Arthouse Forum: Whiteman’s Book On Lagos

The poet and sometime painter Deji Toye will moderate a conversation around Kaye Whiteman’s LAGOS: A Cultural and Historical Companion at the Freedom Park (1 Hospital Road, by Broad Street, Lagos) at 4pm  on Thursday, March 7, 2013. 

  

The conversation is part of an arthouse forum, organized by the Committee For Relevant Art(CORA), in honour of Whiteman, who flew into town to launch the book. The author himself  also turns 77 around that date and so there’d be a small musical show at the Park’s food court after the conversation. 

The discussants are Tolu Ogunlesi, poet and journalist; Toni Kan, poet, short story writer, journalist and publicist; and Femke van Zeijl, a Dutch journalist who in recent years relocated to Lagos. 

Whiteman first came to Nigeria in the 60s, but he fell for Lagos when he lived in the city for two years between 2000 and 2002.

The book’s blurb reads  that the author “explores a city that has constantly re-invented itself, from the first settlement on an uninhabited island to the creation of the port in the early years of the twentieth century…. The city’s melting-pot has ferti­lised a unique literary and artistic flowering that is only now beginning to be appreciated by a world that has only seen slums and chaos.”

The "Fine Boys Reading" in PH

Fine Boys by Eghosa Imasuen has been described as “a coming of age story” that many readers can easily relate to. For the younger generation, the story isn’t far-fetched and for the original “wounded generation” it brings back feelings of nostalgia. 

Medical doctor, Eghosa Imasuen was guest author at the Rainbow Book Club reading which held on Sunday, 25 February at Le Meridien Hotel, Port Harcourt.  Eghosa writes skilfully employing pidgin English to render a gripping account. Every new page promises more adventurous escapades from his characters. The story points to the decadence of our government, our failed university structures, and the menace of increasing violence associated with confraternities on campus. The story is set at a time when Nigeria was  under the weight of the annulled June 12 elections, even as the execution of human rights activist, Ken Saro Wiwa and his men caused an uproar from the international community. The book aptly captures the scenario: “There was the junta and the gap toothed Maradonna, trying to keep the peace on campus, with the presence of the military when in fact the country was in turmoil”.

Ewaen and his oyinbo friend, Wilhelm, get into the university a year later than usual due to the incessant staff union strikes. They get acquainted with Tuoyo, Ejiro, Odegua, KO, Tambo, in room A109 and share the pressure to blend into one of the campus confraternities as “fine boys.” The author sums up the Nigerian university, “This was not a university. It is a jungle. We were all jungle rats huddled around a candle, watching it flicker and burn out slowly.” 

At the Rainbow Book Club reading, Dr Imasuen read an excerpt about first loves from his book. In response to a question on why he had to kill one of the characters at the end of the novel, Eghosa explained that we tend to shield ourselves from tragedy but life is full of them and sometimes they are the drastic consequences of trivial decisions we make. 

Attendees at the reading commended the book and suggested that it be made compulsory reading for all university undergraduates because of the embedded lessons for social development of youths. Imasuen informed the audience that the University of Benin already adopted the book for their Department of English and Contemporary Studies. The publisher, Farafina, is also working on an abridged version to make the book suitable for younger readers. 

Imasuen shared three techniques writers employ in their craft: experience, research and imagination. He urged aspiring writers to read widely, study and listen to people. 

The book reading ended with an autograph session and photographs with the author. There was an announcement that the Rainbow Book Club’s March reading will be a celebration of poetry to mark the World Poetry Day on 21 March.                                                                 

---report  sent in by Ibiye Alalibo

The Ghost of a Country by Obari Gomba

THE GHOST OF A COUNTRY

For Chinua Achebe and Odia Ofeimun

1

The war is not over. Many bones

Down the line, you find combatants

In the last trench, soused

In the mess which flows

From the ulcerous umbilicus

Of the stillborn country; draped 

In the shroud of Lugard.

2

The war is not over. Tribal chiefs

Dance at street corners, armed

With the long flywhisks of statesmanship. 

The war is not over. Many bones

Jut out of shallow graves.

3

The gun retches over stubborn mounds.

And time mutters the sad tale of the Sun

Which still hangs in its breech-birth.

4

The statesmen beat the drum of war.

They are never tired of counting bones

 Yesterday’s ghost teases the trigger of the gun. 

Yesterday’s lie stirs the anger of the dead.

Yesterday’s bile riles the living and the dead.

The war is not over. The country 

Loves to stew in its rheum and gore.

5

If you seek the milk of truth, the udders

Are ripped off by the legion of flies.

The war is a daily rite here. Tribal chiefs

Dance at street corners, armed 

With the long flywhisks of statesmanship. 

They hope to beat the drum of war

Till children rise to pick the gun

Where their fathers left off.

Obari Gomba--poet, playwright and literary scholar– teaches Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Port Harcourt. His poetry collections are Pearls of the Mangrove, George Bush and Other Observations, Canticle of a Broken Glass and Length of Eyes. He has been the Editor of The Muse, the journal of creative and critical writing of the Department of English at the University of Nigeria. He is presently on the board of Working Papers: the journal of the Department of English Studies at the University of Port Harcourt.  His essays and poems have appeared in Culture Digest, Expression, Crucible, Sentinel, among others. He has also contributed chapters to book projects. 

He facilitated the poetry workshop at the GCLF in 2012. 

Onions Make Us Cry at Freedom Park TODAY!

Today and every Sunday in March, Zainabu Jallo's play Onions Make Us Cry will show at the Freedom Park. The play is brought to you by Crown Troupe of Africa, your favourite dance-theatre company takes you on a weird journey through the dark mental walls erected around domestic violence. The play is directed by Segun Adefila.

Venue: Freedom Park,  1 Hospital Road, Broad Street, Lagos Island.

Date: March 3rd, March 10, March 17, March 24, March 21

Time: 6pm-8:30pm

Gate: N1, 500

Why do Onions Make Us Cry?

In 2010 Onions Make Us Cry had a reading at the Contacting The World International Forum. In the same period it was nominated for the NLNG Literature prize 2010. Onions Make Us Cry was read at the festival of new international plays in March 2011 at the LARK in New York. The play had full performances by the Crown Troupe of Africa in Lagos, Nigeria.

In November 2011, Onions make Us Cry was announced as one of the six winning plays of the National Studio London, Africa Project. Zainabu is one of the playwrights whose work got featured at the 9th Women Playwrights international conference in Sweden, August 2012. She has was offered a place at the Sundance Theatre Lab as writer in residency 2012 as well as a place in the 2012 Château de Lavigny,Maison d’écrivains Fondation Ledig-Rowohlt residency Laussane, Switzerland.

Meet Zainabu Jallo

In 2007, Zainabu was nominated by the Royal Court Theatre London, British Council and Ford Foundation Nigeria to join nine other young Nigerians to begin a ‘New Writing from Nigeria project’. In 2008 she was nominated by the same bodies to attend a summer writing residency at the Royal Court Theatre in London. 

In 2009, Zainabu was given a fellowship for a three –month residency at The Global Arts village New Delhi, India where she also had readings of some of her work. Onions Make Us Cry, her second play got published. Her new play Holy Night has received a few readings and made it to the final round of the internationalist Playwright Contest with readings in New York late in 2012.

RSVP the event here. 

RBC Reviews Achebe's "There Was a Country"

"I believe quite frankly this country is at war..."  Wole Soyinka's words at the unveiling of Port Harcourt as UNESCO World Book Capital 2014 during the 5th Garden City Literary Festival,  re-echoed at the Rainbow Book Club’s January Reading of Chinua Achebe’s  There Was a Country. The reading which held Friday 25th January at the poolside of Le Meridien, Ogeyi Place, Port Harcourt, was explosive! While Professor. Soyinka made his comments with reference to the killings of the ‘Aluu Four’ last year, the sentiments at the reading were from 1967-1970, the years of the Nigerian Civil War. 

Chinua Achebe goes to great length to put the war into geographical and political context; quoting numerous sources and narrating the events in simple language, thus making his account accessible to a wide audience. This however was all but lost on the book club members who were more concerned with the content than the delivery of it. Some members felt that while Chinua Achebe is entitled to give his personal account of the war, his memoir coming forty two years later, was a bit late, opening old wounds and possibly inciting new ethnic hostilities. On the other hand, were those who felt that his book was timely, as one member questioned, ‘Has the war ended?’ He was referring to the killings done by Boko Haram. Indeed this group felt that the book was precautionary  and that our leaders need to be students of history to prevent it from repeating its self.

An ex-Biafran soldier, with scars from the war front amused us with his war tales and kicked the hornet’s nest when he asserted that Ojukwu started the Biafran war. While, in his book, Achebe is careful not to lay the blame squarely on Ojukwu’s shoulders, the ex-soldier--still referring to himself as a Biafran--gave his  eye-witness account, oblivious to the din his statements were causing. His was a sobering tale of suffering, famine and death.    

‘War is not simple,’ said Mrs. Judy Nwanodi, whose stay in Nigeria pre-dates Independence. Aunty Judy--as she is fondly called relocated to Nigeria from England with her husband in 1958--encouraged members to read as many accounts of the war as they could, because one person’s account could not adequately capture its numerous  complexities. She told of how her husband, who was actively involved in the creation of the old Rivers State, had all his law books burnt by the Biafrans and on one occasion, along with others, he was imprisoned  for his own safety. 

The youth, who though were not witnesses to the events in question, were surprisingly well informed on the subject. Debating the issue of meritocracy over the government quota system, the house was once again sharply divided among those who felt that meritocracy was the only way Nigeria would move forward, adding also that meritocracy would remove tribal domination. The opposing side said that it was the responsibility of government to address the social, political and economic inequalities that exist in the country, and that until these are addressed, the quota system remained a necessary evil.

Thus ended an eventful day, with more questions. 

Introducing LitCaf

Litcaf is a place of books, discussions and coffee. According to Tope Apoola, its founder "we unlock open-mindedness through seminars and the innovative promotion of the reading culture." LitCaf seeks to nurture budding literary talents and give them the opportunity work out of or gather at our hub.

The Opening

It's first book cafe is located on the first floor at E-Centre, Yaba, Lagos is to be opened to the public.  The event will feature: a book reading by Victor Ehikhamenor, the author of Excuse Me; songs by talented "Kuchi Kuchi" crooner Jodie and soul singer Bemyoda; spoken word performance by Obii, winner of the first Naija Poetry Slam.

Date: Saturday, 2nd March, 2013.

Time: 1pm
Venue: Litcaf, First Floor, E-Centre, Yaba, Lagos

Invite your friends!

Welcome Back!

We went off for a while. Without a word. Apologies. 

We are back now...and we are working to bring you the latest information about literature from Nigeria, and beyond. You will read about everything happening at the Rainbow Book Club and plans for the Garden City Literary Festival, 2013. Yes, you will read it all here, first. 

Pull a seat. Let's start this eventful journey once again. 

Welcome back! Welcome home!