The Muktar Aliyu Art Residency (MAAR), an initiative of the Hill-Top Creative Arts Foundation, is pleased to announce the fellows selected for its third edition, which will run in 2025. In a statement by the manager, Zainab Dzukogi announces Ebri Kowaki from Enugu State and Mujahid Ameen Lilo from Kano State as the new fellows.
Ebri Kowaki is a storyteller and culture journalist from Enugu State, exploring identity, memory, and modernity across African art, music, and media. At 14, he found literature, writing stage plays for his local church. His work has appeared in The Republic, Vanguard Nigeria, Afrocritik, Akowdee Magazine, and elsewhere.
In 2024, he was shortlisted for the Ikenga Short Story Prize and is currently finishing up a short story collection to reassert experimental styles in African fiction. He is perpetually torn between mild nihilism and believing that giant trees are gods.
Mujahid Ameen Lilo is a Nigerian creative writer, language practitioner, and culture critic from Kano State. He is an English Language major at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where he serves as Assistant Editor of the University’s Creative Writers’ Club. Mujahid is a recipient of fellowships from the Wole Soyinka International Cultural Exchange Programme (2019) and the Ebedi International Writers Residency Program (2023). He won the Wole Soyinka Essay Competition in 2019 and was a finalist in the Quramo Writers’ Prize 2023 and the Nigeria Prize for Teen Authors 2020. A two-time winner of the BUK Creative Writers’ Poetry Contest, he was also shortlisted for the Aminiya Trust Hausa Short Story Competition 2021 and served as Head Judge for the Book O’Clock Anniversary Essay Competition 2023.
In 2021, Lilo received the Hadiza Ibrahim Aliyu Schools Festival (HIASFEST) Star Prize for the most progressive teen author in Nigeria, awarded by the Hill-Top Creative Arts Foundation. His works have been featured in various publications, including The Lagos Review, The Nigeria Review, Ebedi Review, Kalahari Review, Daily Trust, African Writer, and Konya Shamsrumi.
A versatile literary figure, Lilo has been a guest speaker at numerous festivals and programmes, including the Katsina Book and Arts Festival 2021, Lagos Book and Arts Festival 2020, SOBAFEST 2022, NABAFEST 2024 and others. A professional creative writing coach, he has also facilitated creative writing workshops, empowering emerging writers to hone their craft.
The two residents will commence their 21-day residency at the Hill-Top Creative Arts Foundation headquarters in Minna, Niger State. During their stay, they will work on personal creative projects while mentoring teenage writers and artists from local schools, in keeping with MAAR’s mission to develop young talent.
The Muktar Aliyu Art Residency has further placed itself as one of Nigeria’s leading centres for artistic creativity, providing an excellent platform for established and emergent artists to make, participate and influence.
