Carleton University launches memorial fund, poetry contest for Pius Adesanmi

Pius Adesanmi smiles

Carleton University has announced a memorial fund in honour of Pius Adesanmi, a Nigerian-Canadian scholar and writer, who died in a plane crash on March 10.

Prof. Adesanmi, alongside 156 others aboard an Ethiopian Airlines plane, died when the aircraft crashed few minutes after take-off from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Adesanmi was the director of the Institute of African Studies at Carleton.

In the announcement made by the institution, the fund “will support students and continue” Adesanmi’s life’s work.

The school also invited submissions from the public on a poetry contest in honour of the late writer.

The contest will exorcise the pains of loss through provocative poems. “Well-woven wreaths in the form of requiems, Orikis, spoken word, haikus, limericks, lyrics, free verse, etc. are welcome,” the university said.

It added that “poems will be assessed by their poetic quality, thematic relevance, technical competence, and emotive force.”