Women Poetry from Northern Nigeria: A Bibliographical Note

Abstract

Many critics have decried what is often called “the zero presence” of the female voice in Nigerian poetry: Nigerian female writers trail behind their male counterparts for a number of reasons (literary, historical and cultural). This is more pronounced if not more acute in Northern Nigeria, where literature of English expression is slow in evolving, compared to other parts of the country. Poetry of English expression by women from Northern Nigeria is indeed young, and is written in a tradition that is not only new but developing. This paper is a preliminary bibliography of the few collections of poetry in English (or English translation) by women from Northern Nigeria.