Library Of Africa and The African Diaspora

We are pleased to announce the distinguished panel of judges for the LOATAD Black Atlantic Residency 2025: African Solidarities:

MOLARA WOOD (Nigeria) is a writer, journalist and editor based in Lagos, Nigeria. Described as ‘one of the eminent voices in the Arts in Nigeria,’ she is widely published, and has an extensive catalogue of editorial work on books, journals and newspapers. With credits across film, literature and visual art, Molara has served on the judging panels of several awards including: the Zuma International Film Festival, the Etisalat Prize for Literature, and the Quramo Writers Prize. She is the author of INDIGO, a collection of short stories with a strong focus on women in society. She won the inaugural John La Rose Memorial Short Story Competition, and received a Commonwealth Broadcasting Association award for her fiction. Fellowships include the LOATAD West African Writers Residency 2022; the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Residency 2023, and the Villa Karo Residency in the Republic of Benin.

TOM CORREIA (Brazil) was born in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. He is a writer-photographer with a degree in journalism whose work bridges literature and street photography. He is the creator and editor of Laroyê Magazine, which brings together contemporary artists who explore the streets, especially those of Salvador, as inspiring raw material. He was also Director of Books and Reading at the Fundação Pedro Calmon and curated two editions of the National Literary Festival-Flica. Tom has been published in several collections, and has published individual books of short stories. He is currently developing an Afrofuturist novel. In 2024, he was one of three Brazilian authors selected for the LOATAD Black Atlantic Residency in Accra, Ghana supported by Hawthornden Foundation. Previously, he has been in residence at Instituto Sacatar in Brazil and Hangar Lisboa, where he developed a series that resulted in a photobook addressing the invisibility of Black people in Portuguese photography.

DR BARBY ASANTE (UK) is an artist, curator, and educator whose work encompasses social practice, film, performance, collective writing, and creating transformative spaces for ritual and healing. Her practice explores the dynamics of place, space, and memory, focusing on unearthing and dismantling the enduring impacts of slavery and colonialism. Since 2017, over 100 women and non-binary individuals worldwide have contributed to Asante’s ongoing performance and installation project, Declaration of Independence. Inspired by Ama Ata Aidoo’s poem ‘As Always a Painful Declaration of Independence’ from her 1992 collection An Angry Letter in January, this project has been performed and presented in various iterations across the UK and Europe. Notable presentations include a large-scale performance and public art project with Art on the Underground (2023-2025) and an exhibition at HKW in Berlin as part of the project O Quilombismo: Of Resisting and Insisting. Of Flight as Fight. Of Other Democratic Egalitarian Political Philosophies(2023). Dr Asante holds a PhD from the University of Westminster and lectures in Fine Art Critical Studies at Goldsmiths College, University of London. She is also a trustee of 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning in London.

We are grateful to the judges for their diligence in assessing the applications and their continued support of LOATAD.

Look out for the announcement next week of the writers selected to be in residence at LOATAD in 2025 for the Black Atlantic Residency supported by Hawthornden Foundation.