|  | PAWA's newsletter (January to March 2024) | This is a newsletter of PAWA activities for the first quarter of 2024 | |  | 4 Must-Read Books From East Africa: From Tanzanian Masters to Ugandan Queens | | |  | GUINNESS WORLD RECORD READING ALOUD CONTESTANT VISITS PAWA HOUSE | Sophia Boadi, a Ghananian contestant for the Guinness World Record Reading Aloud Marathon Attempt, recently visited PAWA HOUSE, the Headquarters of the Pan African Writers Association (PAWA) and the Ghana Associatiin Of Writers (GAW) in Accra, Ghana.
During the visit, Boadi who is trying to break the current record of 124 hours set in 2022 by a Turkish citizen, Rysbal Isakov had useful discussions with officials of PAWA and GAW on her bid which is set to commence in February 2024.
In addition to reading aloud to members of the public, Boadi will also mount an exhibition of books written by African Writers during her attempt. The contestant later handed over a copy of the official permission from Guinness World Records to the PAWA Secretary General, Dr Wale Okediran.
While assuring Sophia Boadi of the support of PAWA and GAW, Dr Okediran donated some books written by African Writers to be part of the contestant's reading marterial. | | |  | Professor Bill Ndi to join the Panel Discussion on 2023 Outstanding African Creative Books Written in English: Novels, Drama, Poetry, Children's Books, February 25, 2024 | Professor Bill F. Ndi, poet, playwright, storyteller, critic, translator & Fellow of The Booker T. Washington Leadership Institute is an American-Southern Cameroonian who was educated at the University of Yaoundé, Nigeria: ABSU, Paris: ISIT, the Sorbonne, Paris VIII & Cergy-Pontoise where he obtained his doctorate degrees in Languages: Translation and Languages, Literatures and Contemporary Civilizations. He has held teaching positions at the Paris School of Languages, the University of the Sunshine Coast at Sippy Downs, the University of Queensland, Brisbane, St Lucia and Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia. He is presently Professor of Modern Languages, Communication and Philosophy at Tuskegee University, Alabama, USA. He has published well over 40 books in various genres. | | Literature Works that shaped Our Lives | By Douglas Ogbankwa Esq.@douglasogbankwa@gmail.com
It was Francis Bacon that once said: “Reading makes a man, writing makes a prepared man, while speaking makes a complete man.” And so, as young boys and girls, who loved to read, we started with Queen Primer and Later Common Errors in English by Jowitz and Nnamonu, that shaped our English. Of course, I inherited my mother’s dictionary. My mother was a teacher and this assisted me in having access to a lot of books.
I was fortunate to have a father that bought newspapers, so I was selling the old newspapers, then I started reading newspapers when I was in Primary 3 and then I bought my first news paper Champion Newspaper when I was in Primary 6 in Arinze Primary School in Benin City. Now, I read myself in National newspapers and even International online publications. What a feeling! It is your habits that determine what you will be. The apple does not fall far from the tree. Around that same time I read Lamb Tales from Shakespeare from where I read epics of Williams Shakespeare like King Leah, Midsummer Night Dreams, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, the Merchant of Venice, As You Like It, Macbeth, The Taming of the Shrew –
which shaped my character in handling stubborn women, which I enjoyed doing with seamless skills as a young man, using the tactics acquired from from the book. I came across lovely books like Mr. SMO Aka’s My Father’s Car, The African writers’ series had sublime books like the Passport of Mallam Millian, Efuru and the Rivers Between, all written by the first female author in Nigeria – Flora Nwapa. I read Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, when I was in JSS 2, from where I churned out interesting Igbo Proverbs like: He who brings Kola brings life, since they have learned to shoot with out missing, I too have learned to fly without stopping, you stand in the ruins of the house of a brave man to point at the house of a coward. I also read other books by Chinua Achebe like :Arrow of God,” “Girls of War” and just before he died, I read his brutally frank book – “There Was a Country.”
We were also invited into the amazing books and poems of the first African to win a Nobel Prize for Literature, Prof. Wole Soyinka. I read “Death and the King’s Horse Man, Kogi’s Harvest, The Man Died, The Mystery Gun Man”, etc. I like Wole Soyinka’s poems. They are mostly written in free verse. In “Abiku” the persona says: “In vain your bangles cast, charmed circles at my feet, I am Abiku, calling for the first And the repeated time.”
I reckon that Professor John Pepper Clark also wrote “Abiku”, just as he wrote “The Casualties”, “The Nigerian Railways”, “Ibadan”, etc. Worthy of mention is the satirical monologue, “The Telephone Conversation”, by Prof. Wole Soyinka that lampooned the needless recourse to racism and white supremacy. Talking about satires, who would forget Prof. Niyi Osundare with his profound satires, which include “They too are the Earth”, spurned from his Anthology: “Songs of the Earth”, where he asked the rhetorical question: “Are they of this Earth?
Those who Harry the Hills and fritter the forests?” He also deprecated the epileptic power supply in Nigeria orchestrated by those who run the Power Sector when he stated in his untitled Satire, that: “A Desperate Match stabs the dark in Nepa’s Darkdom”. The poems in different regions in Africa had their unique motif based on unique historical experiences. East african poems dwelled on the paradox of independence. Poems like Richard Ntiru’s “Pauper “, Henry Barlow’s “Building the Nation “, jared Ngira’s “No Coffin, No Grave”, etc.
In Southern Africa, most of the poems depict racism and colonialism. Poems like Oswald Mtshali’s “The Washer Woman’s Prayer”, Dennis Brutu’s ‘”Night Fall in Soweto,” and ‘”A Traboudor I traverse,” et. al. In West Africa the motif of the poems dwelt on cultural reawakening. You have poems like Olokun by J.P., where the persona said: “I am Jealous and Passionate like Jehovah, God of the Jews.”
You had a short but profound poem by Kofi Awoonor called “The Cathedral” where the persona posited thus: “On this dirty patch, a tree once stood shedding incense on the infant corn it’s boughs stretched across a heaven brightened by the last fires of a tribe. They sent surveyors and builders who cut that tree planting in its place a huge senseless cathedral of doom.”
Who will forget foreign books like “Animal Farm”, “Ninety Eighty Four” by George Orwell. “Some animals are equal, but others are more equal to others.” A prose whose thematic exploration dwelt on the deceit by power mongers and convenience criticism, viewed viz a viz the burden of Leadership that leads to the maintenance of an oppressive status quo. Who will forget :The Lord of the Flies:- By Thomas Golding, which has three profound themes that defines the essence of mankind to wit: 1. Man’s inhumanity to man. 2. Man’s way is inherently evil; and 3. British civilization or any other Civilization for that matter can not stop man’s irrational behavior.
‘The Old Man and the Sea’ and ‘Arms and the Man’ by Ernest Hermmingway. ‘The Great Expectation’ and ‘Oliver Twist’, by Charles Dickens. ‘The Mayor of Castebridge’ by Thomas Hardy, ‘A Tale of Two Cities’, by Charles Dickens were some of the profound prose we read. By the way, we also read prose for pleasure, I read all of the James Hardley Chase Collections, but my best was: “No Orchard for Miss Blandish”, a riveting piece of prose that kept me on the edge, while I read.
I even read Mills and Boon, which gave young Nigerian girls an el dorado impression about love, which they found not to be true when they encountered Nigerian men, one of the best in the world in love game.
I ready thrillers like those of John Grisham: The Last Jury, the Firm, the Partner, a Time to Kill, the Client, etc. I also read the Trilogy of Jeffrey Archer: Kane and Abel, the Prodigal Daughter and Shall We Tell the President. Same way, I was entertained by the vintage prose of Sidney Sheldon: The Master of the Game, the Wirl Winds of the gods, If Tomorrow Comes. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, a Woman of Substance, by Barbara Taylor Bradford, the Odeyssey File, Dogs of War, the Devil’s Alternative all by Fredrick Forsythe.
We also had lovely foreign poems like: ‘Two Looks at Two’, by Robert Frost, ‘Death Be Not Proud’ by John Donne, ‘My Last Duchess’ by Thomas Browning, William Wordsworth’s ‘The World is Too Much With Us’ and ‘The Solitary Reaper’. When you see people speak and write well it is not a mistake. It was borne out of nights of burning the midnight oil and candle reading books. If you want to hide something in Nigeria, put it in a book or newspaper, they will only see it when they are eating “Suya” and “Akara”, by which time, It would have become stale!
At this juncture, I must commend Pastor Michael Omoregbee ‘Uncle Mike’ my English and Literature Teacher, of Standard Lectures and Standard Schools in Benin City, who inspired me to rekindle my interest in Literature, upon which I have even formed the Benin Writers’ Society, the only one of its kind in the whole Edo and Delta State, to my knowledge. Teachers rewards are now on Earth, not in heaven. Thank you very much sir.
“Teachers rule the World, not Politicians.” -George Walker Bush, the 41st President of the United States. Most of our young ones no longer read. They only watch BBNaija, African Magic, ZeeWorld- Zombie’s World, Sound City, Rok, etc. They are also enmeshed in partying, posting pictures on Facebook without ‘facing their book’. A generation that does not read cannot lead and in the land of the blind, a one eyed man is King. Government is not even doing enough.
There are no programmes in place to rekindle the reading culture. They are concerned about hosting the Winners of BBNaija, Beauty Queens and Musicians. We better wake up, else others will write our story for us to read!
▪︎About the Writer: Douglas Ogbankwa Esq. is the President of the Benin Writers’ Society (BWS). | |  | HOW BOB DYLAN BLURRED THE BOUNDARIES BETWEEN LITERATURE AND POPULAR MUSIC | By Griffin Ondaatje
Marlon James agreed to do this interview about Bob Dylan who won the Nobel Award in Literature in 2016 even though a Musician. In this interview, Marlon was generous and spontaneous, and had wonderful insights about an artist as mercurial as Dylan. Griffin Ondaatje: I noticed in an interview back in 2016 you mentioned that you are a fan of Bob Dylan. When he won the Nobel prize that year there was that sort of strange reaction where some writers didn’t think he should’ve won. One of the people I interviewed in 2002 when making my documentary, Complete Unknown, was the poet Robert Creeley.
I remember asking him twenty years ago: Do you think there’s a reason why an artist like Dylan couldn’t ever win the Nobel Prize? And he said: “Well, the only reason is the social imaginations of hierarchy that exist in the arts.” I wonder if you would agree with that. How did you feel about it when Dylan won?
Marlon James: Well I think, you know, without getting…I wasn’t gonna start out getting racial in it but let’s get racial in it. You know I found very few, if any, black writers who had a problem with Dylan winning the prize. And I think it’s not necessarily a racial point so much as two things I don’t think happen with black artists. I don’t think we rank art. I don’t think because you are a folk singer you’re more important than me a rapper who’s more important than me a poet. Which is why we can have these type of creative meetings where those people are all there.
I also think that there’s no separation with us between the so-called Great American Song Book—which is mostly people singing blues—and everything else. Music has always been a gateway to self-expression and self-expression’s always filtered its way through music. I don’t think that distinction is there between us. Also, you know, the Nobel was pretty clear that it was for how he expanded the American songbook. I don’t think songwriting is poetry. I don’t think lyrics are poetry. But I do think lyrics are literature. And I think that most of what we consider literature came out of song.
GO: I like that. And so— I don’t think lyrics are poetry. But I do think lyrics are literature. And I think that most of what we consider literature came out of song. MJ: —And a lot of people were like: He’s not even the best songwriter! But you know that’s like saying John Steinbeck is not the best writer because he won the Nobel Prize. If we’re gonna use that as a standard I can always find somebody better. That’s not the standard. The standard is the kind of impact he’s had. And he’s had a profound impact on literature. He’s had a profound impact, certainly, on black literature. He’s had a profound impact on song. You know if it wasn’t for Bob Dylan, Sam Cooke couldn’t have gotten a social conscience.
GO: You mean with Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come” being partly inspired by “Blowin’ in the Wind?”
MJ: Right. So I agree with Creeley that it’s the sort of the intellectual distinctions and the kind of intellectual snobbery and so on that would’ve stood in the way. I’m glad the Nobel committee (at the time) didn’t have it. But, even in my own work, I mean I wish I could say I was as influenced by books as I was by music. And I wish I could say I was influenced by quote unquote serious music as much as I am by pop music. I’m just not highfalutin and brilliant enough! [laughs] GO: I grew up with five older brothers and sisters in a household that always had music playing somewhere. So I think, for me, it became like this all-embracing art form. I wonder though, Marlon, do you remember the first time hearing Dylan when you were a kid?
MJ: Oh yeah. The first time I heard Dylan I didn’t know it was Dylan cause it wasn’t Dylan singing. Like a lot of people—certainly in Jamaica—I thought “I Shall Be Released” was a Jamaican song, you know? A lot of the old Dylan songs I heard was not Dylan. It was reggae and ska artists covering Dylan. The first time I actually heard Dylan’s “I Shall Be Released” I thought he was covering the Jamaican song. You can hear how much of Jamaican ’60s popular music drew from Bob.
The second time I think I heard him was probably in Church. Talking about how people segment music… for a lot of people Bob Dylan’s sort of Christian phase was a nadir for them. That’s when he was in the wilderness. But a lot of times when black musicians talk about Bob Dylan they’re talking about that era, you know? They’re talking about “Gotta Serve Somebody.”
GO: And other great songs on Saved and Shot of Love being part of that era? MJ: Yeah. But the first time I heard Bob Dylan on the radio… it was “Hurricane.” GO: You heard it when it first came out? How old would’ve you been? MJ: I was gonna say it might’ve been when it came out….I’m trying to remember when “Hurricane” came out.
GO: It came out in 1976… so you would’ve been around six years-old? MJ: That would explain… I was six! And I heard it because Bob Dylan had such a profound influence on Bob Marley—by extension people wanna hear who Marley listened to. “Hurricane’s” a pretty stomping pop track. I pretty much heard what everybody else heard because I was listening to radio.
GO: I remember, in the liner notes of Biograph, Bob Marley says he liked Slow Train Coming and Saved… He especially liked “Gotta Serve Somebody.” And he said something like: “If you’re an artist like Bob Dylan… it doesn’t mean anything to you that people might not like what you’re doing.” So when you moved to Minnesota, Marlon, you were already a fan of Dylan in a deep way?
MJ: I was a fan of Dylan long before I came to Minnesota. I mean I didn’t come to Minnesota till I was thirty-six. And I think the first Bob Dylan album that I bought… I’m trying to remember… it might’ve been Oh Mercy. I mean I am an ’80s kid. I don’t know if it’s the first album of his, though, that I just couldn’t take out of the CD player. For me eventually listening to Oh Mercy made me want to find all his stuff. I can’t remember what album “Jokerman” was on…
GO: Infidels. MJ: Infidels—and listening to Infidels of course there is a reggae song on it. I mean I liked Bob, but Bob didn’t click for me till I went even further back and heard Blonde on Blonde. Blonde on Blonde which I love—and I never learned Bob in order—Blonde on Blonde led me to Bringing It All Back Home which is probably still my favorite Dylan album. GO: I read somewhere that you really like the song “It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding).” MJ: Hmm-hmm. GO: What was it about that song in particular? MJ: It is one of my favorite songs. I think because I like being haunted by a song. That song has been with me through some pretty rough times. And it’s been with me through some pretty cool times. I mean you know in Jamaica reaching—in Church we call it the end of myself—you know, struggling with my identity and struggling with being a writer and not being understood and feeling alone and listening to that song. It’s weird how listening to songs that can seem despondent can make you feel hopeful. And I love that it didn’t try to make its point in two-and-a-half minutes, and then get out of the way. A Dylan song ends when it damn well ready to end. The singing, the chords, the sort of moodiness and kind of sadness of it. You know, if you’re into Dylan there’s always “that song” that made you get into Dylan. GO: That song somehow… when you talk about it helping you through hard times… It seems also a song that helps inoculate you to some of the world. He says in one lyric: “Advertising signs con you… meanwhile life outside goes on all around you.” And also just the chaos that’s going on inside him—and the irony that he’s talking to his mom as if to reassure his mother. MJ: Yeah. I think that’s it as well. You know terms like “songs speak to you” we can appreciate for a reason: because they do. And sometimes it’s not necessarily opening you up to something new so much as… The thing about Dylan is he can make you look at things you’ve already seen…in a different way. I also think a review is a conversation, sometimes, between readers…but sometimes a review is just a conversation between reviewers. GO: There was an interview you did after A Brief History of Seven Killings and the success of the Booker Prize. You hadn’t gone back to Jamaica at that point and you were saying a certain kind of reaction was inevitable, good and bad, back home. You were saying something like: I can’t pay attention to commentary or trolls, because if I did I couldn’t get out of bed in the morning… MJ: Hmm-hmm. GO: …and I was thinking of a line in Dylan’s song “Up to Me”: “If I’d lived my life by what others were thinkin’ / the heart inside me would’ve died.” Like Marley’s insight in Biograph that Dylan doesn’t pay attention to what others are thinking—I remember there was an interview with Marley in Talkin’ Blues where he was saying how he overcame a lot of negativity in his career, too. In the creative process, is it important for the artist to disappear for a while and avoid all the clamor of what people think about them? MJ: Yeah… I mean, when my books come out, I may read one or two reviews, usually. And then I don’t read any more. GO: Why is that, do you think? MJ: Well… because I already did my part! I also think a review is a conversation, sometimes, between readers… but sometimes a review is just a conversation between reviewers. Like I’ve seen reviews of mine that aren’t even reviewing the book, they’re reviewing the reviews. It’s kinda like when somebody gets a lot of [attention] and then, one week or two week, or sometime after, somebody writes the “take-down.” And you realize this is not a take-down of the work, it’s a takedown of the reviews. Which is fine, if that’s what gets you off. But I’ve never considered it a healthy conversation for an artist to take part in. I’ve never actually come across a review that helped me to write. You have to shut out a lot of noise, the more attention you get is a lot of noise—and the easier the temptation to have to simply respond to that. And I think for better or worse you’ve got to follow your own muse. I mean not every Dylan record is good. Some are outright atrocious. GO: Like “Down in the Groove” or whatever… MJ: Oh god, back in the ’80s before Oh Mercy it was tough going for a while… but it’s a necessary thing for an artist in whatever medium you’re doing to follow your own creative impulse. The work that’s in your head has to be the thing that either comes down on the page, or comes through your guitar, or piano, or so on, without expectations interfering with that transfer. GO: I think it’s interesting that Dylan at age nineteen, arriving in New York from Minnesota, was already creating personas. It provided a certain armor… so that he could evolve as an artist. Like he lied that he grew up with carnivals in Gallup, New Mexico etc… He told all sorts of stories… it just gave him a bit of a head start and freedom not to be defined by things. But I wonder if in today’s world—with things like social media—where everything is “fact-checked” in two seconds… he couldn’t have gotten away with that sort of process back in 1961. Not that it matters… MJ: But… I mean authenticity has absolutely nothing to do with the making of good art. And by talking “authenticity” I’m not endorsing theft. Cause I’m not part of that whole sort of ‘I’m using this, this, and this—and I made Art!’ You didn’t create: you curated. Which is fine, that’s a skill too, that’s being creative too. But there’s a difference between being a creator and a curator. But to come back to Dylan—I think a lot of that was also playing with people’s expectations. The fact is, once people feel that they find you they reduce you. And why not? Because we actually add a certain virtue to it, you know? People think the concise version is the best version. People still say in my [university] classes: You know, a good book is your last draft minus ten percent. I said: That don’t apply to me… most of my books are bigger than my first edit. You know? This sort of idea of a process of reduction is a process of getting the truth and authenticity—it is of course utter bullshit. Even authenticity is kind of a pose…anybody can do it! You know? [laughs] I put on my t-shirt and jeans and don’t comb my hair and listen to some really, really, really sad anti-pop by some white guys who really need a bath. I think for [Dylan] if people really are going to talk about him, he’s going to spice up the conversation. Or he’s gonna, in some ways, direct how people talk. But I also think that if he said “I was raised by some blind nun in Mexico…” To an extent it is kind of true, because he’s saying it. Next week he says: “I was raised down south like Elvis”—actually it is kind of true, too. I’m a big believer that the formative moments for me, when I have listened to something or read something that made me want to write, that that was kind of a birth. The first time I read Jessica Hagedorn’s Dogeaters—it’s a novel set in the Philippines and I still think it’s the greatest novel about Jamaica ever written—even though it’s set in the Philippines I found myself there. And that was kind of a birth. I could’ve said: “Yeah man, literary awakening began in Manila.” I never been there. But I also think that Dylan realized from the get-go that if he sortof fucks with his audience, then the audience can’t necessarily screw him over. GO: He’s got control. MJ: Yeah. And I think that’s it. It’s in some ways a better play…it’s as good a play as when David Bowie said he was “gay.” Grace Jones used to do it too because Grace Jones used to tell people that she couldn’t leave her house in Jamaica because she’d walk outside and lions would eat her! [laughs] ’cause she knew how ignorant people were. And I think part of being an artist is being kind of a charlatan… kind of playing with, and toying with, audience. And so keeping them guessing. I think [Dylan] realizes as well that once people figure him out, then they start to reduce him. Oh: You’re a folksinger! GO: But I’m wondering… With some artists like Dylan, who’s absorbing a lot of different musical styles, different ways of writing lyrics, other artists’ stuff… do you think he’s just really good at that? Better than most other artists? MJ: Well, he’s better at it than most people. I think Dylan… I think the thing about Led Zeppelin and the Stones is that they dig music—particularly black music—after the fact. The difference between them and Dylan is that Dylan digs culture as it’s happening. And I think that’s a big difference. It’s why Talking Heads sound like Talking Heads, you know? Another band that’s influenced by black people, you know, Aerosmith sounds like Aerosmith. Not digging black culture as it’s happening… they’re just digging it after the fact. I also think Dylan has something interesting to say to add on top of that; or else he would never be influencing people like Sam Cooke. He would never be influencing all these black musicians. Because I’ve yet to meet a black musician who go: “Man that Stones record really made me want to make music.” Which is not to put down the Stones… but c’mon. Whereas, you still hear people talking about Bringing It All Back Home. Or you hear people talking about unlikely stuff that has influenced—that Rolling Stone is never gonna praise—like Saved. Or even, before Saved, the one that hinted he was going that way… GO: Slow Train Coming. MJ: Yeah. I think he does it better than everybody else. That’s why he’s Dylan and we’re not. He’s just a better writer than everybody else… considering that sometimes it looks like the only book he ever read was The Bible. I think the thing about Led Zeppelin and the Stones is that they dig music—particularly black music—after the fact. The difference between them and Dylan is that Dylan digs culture as it’s happening. GO: Was there any other album that you think of as one of your favorites? MJ: I really like Time Out of Mind. I don’t have an American context…so I didn’t know why people hated Self Portrait so much. GO: You mean like the old Marcus review? MJ: Yeah. [laughs] I read his thing “What is this shit?” and so on. But, you know, I came to that album after listening to bands like Pavement. You know, if I’m listening to bands like Pavement or Railroad Jerk or even Captain Beefheart or listening to Devendra Banhart and all these ’90s folk… with Self Portrait I’m like: Yeah! So I actually quite like that record. But if you’re asking me what my second favorite Dylan album is, it would be Desire. GO: I love that album. Something about the violin… and Emmylou Harris’s voice is so great too… It’s everywhere. MJ: Yeah! It’s also why Rolling Thunder Revue is my favorite re-issue of the re-issues so far. It’s Bob Dylan at his most collaborative. It’s Bob Dylan as a band leader. I don’t know if he can actually be, again, that loose and that brilliant at the same time. Griffin Ondaatje is a writer and documentary filmmaker. His essay "Highway to the Sea" appears in Bon Dylan: Mixing Up the Medicine. His books include The Mosquito Brothers, The Camel in the Sun, and a collection of South Asian folktales entitled The Monkey King and Other Stories. Currently he is writing Half Wild, a book of essays and interviews on Dylan. He lives with his family in Toronto. | |  | PAWA'S BOOK OF THE WEEK (Week 45, Third Edition) | 9 year old Stacey Fru is South African's youngest Chapter books and 3 times Award Winning Author. SMELLY CATS is about two cats who are cousins. It portrays the common challenges of different socio-economics, academic and religious backgrounds in which the two survived.
Stacey’s book portrays the differences in geographical locations that the two cats went through on a daily basis and how this affected their daily lives. The book also depicts that even though the cats come from the same family, they are bound to have differences due to who they are. The constant fights between the two are real reflections of daily lives. However just like in real (human) life, fights are a vital spice of life that do not also last forever. To Stacey, “Life is not a bed of hatred. You grow better when you fight to spread love and have fun in a child’s way”.
Some of Stacy Fru's awards are; Best Early Childhood Development (ECD) Publication for 2015, an SA National Development Agency Award donated by UNICEF and the Nelson Mandela International. Community Leadership Award as ‘Young Leader 2016’ for her leading motivational and inspirational roles, and ‘Academic Achievements and Initiatives 2016’ for her writings.
SMELLY CATS is available on Amazon.com | |  | An Evening of Nine Poets |
By Lanre Idowu Publisher/Editor Media Review
With words and music, mime and dance, nine performance poets serenaded their audience with their interpretations of selected poems of the literary giant, Professor Wole Soyinka Thursday evening at the Eko Hotel, Victoria Island. It was the occasion of the annual celebration of World Poetry Day on March 21 as declared by UNESCO in 1999. Organised for the fifth time in Nigeria by Providus Bank under its CSR initiative, it was an event that featured nine poets---six from Nigeria and three others from Kenya, Qatar, and the UK. Although previous editions had centred on development issues especially those concerning the environment, education, gender-sensitivity and inclusivity, the 2024 edition was designed to flag off Soyinka's imminent entry into the Club of Nonagenarians. It was presented as a conversation around Soyinka's poetry. Each poet was tasked with picking two poems of Soyinka's for appraisal and providing a poetic response. Hence, it was headlined, "Engaging the Quintessential Poet Wole Soyinka @ 90". And what a delightful two hour outing it was. Evelyn Osagie's opening act reminded the audience of the evil of banditry as captured in Soyinka's ode to Leah Sharibu, the young Christian girl who was stolen from boarding school by godless animals in northern Nigeria and remains a hostage for refusing to renounce her faith and standing up to evil men. For as long as she remains a slave of the filthy pigs, Evelyn said that we are all hostages to bloodied hands that suck unformed breasts and the matter "is no longer Leah". Other acts followed in quick succession, connecting with the audience with words, movements, and music that brought their hearts alive, and set their minds, thinking. Owoicho Oko, Uche Uwadinachi, Ngwatilo Mawiyoo (Kenya), Salamatu Sule, Ruth Mahogany, Akeem Lasisi, Malika Booker (UK), and Natalie Handal (UAE) put up enlivening performances befitting their enchanting names! Salamatu, adopting the style of a teacher moderating a tutorial class, described a writer, nay a poet, of Soyinka's standing as a "social crusader, public investigator and defender". She challenged filmmakers to tap more into the poetic form for a rewarding outcome. To Booker, poets are those who dissect and challenge language use; indeed "poets anoint the people with words". Ngwatilo Mamiyu expressed delight to be in Nigeria, pointing to her shared rage with some of Soyinka's works. In a tribute to diligence, she noted, "Sweat is living for the earth...". Lasisi, waxing lyrical in English and Yoruba, reminded the audience of the return of the savages to the sacred zone ….anarchists, kidnappers, bandits with no notion of order or greatness who would rather hold everyone and everything hostage than let Nigeria breathe. Wole Soyinka was compelled by the project consultant and compere, Jahman Anikulapo to speak to the audience. He did for barely one minute, and expressed delight at the turnout but said his birthday in July would be the best time for more talk. The turnout was good. It was a good mixture of the Ancient and Modern drawn from the Arts, Academia, Media, the Diplomatic community, and a welcoming crop of young professionals. It was a pointer that with strong corporate organisations showing sustained interest in the Arts, poetry can continue to contribute its quota to making the people vent, think, and act. | |  | EBEDI WRITERS CELEBRATE INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY | Writers at the Ebedi International Writers Residency, Iseyin, Nigeria on Sunday 10th March 2024 celebrated the International Women's Day with a Panel Discussion entitled: Creativity, Feminism and Legacy Building. The thought provoking discourse was moderated by Dr Wale Okediran, the Secretary General of the Pan African Writers Association and Patron of the Residency. Participants at the physical and online event included Writers, Scholars as well as representatives of the Iseyin community such as students and teachers of some secondary schools in the town. The current set of Writers were sponsored by the ABOVE WHISPERS FOUNDATION established by the eminent feminist thinker and gender specialist, Erelu Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi Above picture shows the writers with Dr Okediran after the event. | |  | BOOK REVIEW FROM LONDON, A TRIBUTE TO NIGERIA | By Dr Wale Okediran Secretary General, Pan African Writers Association, Accra, Ghana
A Review of THE NUMBER ONE MISSION; Nigeria’s High Commission In The UK by6 Yemi Edun It is on record that Colonial Nigeria was ruled by the British Empire from the mid-nineteenth century until 1960 when Nigeria achieved independence. To mark this important milestone, Nigeria opened its first Diplomatic post, the Nigeria High Commission in London. Since then, Nigeria has maintained strong diplomatic relations with Great Britain, its former colonial master. The post-colonial era has seen United Kingdom as one of Nigeria’s closest allies. Up till today, no other country has as much influence on Nigeria the way Britain does. Even though there have been instances of occasional misunderstandings and disagreements between the two countries over certain knotty issues, the fact remains that Britain is Nigeria’s closest friend in Europe up till now. It is for the above reasons that a publication such as THE NUMBER ONE MISSION that will showcase this very important and historical symbiotic relationship between Nigeria and the UK should be celebrated. The 200-page publication written by Yemi Edun, a London based property acquisition consultant and philanthropist is a reader friendly compendium of information about Anglo-Nigeria diplomatic relations. In addition, the book in a lucid and simple style examined other important subjects ranging from the history of the Nigerian High Commission in the UK, the Properties of The Nigerian High Commission, The Vital Role Of Diplomacy In Shaping National History, The Process Of Becoming A High Commissioner, as well as Brief Biographies of Nigeria’s High Commissioners in the UK from inception till the present among other important subjects. In the FOREWORD to the book, the author had this to say; ‘’ My intention in writing the book is twofold; to document our time together and to express my hope for continued improvements. It serves as a record of our experiences, a testament to the progress achieved and a roadmap for the future. Through its pages, I aim to shine a light on the intricacies of diplomacy, the power of collaboration and the significance of the relationships forged in the pursuit of common goals’’. It is obvious that the author has achieved his aims and even more as the unravelling literature in the book reveals. One of this is that in spite of some misgivings about her precolonial relationship with the UK, Nigeria has over the years maintained a very cordial and improved relationship with her former colonial master. It is also on record that although there have been occasional outbursts of misunderstanding and disagreements between both countries, such disagreements have never been allowed to go to the extent of causing protracted diplomatic rupture between them. According to the book, not even the cold diplomatic relations that briefly erupted between both countries over the ill-fated attempt at smuggling Alhaji Umaru Dikko from Britain in 1984, could dampen the long and cordial relationship between the two countries. On the contrary, the book documented the growing socio-economic bonds between the two countries since 1960 when Nigeria became independent. This development has been as a result of the realization by both countries as partners in progress. In addition, the snapshots of Nigeria’s High Commissioners from the inception of the High Commission till date in the book, is a confirmation of the fact that the annals of Nigeria’s history are replete with figures of immense stature who have served as our country’s representatives in Great Britain. THE NUMBER ONE MISSION, a beautiful and well produced book with its glossy elegant pages and beautiful pictures is a tribute to Nigeria and Nigerians in the UK. Reading this book turns out invariably to be an encounter with two countries which despite their different cultural backgrounds and occasional diplomatic tiffs have continued to maintain a very cordial relationship. Through their diplomatic skills, emotions and passions one could discern the indomitable human spirit of the vital role of Diplomacy in shaping strong international relations. The author must be commended for writing a historic and an entertaining literary work. . While the stories and pictures will elucidate the expected emotions and passions from Nigerians at home and in the diaspora, the accompanying essays is a confirmation of a reference material for scholars, researchers and diplomats. | |  | A MEMORY OF EBEDI INTERNATIONAL WRITERS RESIDENCY | By Temitayo Olofinlua
I wake up in a strange bed. It is a big bed; I can stretch my two hands across it yet there will be space for another. There is a fan squeaking, rolling, blowing in my face. There is a wardrobe and a table. My laptop is on the table, staring at me. My bags -- my travelling bag and my laptop bag -- sprawl on the floor, open. It is quiet, except for the Muezzin's cry calling people to prayer, and the crowing cocks telling everyone it is morning.
I am in Iseyin, Oyo State, Nigeria. I am here as one of the writers on the Ebedi Writers' Residency. My housemate, who is in the next room, is Barbara Oketta from Uganda. We watched TV together in the sitting room last night and had a chat about Nigeria and Uganda. I wanted to know about Kony. Was he as brutal as they said, as Kony 2012, the documentary showed? Did she know the sitcom, Shuga, though it is made in Kenya? She asked me about the House of Representative's investigations into the SEC. Were they as thorough, tough as they looked? A few hours before that, there had been: "Welcome to Iseyin".
A voice shook me awake from my drowsy world -- you know that border between being asleep and being awake. It was Mr. Bode, Dr. Okediran's PA. I checked my watch. Must have taken us about 145 minutes. Minutes of small talk, and sleep, and small talk, and sleep.
Before Iseyin, there was Ibadan. Ibadan with its dusty brown roofs sitting atop houses that lined potholed roads. There was Iwo road with its hustling boys, begging to carry my large grey travelling bag. One tried to open my laptop bag. He opened the outside zip a little but not large enough for his hand to reach through, to pick anything. I felt it, I saw him. The knowing look passed between us. He knew I saw him. He walked away, turning shyly to look at me, his eyes begging that I do not alert anyone. I didn't. Dem no tief from me for Lagos, nah for Ibadan dem go come tief from me. Lailai.
Another carried the bag to Mr. Biggs, where I waited for Mr. Bode and the driver from the residency. Before Ibadan, there was Lagos. There was also an email from Dr. Wale Okediran, writer and the brain behind the residency, that I'd been selected to spend six weeks at Iseyin. There was a rush of excitement in my body. There were lone shouts of "Yes! Yes!" There were days of smiling to myself repeatedly. There were hurried interview appointments. There were deadlines to be ticked off to-do lists. There were articles to be written.
All these had to be done before Ebedi. Getting the residency was, for me, about the freedom to do anything that I wanted during that time, without succumbing to the pressures of deadlines and work. It was an opportunity to do what I always wanted to do; to write. You ask me what I do for a living; I write. And edit. In recent times I had been writing all sorts; press releases, content for websites, articles, investigative pieces - everything but the fiction that was supposed to be my forte.
Last year, I wrote just one short story, quite many non-fiction pieces. Shameful, right? You cannot compare writing for money, writing what you really want, and writing what you have to. There is that confusion, that sitting on the fence. There is fiction on one side, and then there is every other form of writing/money-spinning on the other side. There are bills to be paid. So, you know within you what side to face. And to think, for me, fiction writing is so demanding, less paying, but more fulfilling.
So, getting the Ebedi residency was, for me, a chance to write what I really want to write. I am here in Ebedi, my dreams of getting at least six short stories out of my system in my mind. I hope that the characters will tease me here, their words will urge me awake, push me to my laptop, and force their way out of me. Write, I shall. But while here, I will tell you about Iseyin; about weekly sessions with students from Ekunle High School; and about interesting places I go and fascinating people I meet. | |  | ALGERIAN EMBASSY DONATES BOOKS TO GHANA LIBRARY AUTHORITY | | As part of activities for the ongoing Accra World Book Capital Project (AWBC) the Algerian Ambassador to Ghana, His Excellency Ali Redjel recently donated some volumes of books to the Ghana Library Authority (GLA). According to the Ambassador, the books which were in the fields of Science, History and Literature would enable Ghanaian students to enrich their knowledge about the history and Culture of Algeria and Africa as a whole. In addition, the gesture will further enrich the good relationship between the two countries as well as other African Countries. Present at the occassion which was organized by the Ghana National Commission On Culture (NCC) were the Mayor of Accra, Hon Elizabeth Sackey, Secretary General of the Pan African Writers Association (PAWA) Dr Wale Okediran as well as the Representatives of the ED of NCC, AWBC, Ghana UNESCO and Ghana Library Authority. Picture above shows Ambassador Redjei (Left) being congratulated by Dr Wale |  | | As part of their 3- day official visit to Ghana, some members of staff of Nigeria's Federal Judicial Service Commission recently visited the Headquarters of the Pan African Writers Association (PAWA) in Accra, Ghana.
After a briefing about the activities of the continental Writers body, PAWA's Secretary General, Dr Wale Okediran took the visitors on a tour of the facility. Areas visited included the, Augustino Neto Conference Room, the Wole Soyinka Courtyard, the Michael Dei-Anang Rotunda as well as the Samora Machel Lounge.
The tourists who also inspected PAWA's rich cache of pictures of old and contemporary African Writers also gave useful pieces of advice for the running of the 30-year old 'umbrella' of 45 African Writers Associations. The visitors have since returned home. | | SALMAN RUSHDIE'S STABBING TRIAL POSTPONED |
By David Mouriquand & AP Published on 04/01/2024 It has been ruled that Salman Rushdie's attacker is allowed to seek material related to Rushdie's upcoming memoir about the attack before standing trial. A new date has not yet been set. Following the news yesterday that the US trial of the man charged with stabbing writer Salman Rushdie in 2022 could be delayed, it has been confirmed that Hadi Matar's attempted murder and assault trial has now been postponed. A judge has ruled that Matar is allowed to seek material related to Rushdie's upcoming memoir about the attack before standing trial. Jury selection in Matar's trial was originally scheduled to start on 8 January. Instead, the trial is on hold, since Matar's lawyer argued that the defendant is entitled by law to see the manuscript, due out in April 2024, and related material before standing trial. Written or recorded statements about the attack made by any witness are considered potential evidence, attorneys said. “It will not change the ultimate outcome,” Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt said of the postponement. A new date has not yet been set. Matar, 26, who lived in Fairview, New Jersey, has been held without bail since prosecutors said he stabbed Rushdie more than a dozen times after rushing the stage at the Chautauqua Institution where the author was about to speak in August 2022. Rushdie, 76, was blinded in his right eye and his left hand was damaged in the attack. The author announced last year that he had written about the attack in a forthcoming memoir: “ Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder. " With trial preparations under way at the time, the prosecutor said he requested a copy of the manuscript as part of the legal discovery process. The request, he said, was declined by Rushdie's representatives, who cited intellectual property rights. Defense attorney Nathaniel Barone is expected to subpoena the material. Penguin Random House, Rushdie's publisher, and a representative for the author have yet to make any official statements. “Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder” will be published on 16 April 2024. Rushdie was one of Euronews Culture's People of the Year 2023 - the eight figures who impacted, influenced and defined a year in European and Global Culture. We said: "Known the world over for his exceptional writing and advocating on free speech, his 2023 comeback after such a traumatic ordeal showed, once again, Rushdie’s resilience in the face of violent adversity, standing up against those that threaten to censor creative voices." | |  | World Organization of Writers (WOW) holds Conference | | | The Toyin Falola Interviews With The Pan African Writers Association | A Panel Discussion On 2023 Outstanding African Creative Books Written in English: Novels, Drama, Poetry, Children's Books
Our distinguished panelists were: Fadwa Ashraf (Egypt), Abubakar Adam Ibrahim (Nigeria) Bill Ndi (Cameroon) Rehema Ndumbaro ( Tanzania) Nthabiseng JahRose (South Africa)
Who shared their expertise on “2023 Outstanding African Creative Books Written in English “. Sunday, February 25, 2024 4 PM GMT 5 PM Nigeria 10 AM Austin 6 PM Egypt/EAT/SAT | |  | PAWA COMMISERATES WITH NAMIBIA | The Pan African Writers Association (PAWA) has commiserated with the people and government of Namibia over the death on February 4 2024 of Dr Hage Gottfried Geingos, the former President of the country.
The condolence message was delivered by the Secretary General of PAWA, Dr Wale Okediran during his visit to the High Commissioner of Namibia to Ghana, HE Selma Ashipala -Musavyi in her Accra office during the week.
Dr Okediran also praised Namibia for the smooth and peaceful transition of power to a new President, an act worthy of emulation by other African Countries. It is on record that in addition to a good working relationship with the Namibian Embassy in Ghana, PAWA and UN Namibia have also successfully collaborated on a number of Literary activities in the past.
Dr Okediran therefore prayed for a quick repose of the soul of the departed President and continual good relation between the new government of Namibia and PAWA. | | The World Organization of Writers (WOW) – From Baku to Abuja across Cairo and Moscow | | |  | BY BOAKYE D ALPHA
I spent a month tucked away in a remote community in Iseyin, Oyo State as a fellow in the EBEDI INTERNATIONAL WRITERS RESIDENCY and it was everything I needed as a writer. Grateful doesn’t begin to describe my feelings after spending a month immersing myself in writing and totally focused on completing my novel. The uninterrupted time, the support from the host (particularly Dr Wale) and the serene surroundings all contributed to one of the most productive and fulfilling periods of my writing journey.
https://www.instagram.com/p/C3pU-CtMZXY/?igsh=dDRmZDE5MGU0bHp1 | | WORLD ORGANIZATION OF WRITERS CONGRESS, ABUJA, NIGERIA | As part of preparations for the first Congress of the World Organization Of Writers (WOW), Dr Wale Okediran, Secretary General of the Pan African Writers Association recently paid a courtesy visit to Prince Dotun Oyelade, the Commissioner of Information, Oyo State, Nigeria. The Congress which is being organized by various international Writers bodies is fixed for Abuja, Nigeria from 4th to 6th April 2024. During the visit, Prince Oyelade who is also a veteran Journalist and Writer promised the full support of his Ministry towards the success of the event. Picture above shows Dr Okediran (Right) presenting a WOW souvenir to Prince Oyelade. | |  | IN CELEBRATION OF THE 2024 INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S MONTH | The Pan African Writers Association (PAWA) held a panel discussion via Zoom with the distinguished panelists: Mercy Mirembe Ntangaare (Uganda), Justine Perfect Alorwu (Ghana) Violet Makuku (Zimbabwe) Bisi Fayemi ( Nigeria) , Muna Ahmed (Republic of Somaliland) and Abena Busia (MODERATOR) shared their expertise on “WRITING AS A TOOL FOR MENTORING WOMEN'' Sunday, March 17, 2024 2 PM GMT, 3 PM Nigeria, 5 PM NAT/EAT/SAT | |  | The CAJ International Magazine Welcomes World Writers To Abuja, Nigeria (4th to 6th April 2024) | | |  | WORLD POETRY DAY CELEBRATION WITH STUDENTS IN GHANA | To mark the 2024 World Poetry Day on March 21 2024, a Community Poetry Event was organized in Accra, Ghana by the Verbal Transformers in collaboration with the Pan African Writers Association ( PAWA) and the Accra College Of Education (AcCE) Community Library
Activities at the event under the theme: STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS included, Poetry recitations and Performances by over 200 students drawn from 6 Secondary schools in Accra.
In addition, the Guest Writer at the occassion Prof Lade Wosornu, a Poet and retired Surgeon delivered a Lecture where among other things, he encouraged the students to write in their native languages.
Above picture showed from Left to Right, Mrs Ernestine Akua Sunu, Mrs Matilda Mercer-Yeboah (both from AcCE) Prof Lade Wosornu, Dr Wale Okediran ( PAWA Secretary General) and Albert Tetteh ( CEO, Verbal Transformers) with some of the students after the event. | |  | MINISTER OF INFORMATION TO OPEN WORLD WRITERS CONGRESS | The Minister of Information and National Orientation of the Federal Republic Of Nigeria, Mallam Mohammed Idris Malagi will declare open the first Congress of the newly inaugurated World Organization Of Writers (WOW) on 4th April 2024 at 10am WAT. The event which will take place at the Association Of Nigerian Authors Writers Village, Mpape, Abuja will also be attended by other dignitaries made up of Government Officials, Writers, Scholars, Diplomats and Students from within and outside Nigeria.
Activities lined up for the Congress include; The VII World Literary Festival (WOW-LiffT), a Cultural and Educational Forum, The Celebration of the XXV UNESCO World Poetry Day, the Exhibition and Business Forum as well as a Closing and Award Ceremony. In addition, there will be Goodwill Messages and Panel Discussions by notable Writers, Scholars and distinguished Statesmen. The Conference which will be hosted by the Pan African Writers Association (PAWA) in collaboration with the Association Of Nigerian Authors (ANA) will be in a hybrid format (Physical and Virtual)
https://sindhcourier.com/world-organization-of-writers-wow-holds-its-first-congress-in-abuja/ | | | | |
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