The Garden City Literary Festival started officially today, so we will start what we call "The Voice Diary" which will be a daily summary, a dose perhaps of all that happens here at the Festival.
The day started, Port-Harcourt style, with rain. The downpour did not deter young students, many of them younger than twelve from gathering at the Conference Rooms 1 and 2 for the creative workshop sessions. The two sessions were handled by a team from CATE and Polly Alakija. The mood in the two rooms was that of ecstatic young kids willing to learn, their voices reaching rooftops. The students ready for work, had brilliant definitions of a story. They were alive; answering questions, practising exercises, responding to songs. At the end of the two classes, they were divided into three groups, each group given an assignment: to express themselves through writing, art and dance. We can't wait to see what they come up with tomorrow.
After this there was a reading session with Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, the Honourable Commissioner of Information and Mrs Sola Alamutu, the founder of CATE read to the children from a book about Mother Theresa. The children listened and had intelligent questions to ask the women.
The afternoon sessions featured poetry and prose writing workshops. The poetry workshop was handled by Dr Obari Gomba, a lecturer at the Department of English Studies, University of Port-Harcourt. Doreen Baingana, author Tropical Fish handled the prose writing workshop. The workshops were intensive, with participants drilled to produce works, as they were being taught. In coming posts, we will bring you lessons from the poetry workshop.
While all these was going on, the Book Fair, which will run throughout the Festival kicked into motion. There were over fifty stands with different book stores and publishing houses represented; there were lots of gadgets, books and toys for sale. The Fair is your to-go place for the purchase of a variety of books.
The evening started with an open mic session organised by the Department of English Studies, University of Port-Harcourt. The venue-the Port-Harcourt Room of the Presidential Hotel- was filled. Seated on the high table was famed poet, Pa Gabriel Okara, Dr. Obari Gomba, Ifeanyi Ajaogbo, Dr. Margaret Nutsukpo and Julius Akanni. Dr Obari Gomba moderated the the poetry sessions, with poetry performances from students of the department. It was a delightful evening with words; we will publish one of the poems from the Open Mic session in coming days. There was a conversation on the theme of the festival, "Women in Literature", of course by the students. The poetry performance group performed a short poem about violence in the home.
Towards the end of the session, Dr Obari Gomba recited a poem dedicated to Pa Okara; some lines: At the twilight zone of generations/the zest of youth/meets the wisdom of age...
The Open Mic session ended with a closing talk by Pa Okara; he encouraged the students, "Many of you are growing up, and will soon be fathers and mothers; my advice is this: if you want to succeed in writing, always be yourself."
The last event for the day was a cocktail, which was an interactive session with the writers--Doreen Baingana, Chibundu Onuzo and Polly Alakija. Sadly, Noo Saro-Wiwa was not able to make it, as a result of some last minute hitches at the Airport in the UK. The organiser of the Garden City Literary Festival, Mrs Koko Kalango opened the event where she introduced the writers before journalists asked questions. Responding to a question, Mrs Kalango said "We at the Festival have just created a platform where we can have people in the literature industry together to keep the industry alive and thriving, to see how we can positively impact the world."
That's what GCLF has done for five years, and it is more of that we expect to see in the remaining days of the festival.
No comments:
Post a Comment