Efe Paul Azino

Azino was born in Lagos, Nigeria. He has featured in a number of local and international poetry events like Aké Arts and Book Festival, Kaduna Book and Arts Festival, Lagos Book and Art Festival, Johannesburg Arts Festival, Lights Camera Africa Film Festival, the Berlin Poetry Festival, Spier International Poetry Festival Cape Town, Taipei Poetry Festival, and The British Council Festival, Lagos.^[8] He is a fellow of the Osiwa Poetry Residency.^[9]

He is the producer of the spoken word poetry theater production Finding Home, a production that "explores the question of identity, displacement and African international migration".^[10]

His poems have been translated into Afrikaans, French, German, and Mandarin.^[8]

In 2015, he published his first collection of poetry titled For Broken Men Who Cross Often, published by Farafina Books.^[11] His second poetry collection, The Tragedy of Falling with Laughter Stuck in Your Throat, was published in 2019.^[12][13]

In 2017 Azino was named as one of "the most powerful young persons under the age of 40 who are getting things done in the culture space" by YNaija magazine.^[14][15]

In 2015, Azino founded the Lagos International Poetry Festival (LIPFEST), an annual event of poetry, performance, and conversations, described as "a roll call of wordsmiths, artists, poetry merchants and deep-thinkers".^[16][17][18] The 2017 edition was themed "Bridges from Walls".^[19]