Nigeria Content Online

Abuja
has in times past been referred to as an art-starved and soulless civil
servant city, among other unflattering descriptions. But things are
changing.

The month of May
ended up being probably the busiest so far in the Federal Capital
Territory, as far as literary, education and cultural activities are
concerned. These are some of the activities that took place in Abuja
last month.

US Embassy/Abuja Writer’s Forum

Award winning
Nigerian author of ‘Purple Hibiscus,’ ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’ and ‘The
Thing Around Your Neck’, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was in Abuja between
May 15 and 17, conducting a writing workshop with 25 budding writers.

Organised by the
Public Affairs Section of the United States Embassy and facilitated by
the Abuja Writers Forum (AWF), the workshop also included an Open Mic
Session hosted by the FCT Social Development Secretariat.

The AWF also
brought to town for its Guest Writers’ Session, one of Nigeria’s master
poets, Tanure Ojaide, who led a creative writing session on May 29 and
then read to the literary community in Abuja at the Pen and Pages
Bookshop.

Abuja Literary Society

The ALS has carved a niche for itself in Abuja with its weekly literary readings, held since 1998.

On May 21, at the
Zamziba Food and Wine, Asokoro, the newly re-packaged ALS Book Club
hosted Wale Okediran’s Tenant of the House as the book of the month.

The Write Squad

Young book lovers
were not left out of May’s bumper package of literary activities. 80
students from eight schools across the FCT participated in an
interactive reading session tagged, ‘My Book & I’. Session Three
featured Sade Adeniran’s novel, ‘Imagine This’. The author and other
guests marveled the level of understanding displayed by the
participating students.

Professor Tunde
Adeniran, who hosted the session, recommended that the initiative be
replicated in other states of the federation. He also advised that the
participating schools not be limited to schools in the metropolis but
to reach out to schools in rural localities.

Infusion

Chika Onigwe and
her novel, ‘On Black Sister’s Street’ took centre stage on May 26 at
the JB Grills, Maitama Amusement Park in Abuja under the umbrella of
Lola Shoneyin’s Infusion. It was an inspiring evening of the best of
literature spiced with poetry performances.

It was the second
outing of Infusion which debuted earlier in February with Shoneyin
herself. Answering questions from the audience, Chika Unigwe revealed
that in writing her book, she had to disguise as a prostitute in the
street of Antwerp, with her husband posing as a bodyguard. “I had
direct contact with some of the principal characters. I studied and
interacted with them,” she explained.

Cassava Republic Press

Next on the bill
was the Acacia A meeting room of Ladi Kwali Conference Hall at the
Sheraton Hotel and Towers, on May 27 where Sade Adeniran and Shoneyin
thrilled Abuja literati to readings from their works.

Organised by Abuja
based publisher, Cassava Republic, the reading, tagged ‘Prose meets
Poetry’ was part of a promotional reading tour for Adeniran’s ‘Imagine
This’, which won the 2008 Commonwealth Prize for Best First Book
(African Region), after readings in Lagos, Ogun and Oyo.

It was a quality
time spent as Sade’s sing-song voice reading from her book combined
with Shoneyin’s usually enthralling performance style to such a
successful degree that the audience from other events within the Ladi
Kwali started to trickle in to hear to the two ladies.

There was also a
storytelling session during which audience members exhibited their
storytelling skills. Felix Abrahams Obi got the Acacia A room vibrating
with laughter as he told his story with an Igbo laden accent about a
container on the sea, his dreams, aspiration and challenges of life.

Earlier that day,
Ms Adeniran read to the University community at the University of
Abuja. Some of the students followed her down to the later reading at
Sheraton.

Association of Nigerian Authors

Weeklong activities
by the Abuja chapter of the Association of Nigeria Authors, kicked off
May 22 with the Special Guest Session which featured US based poet and
scholar, Chimalum Nwankwo who read from his latest collection …

On May 27, the
group commenced a 4-day event tagged ‘For You To Read,’ in
collaboration with the French Cultural Centre in Abuja. Being the
Childrens’ Day, Four FCT primary schools were engaged in an interactive
session with childrens author, Ameh Teresa who read her book, ‘Anty
Talatu,’ to the pupils.

The Authors Forum
on May 28 featured four writers, Ahmed Maiwada, Eugenia Abu, Denja
Abdullahii, Patrick Oguejiofor and Lebanese Mohammed Tann. All read
from their works before the discussion session which was anchored by
Seyi Adigun and Joan Orji. The interactive session dwelled primarily on
the writing process, publishing, marketing and promotion of books.

Writers, scholars,
journalists, students of Nassarawa State University and the French
Cultural Centre had one of the most intellectual literary discourse on
May 28 as they gathered for the round table session on Chinua Achebe’s
Things Fall Apart. The round table session was preceded by the viewing
of the movie adaptation of TFA with Professor Umelo Ojimma of Nassarawa
State University as the lead discussant. Others include Prof. Isaac
Shuabu and Dr. Felix Amoah, Patrick Jude-Otteh, Ahmed Maiwada and Marc
Fenoli of the French Cultural Centre.

The discussion
ranged from participants wanting to know the inspiration behind
Achebe’s writing of the novel, the secret behind its universality and
worldwide acceptance, which has resulted in translations into over 50
languages.

There couldn’t have
been a better way to end these week-long activities but with a picnic.
The association of Nigerian Authors, French Cultural Centre, Nassarawa
State University, their friends, families and invited guests gathered
at the French Centre for the fourth day in a stretch but this time for
a literary picnic.

It was also an
opportunity to review the four-day event, with a view to making the
subsequent edition better and richer for the good of literature
development in Nigeria.

Tagged My Favourite
Book, members of the audience had the opportunity to share their
Favourite Book with one another, while French Students from Nassarawa
State University presented a short drama in French.

From May to June

If the month of May
is anything to go by, June will be just as vibrant on the Abuja
literary scene. Events for this month started on June 7 at the
Transcorp Hilton Hotel, where the Abuja Literary Society hosted Uwem
Akpan, winner of the 2009 Commonwealth Writers Prize, to a reading form
his awarding winning short story collection, ‘Say You Are One of Them’,
which was also an Oprah’s Book Club pick.