ABOUT US

ArtingArena — Art for the World.

ArtingArena is a creative sanctuary where African art, literature, and design converge. We exist to celebrate the voices, visions, and vibrant expressions that define our continent — and to share them with the world.

Founded with a dream to make creativity a shared language, ArtingArena offers a stage for poets, storytellers, performers, and visual artists to shine. Our platform publishes inspiring works of fiction, images, poetry, and essays; hosts interviews and contests; and spotlights artistic talents shaping the future of African creativity.

At our core, we believe that every artistic expression — word, sound, or color — carries power. Power to heal. Power to challenge. Power to unite. Through our growing community, we nurture that power and give it a global audience.

Our mission: To promote African literature and art in all its forms, inspire emerging voices, and connect creatives across borders.

Our values: authenticity, excellence, inclusivity, and artistic freedom.

A note from the founder:
“ArtingArena was born from a love for words and the desire to see African art breathe freely. We are building not just a platform, but a movement — where art speaks boldly and beautifully.” — Oyinlola Abimbola, Founder & CEO

Join us. Create with us. The world is your canvas.

MEET THE TEAM

ArtingArena’s c-suites

Oyin Bimbo:
Founder & Head Editor, ArtingArena.
A poet at the roots, a storyteller by growth. Oyin Bimbo began his creative journey through
poetry, with works featured across several literary platforms, before finding his stride in fiction.
He now writes under contract with global web fiction platforms, including Dreame, GoodNovel,
and Meganovel, captivating readers worldwide not as a writer but as an editor as well.
As the Founder and Head Editor of ArtingArena, he leads a vision-driven space devoted to
promoting African literature, visual performance, and design — art from Africa, for the
world.
To reach him: oy********@***il.com

Oletu Oghenenyore C. writes from the marginalized Delta Creek of Nigeria—a region that has
forged him into a vituperative rebel writer who cultivates both the land and the human condition.
He is a storyteller and activist who finds equal wonder in God’s creation and the perfect, searing
line to dismantle man’s failures.
His resulting chapbooks— Because We Are Stateless; Life In The Crucible I & II; Because You Want Me To Talk; Villages Under Water; Notes At The 34th Bridge; Boyz Too Are Flowers; and his award-winning work, Jonzing and Juicing—along with other online
publications, are a harvest of sharp wit and pointed questions. They prove that the smallest
volumes can hold the biggest rebellions.
He loves animals (even wild ones), farming, reading, and chatting about God.
He can be reached at ol**************@***il.com.

MK Kuol, a self-taught poet from South Sudan, has authored Twice The Size of Sun (Poemify Publishers,
2024), the second-place winner of the annual Pengician Poetry Chapbook Prize, 2023, and Song Her
Thighs Sing (INKspired NG, 2024)
A Pushcart Prize nominee, his other literary honours include Proper Poetry Pamphlet Competition
(shortlist), The Wanjohi Prize for African Poetry (shortlist), ArtingArena Chapbook Competition (longlist).
and AfriCAN Honoree Authors’ Awards.
His work has appeared (or is forthcoming) on The Selkie Publications, ANMLY, Beach Chair Press, Konya.
Shamsrumi, Kalahari Review, D’lit Review, Rough Diamond Poetry Journal, The Stripes Literary Magazine,
Everscribe Magazine and elsewhere.
He loves dark rooms, coffee, moon-gazing, folk music (Arizona JJ’s to be exact), and conspiracies. He
tweets (rarely) @mk_kuol14. He can be reached at mk*******@***il.com.

Abubakar Auwal, TPC VIII, is a Nigerian teen author of Portrait Of gods As
Metaphors; 1st runner-up Nigeria Prize for Teen Authors (forthcoming—Poetry, 2024) and
Portrait of Broken Metaphors; Winner, ArtingArena Poetry Chapbook Contest. He was the
winner of Splendors of Dawn Poetry and Short Story Competition (February-April, 2023). Also a
finalist for BPKW Poetry Contest, AIPFEST24 Poetry Slam, PIN National Poetry Slam—25,

NYTH Poetry Contest & long-listed for Brigitte Poirson Poetry Prize, Akachi Chuku-emeka
Literature Prize, Blessing Kolajo Poetry Prize, and others. He has his works
Published/Forthcoming with Eunoia Review, Lolwe, Arts Lounge Magazine, The Carrier Bag,
The MAAR Review, The Beatnik Cowboy, After Happy Hour Review, Naked Cat Lit, Iceflow
Press, SUBNIVEAN, Cajun Mutt Press, Lilac Journal, and elsewhere. Abubakar is the Editor-In-Chief-
Chief at New Voices Magazine, Managing Editor at Words-empire Magazine, and founding editor at
Metaphorical Magazine and a member of Hill-Top Creative Arts Foundation, Minna, as well as
Founder/President of Nigerlites Spoken Word Artists. You can access some of his works
through this link: https://linktr.ee/AbubakarAuwal
@abuba_karauwal Instagram — @saddiq89 Twitter.

Stephen Oladayo Oladokun is a writer, photographer, and educator from Nigeria. He is the first runner-up of the ArtingArena Poetry Chapbook Competition (2024). His works have appeared and are forthcoming on Afribary, Fly on the Wall Poetry, Queenview Magazine, The Shallow Tales Review, African Writers Magazine, Milk Diet, Ice Floe Press, My Woven Words, PEN Nigeria, Melbourne Culture Corner Review, Corona Blue, Sledgehammer, INNASAEL Journal, Creation and Criticism Journal, Duck Town Magazine, and elsewhere. You can contact him on Instagram as Oracle_Voice, on Facebook as Oracle’s Voice, on Twitter as OraclesVoice1, or at st**************@***il.com.