Favourite Five: Victor Alao

Victor Alao's works are published in Sentinel Nigeria, The Colored Lens, and Jungle Jim. He never shuts up about stories. From time to time, he writes on The Heavenly Press blog as the Chief Spokesperson for the Heavenly Host. There are no exceptions to the things he would read. He loves Supernatural and has given up on Chelsea F.C. 

He had this to say about his favourite five books "My favourite list is too volatile and changes too often (usually with sentiment). So let’s call this a list of books I really would love to give people to read." 

Contract with God Trilogy by Will Eisner

This is the first graphic novel I read more than five times. It’s a collection of stories about the everyday lives of the residents of Dropsie Avenue and you will be really surprised at how extraordinary the lives of these people are. On the surface, they are everyday people and let’s be honest, what does that mean, to be an everyday person? In the title story, a rabbi feels cheated by his contract with God and reneges on his duties and as a result becomes the butterfly that starts the storm affecting every other person in the story. Great collection. 

11/22/63 by Stephen King

This book kept me smiling when I was done. The flap jacket will tell you it’s about time travel but it’s much more. King tells the tale of a man, Jack Epping, who goes to the past to prevent JFK’s death which is set for 11/22/63. Time travel is the least of things going on in this novel and since Jack has to wait in the past for five years before the date of the impending disaster, you can be sure this man will find adventures, including falling in love, along the way. Does he succeed in preventing JFK’s death or not? Read to find out. It’s one of my favourite King titles.

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

This is the first book in The Gentlemen Bastards series. After the first sixty pages, it begins to feel like you are in a movie with a lively cast of thieves with a Robin Hood approach to stealing. And it reads really fast. Someone described it as Mission Impossible meets another movie I can’t remember. The statement is true, it has that espionage feel from Mission Impossible. Maybe you can call it Mission Impossible meets Robin Hood since its time period is somewhere in the Medieval Era. In any case, it’s really up there for me. 

Wizard of the Crow by Ngugi wa Thiong'o

This book showed me another side of the “imagined” world I will always be grateful for. I met characters in its country of Aburiria that I will never forget. And how can I forget Machokali who enlarges his ears so he can show devotion to his master by being his master’s ears, or Markus who decides his eyes were better bigger to show dedication to the Ruler? It’s a country I’ve visited again and again. 

Perfume, the Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind

Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is a perfume maker in 18th Century France whose nose is like his eyes and he has the misfortune of not having a personal odour, which makes him feel invisible. And because of this curse, he kills in order to create the perfect scent. This is a different type of serial killer and Suskind delivers a book told through the nose of this killer. It’s all about smells and this killer knows them all.

Noo Saro-Wiwa in Conversation with Miss Ojikutu

Miss Ojikutu in conversation with Noo Saro Wiwa. Interesting questions and responses. More here. 

What’s the most memorable casual reader feedback you’ve received on your writing?

This email: “All I was left with when the book came to its close was the thought ’I can’t wait to read her next’, you know, the same feeling one has after a bloody excellent meal.”

Tell us your writing process – from conception to first draft.

I take an interest in a country. I then travel around the country and talk to people, constantly scribbling notes or recording things on my Dictaphone. Every evening I type up my notes and transcribe my recordings, no matter how tired I am. Then I email them to myself. I also write a diary as it’s a good way of chronicling my feelings (emotions can be surprisingly easy to forget over time). Once I fly back home, I transform my observations into prose. My writing is most prolific after midnight.

Why travel writing?

It combines my two loves: travel and literature. I love reading books that transport me to another place and teach me things about it, so I want to do the same for others.

What were the high and low points of your tour of Nigeria?

The high points were the dog show at Ibadan, the Durbah in Kano, and eating plantain and goat non-stop. The low points were seeing young kids having to work for a living, as well as visiting Port Harcourt Zoo (the conditions were so bad I was too embarrassed to write about it).

Foreign literary prizes: have they done more good or harm to African writing?

They’re a force for good. They ensure that a certain level of quality is maintained, otherwise  standards might fall (you only have to compare our newspapers of today with papers 40 years ago to see how easily writing standards can drop). Foreign prizes also lend prestige and financial support to a profession that’s not lucrative. This is important in places like Nigeria where financial hardship causes many youngsters to overlook literature as a vocation.

Do you think Africa is being fairly depicted by contemporary African writers? And is this portrayal something that should necessarily preoccupy writers?

I think African writers portray Africa fairly and in a rich variety. If people don’t like the realism they should criticise the politicians and criminals who create that reality. There’s no point shooting the messenger. Writers should worry about accuracy rather than positivity. Good literature must come from an honest place; it’s not a form of propaganda. Besides, most foreign perceptions of our continent aren’t actually based on novels – they’re based on television news.

Merry Christmas!

How is Christmas at your end? We hope that the season brings you reasons to smile, laugh and dance, even as you prepare for the year ahead. Here is a poem The Shivering Beggar by Robert Graves. Enjoy!

Near Clapham village, where fields began,
Saint Edward met a beggar man.
It was Christmas morning, the church bells tolled,
The old man trembled for the fierce cold.
 
Saint Edward cried, "It is monstrous sin
A beggar to lie in rags so thin!
An old gray-beard and the frost so keen:
I shall give him my fur-lined gaberdine."
 
He stripped off his gaberdine of scarlet
And wrapped it round the aged varlet,
Who clutched at the folds with a muttered curse,
Quaking and chattering seven times worse.
 
Said Edward, "Sir, it would seem you freeze
Most bitter at your extremities.
Here are gloves and shoes and stockings also,
That warm upon your way you may go."
 
The man took stocking and shoe and glove,
Blaspheming Christ our Saviour’s love,
Yet seemed to find but little relief,
Shaking and shivering like a leaf.
 
Said the saint again, "I have no great riches,
Yet take this tunic, take these breeches,
My shirt and my vest, take everything,
And give due thanks to Jesus the King."
 
The saint stood naked upon the snow
Long miles from where he was lodged at Bowe,
Praying, "O God! my faith, it grows faint!
This would try the temper of any saint.
 
"Make clean my heart, Almighty, I pray,
And drive these sinful thoughts away.  
Make clean my heart if it be Thy will,
This damned old rascal’s shivering still!"
 
He stooped, he touched the beggar man’s shoulder;
He asked him did the frost nip colder?
"Frost!" said the beggar, "no, stupid lad!
’Tis the palsy makes me shiver so bad."

Commonwealth Essay Competition Opens for Entries

Are you a writer? Are you interested in the world around you? Do you  want your voice to be heard by others? If so, the Commonwealth Essay  Competition is definitely for you. We encourage you to be creative in your response to our topics. You can submit a poem, letter,  article, story, essay or even a short play. The choice is yours. 

Just get writing!

Every year, the Commonwealth Essay Competition inspires thousands of  young writers from all over the world. Run by the Royal Commonwealth  Society since 1883, it is the world's oldest and largest schools' international writing competition. Past winners include Mr Lee Hsien  Loong, the Prime Minister of Singapore and Elspeth Huxley. The competition is free to enter and in 2012 over 1,000 young  writers, from 245 schools, in 38 countries across the Commonwealth  received an award for their entry.

For 2013, we're delighted to announce that the Competition will be run in partnership with Cambridge University Press, whose support will enable us to engage even more young writers across the Commonwealth. The Competition celebrates and nurtures the creative talents of  young people across the Commonwealth, providing a platform for  students to compete with their peers in each of the 54 nations which  make up this unique association. Entrants are judged in two age groups, Junior (under 14 years) and Senior (14-18 years). 

The closing date is 1st May 2013 and results will be announced in  the autumn of next year. Moe information here.

Favourite Five: Eghosa Imasuen

Eghosa Imasuen, author of To Saint Patrick and Fine Boys is not new to the GCLF. We asked him to send us a short piece on his favourite five books; he had this to say. "Okay, I get this call from my friends at The Voice. Eghosa, we want you to write a little thing about the best five books you've read. Of all time? I ask. Yes, they say. Hard task, I say. They know. I can do it. So here goes. I have gone down the path of picking books which had a profound impact on me, on my world view, on my education. Some of these provoked me to ask more questions, and they entertained me immensely. Something I believe all fiction must do. I have arranged these entries more or less haphazardly; if there is any pattern, it is in the impact they had on my writing."

The Haj by Leon Uris

I read this book in university. It was my first Leon Uris book, and I was initially afraid of its volume, wondering how small me could finish what looked like a thousand-page epic. But Uris’ talents lie in moving the reader so quickly along his immensely enjoyable plots, while he also gives them a history lesson. The Haj follows the Palestinian tragedy. It goes back and forth, following a Palestinian Arab family, giving us a glimpse into their traditions. It wears the author’s opinions boldly, laying the blame for the current conflict at the feet of the British and the surrounding Arab states.

The Haj made me to read. It made me form an opinion based on the information as I could gather; it made me look with suspicion at the eschatologically-driven fatalism that drives much of the opinions of Nigerian evangelicals. It made me understand that villainy resides everywhere, side by side with heroism and love and beauty.

The Hot Zone by Richard Preston

Being a novelist, I felt odd putting a work of non-fiction on this list. But it is with a nod to the power of Preston’s prose that it has to be mentioned here. I read this book while working as a doctor in Warri. It conflated all the knowledge the world had at that point in time into a compact, eminently readable, non-fiction thriller.

The Hot Zone follows the outbreak at a US Army base of an exotic viral infection. This haemorrhagic fever outbreak allows the writer to take a journey into Equatorial Africa, the ancestral home of humanity, and of some of humanity’s oldest enemies. It explains the unintended consequences of modernity’s inexorable advance into the places of our origins. It is one of the best, most readable ripostes to the nonsense of alternative AIDS origin theory.

Fatherland by Robert Harris

I first heard of this novel after I watched the trailer of the movie adaptation. I still haven’t seen the movie, but I have since read the book. It is alternate history. It is genre fiction told so well, and by a first-time novelist, former journalist Robert Harris.

Its central premise is that the Nazi’s won World War Two. Its point of divergence is never pinpointed, but it would seem that Reinhard Heydrich’s survival of the 1942 assassination by British-trained Czech agents in Prague would have had major consequences had it happened. It is the 1960s in this alternate timeline. The USA and The Reich are negotiating détente. Secrets risk messing up everything. It is alternate history, and there is only so much I can mention in this little essay without spoiling a good thriller for you, dear reader. Suffice it to say that the world in which a Nazi superpower exists would be a strange place indeed. My first novel, To Saint Patrick, owes this work of art a debt of gratitude.

American Gods (The Tenth Anniversary Edition) by Neil Gaiman

Imagine reading a novel and listening to it at the same time. I'd heard of this book for a while. But it was after I heard that a special tenth anniversary edition had been published, with more than 12,000 words from the original manuscript restored, that I decided to look for it and read. I purchased the kindle edition and started reading. It is a massive book, and threatened to interfere with work. So I purchased the audio book too. And I listened to the book to and from work, and read from where I stopped in bed or at the dinner table. I am still in love with this book.

It is fantasy, science fiction, horror, travel fiction. It is everything and nothing. It asks, what if all the gods, and fairies, and monsters dreamed up by man in the lost places of the world, what if all these were alive, brought into being and are sustained by and thrive on our belief? What if we stopped believing? I cannot recommend Neil Gaiman enough. And this is his magnum opus.

Everything Good Will Come and Purple Hibiscus–  Sefi Atta and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

I am going to cheat here. I am going to treat these books as one. I bought them on the same day in 2005, and read them back to back. They were both published by who would become my publisher, the Farafina imprint of Kachifo Ltd.

I had already started work on my first novel. I travelled to Lagos to shop for books, to see what the competition was writing when I bought these novels. They opened my eyes. Atta’s EGWC was a decade removed from my experience, but I found in its pages memories of uncles in my parents’ Boys Quarters, listening to Bob Marley, and of my aunties and older cousins, with perms, and shoulder-padded impossible square-cut blouses and high-waist stone wash mom-jeans. I saw the tragedy begin, the tragedy that would soon become mine.

This was where Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus began. The story had become ours. The breadwinners who became villains in their own homes. The rise and rise of inept political leadership, the lowering and lowering of standards till it’s now underground, so deep, it competes with our crude oil deposits for living space.

Both these books told me that my generation’s story had begun to be told. These novels confirmed to me that I had to keep on writing.

Chibundu Onuzo in Conversation with Miss Ojikutu

Miss Ojikutu interviewed Chibundu Onuzo on her blog. We bring you excerpts. You can read the complete interview here.

Which of your major characters would you like to be trapped on a desert island with?
Aunty Precious. She’d cook and I’d signal for ships.

Sell a million copies or win the Nobel Prize for literature?
Nobel because then it’d help me sell a million copies. Two birds with one stone.

Write one classic or have a sustained career of good books?
You can have both. Classics are usually not counted as such until you’re dead or at least well into the twilight of your career. Moby Dick is an excellent example. So you might have what you think is only a sustained career of good books but posterity may judge one or more as classics.

Worst thing about being a writer?
Some people think you sit at home all day doing nothing.

Remember your best and worst reviews? Let’s hear them.
I suffer from amnesia when it comes to these things.

One thing you wish you’d known starting out as an author?
Publishing takes forever.

Besides good writing what other skill do you think is essential to a successful career in writing?
Good writing is actually not essential to success, at least not in pecuniary terms.

#Excuse Me: Writing Competition

Write and win a Victor Ehikhamenor artwork. Really easy. More instructions on the poster! Good luck!!

The Writer Competition

The Writer is an online ‘reality’ writing competition created by TheNakedConvos, where contestants are given a topic or theme to write on each week and you, the public, as well as our judges, will assess them and vote to keep the best writers in the game. The inaugural edition (Click Here To See It) was very exciting and this year’s promises to be even better.

The Process.

• Ten writers will be shortlisted from the qualifications stage/entry submissions.
• These writers will contest in the online writing competition.
• The competition will require all writers to send in their themed write-ups/posts/stories weekly by a deadline.
• Posts from all the writers will be put up for members of the public to read and vote for.
• At the end of the voting period, a panel of judges will evaluate the posts and score them using pre-communicated criteria.
• The public votes and the votes from the judges will be combined and based on this; Writers will be eliminated weekly until a final winner – THE WRITER – emerges.

Who is it for?
There are no age, location or gender restrictions for the competition. All members of the general public are encouraged to send in pre-qualification entries.

More information here

Calabar Festival Poetry Slam

Calabar Festival Poetry Slam!! Bassey Ikpi will headline the show at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel Calabar on December 17, 2012. Red carpet starts by 4pm. There will also be other amazing performers. More information on poster!

#Excuse Me: An Excerpt

I Want a Private Jet, So Help Me God!

Yes, the title of this week’s piece is not a mistake, and if by the time it is published my editor has changed the headline, the two of us will put our legs in one trouser.

Flying Aero Contractors to Benin City last Friday has temporarily cured me of rolling my eyes at our president, mega-pastors and Governor Amaechi of Rivers State from buying pimped-out private jets...

Ahem, as I was saying, last Friday I decided to pay a weekend visit to Benin where our Comrade Governor Oshiomole is on the other side of the labour fence now...I boarded the plane and flying makes me queasy like I was doing mental arithmetic in front of my headmaster, Mr. Akwa Duru. God bless his departed soul. But to reduce my tension, I decided to dream of the ogbono soup and pounded yam my uncle's wife had promised me once I landed. As I was salivating on the thought of eating dry fish, the plane started shaking. Brothers and sisters, it takes only a small bump for my palms to start flooding like Lekki palms during rainy season. I kept telling myself—calm down, it is only a thirty-minute journey. Little did I know we were in for a three-hour ride, it was as if the flight path had suddenly become the Benin-Ore road.

The pilot commanded us to fasten our seat belts and ordered the air hostess to stop all activities. When air hostesses are ordered to sit down, it cannot possibly be Owambe situation. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have some planes ahead of us trying to land in Benin as soon as they do, we too can land. Enjoy the free ride till we are able to land." Haw-haw-haw, very funny. It was obviously a Comedy Central situation for the pilot—and a hellish ride for the passengers. 

For what seemed like an eternity, the pilot didn’t speak to us. At one point, we were so close to landing that I saw rooftops and the erosion gullies of Benin. But within seconds the pilot put the plane on gear five and went back into the clouds. Suddenly, another forceful vibration started. It was time for me to start forgiving all my real and imagined enemies and cancelling debts. Before I knew it, two women in the seat in front of mine jumpstarted a full gospel ministry. As the plane danced, one of the women, a Pastor Woman, fired on strong prayers—on how God had promised His children power over untimely death! Meanwhile, I was struggling to find words from the Bible besides “Peace, be still” which was what Jesus Christ commanded the turbulent sea when the boat carrying him and his disciples started misbehaving. Mind you when you are facing turbulence in the air, there are certain words you just don't want to include in prayer, for example, no “Die! Die! Die!”

After what seemed like forever and with the impromptu church service still in full swing, the pilot finally said we were returning to Lagos because we couldn’t land. Now Pastor Woman and the congregation did not see any need for praying in regular English anymore, all communications with our Creator was now rendered in tongues. Pastor Woman clenched and unclenched her hands, stabbing the air, and if not for the pilot's warning about wearing seat belts, she would have gotten up and started distributing holy spirits freely. At this point, my prayers became audible. The pilot didn’t update us again while we were worshiping and binding the devil and the plane was doing Bonsue Fuji! A gentleman begged profusely to use the toilet; gasps and moans were heard for every violent shake the plane did. I had already sweated out all my bodily fluids through my palms!

To cut short story long, we landed safely and the passengers erupted in high praise and worship songs like we were having a child dedication. The pilot asked us to disembark so they could refuel because there were “no emergency services to watch over the plane while it was being refuelled with passengers inside.” Hmmm. He said he was going back to Benin. Me? I ran out of the plane and bade him safe journey.

Why do I want a private jet when I am not the president or the governor of any state or pastor of any church? Because the Aero pilot did not communicate enough to either calm our fears or let us know what the deal was. His two updates during a three hour ordeal were enough. So, in my private jet, I want to have access to the cockpit and lay hands on my pilot if need be. If you are reading this and the Lord has touched your heart, buy me a Canadian-made Bombardier Global Express XRS. Remember God loves a cheerful giver, which is why God loves hardworking Nigerians who cannot afford Okada ride yet keep giving planes and jets to their various governmental and religious leaders! - EXCUSE ME!

Victor Ehikhamenor is an internationally known visual artist and writer. He received his BA in English and Literary Studies from Ambrose Alli University. He holds a Masters degree in Technology Management, as well as MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Maryland, USA. Widely exhibited at home and abroad, Ehikhamenor is a regular contributor to magazines and journals on social issues. He has won awards for his works; these include the 2008 Leon Forest Scholar Fiction Award and a Breadloaf Scholarship. He served as NEXT Newspaper’s first Creative Director and maintained a weekly column in the paper which forms the bedrock of this new book. He manages his own creative and strategic communication company, VEE Global Concepts.  Excuse Me, his first book was published by Parresia Publishers. For copies, please call Femi Morgan for Roving Heights on 08181880536 or Servio Gbadamosi for WriteHouse on 08053164359 or a Parrésia rep on 08087304400. 

Reading List: Victor Ehikhamenor

This Is How You Lose Her by Junot Diaz 

This book is really funny; it deals with the entanglements that beset love and its practitioners. I like it because of the use of "vernacular" Spanish without apology. Diaz is from the Dominican Republic and he spiced up the book, the way a Nigerian author would with Pidgin English or even his/her first language, be it Igbo, Yoruba or Esan.

Even The Dogs by Jon McGregor
The author experimented with language, and succeeded. It inspired one of my new stories, "Look Alike", the language is beautifully woven, poetic and tells a very painful story of homeless junky friends and what they went through when one of them died. 

One Day I Will Write About This Place by Binyavanga Wainaina
It is one of those few creative non-fiction memoir that rides the delicate line of reality and fiction. I love what he has done with the his story in the book. 

An Elegy for Easterly by Petina Gappah 
I just went to re-read one story in there that cracks me up, it is called 'The Mupandawa Dancing Champion". I love funny stories, and Gappah  handles humour very well in her writing. But the story is also quite sad at the end.

Why We Struck: The Story of the First Nigerian Coup by Adewale Ademoyega
I have had the book since 1989. I am re-reading some parts of it after reading Achebe's new book. Ademoyega, one of the surviving few of the first coup and the Civil War helps put some things in perspective for me. You will be shocked at what he has to say about Ojukwu and Gowon and the way they both handle dthe war. It should be read as an accompaniment to Achebe's There Was A Country, to see if there was really ever a country.

Victor Ehikhamenor is an internationally known visual artist and writer. He received his BA in English and Literary Studies from Ambrose Alli University. He holds a Masters degree in Technology Management, as well as MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Maryland, USA. Widely exhibited at home and abroad, Ehikhamenor is a regular contributor to magazines and journals on social issues. He has won awards for his works; these include the 2008 Leon Forest Scholar Fiction Award and a Breadloaf Scholarship. He served as NEXT Newspaper’s first Creative Director and maintained a weekly column in the paper which forms the bedrock of this new book. He manages his own creative and strategic communication company, VEE Global Concepts. His latest book Excuse Me was published by Parresia Publishers. 

BookNGuage 18: Real Words

Pulpfaction Book Club in collaboration with Saraba Magazine is organizing the 18th Edition of Book n' Guage, a monthly literary event for lovers of literature and the arts at large. Featured writers include award winning Victor Ehikhamenor, author of best-selling Excuse Me!, and Maik Nwosu, author of Invisible Chapters.

At the event, Saraba Magazine will be awarding the Saraba/PEN Nigeria Poetry Prize, awarded jointly by PEN Nigeria and Saraba Magazine to a poet whose work was featured the previous year in one of the editions of the magazine. Ikeogu Oke, Dike Chukwumerije and Ajayi Kolade are the poets whose poems have been shortlisted for the Prize. The prize money for this year's prize is 50,000 Naira for the winning poet, and 15,000 each for the runners-up.

In addition to conversations with the featured writers, and a general Q & A session, the event will equally feature poetry performances by Atitola Morunfola, Tofarati-GT, Uche Nwadinachi, Daropale Victor and Olulu. Critically acclaimed musicians, Dtone Martinsand Lumynos (who have thrilled the Book n' Guage audience in the past), will also perform that evening.

The featured authors are well recognized writers and artists. 

Victor Ehikhamenor is a Nigerian artist, writer, photographer, and news media designer. He worked at NEXT newspapers as the creative director, as well as the Daily Times Nigeria as CEO/Editor-in-Chief. Apart from painting, photographing, and exhibiting his works around the world, he runs a strategic communication and branding firm. He is the author of best-selling book Excuse Me!; his short story, The Supreme Command, won the Association of Commonwealth Broadcasters Award; and his poetry collection, Sordid Rituals, was published in 2002.

Dr. Maik Nwosu is an associate professor of African and world literature at the University of Denver, Colorado. Nwosu's poetry collection, Suns of Kush, was awarded the Association of Nigerian Authors/Cadbury Poetry Prize. His novels, Invisible Chapters and Alpha Song, received the Association of Nigerian Authors Prose Prize and the Association of Nigerian Authors/Spectrum Prose Prize respectively. He has also published a short story collection, Return to Algadez, and a scholarly text on the traveling sign, Markets of Memories: Between the Postcolonial and the Transnational. His poems, stories, and novel excerpts have appeared in Okike, Drumvoices Revue, New Writing 14, Dublin Quarterly, El Ghibli, Fiction International, and Agni Online. Nwosu is a fellow of the Akademie Schloss Solitude, Stuttgart, Germany and the Civitella Ranieri Center in Umbertide, Italy, as well as a member of the Phi Beta Delta Honor Society for International Scholars.

As is the usual practice at the event, classic books will be auctioned to fastest-bidding attendees

Date: 15 December 2012

Venue: Debonairs Bookshop (Ground floor, 294 Herbert Macaulay Street, Yaba, Lagos).

Time: 2-5pm

Gate: Free, but donations to the Book Club and Saraba Magazine welcome

For more information, please write pulpfactioner@gmail.com, sarabamag@gmail.com or call 08053455929 or 08060050835. The Twitter hashtag for the event is #BooknGuage18

iRead December: What do Children Want?

The monthly book reading/discussion session, iRead is happening  again and this time, we are focusing on children and their rights to  a good education, to mark Human Rights Day – Dec 10.

iRead is a monthly writer/reader interactive session hosted by DADA  Books and the Committee for Relevant Art (CORA). The December  edition of iRead is being held in collaboration with Children And  The Environment (CATE), an organisation committed to promoting child  and environmental health issues amongst children and young people.

The December edition of iRead will provide the platform for young, emerging writers to meet and interact with established writers. The gathering will focus mainly on children literature and writing for children and will feature activities such as reading stories, sharing stories, discussions around literary works, quiz, film screening (dedicated to the rights of the child) etc.

Two established authors of children literature, Mobolaji Adenubi and Sola Alamutu will be facilitating the interactive session.

Mobolaji Adenubi retired from the Federal Civil Service Nigeria to devote her time to writing. She has been promoting creative writing, particularly the children genre for over two decades. She was the pioneer president of the Women Writers of Nigeria (WRITA) and a past vice-chairman of the Association of Nigerian Authors, Lagos State Chapter.

Sola Alamutu: Ms Alamutu is the brain behind Children And The Environment (CATE), an organisation that creates awareness in children about the importance of education and the environment. She is a co-author of CATE Saves the Ikopi Rainforest, a children’s book that won the 2004 ANA Prize for Children’s Literature. She is currently Publicity Secretary of the Women Writers of Nigeria (WRITA) Lagos branch and member of the Association of Nigerian  Authors (ANA), Lagos State Chapter.

To give the right kind of atmosphere and to generate sector specific feedback, we will be joined by the major stakeholders, children.DADA Stores is supporting this event with interesting gift items for every child that participates in the event.

Date: Saturday December 15

Time: 2-6pm

Venue: CORA House (1st floor) 95 Bode Thomas, Surulere, Lagos.

#Excuse Me

When a Nigerian says excuse me, he is trying to get someone's attention. He needs to be heard, and urgently too. It does not matter whether it is polite or followed by a long hiss; there is usually a reaction. "Excuse Me!" is a phrase that cuts across all boundaries; it is one that every Nigerian understands. 

Maybe that is why Victor Ehikhamenor chose the common Nigerian phrase, to catch our attention, to urge us to listen and to watch our reaction. Excuse Me! is a collection of essays that refuse to be categorized; they are funny and thought provoking essays; they draw our attention to see ourselves through the mirror of words. The book pokes us on the shoulder some times; at other times, it laughs in our face; and at other times it just calls us to look at ourselves, as a people, warts and all.

Excuse Me! let me introduce Ehikhamenor, the author, to you.  

Victor Ehikhamenor is an internationally known visual artist and writer. He received his BA in English and Literary Studies from Ambrose Alli University. He holds a Masters degree in Technology Management, as well as MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Maryland, USA. Widely exhibited at home and abroad, Ehikhamenor is a regular contributor to magazines and journals on social issues. He has won awards for his works; these include the 2008 Leon Forest Scholar Fiction Award and a Breadloaf Scholarship. He served as NEXT Newspaper’s first Creative Director and maintained a weekly column in the paper which forms the bedrock of this new book. He manages his own creative and strategic communication company, VEE Global Concepts. 

These skills – this creativity – are fused in Excuse Me! as words and art dance on pages to reach readers. Published by Parrésia Publishers Ltd and subtitled “One Nigerian’s funny outsized reality”, Ehikhamenor uses his skill for deft satire and incisive logic to paint a compelling picture of Nigeria, better than any of his famous artwork has succeeded in doing in the past. Each essay is not longer than 900-words, making for an easy yet comprehensive dissection of issues.

Excuse Me! was released on November 30th, 2012 and early praise has already come in from such people as Pius Adesanmi, Ikhide Ikheloa, Amma Ogan and ace comedian, Ali Baba, who has known Victor’s creative “madness” as a schoolmate and friend at Ambrose Ali University, Ekpoma. There will be a public release of the book in the second week of January, 2012 at an event in Lagos to welcome this collector’s item to Nigeria’s bookshelves.

#ExcuseMe, if you would like a copy of any new Parresia title: Excuse Me by Victor Ehikhamenor, Oil on Water by Helon Habila and Bofak by Tanimu Sule Lagi or any other Parrésia books, please call Femi Morgan for Roving Heights on 08181880536 or Servio Gbadamosi for WriteHouse on 08053164359 or a Parrésia rep on 08087304400 or send a mail to orders@parresiapublishers.com 

Abuja Poetry Slam

Abuja Literary Society organises its year-end Abuja Poetry Slam on Friday, December 14, 2012. 

Venue is the Silverbird LifeStyle Store, Abuja. Time is 6pm. 

Prizes: 

Slam Champion - N100K 

1st Runner Up -  N50K

2nd Runner Up - N30K

Attendance is free but contestants must register with N1, 000. For more information send an email to: abujaliterarysociety@gmail.com Click here for the rules of the poetry slam.

Pius Adesanmi in Conversation with Abubakar Adam Ibrahim

True. Is there an obligation for the writer to be an activist, especially when you consider the criticisms that have trailed Mo Yan’s Nobel Prize win?

It’s definitely not an obligation. There is a pressure, there is always that idea that the writer is what the French call Ecrivain Phares. Ecrivain is writer and phares is headlight. So if you put the two together you have the writer as headlight,showing the way, the path. So there is the expectation. But there are writers who resist that. There are so many writers who are for what we call arts for arts sake. But ultimately, I’ve found out that one way or the other, development sucks them in. Look at Christopher Okigbo for instance. He spent his life basically disavowing the necessity for the writer to be anything other than a writer, pure, creative writer. In fact, he carried his to a puritanical level when he was asked why his poetry wasn’t accessible he said, I write only for fellow poets. He wanted a life devoted purely to the arts but he ended up leading a very political life and he went to the trenches and died in the trenches. It is not compulsory for the writer to be an activist but down the road somewhere, because arts is essentially humanistic, it is humanising, so long as you are the vector of that fundamental humanism, it is a privilege to be a deliverer of art, the transmitter of art. It chooses you. It is difficult to choose to be a writer, it chooses you. As long as that vocation is there, the social concern part of it is inescapable, no matter whether the writer wants it or not.

So essentially, the writer has to be a social commentator?

Not has to be, but the question is, is there anything a writer says or does that isn’t taken as social commentary or political commentary because the vocation of the writer has something of an unavoidable aspect of the French Ecrivain Phares, you know, the leading light of the society? The writer may say, I am just doing my thing, I am just doing art. But society values codes, what writers do in a way that makes it difficult to claim any form of neutrality.

Read more here

Professor Pius Adesanmi is a writer, critic and academic. The first class graduate of French and Francophone Studies of the University of Ilorin won the Penguin Prize for African writing in 2010 with his book You are Not a Country, Africa. He teaches African Studies at Carleton University, Canada. 

Wasafiri Needs Blogger

Wasafiri is looking to employ a blogger for the website of its magazine. 

Wasafiri, is a quarterly magazine for contemporary international literature. Based in London, the magazine publishes essays, interviews, fiction and poetry by established and emerging writers from diasporic communities and around the world. The magazine has also established an annual New Writing Prize. Wasafiri is hosted by the Open University London and funded by Routledge, its co-publisher, and the Arts Council England.

Wasafiri needs someone with a proven interest in international literature, culture and arts to blog for Wasafiri. The ideal candidate will be someone who can write in an engaging manner about topics and themes that feature in Wasafiri. This is a paid position, with at least one blog a month to be produced, which will be approved by the Wasafiri editorial staff.

Blogger Specifications

• Must be experienced in writing on international literature and related subjects through, but not limited to, postgraduate studies or journalistic output.
• Ability to work to tight deadlines and take initiative.
• Past experience of blogging (preferred).
• Ability to work independently, seek out opportunities and take initiative.
• Good research skills and an understanding of the responsibilities that come with working for a reputable international magazine.

Candidates may be based outside UK. Please send a writing sample, a brief description of some ideas for the blog and a cover letter with CV and references to t.palmiero@open.ac.uk. Deadline for applications is 22 February 2013.

More information here

Favourite Five: Oluseun Onigbinde

Oluseun sees himself as a concerned individual who values  and whines about the treasure chest of the Nigerian economy--the huge hydrocarbon reserves, fertile arable space and large pool of human resource amidst the rising level of poverty. With a startup BudgIT which he co-founded in 2011,  he believes deepening the public discourse based on empirical facts is key to a better society. He supports Chelsea FC, peers at data for an uncommon thread and pumps the volume of Ayinla Omowura in ecstasy. A follower of Christ, Oluseun was once a banker and graduated cramming bits of Engineering formulas. Next year, he hopes to publish his collection of short stories, tentatively titled When They Came for Me. He is not talking budgets or figures here, just his favourite five books. 

Waiting for An Angel by Helon Habila
Just inducted into reading Nigeria fiction by Yellow Yellow, I found Helon Habila's book a marvel. With connected stories of the dark military era, Helon rightly mixed poetry with prose and unleashed me into the possibility of writing.

Things Fall Apart  by  Chinua Achebe
Most read African book, what else can I say? To me this is how to write as an African. Connecting the dry phrases of the English language to the rich culture of the African, this book is priceless. I can't forget Okonkwo. Most especially how he cut down Ikemefuna in the forest.

Black Boy by Richard Wright 
Richard Wright's book is a classic. I love classics. An aspiration of the young Southerner to reach the splendour of North America. With lively tenses and good command of diction, I can't stop reading it.

Farad by Emmanuel Iduma
Recently did a review of Farad. His swift and gorgeous pieces lures me back to fiction after  the prize winning Jennifer Egan's A Visit to the Goon Squad failed. Read this book. Hope you feel it like I did.

Everything Good Things Will Come  by Sefi Atta 
Been a while I read this book but worth reading over and over. The book comes whole in the midst of popular narratives that doesn't define me. Brilliant.

Residency: The Sylt Foundation

The Sylt Foundation calls all writers of contemporary African literature to apply for the two-month African Writers' Residency, offered as part of the Sylt Foundation Residency Programme. One residency will be awarded annually to Africa writers who have published poetry, prose, plays and novels.

The Foundation is located on the island of Sylt, off the coast of Hamburg, Germany.  The Foundation’s residency programme has been running for several years offering opportunities to South African and international visual artists, writers and photographers. It is managed under the directorship of literary scholar and curator Indra Wussow.

This African Writer’s Residency is aimed to offer a residency to writers of contemporary African literature, who are related to or engaging with contemporary themes and concerns of Africa and the African Diaspora. The award is open to published writers of poetry, prose, plays and novels.

Following on the success of many years of engagement with contemporary African and South African literature and writers, the Foundation has sought to leverage its residency programme by inviting applications from African writers who through a juried selection process will be awarded this invaluable opportunity. Previously residents were invited onto this programme. In 2012, however, the residency process was formalized and published African writers are now invited to submit applications (as per the criteria) for selection onto the African Writers Residency Programme. The winning applicant will be selected by an experienced and credible selection panel of literary professionals. One residency is awarded each year to one winning applicant who will take up this exciting opportunity to enjoy creative writing time on the island at the Foundation Kunst: Raum Sylt Quelle.

This period will provide the writer with:

- an opportunity to focus on or complete a project in progress

- a quiet space suitable for contemplation and research

- an uninterrupted period for writing

- a means to leverage their artistic profile

- an opportunity to engage with other international writers and artists

The contemporary African writer who wins this Residency award is expected to work on or complete the writingproject proposed in their application. The residency aims to provide an opportunity to develop their ideas and do research related to their work.

While writers are managing career and personal demands, the vital process of conceptualizing and reflection,researching and developing new ideas, so essential to the writing process is often limited. A period of quietuninterrupted time to focus on exploring ideas is critical to this process which is a challenge when balancing the pressures of everyday life.

Application requirements

Writers of African literature are invited to submit:

- a project proposal of the project the writer wishes to work on while in residence

- it can be a current or proposed literary project- a synopsis of the novel, short story or poetry project

Applications to include:

- Copy of a valid passport conforming to Schengen visa requirements

- Full Curriculum Vitae

- Writer’s Profile in English – 500 words

- Two (2) Letters of Reference in English from literary professionals, publishers or academics

Plus an excerpt (stating the publishers) from:

- one published book

- a volume of poetry

- a (publicly staged) play with information as to where and date it was staged

Note: Digital applications in MS Word or PDF documents only will be accepted (no hard copy proposals accepted)

(The copyright of all published material will be respected by the Foundation so digital copies of published books may be submitted and will be handled with due care.)

The Selection Procedure:

Selection will be by two separate panels. The panels will comprise of the Foundation’s director – Indra Wussow – a literary.scientist – and will include other literary experts. Every year new selection panels will be constituted.

The panel will be convened by the Foundation and will be identified by their expertise. The names of the panellists and their profiles will be made public via the Sylt Foundation’s website (www.kunstraum-syltquelle.de) and on Sylt Foundation African Writers’ Residency’s Facebook page.

The initial Selection Panel will evaluate all the applications received and will shortlist five (5) finalists. The second Judging Panel will review the 5 finalist’s applications and projects. One Finalist writer will be selected as the Winner and recipient of the Sylt Foundation African Writer’s Residency Award each year.

Art Source South Africa are appointed by the Sylt Foundation as Organisers of the Award and manage this residency programme. The Organisers do not vote and have no influence on the selection and judging process.

Key Dates For the 2012 African Writer’s Residency:

- A Call for Applications will go out in November 2012

- Deadline for application submission is by 4pm Friday 15 February 2013

- Announcement and notification of 5 shortlisted finalists 1 April 2013

- Announcement of Residency Award Winner 1 June 2013

- Residency to be taken up from June 2013 – 2014

No late applications will be considered. Applications will be kept confidential.

More information here and here

Submit e-mail entries to:

Organisers: Art Source South Africa

Email: info@artsourcesouthafrica.co.za

Enquiries: ++ 27 (0) 11 447 2855 (Monday – Friday 9-4pm)

Direct enquiries and media queries via:

Phile Khumalo

Art Source South Africa

phile@artsourcesouthafrica.co.za

Event: The Reading Club, Ibadan

This is a Christmas Bumper event which will be featuring music by Edaoto Agbeniyi, Poetry by award winning poets Jumoke Verissimo and Dami Ajayi. 

Prose by Olisakwe Ukamaka and the 1st Runner up of CORA's Readers Choice Book of 2012 award Andrew Eseimokumo and Nwachuckwu Egbunike. The house will discuss "The State of Nigerian Literature." 

It promises to be fun filled time together for book lovers.

Date: Saturday, 8 December 2012
Time: 4-6pm
Venue: NSIAC, Magazine Road, beside BookSellers, Ibadan

More information here

Competition: Give Your Best Short

NaijaStories.com is pleased to announce another online writing contest titled “Give us your best Short” to be judged by Chika Unigwe. We want to read your best short story. You can write in any genre, but bear in mind the five elements of a short story – Plot, Point of View, Character, Setting, and Theme. Conflict is not compulsory but it gives your story that extra oomph. They are looking for really good shorts and winners may be selected for the next NS Anthology. So, Give Us Your Best Short!

About the Judge

Chika Unigwe is an award winning Nigerian author based in Belguim. Chika’s novel, On Black Sisters’ Street, recently won the 2012 NLNG Literature Prize for Fiction. She won the 2003 BBC Short Story Competition for her story “Borrowed Smile”, a Commonwealth Short Story Award for “Weathered Smiles” and a Flemish literary prize for “De Smaak van Sneeuw”, her first short story written in Dutch. 

Important Dates

The contest opens November 21 and submissions end on December 20, 2012.

Release of the Longlisted Stories – January 5th

First Round Polls and Naijastories Scoring- January 6th – 12th

Shortlist released – January 13th

Public Choice Ratings – Jan 14th to January 19th

Final Judging – January 14th to January 20th 2013

The winner will be announced by January 21st 2013.

Prizes :

First Prize – 200,000 points ($200)

Second Prize – 100,000 points ($100)

Third Prize – 50,000 points ($50)

2 Public Choice Winners – 25,000 points (25) each

Contest Guidelines:

• You must be a registered member of Naijastories.com.
• Submit your entry as a post with a title that illustrates your entry.
• In the body of the post, provide a 1 or 2 sentence summary of your short story and then the complete story;
• Your entry should be between 1000 and 2500 words.
• Put the entry in the category of “Best Short” and press the button, “Submit for Review”.

Find out more details about the competition here

Sani Aishat: My GCLF Experience

The Garden City Literary Festival is another medium to bring back the reading culture. Many have observed  that this generation, my generation, read less and that our reading culture diminishes by the day. 

Open Mic Session

The whole festival was amazing and the participation by the individuals was been tremendous. The theme for this year's lecture makes it more interesting for me because of the undermining of female writers in African literature. This topic enables the female writers the opportunity to be heard by all.

Doreen Baingana facilitated the fiction workshop

Another thing that I like  about this edition of GCLF is that all the workshops, though didn't hold more than a few hours, really empowered people who attended it as their creative writing improved. Well for me. I really gained a lot attending this year's festival and the lectures were an eye opener to me because I learnt that being a writer is not easy. I learnt that for me to become an exceptional writer, it entails a lot of hardwork. Most of the facilitators and speakers emphasised that what makes a writer exceptional is for the writer to write, not just for writing sake but to endeavour to paint a picture of realism because literature cannot exist in isolation of the society and in so doing should give their writing their best shot.

Obari Gomba facilitated the Poetry Workshop

So far, so good, the fifth edition of the GCLF has been the best for me. There is still more room for improvement. I hope the next edition would even be better than this. 

Sani Aishat is a final year student of the Department of English, University of Port Harcourt, Rivers state. She was a participant at the Garden City Literary Festival, 2012.

NT Lit Mag: Call for Submissions

The NTLitMag is the literary magazine section of Nigerians Talk, and your writing is needed. This is a call for submissions for poems, prose, drama excerpts, articles, essays, lyrics, photography, and other art pieces of today's generation of writers. The LitMag aims to fill a creative space where the voice and perspectives of today's writers matter enough not just to provide a seminal direction, but also to define the present in creative terms.

Send all submissions to litmag@nigerianstalk.org, and follow NT LitMag on twitter.

Excuse Us: A Book Reading

Almost on a daily basis, we experience and hear about unbelievable occurrences, most of which are thought  possible only in Nigeria. We react in different ways. Some take refuge in a pub, where they analyse it all; others take to arguments at newspaper stands; a mass voice out on social media. A statement that is often thrown around is ‘Excuse ME!’ ‘Excuse Me!’ is of course the title of Victor Ehikhamenor’s soon-to-be-released book.

Parresia Publishers invites you to EXCUSE US!, an evening with Victor Ehikhamenor, author of ‘Excuse ME!’, and Emmanuel Iduma, author of ‘Farad’, to hold at 4pm on Saturday, December 1, 2012, at Patabah Bookstore, Shoprite, Adeniran Ogunsanya Street, Surulere, Lagos.

About the writers and their books

Victor Ehikhamenor is an internationally known visual artist and writer, born in Udomi-Uwessan, Edo State, Nigeria, and received his BA in English and Literary Studies from Ambrose Alli University. He holds a masters degree in Technology Management and MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Maryland, USA. Widely exhibited at home and abroad and avidly collected the world over, Ehikhamenor has also been a regular contributor to magazines and journals on literary and social matters since the early 90’s, as well as a fiction writer. He won the 2008 Leon Forest Scholar Fiction Award, and a Breadloaf Scholarship which he turned down to join Nigeria’s NEXT newspaper, owned by Pulitzer winning journalist, Dele Olojede in 2008. He served as NEXT’s first Creative Director and maintained a weekly column in the paper which has formed the bedrock of his new book. He also briefly served as the CEO and Editor-in-Chief at Daily Times, before leaving to start his own creative and strategic communication company, VEE Global Concepts. 

About EXCUSE ME!

“The man is a true Nigerian hero. And if you won’t take my word for it, fine. Read the harvest of his essays gathered here and see for yourself why I, like many, many others, rave about this young man.” – Professor Okey Ndibe, one of Nigeria’s most outspoken intellectuals, in his introduction to the book. 

Excuse Me! is a collection of sixty-three short essays carefully selected from the very best of Ehikhamenor’s weekly article of the same name in various newspapers, chief among them NEXT, in the two years that the paper and it’s online version www.234next.com defined the pinnacle of Nigerian journalism. It contains such satirical pieces as the jaw-breaking ‘Igodomigodo Must Not Comatose’ to irony-laden ones like ‘My Vote is for Sale.’ Deliriously funny pieces like ‘Midlife Crisis and Honest Visa Application’ are together with ‘I Want a Private Jet, So Help Me God’ and ‘The Iya Eba of Berkeley Street.’ Excuse Me! is Ehikhamenor, the artist, at his best with words. 

About Emmanuel Iduma

Emmanuel Iduma is the author of critically acclaimed novella, ‘Farad.’ He works mainly as a writer of fiction, nonfiction and poetry, and has won awards and received recognition in each genre. Emmanuel is the co-founder of Iroko Publishing, which has been publishing Saraba, an electronic magazine since February 2009. He is working on a second novel. 

Farad is reminiscent of Plutarch’s Parallel Lives, Farad eases to a climax when key characters from individual stories become participants in a conflict at a University Chapel—a conflict in which the nature of power is tested. Farad is an assemblage of fresh narratives woven around simple questions and open-ended complexities. It is, ultimately, a story of love and essence.

This event is a ‘must-not-miss.’ Remember:

Venue: Patabah Bookstore, Shoprite, Adeniran Ogunsanya, Surulere, Lagos

Date: December 1, 2012.

Time: 4PM.