Favourite Five: Femi Morgan

Femi Morgan is a writer, publicist and content manager. He is a curator at WriteHouse Collective, a social enterprise which organises Artmosphere, one of the country’s leading reading, culture and music events. The former journalist eats books, recommends books, chats up with book people. He tells us about his favourite five books. It is a long list interwoven with other books but an enjoyable read. 

Ake by Wole Soyinka 

Everyone who dines in the corridors of literature has an opinion of the white haired wizard of words, Wole Soyinka. I am still glued to his narration of his years of childhood, Ake, a quintessential memoir that tells of the formative bricks and the simplistic ideological foundations-the childhood mischief too.  His other works, Death and the King's Horseman, Lion and the Jewel and his socio-political writings give the impression that perhaps Soyinka never played pranks, never saw the world through the nature of a young boy in the dusty near-cosmopolitan Egba town. Ake is Soyinka’s work with a sense of humour.

Soyinka’s Ake also reveals Nigerian values before military conquistadors turned them to shit holes, dump sites and grave yards. You can only understand the value given to teachers, preachers, and other simple career people in Nigeria of our past. In present times, it boils down to a monopoly of money for respect, given to yahoo hustlers, political conspirators and gunmen. You can wish for the paradisal ambience and respect for religious multiplicity which has unfortunately morphed into hatred and unhealthy sentimentality. 

Only two non-fiction works have tried to usurp Ake from my heart, they are Victor Ehikhamenor’s Excuse Me, a beautiful masterpiece of writings and Pius Adesanmi’s Africa You’re Not a Country, a collection of articles, and a collection of essays respectively. How they have failed to trounce the childhood book in my heart, I can’t tell.  First love is the deepest.   

Tender Moments (Love Poems) by Niyi Osundare 

In my progress as a poet, I think I have read a lot of collections and it was a difficult task to choose from my hoard of great minstrels. From the great Odia Ofiemun, to journalist-poet, Sam Omatseye. Is it Tanure Ojaide’s works or Tutoba’s or Jumoke Verissimo's. Recently Emmanuel Uweru Okoh’s debut Garden and Caves and Tade Ipadeola’s Sahara Testament also got a nod on my shelves. But Niyi Osundare stands out like a sun on a hot Ojuelegba “waka-waka” afternoon. 

Osundare’s Tender Moments is his first major collection after his experience with wild lady Katrina. But he takes in this tragedy  basking in the euphoria of loving life, in the elements of happy memories and in the romantic concern for his home country.  Osundare is a poet with the depths of tradition, the imagery of modern nuances and the unique personality of an uncensored muse. Osundare is never complex but always beautiful. In this love collection, he shares the same sense of maturity that Ojaide’s The Beauty I Have Seen displays.  If you think that Osundare is “old school”, have a rethink because you will be caught pants down after reading this collection. Some lines: 

How can I forget

The day you blessed

Me with fire

Blanketed me in the con

Flagration of your sigh

Your fervent rainbow.

The Pornographer of Vienna by Lewis Crofts 

I stumbled on the book on the streets in Ibadan, while I was criss-crossing Lagos, Ibadan and Ile-Ife for books and at that time, I was asking myself fundamental questions about my art. It brought me delight and directions.     This is one of my “out-of-the box-books” of all time. The Pornographer of Vienna tells a developing story of a renowned Viennese visual artist, Egon Schiele without mincing words on the vulgarity, sexual preferences and psychological traumas.   What draws me to Lewis Crofts' portrayal of Egon Schiele is the ever “running away” nature of Egon, his discovery of sexual artistry and the understanding of the mind of radical, avant artists. Sex is worshipped in this book, as hot as hell is. 

The book was written in what I could call the “dark Austrian years of censorship and patronising patrons” but Egon Schiele didn’t have all the opportunities flung at his feet, in fact he was like a criminal likened only to French vagabond poet, Francios Villon.  

Only one book comes close to The Pornographer of Vienna, it is the novel, A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving, because of it’s clarity of narration. These two books are “open books” that you can find yourself looking straight into the eyes of the characters, feeling their skin, fondling with friendship, and crying for their creepiness.  

Monsignor Quixote by Graham Greene 

When I finished this delectable dish in 2009, I wrote “Greene will make you grin with wit and green with creativity…little drops of water makes the grasses greene.”

I love satires, it is what I call a language of laughter for only the initiated. Graham Greene in Monsignor Quixote takes a sweep on the church with rippling comical satire. The author takes a looking glass on the life, the disillusionment and the so-called privileges of Father Quixote, a catholic priest who is constantly faced with internal church politics and plebeian human natures. Greene is a captivating storyteller who makes the Father  ask questions in the mood swing way of philosopher, religious father and ordinary human. 

The core of Greene’s book is understanding humanity and the over-exaggeration of holiness placed as a burden on people just as ordinary as ourselves.  One can liken it to Anthony Trollope’s Barchester’s Towers in a certain way, except that Trollope is purely vindictive on the church; Greene on the other hand seems to be catching fun and making the reader catch fun too. The book is super funny. One new book that I have read that has quixotic characters is Chuma Nwokolo’s Diaries of a Dead African, a book in which I am well pleased.

Inheritance by Indira Ganesan 

I have read The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy: it confuses me.  However, Indira Ganesan’s novella Inheritance stands out as a book that truly opened my eyes to Indian culture in postmodern times. 

The book revolves around Sonil, a child with a disjointed family background (an unknown American father and a Indian mother, Laksmi, who abandons her for her relatives). Sonil begins her life as a listener of family history and grand misfortunes. She takes in all the tales from her absent-minded uncle. As time and age comes upon her, she falls in love with an American and begins to consider forgiving her mother. The book is a young woman’s search for life's meaning. It highlights the changing times of modern India, where there is rebellion against Indian customs. It also talks about early marriages, organised marriages and the ambivalent western cultures that has prospered families through hardwork on one hand, and has turned other hands into lazy logs on the other. Through the senses of a developing child, Sonil develops a notion of history from mere hearsay and diluted Indian mythology. 

Indira Ganessan is one who loves life and feels that people are still deluded with old traditions, superstitions even amidst modernism. With the fine tapestry of narration and a spree of characters, the rich, the poor and the disturbing she entices the reader to a book with no exact ending.

Meet the "Americanah"

Farafina is proud to announce the Nigerian edition of Americanah, the highly anticipated novel by award-winning author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The book will be released on April 21, 2013 in Lagos. In the months following the release, the author will go on a national book tour with stops in major cities across Nigeria. 

The Book

Americanah is a fearless novel set in Nigeria, England and America. It boldly takes on issues both big and small: love, race, home, hair, Obama, immigration, and self-invention. In the early 1990s, under Abacha’s government, Ifemelu and Obinze fall in love. People are leaving the country if they can and Ifemelu leaves for America, where alongside defeats and triumphs, she confronts the inevitable question of race. Obinze, unable to join her in America, goes on to live as an illegal immigrant in London. After several years they have both achieved success -- Ifemelu as a popular blogger about race, and Obinze as a wealthy man in the now democratic Nigeria. When Ifemelu decides to return to Nigeria, she and Obinze must both make the biggest decision of their lives.

Reviews

“Fearless. A towering achievement...From the place of Africans in the race politics in America, to love across continents, Americanah dares to bring us a world of a confident and self-made woman making her way in these complicated times. This is the Africa of our future. Sublime, powerful and the most political of Chimamanda's novels. She continues to blaze the way forward.” Binyavanga Wainaina, Caine Prize winner and author of One Day I Will Write About This Place

“Adichie is a word-by-word virtuoso with a sure grasp of social conundrums in Nigeria, East Coast America, and England; an omnivorous eye for resonant detail; a gift for authentic characters; pyrotechnic wit; and deep humanitarianism. Americanah is a courageous, world-class novel about independence, integrity, community, and love—and what it takes to become a ‘full human being.” Booklist, a publication of the American Library Association:

"As she did so masterfully with Half of a Yellow Sun, Adichie paints on a grand canvas, boldly and confidently…This is a very funny, very warm and moving intergenerational epic that confirms Adiche’s virtuosity, boundless empathy and searing social acuity." Dave Eggers, Pulitzer prize finalist, and author of What is What

“Adichie’s great gift is that she has always brought us into the territory of the previously unexplored. She writes about that which others have kept silent. Americanah is no exception. This is not just a story that unfolds across three different continents, it is also a keenly observed examination of race, identity and belonging in the global landscapes of Africans and Americans.”  Colum McCann, IMPAC award winner and author of Let The World Spin

Upon release Americanah will be available in all major bookstores across the country but can be pre-ordered by emailing orders@kachifo.com, calling +2348077364217 or tweeting at: @farafinabooks 

Price: Hardback N5000, Paperback N2500.

Today is the International Children's Book Day

It seems there is something interesting book wise almost every month. Some thing to be happy about.  Today is the International Children's Book Day. The Rainbow Book Club and the Garden City Literary Festival always support children and literature as we believe that youth is an advantage, the best time to get anyone interested in anything, reading inclusive. 

According to Tempo, it is "The celebration of Children’s Book Day is coordinated by the International Board on Books For Young People (IBBY), a non-government organization with an official status in the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The theme for 2013 is “Celebrating Children’s Books and Inspiring A Love For Reading."

How will you celebrate today? Read to a child. Buy a child a book. Inspire the love for words, for books, one way or the other.

Here, at the Voice, we will celebrate with an excerpt from Uche Umez' book The Runaway Hero. Read. Enjoy. Share with the children around you. Happy International Children's Book Day!

FLYING BACKWARDS
I slid down so fast from the wall that I landed flat on my chest. The fall was painful, like a blow. I couldn’t stand up at once. So I lay still on the ground, allowing the pain run its course.

I was in the compound. My plan was still on track. I felt glad that everything seemed to be working just fine. The next step was to tiptoe to the shed. Unlocking it wouldn’t be much of a problem; I had my penknife on me. I crawled to the back of the shed to see if there was a window: it was boarded up with planks. It would take me two hours or so to take out the planks with my penknife and a stone. I didn’t have that much time. I slipped back to the door, hoping the girl had not been spirited away on foot while I was waiting for nightfall.
‘I’ve come to get you out,’ I whispered through the keyhole. ‘Just be quiet. You hear?’

I didn’t hear any response. She must be asleep. As I repeated those words, I heard some shuffling. I laid my head against the door. I nearly jumped when someone rapped on it.

‘Get us out of here,’ cried a girl.
That must be her. But she had mentioned us. ‘Is there any other person with you?’ I asked, hoping she would say no.
‘Yes,’ she replied.
Yes? I froze up a second. How was I going to save two persons?
‘We are five in here.’
‘F-five?!’
‘Yes, five!’
My legs would have given way if I hadn’t managed to control myself just in time. This was far more than what I’d expected. I didn’t have any problems with saving one person, but five?! That was way past my limit. ‘Why didn’t you all scream?’ I asked.

‘We’ve been screaming,’ said the girl. ‘Nobody hears it. This place is more of a no-man’s-land. Even so, any scream and the giant gatekeeper will slap you so hard your teeth will rattle.’
How was I going to free five children? I should have stayed back, minded my own business.
 ‘I want to see my mummy,’ a boy sobbed.

‘Shut up,’ I said. I didn’t want him to wake up the gatekeeper lest we all get caught.
I began to shake the door knob. But it was firm. I put my penknife in the keyhole, in the way I had seen a spy do in a movie. In the same way I’d done a couple of times when I went to the food store. I didn’t hear the usual click as I twisted it around the keyhole. I pushed the door. The lock still did not give. I twisted the penknife some more; it was totally stuck.

I gripped it with both hands, wedging my feet against the door. I pulled and pulled. I began panting. The door had failed to open. If the square clip could unlock the door to the food store, then the penknife would do just fine. But this was not the case. It was proving much harder than I thought. Tired out, I bent down to catch my breath.
‘Please help.’
‘Open the door.’
‘Don’t leave us.’
The children were beside themselves now. Someone banged at the door from inside.
 ‘I’m trying…’ I gritted my teeth, frustrated. ‘Give me a little more time.’
‘You think you have the whole night?’ said the girl.

I wanted to reply. But the words got caught in my throat as I saw the glow of a lantern, the long shape of the gatekeeper in a window of the main building. I tried to pull my penknife out of the keyhole. I couldn’t. So I left it there, stuck.

‘Get away from the door,’ I whispered. I dived to the ground just when the gatekeeper held up the lantern. My heart shrank as I stretched out. I hoped he wouldn’t see me once he swept the light around. I wished I had hidden behind the drum standing some feet from the shed. The gatekeeper stood still at the window, as if too sleepy to even care. The room was dark again. He must have crawled back to bed. I reached for my penknife once more. ‘You almost got me in trouble,’ I said. ‘I can’t help anyone, if you all don’t shut up.’
‘How long will it take?’ the girl asked. She sounded rude; I said nothing. If I should try to speak back to her, I might end up not helping anyone.

I went on picking the lock. After several attempts, the penknife came loose. I yelped in excitement. This time I pushed the penknife into the keyhole, more carefully than ever. I was turning it this way and that, when I heard a small click. Still, I went on turning it until I heard another click.

My breaths came out in quick puffs as I waited for the lock to give. Finally, the door squeaked open. The children crowded around, pushing me away. I staggered, but I didn’t fall. I felt somehow giddy and fancied myself floating on the cool night breeze.

‘Come back here,’ I called as a pig started to squeal.
I almost seized up when a ray of light came on again. The gatekeeper had appeared in the window once more. The boys were already at the gate. Grabbing the girl by the wrist, I pulled her towards the drum. I turned as I heard some noises.

‘Why are they moving like that?’ I asked, wondering why the boys were hopping around the gate.
‘Their legs are tied,’ the girl said.

I quickly ran to the boys as they began to shake the gate.
‘Stop, stop it,’ I said in a rush. ‘Let me get that off your feet.’ I squatted and cut the cloths at their ankles. ‘There.’ I pointed to the gap under the gate. ‘Down there, lie flat, squeeze your body through it,’ I commanded as if I were their leader.

The girl screamed. My eardrums tingled.
The gatekeeper was stamping over to her, his lantern swung back and forth. He looked like a giant, though lean. Terror gripped me. Blood pumped hard in my head. Then he swayed around in an abrupt yet drunken way and went after the boys. I ran back to the girl to cut her loose too, before the giant could turn.

‘Let’s roll the drum!’ I said.
 ‘Why?’ asked the girl.
‘You talk too much! We roll it to the wall –’ I broke off as I heard someone scream.
The gatekeeper had grabbed a boy by the leg. But the other boys had made it through the gap. I panicked. But, with the timely help of the girl, I rested the empty drum against the wall. She shot me a startled look when I told her to get on it. ‘I can’t climb,’ she cried. ‘I don’t climb.’
‘Go on top, now!’ I shouted, leaning my back against the drum.

She held me by the shoulders and, gingerly, lifted herself onto the drum. ‘What do I do now?’ She appeared shaky.
‘Hey monkey, where you think say you dey go?’ asked a roaring voice. ‘Come down, yeye girl!’

I started as the gatekeeper came at me. He was dragging the boy after him along the ground. Then the girl leapt so high I feared she would slam her jaw into the wall. But her hands caught the edge neatly. She screamed out, even before she could pull herself onto the wall. I turned to see what had made her scream. And the gatekeeper sent me flying backwards with a heavy blow to the shoulder. I landed on my back.
The pain was so severe that it knocked me out for a minute. When I opened my eyes, the sky glared down at me. I tried to sit up, but was shaken by a roar.

‘Who be you? Wetin you dey fin’ for here?’
I couldn’t place the voice. I could only make out a shadow over me. It gave off a strong sweetish odour as it asked me more questions than my mind could hold. I blinked, thinking I had begun to see double.
 ‘Who send you?’ asked the roaring voice.

I shut my eyes as a lantern came close enough to burn my face. Then I figured out who the shadow was. The gatekeeper had caught me. I reached out a hand to feel for my penknife so I could scare him off with it. But my heart broke. It was nowhere close by. I had saved all the other children, yet I did not save myself.

Mazi Nwonwu: Social Media and Publishing

It's April already. Happy New Month. Every Monday in April, we will post an interview on social media and writing, especially as it affects Nigerian publishing. Here is the first in the series, an interview with writer, Mazi Chiagozie Nwonwu. 

Social media and writing: 

Social media for me started with Booksy, an online portal for writers, beyond Nigeria where you can post your work and get feedback. It was international, so we had few Africans there so most times when you write, you don't get the right kind of feedback. They didn't understand where you are coming from or the kind of culture that you are writing from; I wasn't so into it but most of the stories there were my trial stories.

That was before Facebook which I joined in 2008. Facebook also served the same purpose though better because you are connected to Nigerians who understand the culture you are writing from. They can see themselves or people they know in your stories. I used Facebook notes to share my work.  I tagged people who read and commented. They gave me a lot of feedback. Then we didn't have the sort of structure that we have now: creative writers' programmes, writers' meets, all these things came from social media. It was when we met on social media that the conscious thought to meet off social media arose. 

I started blogging around 2007/2008 too. I have two blogger accounts, and a Wordpress account, where I post my writings and thoughts. 

Has social media helped you as a writer? 

It has definitely helped my work. I don't think that a writer can complain that social media is detrimental to their work because if you don't want to see anyone, you can easily block that person and you are free. Social media has been positive for my work. As a writer, you need others, people with like minds, with similar ideas, who do what you are doing. For writers, you need to gain a lot from people you look up to, bigger writers, Facebook is the place that you can actually interact with them though you don't comment, you could read what they are saying and pick a lot from it. I have used Facebook for that to a great extent.

Twitter has been of lesser influence because I think that it is too noisy. So, I try to use Twitter, I realise that you need to pay more attention. I feel that Twitter needs more attention, one needs to follow the information that one has sent out more. Twitter works as a place where you can go to look for links to articles and sites, things to read. Twitter just gives you the links; it does not engage or hold my attention as much as Facebook.

It has to do more with the platform and what you use it for. For Twitter, you give something out, someone gives a response to it, but it is more difficult to follow conversations on Twitter. But on Facebook, you can go back and read everybody's comments-what the person said, how someone else responded. You can always read them; the conversations can get really deep. 

Also I discovered that for publicity, Facebook does it better for me. It has more tools that you can use. There is the events tool, the share tool. Twitter only allows you to mention. I have a bias for Facebook.

Picture from: www.authormedia.com

The Nigerian Publishing Sphere and Social Media

I think that we are scared. I think that for a long time, the publishing industry has not gained much. We publish a thousand or two thousand copies and you sell it out and you are happy. Some may not even finish selling it in a country of how many millions. Someone told me that in Lekki alone, there are about 4 million people; he said that as a publisher, think about going to Lekki and selling 50, 000 copies of your book. In Lekki, you are sure that 3 million can afford to buy the books because they are mostly wealthy people, the upper middle class, those who should be reading who live there. And I wonder, if we have 4 million in Lekki and we cannot even sell a thousand copies for the whole country, then why do we say that we have a publishing industry? I don't think that we have a publishing industry in this country, what we have are a group of people who so much love books and the art of producing them and feel they have to keep it alive so it is not about the business. But it can be about it. It is just about us thinking outside the box.

Publicity, Publishing and Social Media

I am looking at publicity, at moving away from the conventional we-we publicity that we do. On social media, if I am sharing information about book events, I tend to share to those that I know will be interested in it, in writing so I share to those groups that are writers' groups. I am thinking of why not share with groups that are not even writers' groups? Why not move away from this circle of writers that we have, the circle we already know? I think that if the publishers can think of reaching out to people who are not traditionally into books or who we think are not, it may help. 

Picture from moxzee.com

One-on-one marketing and books
A few months ago, I was at an event, manning a book stand, but I was able to sell books to people who are not regular readers because I could interact with them as they kept asking: have you read this book? Which book can you recommend? Because I'd read most of the books, it was easy for me to talk about the books, to sell. So, it could work, I know that it can work, it is just that, it needs resources to work. 

The musicians do one-on-one marketing as they take their music to the streets So we as publishers need to find new ways of reaching the people. And one way you can do that is...  you can use the passenger buses to advertise. It does not have to be the publisher doing it but you can pay people to do the leg work; it needs money. So, I think that's another restriction: money. There is no money to publish these books and advertise them, the way they should. I know in the West before a book comes out, they are talking about it in the media. 

They also need to move away from this cheap and easy publicity that social media grants. They should use it but also look at traditional publicity: TV, radio, billboards. Even paying for adverts on Facebook. Google charges for adverts and they put them everywhere. 

Can the challenge of cash be solved by social media?

Yes and No.  Yes, social media can come in because they could start talking about a book and people will be like what are they talking about? I want to see this book. They will see reviews of the book and want to read the book. Social media can take it that far but can it take it beyond that the level of "I will like to read this book to that level of I actually want to buy this book? 

I don't think so. I think that's where the money comes in; the cost of the books, our books are quite expensive. For someone that earns about N20, 000 a month and you expect the person to take out N1,000 or N2,000 to buy a book, when the person can take that money to Ikeja Underbridge and buy 10 copies of UK best sellers, interesting books, to enjoy the experience of reading, to be entertained. So, if I can get ten times the entertainment that I can get why should I buy just one? The thing is that I buy most Nigerian books just to support our writers, to encourage them. There is the factor of economics that affects book reading. You cannot say that someone who has not eaten should come and buy books, people are dealing with more physical issues, things that are more pressing to them than spending money to buy books.

On the Nigerian reading culture

Nigerians do read. I buy second hand books and at times, you have to fight with another buyer for a particular book, they will be like "I saw that one first". And people pay. I see people buying 20 books. Publishers need to find a way to bring the price of books down, and the only way to bring the price down is by publishing more. The more you print, the less the price. It's where we need to think towards so that's where the government needs to come in; they should give publishers money to invest in their industry. And government should also buy the books. If they want to encourage publishing, they should go to every publisher and ask "how many books they publish every year; I need 10, 000 copies of each book published this year." The books will not lie in government offices but should be shared to libraries and schools.

Picture from: thetypecaste.wordpress.com  

Reading experience and social media

I think social media is redefining what we know as reading. I got to know a lady on Twitter recently, @toyinfab. She is of the Twitter generation. She writes very well. She writes social conscious stories. She has a huge following on social media. Many of us who are traditional writers do not even know she exists. She is not within that circle of writers. She was at the last Book N Gauge and I think that was her first book event ever. This girl did not go through the traditional route. She just said that "I want to write!" and she is doing just that. People who read her are not even those you find in the conventional writing audience. She has been able to create her own niche. If she wants to publish, she can pack her stories and send them off to Amazon, and she is published. 

Our publishers are yet to understand that the game has changed. They are still looking at that old  way whereby the writer approaches them with the book; they will edit it, the slow route. But it does not happen that way any more.

As an example, I was part of AfroSF, the first Pan-African Science Fiction anthology edited and published by Ivor Hartman of Storytime. What Ivor did was publish it online first. So asides editing, it didn't cost him anything, I think. He wanted to publish the paperback; he had a strategy: the money generated from online sales will be used for that. I think he was looking at five months timeline for the paperback edition. The book was published online in December and by January; there was enough money from sales to do a print run—POD.

Now, people say Africans don't write or read Science Fiction, but that book generated a lot of buzz, more than any other book that was published in Africa last year. It's still online. People outside Africa are reading it. Social media expands your space. I met Ivor on social media. The call for submissions was on social media. We were sent the MS through the internet. All the reviews are online, I see them on social media, he tags me or posts them on the AfroSF page and I see them. So, it's something that will go very far. We just need to frame how we are going to handle it, use it.

Social Media and book forms

I agree because I notice something on the internet, you have to actually love literature to spend that much time reading an article of 5,000 words. People are more comfortable with shorter pieces because of the short attention span, as you are reading this you are looking at other opened tabs. So, people ask: is it short? They will now read. So, if you have a novella of 20, 000 words and you break it down into 2000 words and you are getting feedback, it may work.

Hype, Writing and Social Media

I agree that social media can generate false hype because people can appear to be what they are not. There is Google, anybody can appear intelligent with Google. Definitely, just Google the stuff up and copy and paste, then people will hype you. Fifty Shades of Grey had an interesting story to tell, forget how the story was told, so it is that question of which is more important: the writing or the story? For that book, the writing was not so important to the audience, these are people who do not care much about literary devices, these are people who just want stories. Yarn us make we hear. And she told them what they wanted to hear. It was word of mouth, if you don't like it, you won't talk about it. It was the writerly types that read it and are like “what is this?” I read it and I was like wow because she had a story to tell. It is the kind of stories we had in Hints—they were not serious literature, but people loved them, believed in them, and hyped them.

Social Media and New Nigerian Writers
Social media needs a lot of time, it is a business of its own. Myne Whitman has done a whole lot for young Nigerian writers in recent years; she opened an avenue for them to thrive. She opened the door and a lot of people came in—a lot of people are being discovered through that platform. There is a lot of talent there. This is a place where publishers and movie makers should go to look for writers. There is no type of story you won’t find on Naijastories. However many people who see themselves as serious writers do not like posting their writings there. Somehow I think it is like a ritual of passage for many writers.

--Interview was sent by Temitayo Olofinlua

Call for Entries: The NLNG Prize

Entries are now invited for the NLNG Prize for Nigerian Literature. This year, the competition is for poetry and is open to Nigerian writers all over the world who have published works of poetry.

Chika Unigwe won last year for her novel On Black Sisters Street.

The deadline for submission is April 12th, 2013.

More information about the prize can be found here.

Excuse Us London

Victor Ehikhamenor is no stranger to the GCLF blog. He was been featured here and here. 

The Event

Ehikhamenor and Nkem Ivara will read to a UK public reading from their new books and conversations on African writing and publishing. Ehikhamenor will be reading from his bestselling nonfiction book Excuse Me, and Nkem Ivara will read from her romance novel e-book Closer than a Brother. The event will be held on 6 April, 2013 and is to be moderated by writer Ike Anya, with conversations led by literary critic Ikhide Ikheloa.

Inua Ellams, a word and graphic artist, will animate the event with his poetry performance, described as work of “deeply original beauty.” Ellams is an acclaimed performance poet, who has appeared at events organized by the BBC, Tate Modern, British Museum, The Royal Opera House, amongst others.

Time: 2.00pm and 5.30pm

Venue: Africa Centre, 38 King Street, Covent Garden London, WC2E 8JT United Kingdom.

For more information, please write ei@vgconcepts.com. You can also call 08060050835 or +44 (0) 20 7836 1973. The Twitter hashtag for the event is #ExcuseUsLondon. Details about the live-streaming of the event and general updates can be found on the ‘Excuse Us London’ event page on Facebook

Their Works

Ehikhamenor’s nonfiction book Excuse Me! (Parresia Publishers, 2012) is a collection of humorous essays and keen observations about being Nigerian by Victor Ehikhamenor. Touching on politics, love, immigration, as well as other broad subjects, the book successfully weaves a satirical narrative around contemporary African experience. He has been featured on the BBC and CCTV.

Nkem Ivara’s Closer than a Brother (Whispers Publishing, 2013) is a contemporary Nigerian romance novel.

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Yewande Omotoso Reads in Lagos

Join book lovers in Lagos this Saturday as Yewande Omotoso reads from her novel Bom Boy. 

The Book

Bom Boy was shortlisted for the 2012 Sunday Times Fiction Prize in South Africa as well as the M-Net Literary Awards 2012 and won the 2012 South African Literary Award for First-Time Published Author. Bom Boy tells the tale of Leke, a troubled young man living in the suburbs of Cape Town. He develops strange habits of stalking people, stealing small objects and going from doctor to doctor in search of companionship rather than cure. Through a series of letters written to him by his Nigerian father whom he has never met, Leke learns about a family curse; a curse which his father had unsuccessfully tried to remove. Bom Boy is a well-crafted, and complex narrative written with a sensitive understanding of both the smallness and magnitude of a single life.

Read about Bom Boy here. Read an extract. 

Yewande Omotoso

The Writer

Yewande Omotoso was born in Barbados and grew up in Nigeria with her Barbadian mother, Nigerian father and two older brothers. The family moved to South Africa in 1992. Omotoso studied architecture at the University of Cape Town, worked as an architect for several years and went on to complete a Masters degree in Creative Writing. Bom Boy is Omotoso’s debut novel and was published in South Africa by Modjaji Books. She is currently working on her second novel. Yewande lives in Johannesburg.

The Event

Date: 30th March 2013

Venue: Patabah Bookstore, Adeniran Ogunsanya Shopping Mall Surulere, Lagos.

Time: 5-7pm

RSVP the event here

Copies of Bom Boy published by Bookcraft limited will be on sale and Yewande will be available to sign. Come along with friend.