The Hill Barbers

Crafted in a colourful, razor-sharp blend of poetry and prose, The Hill Barbers depicts the wanton destruction of water catchments in most communities in Africa. This is inextricably linked to the traditional practice of shifting cultivation, motivated largely by farmers' struggle to acquire more arable farmland to meet the needs of their rapidly growing families. The immediate consequence is acute water shortages, with obvious health and economic implications. Agro-forestry and other soil management techniques are subtly proposed as practical measures to effectively address the issue of shifting cultivation and the associated problem of encroachment into the delicate water catchments.

The 2014 winner of the Eko Prize for Emerging Anglophone Writers in the poetry category, Ekpe Inyang holds an MSc. in Advanced Professional Studies (Environmental Studies) from the University of Strathclyde, UK. He spent several years working for the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), and also served as a short-term consultant to the German Technical Agency (GTZ, now GIZ) in the South West Region, Cameroon. He was a lecturer and Coordinator of the Diploma in Development Studies Programme at the Pan-African Institute for Development - West Africa, in Buea, Cameroon, and currently the Capacity Building Advisor of WWF Coastal Forests Programme (WWF-CFP) and Education for Sustainable Development and Youth Focal Point for WWF Cameroon Country Programme Office (WWF-CCPO). He has published eight plays, four scientific articles, a book chapter, two major textbooks (one as co-author), and eight poetry anthologies, six of which have been published.