOfTheWomxn

Elena Barcia’s masterful translation of Chilean poet Malú Urriola's brilliant collection, EXQUISITE CORPSE @unsolicitedpress.bsky.social out July 15! Her work blends surrealism, Dadaist experimentation & personal reflection.
tinyurl.com/yc8fns26#Poe... #WomenInTranslation #YearofWomxn

6th-grade poetry workshop ✍️ where students found their wild selves through verse. 🐘🦁🪳Turns out 12-year-olds have a lot to teach us about authenticity & creative expression.
Read more: : tinyurl.com/ydzbkjkw
#Poetry #Teaching #CreativeWriting #Education #WritingCommunity

📢 Applications close in 3 DAYS for the Donald E. Waterfall Scholarship Fund!

✍️ 1-year poetry mentorship program
🌏 Open worldwide to poets 18+
💫 Distinguished judges: @robmclennan & @salimaTM

Apply by June 15th (midnight UTC): bit.ly/4k2u7U5

#Poetry #Writers #LiteraryMentorship

📚 Powerful and unflinching, Zaynab Iliyasu Bobi's "Uncensored Snapshots" bears witness to Northern 🇳🇬's ongoing crisis through masterful poetry. A vital collection that challenges systemic silence while documenting history. Read more: tinyurl.com/6m6w9kxd
Available now: tinyurl.com/yrtz7fvt

🎉 The Donald E. Waterfall Scholarship Fund is Accepting Applications! Deadline June 1st!
✨ Key Details: Open worldwide to poets 18+ writing in English; Deadline: June 1, 2025 (UTC)
Apply now: bit.ly/4k2u7U5
#PoetryMentorship #CreativeWriting #LiteraryArts #PoetsCommunity

@michaelimossan.bsky.social's poetry profoundly articulates Nigerian identity, transforming multiple inner voices into a unified chorus. In "For the Love of Country & Memory," he seamlessly bridges personal experience & national consciousness.
bit.ly/3SaeihY
#NigerianPoetry #WritingCommunity

"I learned to work with fear, to listen to the noise within me and make music out of it" — @michaelimossan.bsky.social discusses creative challenges & transformation in my latest interview: bit.ly/3SaeihY
The Smell of Absence is available this December! 🌟📚 #Poetry #WritingCommunity #NigerianPoet

Following the bold path of her dream mentor Marina Abramovic, Sharmila Nezovic becomes a living "360-degree canvas." Her performances transform abstract concepts into visceral experiences that demand attention. 🎭
bit.ly/42B1TbM
#PerformanceArt #ContemporaryArt #LiveArt #AustralianArt

Like an archaeologist mapping a dig site, Sharmila Nezovic approaches her canvas with precision, yet spontaneous creative impulses emerge spawning raw interpretations of urban life.
Read more about Sharmila in Archipel's 22nd interview: bit.ly/42B1TbM
#creativecommunity #urbanart #Australianartist

Radiant Wound Essai #3: My First In-person Book Launch & Poetry Workshop in Abidjan My Joyful Book Launch: Finding Connection Through Poetry & Discovering my Ivoirian Daughterland

🌟 My heart is full after my first 'Radiant Wound' book launch at American Space, Université Felix Houphouët-Boigny! Discovered #Cotedivoire as my "daughterland", a conscious, developing connection rather than one tied to ancestry. 🙏📚✨ bit.ly/43Vqr1r
#RadiantWound #UnsolicitedPress #Abidjan

Celebrating Womxn this March! Celebrating Women's Voices, Unsolicited Press, My Imminent Book Launch and — counterintuitively! — The Power of Slowing Down

This #WomensHistoryMonth, I’m amplifying the voices of the extraordinary women who have been profiled in my Substack, Archipel. 🌍✨ bit.ly/4hF8ffC
#WomenInArts #CreativeCommunity #GlobalVoices

The Antique Lemonade ecosystem in #Accra is a masterclass in cultural innovation: Franka's café includes a gallery, store & foundation for preserving #Ghana 's heritage. The experience extends to ghananipa.com, a #digitalarchive of Ghana's everyday heroes. 🇬🇭🎨🌐 bit.ly/43jdjTv #CreativeEconomy

From children's literature to documentary film, Franka-Maria Andoh weaves Ghana's rich cultural tapestry into every medium she touches. Her award-winning books connect readers with their heritage, while her film "Omo Ghana, Man for Chop" explores migration & survival. 🇬🇭📚🎬
Read more: bit.ly/43jdjTv

2 generations of trailblazing Ghanaian entrepreneurs: from Mrs. Josephine Andoh's Phines Golden Toast to daughter Franka-Maria's Josie's Cuppa Cappuccino — a legacy that has grown into a creative ecosystem fostering inclusivity, cultural preservation & community building in Accra. 🇬🇭📚☕️
bit.ly/43jdjTv

On building poetic geographies: where verses become longitude lines and metaphors mark the meridians. Creating maps of the unmappable, one stanza at a time.
Read more about the journey to my 1st poetry book, Radiant Wound: bit.ly/3EQvk1t
🗺️📝 #Poetry #PoeticGeography #WorldBuilding

@francesboyle19.bsky.social embodies the power of community building: from founding writing groups to editing @arcpoetry_mag & leading @canadianpoets.bsky.social, she creates spaces where writers thrive. 2 decades of nurturing voices proves great literature grows thru connection. ✨📚 bit.ly/3WTECQt