ZOE, EKUNNO bring Fantasy and Psychic Tales to the October Writers’ Session

Chio Zoe a fantasy writer and Mike Ekunno a writer of  psychic short stories will feature at  the iconic Guest Writer Session of the Abuja Writers Forum, on the 28th of October by 4:00pm at the International Institute of Journalism, Jahi, Abuja and will include live music among other side attractions.

Chio Zoe, author of the  “Memory of Stone” series earned a BSc Architecture at the University of Nigerian, Enugu Campus. She started writing at a very young age, and by the end of secondary school, had written about ten completed works of fiction which were read widely amongst her school mates. By age thirteen, her children’s horror story gained the attention of a publisher. While she did not go on to publish it, it set her down a path of writing professionally.

Ms Zoe later went on to restore lost pages of a novel written by her late grandmother for publication, as well as ghost write a few novellas. However, she wanted a path for herself and eventually found connection with fantasy stories which inspired her to write her first made for publication fantasy novel, “Memory of Stone”. She was recruited as a writing mentor for new and aspiring writers at Write Mentor Spark Programme, Glasgow, Scotland. She has broadened her scope to include teaching creative writing to children.

Ms Zoe  has successfully published three novels, “Memory of Stone”, “Verity of Old” and “Mastery of Lore”, completing the Memory of Stone trilogy. She shares her writing journey on Instagram @chiozoe_ where, and gives advice to Nigerian writers.on YouTube @chiozoe.

Mike Ekunno  describes himself as being “born to parents who survived the 1966 pogrom”. He schooled in the railway towns of Umuahia and Enugu and attended Comprehensive Secondary School, Nawfia, in Anambra State. He graduated from Enugu Campus of the University of Nigeria where he read Estate Management. After youth service in Kano, he consulted in real estate in Sokoto and Abuja before returning to the spoken and written word, his first love.

Since then, Ekunno co- presented “FCT Progress Report” on NTA network and was a columnist with The Guardian on Sunday where he pioneered writing on etiquette with his “Good Manners” column. He has written network news commentaries for Radio Nigeria before being head-hunted to work as Special Assistant to the DG, Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria. He also served the Honourable Minister of Information and Communications, late Prof Dora Akunyili, as Technical Assistant and Senior Speech Writer.

 Ekunno is widely published in over fifty  international literary journals including: Bridge Eight, Drunk Monkeys, Dark Matter Journal, Thrice Fiction Magazine, and Storymoja. He has won national and international awards and prizes including the inaugural Harambee Literary Prize. “Soul Lounge”, a collection of short stories is his second book, the first being “Cowboy Lamido”, a young adult novella. He freelances as a book editor, ghost biographer and literary critic.
Matthias Adoga (PASSION) will handle the musical interludes . He hails from Benue State and his interest in music via the guitar started quite early and he has kept at it through his primary, secondary and tertiary education.
Apart from the readings and live music , there will be freebies like airtime and books. The Guest Writer Session on October 28 which runs from 4-7pm is open to the public and holds at the International Institute of Journalism, directly behind Shashilga Court, Gwarinpa Expressway, Jahi, Abuja.