To this end, the society is calling for papers for a conference on oral poetry in contemporary Nigeria, with theme ‘Oral Poetry in Nigeria: Prospects and Challenges in 21st Century’.

A statement from the society’s president, Dr. Bukar Usman said, “The revival process for the Nigerian Folklore Society is to all intents complete now and it is therefore worthwhile to revisit Oral Poetry in Nigeria being the very matter which gave birth to the NFS in Zaria in 1981.The Zaria conference produced the first and most authoritative book [now out of print] Oral Poetry in Nigeria [1982, 200pp, edited by Uchegbulam et.al. and published by Federal Department of Culture.

“It’s about time to host a major conference on this important subject and issue a solid book from a selection of the papers to be presented. Some of the papers are also to be considered for publication in the revived Journal of Nigerian Folklore.

“We are delighted to invite all interested scholars and researchers to prepare thoroughly-researched and well-written papers on any of the sub-themes detailed below”.

They proposed sub-themes include ‘Approaches to Oral Poetry’, ‘Fieldwork and Research in Oral Poetry’, ‘Translation and Oral Poetry’, ‘Transmission and Distribution of Oral Poetry’, ‘Regional, National, and Ethnic Traditions of Oral Poetry Style’, ‘Composition and Performance of Oral Poetry’, ‘Technology and Oral Poetry’, Oral Poetry and the Radio’, ‘Oral Poetry and Television/Film/Stage performance’, ‘Oral Poetry and Education System’, ‘Gender and Oral Poetry’, ‘Oral and Written Poetry’, ‘Anthologies and Oral Poetry’, ‘Audience and Context/Occasion of Oral Poetry’, ‘Classification, Types and Categories of Oral Poetry’, ‘Contemporary Forms of Oral Poetry’, ‘Composers and Performers’ and ‘Functions and Uses of Oral Poetry’.

Proposed keynote speaker at the conference will be Prof. Bade Ajuwon, of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife. Other lead paper presenters inlude Prof. Abdu Yahya Bichi, of Centre for Research in Nigerian Languages and Folklore, Bayero University, Kano, Prof. Segun Adekoya, Department of English (OAU), Ile Ife, Prof. Idris Amali, of Federal University, Lafia, Prof. Afam Ebeogu, of Abia State University, Uturu and Prof. Muhammad Aliyu Bunza, UMYU, Katsina.

A 300 submission of abstract should be submitted by September 31, 2015 and should include the name of presenter/presenters, institutional affiliation, phone number and email address and up to 5 keywords and be emailed to nigerianfolkloresociety@gmail.com.

Arrival is Sunday, October 25 while conference opens on Monday, October 26 throug