True Talk

We Temporarily Moved Them Here

2012-02-06T18:54:00.000Z

Photo Credit: www.homerouterreview.com

I should be burying my pimply face in shame. In my culture it is utter shame when you forgo the first important thing in the year for other attention seeking matters. We so much hold anything of appreciative act in the highest regard. The important thing I failed to do is something I am even so ashamed to say now; saying it will only show how sloppily I have tendered the love you have showed me over the years on this blog, especially the gracious one you spoilt me with in the previous year. But it is often said in my language that when a sinner knows where and how s/he had fell short of expectations, s/he won't have to plead too long. There are two ways I am found wanting and I am willingly moved to redeem myself with this pleading post.

The first; it is February already and I have been sneaking around the cyberspace ever since the year began, when I should have come on this space to pour my heart of goodwill to you for the New Year. I hold this culture very important as it is a very affective medium mutual love is easily shared through. My apology is long overdue and it is weighing my heart burdensomely, please accept it from me and save my heart from wearing out. Phew… Thank you! Now my heart feels lighter and less clumsy to accommodate Val’s Loves (You know, I have really been thinking on the numbers of girlfriends to hook up with this Valentine. Don't say I am flirtatious. Some girls just confirmed that I am really too muah! I am only performing my dutiful role. 10/10 Shekena! ). I am also of the belief that if we are seeing or having a conversation for the very first time in the year, it is not totally out of order to share with one another our good wishes for the year. To this end, I wish you a fruitful, graceful, wonderful and other good adjectives + '-ful' in the New Year. There are so many things to accomplish this Year; activities are really going to stunningly change this year. I just can feel it already. Can you too?

You must have noticed over the time on this blog that reviews (both books and literary events) are more frequently posted than other opinionated articles and emotional scribbles. In the recent pasts, it shouldn't be hard observing that book reviews have been at the low on this blog. That is not to mean I have stopped what I enjoy doing well as an advanced reader (Yeah… that I really am. At times, I could feel some writers fear my attention on their books. *Deep Sigh…*). I have only just shifted the base for reviews to another location on the cyberspace. Oh Gawd! That makes sin number two… I am really sorry-sorry. I should have informed you about that too. Look at me as I prostrate on the floor, soiling my newly grown goatee in the sand. I beg, bikko, just indulge me some more. I have been reading, I mean reading hard and I have done some reviews to that effect as I was always striving to meet self-imposed deadlines in making reviews available.

I didn't so much gbadun the tired dominant theme of Roses & Bullets, find my thought on it here. Jude's Blackbird is one book I can march all out for if it does go out of prints, I really like this book, I made that known here. Teju Cole's Open City, a book not written in the conventional sense for traditional reading, I lost count on the times I searched through webpages and Encarta during the reading, the book is just so intellectually stimulating. Meh… Julius was the main man in the book. Read my notepad on it here. During my sabbatical, I guzzled so many short stories in two categories. One was African Roar 2011, an anthology of 14 different writers published by Ivor and Siguake. While the other was Voice of America, a collection of 18 short stories by EC Osondu. See the reviews here and here.

Let me say this again, Happy Fruitful Year. It's almost Valentine, how man days to go now? (I am really counting… tick, tick, tick…)

Catch ya later…

Moving Technologies in 2011

2011-12-29T14:31:00.001Z

As the year gradually winds up I began rummaging through my activities on the cyberspace and my relationship with technology. In looking at the effects technology has had on my life so far, I also took to consideration the changes users of the web should very much look forward to in the coming year. In this post, activities web users should stay off from are also touched.

Since a larger percentage of computer and smart phone users run Microsoft Windows, it is important you are informed of this: Microsoft has just released a plan to go ahead updating all its older versions of Internet Explorer to the newest version in 2012. This action, they averred, is in the interest of the users who will most likely fall preys to hackers posing as the company to offer update with the intention to steal users’ personal details. You may want to know how Microsoft intends doing this. They have planned updating all older IEs with what they’ve termed “Silent Update”. This means users wouldn’t know when the update is going on until it is installed and ready for use. So, it is incontestable many users will be kept in the dark on this development. This plan is no magical however; it will certainly run over the Internet. Another question is what users without Internet will face. Users not connected to the internet would really not be bothered because of their minimal security porosity, as all threats are dominantly carried out over the web. In the foregoing, Microsoft shouldn’t also be expecting a 100% success as a sizeable number of users without internet connection will be side-tracked in the process.

My question to Microsoft thus is this; how do they plan to respect the privacy right of users in the absence of downloading prompt during the update exercise? For users who still surf with the older IEs of version 5 and 6, expect to be silently updated on in 2012. You have no say in the matter as Microsoft needs everything to go silent.

I never really had the preference for Mozilla. I just considered it unnecessary in the midst of three other installed browsers on my computer. I only saw the use of it months ago, when some platforms wouldn’t just run on Opera and Chrome due to page-incompatibility. At present, there are two browsers I constantly use; the first is Chrome and the other is Mozilla, with Chrome being my most used. Since I adopted Mozilla Firefox, I have observed how it always snails to starting up. Also combined to this is the large CPU strength it consumes while working. Anytime my notebook is working on battery and needs conserving power for longer operation, Mozilla crashes and freezes up irritatingly. Having to restart the browser and incessantly reload webpages utterly angers me. The good news now is, recently, an end was moderately put to this scourge. With the renewed partnership between Google and Mozilla, the company released a newer version 9.0.1 some days ago. They promised this to be 30% faster than before. You should try it out soon.

Honestly, I have been using the version for some days and I can confidently avow that real changes have indeed been done. For most users, the doubt will still remain. This isn’t the first time new releases of Mozilla are published with lofty assured improvement; assurance that only did little at making the browser a user friendly in the past.

I loathe putting up with people who are only capable of whining on the social media against some gripes they are discontented about. It is such an inanity to live with. I consider it hypocritical too. If they truly want to bring about real changes, social media should only be the information disseminator and be followed up with relevant physical actions. In the coming year, there are some facebook friends to be unfriended for this attitude. These sets of friends; all they do is run amok on Zukerberg’s pages claiming they are some activist or instrument of change. On how to make effective changes happen, toeing the example of B4RN planners will be a good step. Not for once in the media did I read about this particular group wasting precious planning time disturbing cyberpeace before they started the B4RN (Broadband for the Rural North) movement. Go to their website and read how far they have gone. Download their PowerPoint master plan on their webpage and you would be awed at how they have planned bringing broadband connection to their neighborhood. This people have in a short reasonable while gathered momentum to their cause through individual self-help and qualitative actions. That is the kind of gesture I admire, not the toothless rampaging tigerism on Social Networking Sites.

Internet has affected my life in numerous ways. This year I have been a writing prize winner and election campaigner; all of these on the web! I once wrote here on how my worlds are divided between the cyber and the earthly. The internet is changing. The sooner one realizes that, the safer one is. How do you imagine this; that one day your prospective employer wouldn’t demand a CV but go online scrounging for the activities you have been up to. A veritable tool in doing this will be Google, which will really prove an effective way in collecting the data that will point to the kind of personality you possess. This has always been mooted in the past, and may even have been done in some advanced countries. Until now, that mightn’t have been easy in this part of the world without the current facebook-timeline newly introduced weeks ago. Timeline is one easy show-pages of who you are online. Instead of the previous profile that hides things about you under clickable options, timeline spreads your whole life on a single page divided into two major columns. With it, none of your activities is hidden from your friends. Friends can go as far as knowing what your first activity was on the site. With this new tweak, only a dumb will continue in stupid indulgences, after being aware of the ease his activities could be searched and viewed by. Check here to see how my timeline looks. It is no longer your profile on facebook, it is now your life timeline on the web.

Several changes have happened to Google this year. There have been Google+ and other unnoticed ones. The grand technological revolution Google introduced is the Google Ngram. Google Ngram is a new and efficient way to carry out researches . This is how it works; Google Ngram shows how cultures have been changing since 1800 to 2008 around the world through the use of words. For instance, with the word ‘sex’ typed into the Ngram bar, a plotted graph comes up showing how the use of this word has declined or increased over the years. With this, you can track how the use of this word has affected cultures. Ngram scans through 5 millions books collected for this purpose, books that have been written since 1800 to 2008, to bring about this result. For more details on this, the video presentation of Erez Lieberman Aiden & Jean-Batiste Michel on TED will very much do.

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I know your Christmas was greatly celebrated; happy Celebration. For the New Year; I wish you a prosperous one.

Reporting Book 'n' Gauge 6

2011-12-05T13:06:00.001Z

It has become so trite to say African timing always plays the undertone in matter that should be held sacrosanct for proper effectiveness. Such utterance is exhaustible that one finds lateness a usual thing. I knew I would be the early caller at the November's edition of Book 'n' Guage reading. When I straddled motorcycle from Ikorodu to Mile 12 to beat traffic, before boarding the Fadeyi plying BRT en route Yaba, I was sure of arrival at the event's venue minutes before the official time. When I arrived at Debonair Bookshop, the venue for the programme, the chairs were grinning white, all still begging to be sat on. I wouldn't be angered. My time wouldn't be trifled with. I had to reinvest the moment in prospecting books that would later gobble the thousands I had. Sometimes, the unpunctuality that trailed event of this makeup leaves one to wonder about the tattered seriousness people couple their actions of empowering reading culture with. We could adeptly espouse theories about the beguiling matter of bad reading culture; but what is it with the tardy way we strategise solutions to it? Ayodele Arigbabu was honest enough. He later revealed what brought about his belatedness to the event; a reason contrary to the previous tenuous excuse of traffic difficulty that was made up for him. He had been watching TV with his siblings for a proper mood adjustment, even when timeliness was paramount. Let's not call that inane. I wouldn't be frustrated anyway. Ayodele is creative than that adjective. The creatural issues of the two writers' worlds later spruced up the event into the engaging interactions that eventually commanded full attention.

Writers are stereotypically a bore denuded of social activities and inclinations. Such fixed image follows them persistently. At Book 'n' Guage 6, Ayodele Arigbagbu (author of A Fistful of Tales and publisher of Dada Books) and Ebi Akpeti (authored the film adapted book, The Perfect Church) quite exuded other characteristics. In their worlds were pressing issues of Censorship, Publishing, Writing and Morality; foundational matters cementing the societal features of our own world.

Having published a book that was role cast into film, Ebe Akpeti explored the encounter she had with Wale Adenuga, the movie producer of The Perfect Church:

"I never had any pre-connection with Adenuga… It only started when I was watching a series of SuperStory on TV. I realized what the man's vision was. He wasn't just trying to input one foreign culture into another. He really was producing the real African story. And I thought of the script of The Perfect Church. I took it to him. He rather received me coldly. It was later I got to know he constantly receives up to a thousand scripts daily. That night he called me to come over the next day to discuss how the film will go about. From his account; I got to know how impressed he was with my story that he had to sit in his car some while when he got home to finish the reading. After which he passed it to his wife and daughter. Both of whom confirmed that it was good to go"

When asked what age group she writes for and if she had no worry kids could pick up her work to read, she chirped; "My books are for adult. If it were to be for children, there will be a note informing that it is a children's fiction."

Ayodele's response went the other way round Ebi's view of censorship in literature. In his opinion, Ayodele posits; "The book has a life of its own. All I do is write and let it gets its own life. I don't censor my writing. I only write and allow the book find its group… "

Among the audience, which was largely peopled by writers seeking publication of numerously rejected manuscripts gathering dust, muscles tightened and fists clenched as Ayodele's tutelage untied the knotty subject of Mainstream Publishing and Self Publishing.

''If you can promote your book and go through the hassles; then self publish… There are known authors that self published before getting a publisher. If I were to publish you, getting your royalty might take years after the debt I incurred in producing your work must have been settled. But when you self publish, you get to take the profit yourself and also get instant feedbacks on your work directly… It depends on the kind of career you have in mind. If yours doesn't grow with self-publishing; then get a publisher. Mind you, publishing has processes, there are editing and marketing too…"

In supporting Ayodele's stance on the issue, Ebi cited the resilience of Adichie in the face of almost a hundred rejections from publishers. She more of backed the good virtue mainstream publishing has to offer.

Ayodele didn't believe in anything called Writer's Block. He called it a phantom and a fiery monster in the deep sea that is only talked about but never really seen. He wouldn't admit ever succumbing to it once in his writing career. He countered;

"…That I have not written for months does not mean anything. Any time I want to write, I just keep everything aside and focus on the writing only. Meanwhile, I don't just write anything. So, I don't get stuck in the middle of the writing and dump it half way. I write when I am ready."

Ebi's contribution was more factual. She rather was of the view that one should only write what one knows and can see. She stressed the fact that one rarely shuts down during writing when the issue is not farfetched. Only that her perspective called to attention the place of science fiction of far-drawn imaginativeness.

Ebi's time frame for the completion of the book was 6 hours. Another proof she supported true writing with. She knew what she was going to write on and wrote it expressively, though she admitted the first publication was fraught with unforgivable errors. However, her honesty to the story she set out to tell paid off in the long run.

"It only took me six hours to write The Perfect Church. It was on a Saturday at work. I started in the morning and finished in the afternoon…"

On why she has chosen to write about the church, exposing the histrionics behind the façade of preen up Christianity, she spoke defensively. A defense that only showed the weak level of confidence she has as a writer. She read from her dedication note in the book;

"To the Giver of all Good things. I have nothing to prove but your grace upon my life."

I have read The Perfect Church; it isn't clearly a taunt at Christianity or the church. It only speaks about the awful mixes co-opting fake holiness. So, why the defensive notice in the book?

Ayodele's read Lacerations, a story in the collection, A Fistful of Tales. When his attention was called to the incompatibility of the pictorial illustration to the lead character of the story, his rejoinder was trivial. If his cartoonist drew the opposite of what he meant in the book, then the connection is lost. His reply that the cartoonist has the independence of interpretation is ill-informed. What then is the artistic partnership between him and his cartoonist if the later interprets something else?

Ebi gave a taste of the book to the audience when she read few pages from it. Through the reading, the book's exposition was known.

During the intermezzo of DTone, the audience is serenaded with love blues as he incandescently crooned Sun Kun Ife and Katikati. But when Femi Kayode versified philosophical in Questions and ended up positing there is nothing in the world. He was informed there are still books. Isn't that why we were holding a reading?

Book 'n' Guage is a worthy platform encouraging art and celebrating writers and their works. However, for literature to be reviltalised and bad reading culture put a paid to; more readings of this nature would have to be initiated. Not just on Saturdays in tucked-away bookshops but in open streets and schools around the country. Book 'n' Guage effort is only a contributing exertion solving some part of the enormous tasks. Others should follow suit. Let's have readings in the 36 states of the nation and observe how things will gradually improve.

On Maroko, Writing and “Blackbird”: A Talk With Jude Dibia

2011-11-17T18:42:00.001Z

Jude Dibia has authored three novels. He wrote the well acclaimed and daring novel, Walking with Shadows in 2005. His second book, Unbrilded (2007), was awarded the 2007 Ken Saro Wiwa Prize for Prose and was also a finalist in the 2008 Nigeria Prize for Literature (sponsored by NLNG). His recent work, Blackbird (2011), is still receiving reviews from its readers and critics.

In this interview, Jude Dibia speaks enthusiastically about writing and Blackbird among other related issues.

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True Talk: How well have you fared on the path of your writing career over the years?

Jude Dibia: I have managed to write three novels, a couple of short stories and bag a couple of writing awards, and critical acclaim while at it. My journey has not been too bad, but still, I feel I could do more if writing was all I did.

TT: In your opinion, how has the internet been shaping writing and book publishing in Nigeria and Africa?

JD: The internet has helped closed the huge gap that existed between writers and readers. Writers have become much more accessible in general. Publishing, too, has changed with the advent of the internet. There's now desktop publishing and everyone can own a blog or website, thus making their work accessible to a wider audience. Also, aspiring writers can join online writing workshops, learn from more experienced writers and share their work.

TT: What bent should an African writing take to remain African? Can you say you have ever practiced one?

JD: This is an unusual question, and one I find rather prescriptive. Writers should simply write. We all have different interests. Africa today is different from the Africa of fifty years ago or one hundred years ago. Africa is ever evolving and her writers will too.

TT: What kind of agenda do you think African writers should set for the continent? Should writers keep portraying an unstable polity or continue piecing together a picture of future bliss?

JD: This whole idea of "agenda" worries me. It sounds like writers come together in secret forums and start charting the course of the continent. This is not the way it works. There are different genres in writing; most writers write within the genre they feel most comfortable in. There are some writers who are versatile and write in more than one genre.

TT: What is your expectation of a Fiction? Is there any constraint for you as a writer on how much of a reality should be shown when writing Fiction?

JD: I have a very simple expectation of fiction; it should be well written, it should tell a compelling story and it should be truthful to the characters, to the subject matter and to the era/time it is portraying. There is always a constraint for me or many other writers to show reality in our writing, especially if I am writing within a period that has historical significance. However, like I did with 'Blackbird', I can invent fictitious places within a real place and thus create a parallel reality that readers can still relate to.

TT:

How linkable is the prologue in Blackbird to the entire story even when the rationale behind the assassination of Katherine was never known in the book? Did you do that intentionally?

JD: Blackbird was not written as a thriller. The core of the story rests on the shoulders of a quartet of characters i.e. Omoniyi, Maya, Edward and Nduesoh. I did not want to start the story focusing on one character, as it could make readers think one character was more important than the order or that one character was the sole protagonist. Katherine's killing was simply the catalyst that propelled the story forward.

TT: Reading Unbridled and Blackbird, I quite observed the length at which you went in commenting on the socio-economic defectiveness of the country, would you want to be perceived as a political commentator with literature as his tool?

JD: I guess Nigeria has always been the 'second' character in most of my writings. I write as I see it, I don't care so much about labels.

TT: Can literature be separated from political commentary or are they entwined?

JD: Must literature always be labeled as 'political commentary' when a writer tries to be true to his material? Literature, far and wide, deals with people and how they handle conflicts. These conflicts could be love, could be embarking on a difficult journey or even surviving in through a difficult period, and of course, there are more forms of conflicts.

TT: How long can a story be told before it becomes stereotypical about a particular people?

JD: When you think of it, there are no new stories. Writers have to find creative ways of retelling familiar stories, bringing out new insights on things that otherwise may be viewed as stereotypes.

TT: Jude, I love your books in the way they stir untold matters coupled with effortful researches into debate. Do you consider the success of a book on the subject it is written upon or on the creativity brought to play?

JD: The success of a book, for me, is on how well it is written. Subject matter and creativity play a huge role as well, but on their own they don't do much.

TT: Why have you chosen to write on the Maroko incident in Blackbird? Do you think literature can effectively fight against an ill policy that displaced approximately 300,000 people over two decades ago? Do you seek closure with Blackbird?

JD: I was interested in the story. I remember how heated things were during that period, but I was also thinking about the ordinary people that were affected by the mass displacement. How did this affect people that have no choice? And then, there are the people that things like this don't bother; people that wouldn't notice if the price of bread went from ten naira to one hundred naira. People from these two divides must coexist.

TT: Was writing on Maroko a spur of the muse-flurry or a dedicated effort to tell a story that has over the years been delegated to dessert papers that are left to gather dusts at various institutions' archives?

JD: Well, I found inspiration there.

TT: Do you think the Oniru's family's contribution to the 1990 Maroko eviction exercise was well intended?

JD: I cannot comment on this, but in time we will all know.

TT: You have been tagged a female apologist in the manner your last two books were effused with feministic affinity. Don't you think if your next work features more Whites in the antagonism, you might be labeled a budding racist?

JD: I'm many things, but certainly not a racist. I have tried to show in my writing that you don't have to be a certain race to be good or evil. Humans have a huge capacity to love each other or cause major harm toward each other; it has nothing to do with race or gender.

TT: Do you fear your works being misinterpreted?

JD: No. I understand that people will take away different things from a piece of writing and bring unique interpretations to it. Why should my works be any different? It is to be expected.

TT: You published your latest on a writers' collective platform, Jalaa. Is a Writers' Collective the answer to the publishing need of the country and a solution to her literature?

JD: There are a lot of issues with publishing in Nigeria, far too many. There is no single solution to our publishing needs, and writers' collectives will play their role in getting books published and distributed.

TT: Your book was among a finalist of two books in the NLNG literature prize. What impact has the prize had on literature in Nigeria?

JD: The NLNG has made a lot of people aware of Nigerian writing. The prize money has continued to draw a lot of interest to writers and literary enthusiasts.

TT: In Walking with Shadow, you wrote about gay. However, Blackbird speaks about such in a subtle way. Does that mean readers' past observations whittled down your confidence in giving it a full blown exposure in Blackbird?

JD: Blackbird in no way was like my first novel. Both books hardly share anything in common. I will revisit the themes I explored in Walking with Shadows in another novel. I still think there is more to be written on the subject of same gender coupling in our society.

TT: Why would you want to write another book on homosexuality? One primary thing Literature does is to speak about familiar matters identifiable with the very people it focuses on. Is homosexuality itself not foreign to the African culture?

JD: Why would you think my first novel was on homosexuality? The novel's central character, Adrian, is gay, other than that, generalizing the entire novel as a book on homosexuality only goes to show how disturbing our views are on anything that centers remotely on sexuality. It is interesting you should state that 'literature speaks about familiar matters identifiable with the very people it focuses on', I will like to add to that as well; literature in many instances speaks for the voiceless in a society. This whole argument on what is or isn't African culture coming especially from people who have no idea what African culture is, is not only lazy, but also exposes the deep state of denial that plagues us. I want to revisit the themes I explored in Walking with Shadows because I hardly scratched the surface. It is my understanding that people are prone to fearing and hating what they do not understand, so maybe in my own little way, I can help with my stories.

TT: Some words for the blog.

JD: I will like to thank you for this opportunity. It has been wonderful having this discussion. This is an interesting blog and I commend the work you all are doing to keep literature alive and thriving.

TT: Thank you, Jude.

JD: You are welcome.

Synopsis - "Tales from Different Tales" by Nana Awere Damoah

2011-11-11T17:20:00.001Z

Everyone has a price and… their broom. You either name the price or find the broom that sweeps them off their feet!

October Rush

The new academic year has started and school is under siege. Reason? 'October Rush'. Heads keep turning as students struggle to juggle academic work with relationship wahala. The freshers are tagged New Stock, sophomores as Reduce to Clear while final years are Buy One Get On Free. Follow 'October Rush' as it tells the intricate story of University romance. For some, it is learning the ropes, for others it is a do or die affair. Find your feet in this hot, intense, and pacey affair. The Rush is on!

Truth Floats

It is true that the one who you save the bullet for might be the one pulling the trigger. So the story goes that Kweku Ananse took the meat right out of his bosom friend, Akoto's, mouth when he stole Ama Adoma from him. But it is also true that when they lie they will lie again because the deception never end. Amidst the lies and disloyalty truth comes to light like a calabash that has been forced in water. All said and done, did Ama fall for Kweku? How did Akoto find out about his fiancé, Ama's, true love for him? This story teaches the values of patience, perseverance and love in the face of lies.

Dribble de Zagidibogidi

Vengeance is of God but can the human mind truly forgive and forget? Zagidibogidi (Randy) is accused of brutally raping Rose, the only lady he would catch the moon for. As things turn out, Rose is the only one who could save him from going to jail. Wicked twist? Rose has fallen into coma. But help comes from strange places. Babyface, Randy's lawyer, vowed to do his best to prove his client's innocence. Will justice be denied by it being delayed? Could there be some unfinished business with Babyface on Get Even Day? Revenge must be sweet when served cold and slowly…it is payback time! Yes, a broken mirror can be patched but the crack will forever be there.

Hope Undeferred

The elders say women are supposed to sell garden eggs not gun powder. But Araba's heart aches for Kwesi. What risks can a young lady take in making her love known to the man she loves? Should she go ahead and propose love? For the most haunted spinster in Assin Kabrofo, it is only a matter of time before she loses heartthrob Kwesi. This unwritten law in African setting is eating away this beautiful village queen. But do African gods condone breaking gender ranks? Hope can only be held onto with hands and feet. And with prayer that it is not dashed to pieces as pottery on the rocks that line the banks of River Ankobra.

Kojo Nkrabeah

The only stories villagers hear of the city is that of glamour with streets paved with gold, money hanging on trees and the taps overflowing with milk and honey. This story shatters the dream of city life for Kojo Nkrabeah and Akwasi Poku. Akilipee has come to Moseaso from the city with well embellished stories. These stories lured the orphaned Kojo Nkrabeah and his friend, Akwasi Poku. In their haste to escape their mundane village lives, they learn the hard way where the grass is green. This is not your ordinary village-to-city story but one that immerses the reader into the best of both worlds.

Guardian of the Rented Well

Akos is a married woman who wants her book published. Benson wants everything in skirt. How does he draw the line between pleasure with this taken lady and the business at hand? This story shows the resolve of married women and the extent to which they go to show or betray love and trust.

Was it Akos who coveted Benson to get her way? Or it was Benson who risked his life guarding the rented well. What has all this got to do with Lieutenant Patrick Atiemo? Something has to give, but what? Follow this maze of a crazy love affair gone terribly wrong …

Face to Face – Trotro Palaver

If you have not taken a trotro, aka troski in Ghana, then either you are not a Ghanaian or haven't visited Ghana. The ordinary man's means of transportation in Ghana comes with lots of hustle and drama. The tight seating arrangements, the conversations, the potpourri of smells the laughter, gossips, the political debates as well as the twists, turns and trickery to outwit the police. This adventure brings you face to face as we take a short winding yet hilarious ride in the old Morris troski, with registration number ABC 4037. Join Akwasi the aplanke (drivers mate) who holds a PhD in cunning, slippery mathematics and his master, Massa Kojo, the man who uses a toothpick in his mouth like a ceiling brush, as they drive us from Pig Farm to Circle.... vroooooommmmmm.......Away bus!

Project Akoma

When the heart decides, it is the mind that plans. A message sent to the mind simply reads: "I have found my desire—my missing rib," and sets the brain in motion. Stories of human love always go with sorrow, joy, deceit, unfailing dedication and jealousy. To win the heart of this striking beauty of eve's daughter, he must climb the seven skies and back, he must scale the China wall to profess love and win her heart. A moving rollercoaster of a love story which takes readers through the steps to win Adjoa's heart. This was so delicate and complicated it had to be handled like a final year project work on a University campus. Was this another happily ever after tale or a masterpiece of storytelling with sting at the very end?

Tales from Different Tails will be launched on 1 December 2011 at the Teacher's Hall Complex near Workers' College and Tigo Headoffice, Adabraka, Accra, at 6pm. This is Nana Awere Damoah's third book, the first two being Excursions in My Mind (2008) and Through the Gates of Thought (2010). Please, if you can make to Ghana, join Nana. Let's support Literature.

Synopsis Credit: Abubakar Ibrahim/Kofi Akpabli

With Sentinel and Saraba (2)

2011-10-31T05:38:00.000Z

We started reviewing these literary magazines here. Please go and read the prequel of this post to follow the trend well and appreciate this series of post more.

***

With every issue, Saraba and Sentinel present written works of peculiar standpoints exhibiting starling performances from the established, the molting and the budding. After going through the rundowns this post will be featuring, follow the provided links of these sites to know how true my proclaimed assertions are. I make no panegyric. Your hard-drives on your reading gadgets are slipcases of these two magazines. Just go and read from them whenever you are online, their arrays are beautiful crafts of innovative minds.

The efforts that go into each issue of these two are gutsy and heroic. Of great allure are their artistic productions when you consider that they are delivered pro bono for the intellectual pleasure of the reading public. In expression of my dedication to the expensiveness of lateral thinking involved in art, especially in the written words, I have recently made personal commitment towards creating awareness for their existence through online and offline platforms. The online part I began fulfilling from the phase one of this review. Offline: there are friends I have started various discussions with using these questions; "Do you know Saraba? Have you ever read from Sentinel?"

After this post, when you must have been made acquainted with the offerings these online literary portals churn out, I know you would readily become an initiate bent on winning more avid readers for Saraba and Sentinel. It is only then would you begin thinking through this tittle-tattle of mine in the reasonable sense. I thump my feet to affirm again; Saraba and Sentinel are proficient hands arranging the pieces of the marquetry of new Nigerian writing with new generation technology.

Slices from Saraba 9 Food Edition

As the norm is with Saraba, Dami and Iduma set the pulse for the collective works in the issue 9 with their opening editor's note. Their co-written editor's note always goes to reflect the mortise that exists between them, one which affixes suitably the different literary joints from the two co-publishers.

In this issue, Food is romanced with in varying works that try eliciting the importance of Food to human and how literature could come as close to it in analogy when the human mind is involved.

"Dodo and A Notebook" (Chika Unigwe)

How long will you go maintaining a habit? How far can you go in professing it? Chika writes about the favourite food she's been fixated on since childhood. Hers is Dodo, the fried chop of plantain. She also likes reading, a long time trait that balances well with her Dodo. Instead of smarting out of Dodo as adulthood tends to pare infantile obsessions to the minimum, she rather nurtures it into maturity. There is only one thing that accompanies Chika's Muse whenever she scribbles on her notebook – Dodo is it. When she claims Dodo is the food for Muse, I shake my head bitterly; wondering where my favoured palm oil-cooked beans with Agege bread stand if Dodo is ranked over them.

"Creativity of the Stomach" (Olaoluwa Akinoluwa)

There can never be a better personality without food. What you have is a despondent and forlorn look of utter dejection when you stay without it. Olaoluwa never thinks so when he sharpens his bladed weapon of creativity with the file of hunger-strike. He hopes to be the better for it as he settles down to work on his novel with only fluids replacing solid food. At the end of his self-imposed fast, Olaoluwa bitterly realizes that going without food can't make him more creative than he is. He comes to this understanding as various packs of juices litter his trashcan and numerous descriptive languages of food smear his writing during the period.

"Food, Again" (Novuyo Rosa Tshuma)

Novuyo bears her mind in a lapidary state. The way she philosophizes with Food makes one ponder on the complexity of Food in its various forms. The close borderline Novuyo draws between the smugness of the Western capitalist and the servile needy Africans is textually appropriated in the few words she crams her view into. Every time I read this piece, I pick out different slides of meanings from it. Novuyo's piece is one with a well related ambiguous tendency.

"The Pleasure of Swallowing" (Kola Tubosun)

Kola's nonfiction appreciates the very art that goes into making swallow of molded food. He details the arithmetic that takes place between the different regions of the mouth before such food is digested. Kola's contribution is an ode to his loved food of pounded yam.

Download Saraba 9 Food Edition here

Reading Sentinel Nigeria Issue 7

Sentinel 7 is a matured collection without making forced claims of its fittingly-matched contributions. With few submissions in each genre of literature, it radiates with the great depth that is not usually accorded to compactness.

"Purple Hibiscus – Adichie's Debt to Achebe?" (Ahmed Maiwada)

Contrary to the comments that have been trailing this review, I love its clinical dissection of Adichie's first novel. The perceptiveness of the review displays the rich effort Ahmed includes in his research before arriving at his calculated conclusion on Adichie's Purple Hibiscus. On the first encounter with this review, I had this to say about it on facebook;

"A beautifully illustrated juxtaposition of Adichie's Purple Hibiscus with McCullough's The Thorn Birds. Analytic and straight forward. Polemic yet with astounding breakdown that uproots the bases of past purportedly incorrect evaluations about Adichie's first novel…"

"Pinchomie, the Distinguished Loot and the Banana Republic" (Esien Ekpe-Ita)

This is a real satire, unrefined! The humor in the story is well blended. Lengthiness in this story is quickly forgiven as the reader is taken through bouts of laughter that could result in permanent hiccups if not medically checked. This story is hilarious in its entirety just like Nigerian rulers are incredible in their governing. Esien speaks through a child to amusingly capture the shared banditry among Nigerian parliamentarians. The main theme is the recent matter on their state-fund-ripping remuneration.

"Late Twenties Woman" (Osayi Osar-Emokpae)

I consider poetry too arcane for my chewing. In the hands of the confused, poetry is a cloak of messy things covered, left to the perspired search of a committed reader. I dislike most poetry for this inclination. Osayi's poetry is really written with the vigour at the very centre of the matter it dwells on. Her messages are clear and not mangled in the transience of the verses they are in. Late Twenties Woman runs through the fulfillment a woman gets with the pride of locating her space. It versifies the worthiness of a woman's wholeness in her own unpaired self, her wistfulness of things sacrificed to blasé disregard and joyfulness in the hindsight of the action she takes in her late twenties.

Read Sentinel Issue 7 now >>>

Still on this same road

True Talk isn't through with this yet. There are still some literary sites I am obliged to in kind and reviews. By the way, do you know what NaijaStories is? What about StoryTime, can you tell me anything about it? Come around soon and let's get to those places I've just mentioned. Wouldn't you love that?

Do you know of any online literary sites? In the comment box, drop a few you think might interest me too.

Much Ado About Baba Suwe's Shit

2011-10-24T18:51:00.000Z

What interests me in this short piece is not the humour the very story it is written upon has been generating all over the media in recent days. It isn't even in the shallowness of the circumstances surrounding the story. The humour, for me, is in the satire Isaac weaves around the complexity of Baba Suwe's "cocainic" adventure to NDLEA. It is the telling style of Isaac that makes this story very enjoyable.

But come to think of it; it is the personality of a man that is at stake here. The privacy of Babatunde Omidina's aka Baba Suwe has been stolen away from him. It's been days now and Baba Suwe's excreta are still been daily scrutinized for substances that seem to be in the imagination of his captors alone. Read Baba Suwe in Isaac's sidesplitting writing…

***

© Isaac Anyaogu

It is now thirteen days since popular Yoruba movie actor Babatunde Omidina otherwise known as Baba Suwe was "kidnapped" by stern-faced officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) over suspicion that he swallowed more than pounded yam on his way to the airport few days ago. They have been watching his shit for traces of cocaine the way housewives watch Nollywood movies to see what Genevieve is wearing.

In case you missed it, they have Baba Suwe hold up in a cell, perhaps force-fed him ewa agoyin and Agege bread, fetched him a tank of water, waited for him to hit the toilet, then bagged his shit in a white cellophane and ran to the lab hoping his shit would somehow turn to cocaine. And I used to think I have the worst job in the world.

The last time I heard they turned something into something else was in the holy book. One wedding in Cana where booze ran out so they had Jesus turn water into wine. Perhaps the NDLEA know a thing or two about miracles. Rumour has it that they are trying to turn shit into cocaine. I wish them good luck but I'll choose turning water into booze any day. Imagine if Jesus were here to see what the breweries are charging us for 75 cl of beer? He'll just turn the Atlantic into booze and run them all out of business!

Baba Suwe has been to the toilet three times now and all he excreted were, well, just shit. NDLEA spokesperson, Mitchell Ofoyeju, still insisted he will remain under observation for other "procedural measures". Procedural measures is just the technical equivalent of "we screwed up badly".

Some Mondays past, the Director General of the anti-drug agency went on air to say that Baba Suwe would be released if the report of the CT scan and his third excretion proved to be negative. Now they are waiting for CT scan result? Pray, how long does it take to get one?

If your father works in a shit-testing factory or NDLEA lab (if we want to be cute), you should be worried. Your father tests the shit of adults for a living. That's the last person you want to get a career advice from unless of course shit testing runs in your genes. Hell, I'll pick a father that "packs" shit to the one that "tests" it any day.

Imagine this scene, two officials of the NDLEA dressed up in a white lab coat over a black jacket and paisley tie hunched over a funny looking contraption with yellowish fluid and several glass containers, one labeled "BABA SUWE's SHIT". They make notations on writing pads as they take a reading on the meter attached to the machine… Just what kind of education does one need to get a job testing other people's shit?

In June 2008, the United States brought four OD Security SOTER RS Security Body Scanners for the NDLEA for security operations for Lagos, Port Harcourt, Kano and Abuja International airports to stop Nigerians supplying their teenagers coke. The machine is believed to be one of the most sophisticated in the industry available for drug detection. It can look through clothes and see anything/everything inside and outside the human body in 10 seconds. (Who do I need to bribe to get the job of watching the machines?

In any case, the sophisticated machine started flashing red when Baba Suwe was ushered through and the NDLEA guys pounced on him. Seven days now they have held him as Baba Suwe continues to shit just shit sans cocaine. How come they are not exploring the possibility that the machine has been Nigerianized (corrupted)?

In a country where nothing works, is it any wonder that some fancy machine contrived to detect cocaine has started detecting digested pounded yam as cocaine? If a government agency can't understand logic that simple, shouldn't we hire drug addicts to do the job? At least, they'll know their suppliers.

People are already envying Baba Suwe. Just why didn't I study law?

My Post of Thanks

2011-09-23T08:17:00.001Z

...after the $100 had been won

True talk has just won the prize! Nooooo… Strongself topped the poll. Not exactly! Joseph Omotayo has been announced the winner of the writing contest… Don't be such an ingrate!!! You, my readers, won the $100 and offered it to True Talk (Now I am confused!J). Okay, I needn't to. We are all in one. Aren't we? The readers ensure True Talk constantly gains popularity through comments and post-reading. True Talk in turn is administrated by Joseph Omotayo who writes and chiefly edits posts for the blog under the name "Strongself". Phew….

Better now...The difficulty in referencing the prize to a winner is solved and shouldn't take more lines than it had done.

The adventure was on for six days. The voting for the entries in the competition started in the weak hours of Thursday. That day was the beginning of the frenzy of whose post gets the highest votes. The writing competition was organized by NaijaStories.com in the spirit of promoting dutiful reading culture. The aim of the contest was simple. Each contestant was to write, in not more than 350 words, about a Nigerian character in any book that he/she so empathically relate with. 13 entries were shortlisted, out of which Imagine Lola, my entry, was one.

Imagine Lola is a character sketch I did on the characterization of Lola Ogunwole in Imagine This. Imagine This is a book written by Sade Adeniran. My submission on the character of Lola Ogunwole strived with brevity, aptitude and creativity to collage the moments of Lola Ogunwole. Moments which were mostly marred by the unnerving turbulence that redefines Lola Ogunwole from the little innocent girl living at Edgecombe House in London. The entry also infused the opinion of my reader-mind in creating an aesthetic proximity that exists between the author and the book. In the last paragraph, it adjoined the similarity of my relative experience with the life of Lola Ogunwole.

Have a Read…

"At age nine, Lola Ogunwole's life crashes with the mishap that will characterize her life in years to come as she is forced to live in Idogun. Idogun, a far contrasting picture with the world she is used to in Edgecombe House in London. In the time of uncertainties, a becoming reticence later turns Lola's language of survival. She reposes her solace in the only diary she addresses her woes, joys and encounters as her life mundanely passes by. A diary where every word, no matter how awful or memorable, begins with Dear Jupiter.

Imagine This is the tantrum of Lola against uncontrollable fierceness confronting her life. The book is a poignant account of the compromise of hapless children in the face of domestic violence, matrimonial disarray and cultural imbalances. It narrates the plights of Lola and Adebola Ogunwole as they toil to remedy the taints only the attentiveness and care of a father could make them overcome. Imagine This measures the anguish of a teenage girl (Lola) and how she battles to retain the love of those around her. Her action towards this changes everything about her life; her father's attitude and her brother's, Adebola's, existence.

That the character is portrayed in the first person narrative view shows how far its aesthetic distance is to the author, Sade Adeniran. I could quite observe from the tone every of the sentences carries that Sade is only creating a medium to pour out her heart about issues of her past. Having said a sequel, Imagine That, will follow confirms that she has not yet drained her emotions in those pages in Imagine This.

It is quite easy sharing empathy with Lola Ogunwole. Most especially how her sudden urban-rural migration triggers the trauma I had to put up with when my academe changed location from Festac in Lagos to Ilesa in Osun. The change was brutal and scarring, just like Lola's."

*****

That was the entry you made the winning one. I'm indeed so glad you put yourself out for me on this one.

With the unflinching support you, my readers, gave to me during the voting period, I have come to even understand better that your love transcends the encouraging comments you drop on the blog. Your votes through the polling exercise kept Imagine Lola at the peak of votes cast till the end of the contest. With this gesture, I am more bound to keep True Talk running on insightful posts as ever. I'm just too thankful.

To friends who supported by canvassing for votes on various social media, I appreciate your helps. Blogosphere was warming with love too. I humbly praise the strength fellow bloggers pulled for the entry. Thank you! Without your contributing arms of strength & power, this prize wouldn't have chosen this path.

Thank you all for making True Talk, You, Joseph Omotayo & Strongself the winner of this prize. You would be surprised how $100 would command little changes here and there. At least my bookshelf is bound to swell with books I have been daydreaming of before now.

There are still more to be won… This I am very sure of with your continued support.

Thank you!

Please!!! Vote for Me!!!

2011-09-16T17:43:00.001Z

The time you spend browsing through the pages of this blog only says something – love and support. Your commitment to reading my posts even when some of them are slightly smeared marvels me a lot! I am so thankful! I have quite observed overtime that the comments that trail each post on this blog are not the measurement of the audience it constantly pulls. Whenever I check my Traffic-Stats, the enormous traffic it shows makes my heart leap for joy. This is to say that there are more readers of the blog than the numbers of comments each post gets.

To all my readers, this is a short appreciative note to you for always sparing your time visiting and reading the blog. The blog stands out everyday on search engines because of you. Posts are also written because I know you would be there behind the screens to read. I am just too grateful to you all!

To bond this love and support you have always shown me more, I humbly implore you to take this support a little further by voting for my entry in the writing contest, My Favourite Nigerian Character in a Book. My entry's name is "Imagine Lola". You are allowed to vote for this entry once in a day till next week Tuesday when the poll will be rounding up.

Show me some support in this contest and vote "Imagine Lola". Help me keep this entry constantly on top of the poll till Tuesday when the poll will be closing for voting.

Vote for ME!!!!

Vote "IMAGINE LOLA"

Vote HERE

Read the entry HERE

Thank You!!!

With Sentinel and Saraba (1)

2011-09-12T18:53:00.001Z

Surfing the web could be elating, time-wasting, indulging and in other instances fulfilling. It all depends on what takes your time and how much knowledge you garner during the cyber-period. I have had moments which left me with aftertaste that I can't just stop relishing. There were days too when I recoiled from the screen and wondered at the frivolities and trivialities the Internet offered. The internet is functionally multifaceted. You chose which grain your pestle gets to grind. I roughly have 20hrs access to the Internet a week. But the trove stored on my hard-drive conflicts this. You would think my connection is always up and running. Really, it isn't. Not in this part of the world where connection is measured in meager bytes with preset timing. What I do on the web with the shortest of access time could be amazing. Reading newspaper, magazines, blogs, literary portals and journals makes my eyelids puffy from multitudinous of words.

They say life is in twos in everything and to every individual. The internet is not without the contradiction of use that people make of it too. Your internet is for inane chats, mine is for reading. What a striking opposition. The way the web works is in the attitudinal individuality of persons.

I have two ways I want people relating with me whenever my netbook calls for my attention. When I surf the net over a cup of kunu and roasted plantain, with intermittent laughter appreciating the pleasure of the food, I could be selfless in giving my attention to other things apart from what mesmerizes me on the screen.

The other, I can't really couch in words for clear definition of the mood that submerges my whole. But I know the symptom before and the effect after it. When I hunch slightly, creating a slantingly tangent view with my screen, blinking sharply at the screen's glare, rushing over meals, preferring taking meals on the bare floor over the dining table that seats my netbook; I know the latter moment beckons to me. In this period, I could ignite when my skin senses the least of friction on it. The effect; my eyes redden, pores break out sweat and my mind goes into a trance of reasoning induced by the words the Web screens on my netbook.

Of some of the activities that currently take my web-time; I share with you these two:

On Sentinel Nigeria Issue 7

Sentinel Nigeria has berthed again. This time at the sea with tidal waves that direct all to the dock of variously apt pieces. It is moored to Issue 7. In my years of fraternity with Sentinel Nigeria, a quarterly literary magazine, giving preference to previous Issues over the current has always remained herculean. So is this same Issue that partly inspires me to write this. The issue is new and the steam that each contribution boils with still visible.

Reading literature online is more engaging; this I have observed over time. It interacts with the reader, unlike a paperback that leaves the reader slurring between pages that feed him without taking in personal reflections from him. Online, the beholder's views are only some keystrokes' away. In this Sentinel Issue 7, find yourself disagreeing and acquiescing with opinions so compact yet resounding. Observe when you nod to the exactitude of points so correctly driven. Validate my claim when you converse with each writer in a telepathy that can only be in pieces very spellbinding.

Read Sentinel Nigeria issue 7 now >>>>

Of Saraba 9: The Food Edition

Always on Saraba do I notice myself immerse in the analyses that brew out of fertile minds of versed resourcefulness. The correctness of every year's submissions to the subject they individually peruses is intellectually engaging. Subconsciously, I have built an ingrained attitude of keen interest in the artistic depiction this downloadable magazine showcases.

Each issue usually works on a tailored theme. Not in order though, there have been Fashion, Technology, God, Economy, etc. With each of these themes, new perspectives are delivered. It is in the way Saraba achieves deepness from clichéd topics that takes one in. In the end, there is always a reinvention of ideas from simple hackneys.

In Technology for example, technology is looked at from ways it affects and shapes our literature and lives. The pains and benefits it has holed through basic human endeavours are bared.

In this newly published edition, Food is closely juxtaposed with Literature. Its advantages are weighed with the knowledge the mind needs feeding on. In this new collection, writers strive to show the indispensability of Food to human and literature to the mind. Some contributions portray the infusion of Food into the literature of humanity. Food, in this issue becomes the mirror that reflects the importance of literature. This edition goes out to array the intermingling of literature, Food, knowledge and life.

Download the magazine now>>>>

I would implore you frequent this blog more in days to come. This space will be featuring rundown of pieces in these magazines and other literary websites yet unmentioned. To download past Issues of Saraba, browse the archives on the site for it. Sentinel Nigeria, a non-downloadable magazine also stores past editions on the site for easy rummage.

Follow this activity of mine and maximize your web-time. Up online Literature!!!

"On Black Sisters’ Street" by Chika Unigwe

2011-09-09T19:34:00.000Z

· Thanks to Ayọdèlé Morocco-Clarke who thought it good to bless me with this book.

*****

Agreed, I haven't read much on Nigerian-women-immigrant-prostitution. A fact, the multitudes of hearsays and valid stories that I have heard, ones which all culminated into the same story of women trafficking, could easily make banality of any fiction that hinges on that theme. In Nigeria, especially in Ubiaja, Edo state where I spent the early years of my teens, we call the women of this ignoble foray the 'Italos'. Whether what they do was in Belgium or Italy, the least mattered to us and the tag we gave them stayed untainted. What we saw of them were splotches of skin-burns that gave them the peculiarity their sudden wealth brought. Riches that separated them at families' funerals as they threw money at everything, even at anybody who complimented 'welcome Sista. Sista, you just too fine'.

With my foreknowledge of this subject that the media seems to give this book so many accolades for, I didn't go into On Black Sisters' Street starry-eyed like a reader who obsequiously feeds on the imagination of a writer with unrealistic hope that he would be satisfied with mere literary figments. I already had my preconception of the conflict and resolution. When Sisi's death is known from the few pages I had hurriedly zapped, my mind fleshed out the characters and the mysteries that may surround them and I wondered what more should I give my curiosity to. At the estuary of tossing the book to the back of my shelf and wanting to know why the denouement had hurriedly been given away when Sisi's demise welcomed me into the book, my indifference was somewhat redeemed.

It was few pages later that I got to know the book isn't only about the death of a particular character. The demise of Sisi is simply an image about what may have gone wrong with the lives of the characters before their arrival at Antwerp. Though the reader knows the death of Sisi beforehand, the circumstances that lead to her death are also the conflicts of the theme of the book. In the book, Sisi's death is inevitable if the reader must know the cruxes of the conflict that climaxes in the lives of the other characters. Sisi is the beginning of the novel, the crack in the window that allows us a satisfied look at the lives of Joyce, Ama, Efe, Dele, and the resolution of the conflicts.

The Themes:

Political & Family Imbalance - Either affects the other. When something goes awry with one, the other shoulders the responsibilities. The political shame that exists in the African terrain is no doubt what writers have always given a larger part of their literary devotion to. If Nigerian economy were good, perhaps, Sisi's dream of nailing a job would have been a reality and the prophecy of greatness given at her birth a certainty. Chisom (later known as Sisi) becomes the prime investment of her family after her degree. She will dream of riding in her company's executive cars, her parents will debate over the model she will buy and how they will be lifted from the muck of poverty. After many applications to known and unknown companies without a response, Dele shows her what treasures she could get on Zwartezustraat posing her flesh in booth for whoever pays for its pleasure.

Alek (Joyce) faces trauma at its worse. Hers is the story of a country's defeated political structure. Alek loses her parents and sexual privacy to the militia who evade their home on the kill the Dinkas' rampage in Sudan. When she arrives at Black Sisters' Street, the price to pay pales in comparison to the pains she bears at the penetration of each member of the militia on her parents' bed in Sudan.

When Ama's parental cocoon breaks at the revelation that the man who had been violating her is not her father, the short-lived freedom that gives her at the place of Mama Eko, her mom's sister, paves the way for Dele, who introduces her to what the black sisters in Antwerp do on Zwartezusterstraat.

Verisimilitudes of Life - When Sisi's father's pay rises up a notch at work, the future gleams to him at the prospect of more pay-increases at work. The skewed shape his life takes after so many years of hoping when his next salary would swell directs his dream to the glory his daughter's (degree) would bring. When Ama hitches to explore more places and escape from the mundane task of shuttling between home and Mama's Eko's restaurant, she is little aware of what may come afterwards. Excitedly as she brims with dreams at the proposal of Dele to travel abroad, she only becomes prepared for the fate that lies ahead of her when Dele samples her for her new job with the black sisters.

My Re-Commendation:

Fiction is a fragment of the assiduousness of imagination with a subsumed division of researches. The in-depth knowledge a writer possesses about a story spices the art of storytelling and rid fiction of unnecessary complexities that only tend to cover up for ineptness. Ironically, I have also read writers whose extensive examinations become the very undoing of their craft. At most times, one can hardly come across a well researched book whose writer doesn't convulse with what he wants the reader to know rather than what they should personally observe. For this, Chika Unigwe should be commended for how she unfurls her story without blurring the narrating view with unnecessary journalese and academic inclination. The contents and style of this book is not short of my recommendation. Chika, in On Black Sisters' Street, really does write well with the beauty of a first-hand witness.

"Say You’re One of Them" by Uwem Akpan

2011-08-27T10:31:00.001Z

Thanks to Ayọdèlé Morocco-Clarke who gave this book as a gift.

***

As I flip from page to page riding on the tidal currents of Uwem's offerings, I could feel that Uwem has more experiences to be shared than what he has written on in those five stories that make up Say You're One of Them. My premise is rooted in the manner Uwem drags on in some of the stories, which individually spans almost a hundred pages, sating the reader with every of the superfluous details he wants the reader to know. He tends to be so compassionately biased with the way he tells some issues with brevity aided with creativity and others in a narrative that nearly makes them novellas within an anthology of five short stories. What however makes Uwem lure the reader into every of his story is in how he gets the reader with the storytelling spells that can only be identified with a narrator who is not only telling his stories in vivid descriptive words alone but in the fluidity of one who knows his stories well before telling them. You might be wondering what kind of literature with five short stories really chronicle the events in Africa in picturesque sequences, you only would need to be told that each of the stories set in five different countries of the continent told in children's perspective, does not foist what should be on you but rather makes you piece meanings together for yourself from the accounts of disoriented children of nefarious abuses and violence.

Uwem must have been aware that his piece of literature could easily be thrown off as one of the lots that appeal to the West with stereotypical African themes of child soldering, religious calamity, child trafficking, etc, hence he adopts the point of view that speaks with tones of innocence rather than narrative that relays events with adult confident accuracy. Sympathy could always save flaws when stories are told by a child and one might not quickly overreact against pictures that are just too blackly painted to seek pity when it is a minor blathering about it. Say You're One of Them seems to make a reader confess and expiate on behalf of the villain in sheer empathy that grieves one so dearly after each story.

Say You're One of Them is an afro geo-collection of short stories which unfolds in different settings of five African countries.

The Five Short Stories

An Ex-mas Feast (kenya): Maisha is never her family's favourite when it comes to moral standards, but she does command the greatest dignity when the family needs depend on the finances she get from prostituting as a minor. She is the sacrificial lamb that holds the family together in seeming unity until the Ex-mas Feast when she explores full time in her trade to cater for the more demanding wants of her family.

Fattening for Gabon (Benin): For Yewa and Kotchikpa, the coming of a Nanfang motorbike into their uncle's, Fofo Kpee, home is the beginning of the abysmal era that will soon ravage them apart. When the source of the Nanfang is known, it has already become too late for Fofo Kpee to remedy events and save his cousins from the suffering he has sold them into. The story delves into the hypocrisy of religion while it still maintains its objectivity on the child-trafficking issue that majorly characterizes the story.

What Language Is That? (Ethiopia): Before the war that tears the narrator apart from her best friend, Salem, all what they know is the world they have mutually created in their own infantile simplicity. In severe suddenness, they become as guilty as the circumstance that creates a gorge between them. With the falseness of emotions that those caught in the middle of religious crisis exude, the two children go aboard to learn another language that could communicate their friendliness to each other even though the plumes of thick smoke that billows from the charred part of their houses robs the atmosphere of all harmony.

Luxurious Hearses (Nigeria): The quietness of the hearse might not be luxurious to the dead. The still silence of the dead that squirt blood all over is never a pleasant sight even when ferried in luxurious buses. The situation that plagues the characters in this story is antithetical to the lives they must have lived at one time or the other. After Tijani's co-Muslim faithful betray his trust during a religious war that breaks loose in the northern part of the country, he returns to reposing his confidence in the God of the south he knows little about. A fanatic of some sort, Tijani who calmly watches the martyring of his blood brother of the Christian faith can't brave to reveal his Muslim identity in the refugee bus where he seeks protection. Amidst staccato of gunfire, jarred dismembered bodies and reprisal attacks from the two religions (Muslim and Christian) and ethnic groups (North and South), Tijiani almost does make it, but when his chopped off wrist gives him away in the South-bound luxurious bus, nothing could save him as a northern- adherent- Mohammed- worshipper.

My Parents' Bedroom (Rwanda): As succinct as this story is, it well re-enacts the inter-tribal carnage between the Hutu and the Tutsi brilliantly. A child can eavesdrop on the creaking bed of his parents, but when the matrimonial room of the home becomes an abattoir where the mother's head is slashed, the memory of the bedroom may become a hunting ghost. This story uses the setting of a simple Rwandan family to show how inhuman the war between the two tribes is and how the actors of the savage wear bestiality as fitting garbs.

Take this…

This anthology might turn out to be Uwem's definitive work, I don't see him writing anything as entrancing as this. That some of the stories were almost on the whole pages of the book shows that he was under pressure as to what genre to writer under; a collection of short stories or a full novel. Writing about religion is one fragile issue writers seldom dwell on. Being a Jesuit priest I thought Uwem Akpan was going to let prejudice guide him towards giving an imbalanced narration while stifling the views of the opposite religion in Luxurious Hearses. The diplomacy he employed in equally giving voices to the two religious groups takes Luxurious Hearses out of the packs that use literature as their controlled mock courts where cases are adjudged on emotions and microscopic reasoning.

Promoting Books the JALAA Way

2011-08-25T21:46:00.001Z

I'm curably sick and put out with the cliché of poor reading culture that is constantly mouthed by everyone who has the slightest opportunity to air some ingenuous basis to a confused audience. I swallow short breathed disgusted air when people start going superficially lyrical about what the causes of subsisting Nigerian reading tradition are and what solutions really go to tackle it. Same with how a professor of Technology in one uncertain Nigerian institution will go bragging on some frustrated newspaper column what e-learning is without bringing the simplicity of the word out in a practicable, seeable and (if I may add) touchable manner. Like a friend of mine would say; platitudes – ideas and theories full of plastics! When such professor could easily have put it clearly; e-learning is electronic education by means of multimedia and add as an addendum; despite the point that this is an Institution of Technology we don't have the resource to enhance that. SIMPLE! That saves prosaicsm.

It is a more ubiquitous fact that anything that comes from the mouths of some highly classy conceited few becomes the fussy-point of discussion for many. Okay, cut me some slack, (I would prefer if you could add me some guguru instead) Nigeria is one nation on a slanting verge of deteriorating reading culture, agreed. However, who can say he has taken the pain too in establishing a verified graph on how this improves or plummets over time other than joining the mass on hypocritically playing the messiah in numerous debates of rhetoric? I doubt that! We are only good at coming into our own on presumed stats set by mushy and imbalanced theories.

If census were to be made, I do. I mean, I read! You are surprised?! Why wouldn't you be? I wouldn't even blame you if you do anyway when the preconception that stems from your perspective is what informed by some sizeable networkers attending a literary reading at some highbrow venue in Lagos or Portharcourt. I know a lot of those who get their eyes busy with words, at least on avalanche of pings on BBs and updates on facebook. Unhealthy reading, you may care to say. Ok, it is. But that answer could still be contextual anyway. There are quality notes to read on facebook if you want to go academic on the social media.

Simply put, reading is an art, the art is in words. If the definition is anything to go by in defining what reading is, then a pass should Nigerians score. We really want to read when the materials are mainstreamed into what carries our affections and instantly made obtainable. Check newsstands and the numbers of Sport Tabloid that vie for space and attention with conventional newspapers and correct me if I am mistaken about the fact that we are reading. Seriously we do, at least with those that are without having to go on an expensive journey to some exotic bookshops just to get a good fiction. Can't we be less myopic?!!! The literary enthusiasts in cities that attract readings shouldn't be used as general proposition of book lovers.

Humor and irony apart, the situation isn't whether Nigerian youths read or not, the focal point now should be what they read; if healthy or not and how healthy reading can be encouraged. You want to ponder on why my friends here in Osogbo would rather go for anthologies of Sport's soft sells than put out a morsel on current contemporary African fictions; poor distribution! I have reservation if there are bookshops that really shelve good fictions in remote towns like Terra Kulture and Silverbird's LifeStyle do. The gorge is always there to add strain to one whom so desire to venture into good reading. It might be true reading-culture is dying, but also, are there in place proper chains of book accessibility?

My journeys to Lagos are countless; so are the fares that pay my ferry in getting good fictions daunting. Can't good books be made reachable before plotting graphs on reading culture? Take Farafina books to Ikorodu in Lagos, Dada books to Ubiaja in Edo, Cassava pieces to Ota-Efun in Osun, and let's note if Adichie, Eghosa, Arigbabu, Verissimo and Habila wouldn't be having additional readers and literary followers. It is simple economic-strategy, good distribution increases consumers. And so does it too for books.

When I stumbled on the post made by an online friend (Temitayo Olofinlua) about the sale's network Jalaa Writers' Collective has put up to get readers in the country acquainted with their books, I knew there was a rare magical marketing skill at display. Seeing how their physical transaction centres span almost 22 states of the country, I felt a bit livened up. Not getting any of them in favorable proximity to my hovel, I mischievously typed in on the wall post on facebook; None of these… is close to Osun. Really never cared much thought would be given to that. The reply that I was to later get shattered my belief. Jalaa's move in getting their books closer to a conterminous city to my abode was remarkable! It definitely made workable my idea of peer-exchange an achievable one. Up till that encounter, I've always sank deep in thought on the feasibility of building a network of familiar body contacts where books can be transferable and bought like the movie CDs I borrow next door and the one I purchase at the end of my street. Familiar-body-transfer of books, it's clear, getting books in a familiar circumstance that you usually exchange other things with friends in.

Getting Roses & Bullets and Pride of the Spider Clan by just making some calls coupled with a 30 minutes trip to Ife for the pickup was alleviating; a good incentive towards reading. The distribution-system the books took to me; fantastic! It was through a simple system of simply dropping the book off with a student at OAU that could effortlessly be contacted for the book. There is now no more arduous step to take in shelving new books, in so far as it is on Jalaa's stable. All what behooves on one are some few calls of inquiry and getting them at the very best convenient location. Jalaa could just be anywhere near you.

I went Jalaa few days ago at Ife, OAU, with the foregoing titles and the cost of really getting them like I was always wont to do at Lagos reduced.

This is what I'm propounding; let leading publishers get volunteering distributors across and through cities and hamlets in the country and let see if reading culture won't leap. Let's be realistic here. Knowing that the African fictions that are only the preserved features in high cities' glass-walled bookshops could also be gotten through a volunteering representative next door or street is one simple potent magic of mass distribution. Let's break the conservative chain and put some creative network in place; my books will definitely swell than I myself would imagine. Same goes for unknown and unrepresented avid readers too.

Next time some ajebos and attention-seeking coterie are outwitting themselves in dissecting what solutions can be made to the dying Nigerian reading-culture, ask if plans are already under way to make books available at the same current with those things that struggle with it, even if a neighbor knocks on their doors for one to honorably buy and read.

Let book-distribution go guerilla or Jalaala. For now, JALAA; way to go!

Bordering Stereotype from African Fiction: Honesty

2011-08-19T14:49:00.001Z

On this subject alone, the board of views is so crammed with analyses that make it some disgust to reasoning. What is Stereotype? Why Stereotype? What platitudes come with Stereotype? These questions have always torn horns when minds are to give bases. There have been rants, gabbles, babbles, swipes and spites; all trailing what should be and not to be in this same 'stereotype'. Sometimes, I bitterly wondered if what we make as assertions in judging 'stereotype' wouldn't after all be as stereotypic as what they tend to analyze.

A friend has written his own side on this, merging rich references with apt allusions. Your views may run quite opposite to his, but what you wouldn't dismiss hurriedly is his proper presentation of points so vivid. Enjoy this guest post by Oyebanji Ayo.

****

People have spoken a lot – consciously and most times, unconsciously about this subject. That is why many literary enthusiasts, when the slightest opportunity avails itself, ask why fictional works of African origin have refused to renounce their 'age-long' friendship with 'already dry and pen-sucked' subjects in this age of facebook™ and twitter™.

Since critics have come out to 'attack' reputable writers like Ngozi Chimamanda Adichie, Akachi Adimora Ezeigbo and the like on the recurrence of thematic pre-occupation in their works. These critics have resorted to Conan Doyle's quote – "mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself…" and therefore term the works of these authors as the manifestation of mediocrity or 'literary rigmaroling'. This is why the honesty of works which have the elements of "stereotype" is always questioned.

On the other hand, some other critics have come to appreciate the so-called stereotypes because of the factual and historical content they have. It is important to point it out at this point that factions or work of fiction that have elements of history are guilty of bringing this subject up for discussion or argument most times.

Let's get things straight here. If some unquestionable force has not come up with another meaning for the word "stereotype", something is wrong. Stereotype used to mean something which is fixed in form; used and repeated without thought or change. If it still does, the words "form" and "change" should be noted.

Below are some of the cogent points with which this subject can be examined:

· Literature and History

· Something New; Not Literary Puritanism

· Emphasis

· The Society: Literature's Brooding Mother

Literature and History

One feature that stands out among the many Literature has is Verisimilitude. Literature irrespective of the genre draws from everything that happens in the real world. Akeem Lasisi despite that the fact he discusses the route to matrimony and the feminine mind as his subject (in his anthology of poetry, 'Night of my Flight'), he still imbibes elements of history in poems like "Gani Fawehinmi", "Kudi Abiola", "Ajibola Ige!" and the like.

Odia Ofeimun in "Go Tell the Generals" explores from the perspective of history the rule of the military Junta in Nigeria. Play texts like "Trials of Zedan Kimathi", "Fate of a Cockroach" and "Ovoramwen Nogbaisi" all of African origin made history their reference points. Thus, what should make prose (fiction in particular) not to draw from history which is a fertile land for literary resources?

The hunch that has suddenly appeared on the back of the act of concocting elements of fiction with history is Criticism.

Factions or historical fictions suffer a lot of criticism on being stereotypic. The notion that all historical works are works with the subjects that have been explored completely and therefore should be dumped for some other subjects is wrong.

What matters or counts here is not the subject! What then is it? STYLE.

Adichie has told her story about the 1967 Nigeria Civil War, likewise Akachi Ezeigbo in "Roses and Bullets". Let's give room for some comparison. Did they explore to the same depth or in the same way this thematic preoccupation? These authors have come out with the same outputs. Readers of the recently mentioned are subjected to experiencing works of different styles and modes of narration. Creativity is highly exalted in Literature and neither of these works fall short of it.

Moreover, there is no world as full and free as that of Literature. It is for this reason that a writer may decide to make all his or her works revolve round the same subject or decide to pick from different or diverse spheres of existence.

To cap it on "Literature and History", let's note that with no "Weep not Child", "Things Fall Apart", "Purple Hibiscus" and the rest, how does the African youthful mind see the route that has led to the present or read the map that reveals the future? Remember, Literature can build as well as murder. When it becomes silent on history or fails to appreciate what is now called "Stereotype", it clinches the latter attribute.

Something New; Not Literary Puritanism

Literature is fast becoming the Plymouth and Boston of this contemporary world and the protestant are…

Critics! One thing they should stand for is not what most of them stand for. Using the words of Brutus, a Shakespearean character, they are meant to be "purgers" and not "murderers".

In the course of "purging" or criticizing, critics tend to be extra-ordinarily fastidious. They therefore fail to look at the profundity of some of their arguments.

Really, new things need to spring up from African fiction but should we make ourselves blind to what needs to be emphasized the more in our Literature? In an Africa where corruption thrives like evil in the darkness, shouldn't the writers of this generation explore the theme in their works?

Emphasis

In poetry, when a word or line keeps recurring, an effect is being created – EMPHASIS. That Lola Shoneyin makes "The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives" a feminist novel just as Buchi Emecheta's "Joys of Motherhood" is for one reason. The Africa that existed decades ago has not changed in any way…

… The Society: Literature's Brooding Mother

Literature experiences transformation only if the society embraces transformation. Then why should "stereotype" be a thing of the past when it is as appreciated as it is appalling in Africa? When America Literature is taken as a case study, it becomes overt how the society can influence its Literature. The gods of metamorphosis which the American society appeased brought or resulted in the Literature of colonial America, Literature of Reason and Revolution, Literature of Romanticism, Realism and that of the 21^st century which are the different ages in American Literature.

Whenever this subject crops up, one's tent is better pitched on a wall higher than Jericho's.

© Oyebanji Ayo.

He could be reached via ayoyebanji@gmail.com

My Mind on New Year Resolution

2011-08-16T14:39:00.005Z

Two things herald every New Year in colourful and appreciable circumstances; festivity and people's renewed determination to make things better. People's optimism that always assume gay transformation with the arrival of a New Year has become one tradition so globally celebrated aside the joyous new beginning of another year itself. The interesting factor is in how people have made culture out of New Year Resolutions that are always wrapped up in numerous species of aspirations; new attitudes, new strength, better working conditions, more working relationships and the lines go on different individuals' lists.

I had a feeling of being a fraud when everything I was planning for the New Year was in sharp contrast with the manner numerous people were doing theirs. Everybody seemed to have something to write down and followed strictly like a manual. How I hate manual! However, the reflection of admiration for the frenzy most people were jumping into was in how enthusiasm was being hooked up with the unseen labour that was to go into making the strings of personally aspired ambition a living action.

After my tour of the cyberspace through several blogs, I was blackmailed into putting down a typed paragraphed list of targets for the New Year too. One to call my own at least. A simple initiation into the culture syndrome you can call that. I was made to understand that one will have to do it with a kind of spirit. The spirit that believes that things noted down on the New Year Resolution list are accomplishable no matter the odds that may await them and the effort needed.

In no time my MS word was up and running as I effortless and religiously, taking details into every needs, typed my bespoken Resolutions. It was quite an easy task I thought to myself when I was through in less than 20 minutes. The list was long and its execution carefully tagged with every day of the new calendar year.

Half way down the year in June, everything only felt lukewarm and drab. Every day I have my list defiantly accusing me of the passion I had given into putting it down, which incredibly pales with the one I'm putting into the actualization-plan. My resolution has now turn the other side of my personality; a disgusting streak of unattainable dreams. The only life my Resolution list now possesses is in the printed ink on it. I try to ignore it and hide behind study materials that are strewn over my desk but when it is rifled by the faded wind from my window, the sound of cries for strength thuds down to my heart. If my list were to be so far rated, some I have been meticulously following, others; irritations that make my soul itch. And I do question myself; can't I have some pats for those things that are working out? The truth is that I never indeed saw beyond the fever that goes into joining the charade.

Not to discredit the resoluteness some people harbor in the tradition of capping every dream with New Year Resolution, making New Year Resolution is more of hypocrisy than the step-to-step guide it is primarily meant to be. Eight months down the New Year, the noise on it has tuned low and will only become high again at the end of the Year when there will be mourning of dashed hopes and joy for another rehash that is to become the guide of another year.

I may have been blabbing because as I type this; my notion of this subject matter is still muddled with unfulfilled hopes of things called dreams. If you want to counter my belief of the hypocrisy that goes so much with everybody into making New Year Resolutions, you may as well tell me if you have come across one whose list carries a whole lot of practicalities than feverish impetuousness. As for me, I'm still waiting to read a list that will state how Resolutions can be meant in a pragmatic way.

You may also need to be informed; my New Year Resolution polices me still, though I'm unfaithful to it.

Have you made some things on that special list too? Do you think yours might be bearing fruits? Then, talk about it. It will be good to know…

Patience is in these Shades…

2011-07-25T21:32:00.005Z

...in these shades

After installing my licensed McAfee antivirus software on Friday in a task I wouldn't pray re-undertaking anytime soon, I was very sure of the certainty of my action, even as some counseled me against impatience. Not only did it cost me some pocket-ripping bucks to go for a licensed 1 year antivirus protection over the commonly free ones I could easily get at my neigbourhood's stores for just #250, it also did get me snide reactions from friends too. Some of my friends wouldn't just see reasons why I should be over-reaching my financial limit in getting a full protection for my system, especially when the trial protection still allowed a more than one month use. Impatience!!! They chimed was fueling my steps. But I knew what I was doing. Didn't I? Of course I did know! I thought the woe I would have to endure was only going to stop in my access to a certified disc with some product key. I nearly passed out when I later read from the software-guide a high-speed internet was also to be required during the installation. I never realized that I would in a while pray to God to change PHCN's schedule in favouring my street with electricity and invoking mercy to see me through my internet service. Oh my life!

I swear, if I had my tricks that Friday, I would simply have re-tapped the pack and returned it for a new choice. I said to myself, "Isn't this the fruit of impatience in the offing…?"

I braved it on. After almost 6hrs of tensely salivating dried spittle in my parched throat and cooling my system with a standing fan that wheezed all through, McAfee was finally installed from a broadband connection that crawled thro and fro my system and McAfee's server with a broad shell. Praise God!!! I shouted.

Why all the stress you may ask. I would answer. When innumerable viruses hungrily ate all my files up on my former new laptop after its trial-protection expired, friends and acquaintances only shook heads in pity. And that was all. Nobody offered at typing projects that were nearing completion. I mourned alone as my fingers were constantly numbed from long hours of keys-stroking. Not that getting a licensed protection never occurred to me then, but I was only swayed by philosophy that only dug early graves for my files and applications. Patience they said I should have.

They advised then, "Don't you think it's rather too early to go for a licensed anti-virus now? Be patient, your system can still carry on well with a free version. Don't rush, my guy, think well…"

And the lines would go on and on, finally hinting at the need to maintain patience with things.

How patient could you be?

I have often wondered, when would people start identifying the thin boundary between patience and cowardice? One of the things I mostly quiver for is Patience because you never just couldn't tell when it starts drifting into cowardice that hides behind its veil. It is one thing to be patient when strategizing on plans and it is equally necessary when one identifies cowardice in patience that only buys room for inactivity. You want to accept counsel on patience, you could do. But never forget patience is such a long rope that stretches so well that no one could really point to its end. You would never have enough of it. Only the result that comes from it shows how fruitful it has been in having it. There are two types of patience, I would say. One is to endure when working out a plan like I did during the installation process, the other is to slouch around telling everybody why patience pays when it is evident you are only using it as a cover-up.

My McAfee journey was with one type of patience as I had to put up with long hours of installation. The other kind my friends avowed is one I would always advice against.

So, when next you are being implored to exercise one as a virtue, always be on the lookout for the one they are driving at. Patience is truly in these two shades; Strategic Patience and Cowardly Perseverance.

Have a wonderful and glorious week!

From 'HP mini 110' to 'Acer Aspire-One D257'

2011-07-16T21:57:00.007Z

My new Lappy

A BRIEF SPEC:

Manufactured date: 25^th of May 2011

Model: Aspire One D257

Hard disk space: 500G

RAM: 2G DDR3 Memory

Processor: Dual-Core Intel® Atom™ N570

Battery: 6 cell Li-on Battery

Operating System: Windows® 7 and Google Android

What a Patience! What a Pain! What a Wait! What a thing to have happened! I can't say that is destiny! I can't say that was horrible! All I know now is that I was given a 'power-surge' and now I've moved from HP mini 110 to Acer Aspire-One D257....

For the answer to where I've been all this 'tortuous' while, this is a brief but precise response to that in Mr Rasheed Adebiyi's very own recount of the journey. Savour…

My former lover

*****

Your system. You. PHCN. You wanted to work but electricity was not going to give way. Then, a power surge and the system was gone….. Just like THAT. The agony; the pain and the process of reclaiming the system began. You wondered how the thing will look when it comes back from the factory where it has gone for warranty repair. An idea occurred to you. Why not sell it for a new one? Someone showed up to pick the mess PHCN has turned your former one into. Phew!!! It went away with the cash the buyer offered!!!! Though morsel. And then the process of haggling over a new one started. Eventually, you got a new PC but a different brand. Same size, different colour. The former was an HP mini 110, the latter, Acer 'Aspire One' D257. The HP was sleek, this new Acer is slim and ultra thin. The former looked fragile and delicate, the new, rugged and down to earth.

The bottom line is that the era of HP is gone to rest for you and the reality of Acer has dawned on you. To Tayo and his new system…

Rasheed Adebiyi is a friend and uncle

A Child of both Worlds: It’s my Birthday!

2011-06-17T03:57:00.002Z

Last year when I just fully started luxuriating in the comfort the internet gives, a friend replied to what I said was unusual to my previous birthdays; as the instantaneity and responsiveness of the other world. When I asked him to explain better, he quipped the other world to be the one we live in with constant keystrokes and fondles of touch-pads that translate our expressions, emotions and sighs on screens that give us the halogen glare, the only world that exists in the interconnectivity of webs.

What was really strange about the birthday I had last year wasn't in the pomp and wines or in the gifts and greetings from families and loved ones around. It was, to my consternation, how the internet related with me in the fashion I never submitted my imagination to. The way fellow cyber-citizens gave minuscule of their time in making my birthday memorable with wall messages, season's comments on Blogger™ and mentions in blog posts. I could count about four to five experiences that got me eternally hooked to the internet.

First, it was sometimes in my JSS days when a friend of mine started missing library sections after school hours for what he called a shop with monstrosity of miserable wire connections snaking through and out from indistinguishable interfaces. My friend would come the next day to the class bearing tales of worlds that we couldn't staples senses from. He would strut to every desk in the class thumping his feet hard on the floor and drawing invisible lines on our lockers to illustrate his many stories that were only passed to us in senseless definitions. We knew the shop he constantly patronized was with computers, exactly like the desktops we had in our comp-lab in school. But what we couldn't fathom was how the world could constantly turn at every click of the mouse and punch on the keyboard. My friend shared stories of numerous cartoon pictures he had seen, free greeting cards he had sent from 2000GreetingCards and a virtual address box he now has which allowed people all over the globe to contact him without charges. That started my initiation. The second to the fourth experiences were just gnarled metamorphoses of a long indulged activity. Often, activities that never added anything to morality, other than torrid vagaries that made our jaws dropped at things we would never be allowed to see under supervision.

The last in the panoply of events that I most recall vividly and recount graphically was the day Google™ outsmarted my teacher in his wits. It was until that first triumph of Google™ in my class that I started seeing farther beyond my textbooks with patches of drools from my long nights of reading and cramming.

Mr Olawale thought he was the subject he was taking us himself. He swam in it in the class, talked to us in its jargons and even reprimanded us in the argots that left us befuddled and more sorrowful than what wrong we had committed. He taught us Literature in SS1. He would tell anyone who went astray, 'The metonymy of your traits is a paradox to the irony of the metaphor of your villainy'. Imagine the inane! What sense is there to make from that!? Rubbish! But the day Opeyemi told him there were more than 12 figures of speech in Literature and that Erotema could also mean Rhetorical Question, the condescension he always wore in his display of erudite abilities was squalled by the inferiority that made him twinkle and furrow his temple as he mouthed the world again to see if it was some jumble or Greek. Later that day, after we had contributed five naira each, Opeyemi showed us how Google™ does provide answers to everything, even to the names of our villages.

If you are still contemplating on the importance of this cyber-world to me, it means you have not read the previous paragraphs meticulously. I'm so attached to this world that I wish I were born into it. In the era that I was born some decades ago, cellular was novel and fax was an exclusive advancement. I usually thought; if the internet wasn't here in this present age, what would I have directed my restlessness into? Perhaps, my boredom would have been thicker that it would take only a sword to slice apart. With my modem tucked into the port they call USB interface, I didn't rumble with unknown gripes whenever no one seemed to be singing my tunes at home. I didn't murmur, I simply engaged friends that only I could talk to with flurry moves of my finger points. No one called this hallucination at home because though my friends were only virtual elements on my screen, they were real in their own world behind their own screens. I chuckled when it was mischief going on, I jeered when Punch and SaharaReporters uncovered political grafts.

Amidst these moments that made me febrile, different thoughts that coalesced in my mind have always claimed my effervescence. The ifs of my nightmares I tagged them. What if a deadly virus powerful than any anti malware were released in the cyberspace and the server of every site shut down to its power? What if rapture happened and the only thing it took from the earth are not humans but computers and data-cards? What if Microsoft and Mac stopped software production and HP and the others were left to the gadget making alone, what computer would we be having then? What if my parents thought of a better way of punishing me other than the usual empty disownment and my small HP notebook was smashed on the wall, would I ever be whole anymore?

As I blow candles off my birthday cake, I would make these wishes alone: that computer users soon balloon to the statistic of the numbers of phone subscribers we have around today; that internet becomes like the 'PHCN' poles on our streets that we could plug into with little pay (Talk of accessibility then); that the internet evolves into a radio we can tune into with frequencies as the websites and voices in place of written words; that the only amount my internet provider charges me for monthly subscription is a little above #500 for unlimited data allowance.

This world has been good. I do not want to leave it so soon. It's been some years now, but see how better my life has become. Has your life been better too?

I'm a child of both worlds… Which world do you love most?

**********

My DOB: 17^th of June.

My CelebrityRead Africa: Edition 8

2011-05-08T12:29:00.002Z

A friend was at the CelebrityRead Africa, edition 8. His experience at the literary reading is what he has desired to share with us on this blog. Read and savour the highlight of Isaac Anyaogu.

Venue: Terra Kulture, Tiamiyu Salvage, Opp. Bar-Beach, Victoria Island, Lagos.

Date and Time held: 30/04/11; 3:00pm.

©Isaac Anyaogu

Television, video games and recently Facebook long thought to be reasons why students do not read were absolved of blame at the 8th edition of CelebrityRead Africa which held on Saturday, April 30 at Terra Kulture, Lagos. Rather, blame was directed at parents' penchant for forcing reading on their children.

The monthly not-for-profit reading event hosted by Bede Okoro, had as guests: Bisila Bokoko, Executive Director of The Spain‐United States Chamber of Commerce located in New York City, R&B artiste Olanrewaju Fasasi (Sound Sultan), Onyi Sunday, broadcaster at Silverbird Television, novelist Michael Afenfia and Teresa Ameh author of five published books for children.

Readings

Celebrities thrilled the audience of over sixty with readings of sections of their chosen works. Sound Sultan, read from Wole Soyinka's You Must Set Forth at Dawn pausing for effect and emphasizing the author's preference for arcane words. Teresa Ameh and Michael Afenfia read from their published works. Onyi Sunday read from Chimamanda Adichie's Purple Hibiscus.

After reading each passage, the celebrities discussed the section of the work and what they find remarkable.

Onyi Sunday recounted an experience Chimamanda narrated to her in an interview, as what motivated her to explore African themes in her writing. She visited her nanny's village and realized that contrary to her view, she was not dirt poor and had a remarkable story.

Michael Afenfia said that the title of his work, When the Moon Caught Fire was borne out of the need to provoke attention.

Benefits Of Reading

Most people dread reading the way Superman fear Kryptonite, said Sound Sultan in an address to students of Liham Schools who formed a quarter of the audience. While denouncing the view, he said reading opens one's worldview, sharpens the intellect and gives him ideas for his song.

All the celebrities agreed that reading can help to improve one's ability in any chosen trade or profession. Onyi Sunday said her job entails extensive reading hence good reading skills are vital.

Obstacles To Reading

A heated debate arose over why students do not read. It began during the questions and answer session when a member of the audience accused parents who force reading on their children as the major reason why they grow an aversion for books.

Some in the audience wanted to hold video games, the internet and television responsible but a sample opinion poll conducted by Chinenye Offor, the event moderator on the students of Liham Schools indicated that the key factor that discourages reading is when it is required under duress.

Both the students and adults narrated experiences of how such an approach kills a desire for books.

Other obstacles identified included the non-availability of high quality illustrated books for children, parent's poor example when it comes to reading, government's apathy towards education, uncontrolled television viewing, video games and inaccessibility of books and other reading materials.

Parents were advised to inculcate a reading culture in their children by making books available in their homes. All levels of governments were enjoined to equip local libraries and create programmes that promote a reading culture.

All These On Books!!!???

2011-04-14T17:01:00.005Z

*****Let me fill you in on my recent adventure to Lagos:

I'm informing you about this not because that was the first time I would be traversing beyond my state, I've had the chances of attending literary readings, weddings, and going on family visits in Lagos. What made the recent journey I took to Lagos unusual is the purpose of which the journey was embarked upon.

Should I say I was too intransigent to my parents' opinion? I don't think so. So many times have I always had it slugged out with people who believe my state's local booksellers' stocks should have all my shelf's needs. Except I want to get my bishops' authored pieces, academic textbooks and commercialized motivational books, any other thing called current contemporary African literature will always have me save up every penny on me if I'm to get minimum of four books from Silverbird Lifestlye store, a bookshop that houses books of all genres like a haven of some sort. Sometimes, I wondered if the writers also had the bookshop in mind when working on their books. The heavenly feeling of Lifestlye Store is in the way books of diverse contents are shelved in appropriate spaces to please the scrutinising eye of the collector or in my own case, the reader. A carefree person might spend the last shi-shi on him, forgetting to keep some fares behind. The exquisite arrangement of their blue shelves will always make one's heart clink with reading pleasure.

Today makes it exactly two weeks that I went on an undisclosed journey to Lagos to shop for books. It was a personal planned mission – travelling to Lagos to get books. This I dared not inform anybody I was going to do, I wouldn't like putting up with the swipes that may come afterwards. To some of my friends who knew I was 'jetting' out, sorry it was a bus, 'bussing' out of the state, I palmed them off with the reason of adding some latest shoe designs to my packs of shoes. Only that I couldn't produce the shoes I had bought when they came knocking to check them out the following day. They were disappointed, they only saw my shelf heaped up more with latest books instead.

Telling you now that I could spend my last kobo on African fictions shouldn't be news any more, wasn't that the main reason of my journey to Lagos? When my mom asked if my travelling all the way from Osogbo to VI in Lagos was only to update my shelf, I knew she questioned in innuendoes as I watched marks of irritation creased from her temple to the upper groove of her plump lips. "Tayo, you mean you are going to Lagos to buy only books, what's gone wrong with the ones on your shelf, are they too dusty you can't read from them anymore? Standing up to defend myself that very moment won't worth a pinch of sugar. If putting a defense were necessary, I would have taken the pain to go through analyses she may not understand about how I have to make blogposts of current African literature in reviews and how I have to keep my knowledge of which book read well, especially now that The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives by Shoneyi has just made an Orange book shortlist, Adunni's Under the Brown Rusted Roofs is going in for a reprint and Myne's A Love Rekindled is coming to Naija very soon. That I was too bored to do as I hurriedly creamed my body in shivering process of the curiosity my long journey to Lagos demanded. I was too removed from my immediate environment to taking logical calculations on the numbers of hours it would take my vehicle to Lagos, Fashola's BRT to CMS and the white and green bus from CMS bus stop to VI.

By the time I made it back to my crib in Osogbo, I was fulfilled holding books I had read about online and saw glossy cover pages of in the print media. I carefully unpacked them as I stack them into my shelf. In the quietude and loneliness my room offered, I hiked up my shirt and screamed delightedly at how successfully I had just bravely war in getting books that are unusual to the clime I lived in – Osogbo.

Moments later, I became bored looking at the books where they were properly shelved on other books and the tiredness from the journey got me thinking on what adventure I had taken in just having some few books that were just four in all. I repulsed the situation I inured myself to in purchasing the books. My heart stirred with fury at the cost of the fare I had expended. I solved some arithmetic and I was stupefied at the numbers of books I would have bought were my state's bookstores shelved with the least stock of books Lifestyle Store and Terra Kulture in VI showcased.

You may think I have only just been rabbiting on, what you can't however dispute is the fact that I was indeed a victim of poor distribution of Nigerian/African Literatures, a syndrome which is really garroting reading culture. I only wonder how many of my mates who stay outside Lagos, Abuja and Port-Harcourt will be able to brave it through boarding a bus out of their states in spending money on African fictions while their Blackberries™ whimper for monthly subscriptions. I'm fed up and I may come down with fit of coughs at how I have always had to refer my blog readers to Lagos whenever they wanted to know where to get a book they've just read about from my review….

I suffer teh e e e….! I tire jo o…

All these palaver on books!!!

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Anyways, I still take succour in the glossy covers and witty creative stew of The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives, Wizard of the Crow, To Saint Patrick and Imagine This; books that are already making me to bask in the euphoria of the thoughtful reviews I would be posting on this space very soon…

'Through the Gates of Thought' by Nana Awere Damoah

2011-03-30T19:38:00.002Z

Staring excitedly at Nana Awere Damoah's title in my hand, I am filled with feeling of utmost fulfilment and mutual connection to a friend (Nana) of strong letters and powerful reasoning. I can't say more than that I now have, firstly, on my hand and on my bookshelf, a hard copy of Through the Gates of Thought. What follows below is my review of the book after I've read the author-sent-soft-copy on my computer last year. The review was also published HERE and HERE. Out of the tender generosity of the author has he thought it good that I have the hard copy which I'm now a proud owner of. To Nana Awere Damoah, I'm grateful! Though Nigerian Postal Delivery never got it to me since it was sent more than six months ago, Nana's insistence that I must have a copy, no matter what it would cost, delivers it to my doorstep yesterday at last. Now I can show off my copy of Through the Gates of Thought on my shelf and proudly flip through its pages once again as I guzzle its contents once more. If you haven't got this title, your library is incomplete. Read this review and you will surely see reason why your previous must-read list was imbalanced.

Here is the REVIEW:

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Our Thoughts Are Gates Too

After reading Nana Awere Damoah's short story in African Roar, a collection of short stories by different authors, I was certain about having a worthwhile reading of Through the Gates of Thought. What I however never envisaged was the fact that the book will be an author's reflection of his past and encounters in a pedagogic manner. A quick leafing through the book to the Contents page shows how our thoughts could be classified in gates that are opened when a need arises and shut when the desire had been satisfied. Though Through the Gates of Thought is a test-book of one's deeds and characters, it is also a book that any reader could quickly associate with as thoughts are shared in written words. This book is Nana Awere's attempt at archiving histories, experiences, lessons and encounters in a more secured medium of communication – writing. This piece has indeed shown that aside the bible, it could still fit in as a book which could instruct, correct and bless. Just like a daily reading manual, Through the Gates of Thought's reading is never exhaustible even when one gets to the last page. It is didactic in how it makes the reader sinks into his personal introspection. The step that Nana has taken through the writing of this thought-provoking book restates the fact that; if we were able to access the story of how our forebears rise, fall and get to the thrones that are willed to us, we wouldn't have taken a strut induced by the euphoria of the little comfort that was of the striving and labouring of our ancestors. Little wonder successive generations become poorer. Had it been the ways by which our forefathers make their well armoured enemies to flee the battlefield are shown to us; men with only jackboots as implements of war wouldn't have scared us from our homes. With Through the Gates of Thought, the times when one's problems proliferates because history is not available to help out is put a stop to. Nana Awere readily feeds the readers with past happenings as he leads us through the Gates in the way one would never rue passing through a previous Gate unsatisfactorily. A cursory summary of what are obtainable in the book that is paginated into '24 Gates' in all will make you see the thin line that exists between this book and the one you have always dreamed of.

Read...

A Quick Read:

You might not know why it is necessary to be jumping around and singing for that little that you have got in your hands until Nana Awere unlocks 'Gates 12: Bed Twelve – the Really Important Things', a piece contributed by his friend, Dr Moses Ademola, and takes you through it. The write-up lucidly shows how important things we often trivialise can be one's strong yearning when some circumstances deprive us of them. As the character in this 'Gate' relays his story on a sick bed labelled 'Bed Twelve', the reader start acknowledging that every opportunity, no matter how small it could be, is a blessing to be adored.

Though extending your hand to help others in need can be at times hurtful at this age when evil manifest through all manner of guises, but spitting at the rags of others can also be an inhuman thing to do too. Nana Awere opens 'Gate 16: The Challenges of a Twenty-first-century Good Samaritan' with the analogy of the biblical Samaritan who displays neighbourliness, and juxtaposing it with how people now turn blind ears to the shrieks of pains of the needy out of fear of being haunted down. It is like not wanting to rescue a palm-oil seller because you are clad in white robe. In 'Gate 16', Nana Awere confirms the fear everyone has towards offering hospitality to a stranger.

It is true that children are the blessings from the Lord, they could also become the bane of any family and society when they go wayward. 'Gate 2: Why we Have Kids' Parties' posits that while it is good to be dissatisfied with kids' misdemeanour, one shouldn't pound the head with a pestle just because it aches. The adroitness used in tacitly driving the piece's message home is awesome. It started as a letter written by a strayed child to her mum and ends with a short note that informs you that the child only writes the letter to her mum that there are other worst things than the failure- riddled report card that had kept her from coming home.

When anger is given a chance to feed on one's emotion and guide one's action, unimaginable loss can be its prospect. 'Gate 9: The Written Letter' flings open and you learn from the costly mistake of Nana Awere Damoah when he is in Ghana National College in Cape Coast, Ghana. Nana perceives injustice at the way which the uniforms given to his set in school are not different from what are given to junior pupils. Nana vents his grief and anger in written words to the principal of the school. What causes trouble for him is how he allows his very strong anger to smudge the tone of his letter to the principal. This almost gets him an expulsion from the school. Nana Awere Damoah uses this experience of his to inform the reader that when anger drives a person in proffering solution to a problem, he would only succeed in adding more stones to the already-heavy-load.

Nana bewails the rate at which the combustion of oil laden tankers kills Africans whenever their contents are overturned on our roads in 'Gate 23: Oil Tankers and Us'. But for the abject poverty that plagues Africans, the losses would have however been avoidable.

A Reader's Seal:

The creative peculiarity of Through the Gates of Thought is seen at the artistic method the author adopts to give corrections through the recalling of his vivid past and present thoughts as 'Action Exercise' accompanies each story that is classified into 'Gate'. The Action Exercise that comes at the tail-end of each Gate advises the reader to reflect on how his personality fares in comparison with the story told or thought shared. The stories featured in the book become more in-depth with citations from proverbs, words of past leaders and reasoning of great philosophers. One cannot help the literary awe this book commands than to keep nudging one's head at the end of each story (which are in Gates). The messages in the book fulfil its aims; to instruct, correct and encourage. The book is multi-dimensional as each lesson is carefully unfolded. In the few books that I have read, Through the Gates of Thought will etch more on my memory because some 'Gates' leave my lower jaw lower, few make me tut-tut at what I have been doing, while the rest inspire my courage to keep forging ahead.

Nigerian Men & Sizes

2011-03-22T14:24:00.003Z

What African men and not only Nigerian men flaunt about is sizes in lieu of qualities and functions. Well, if you're in a rush to think my discussion does not hold grip because you consider it's a mere drivel, then wait to read some couples of lines/paragraphs before you walk out on this discussion. Almost everyone is a willing victim to this size-syndrome. My father's farm is bigger than yours; do you get where I'm driving at now? The only time a Nigerian man would place priority over quality than size is when the issue of money is involved. When he is facing financial constraint as regards getting the desired size he wants, he begins to give a tripartite lecture on the reason why small sizes with qualities rather pay off.

My going for a netbook/notebook when I wanted to buy a laptop was not a deliberate gesture. Every day, I would dream of having a laptop that I would readily show off to whoever wants to know that I have one. It was when I walked into the seller's shop one sultry afternoon with money in hand that I realized that the price of the laptop I wanted could buy a plot of land in my village. A hundred and something kini…? Abeg my parents no go hear that one, na die be that for me. I had to re-strategize and the re-thinking was what paved the way for my choice of a netbook. In spite of the truth that a netbook could be more operational-responsive and faster than some elephantine structured computer-like plastic gadgets, I still had to convince myself that was the better decision to be taken since the price the netbook was to be sold for halved the price of a bigger laptop. Poor me; pity me?

Umh…, you want to talk about the craze African men have for size? You only need to understand the reason why *chinko* phones was able to penetrate the Nigerian mobile phone market and almost threatened to uproot Nokia long standing years of quality phones. One thing I really do admire about the *chinko* phone manufacturers is that, unlike Nokia producer that boasts of operational-sophistication, they had to closely understudy the psyche of Nigerians before launching their products into the market. Their findings were worth it! Bigger and strange sizes than we have never come across in Nokia brand began flooding the market. Phones of two sims in a phone. A friend told me some times ago that we now have the ones of four sim cards… kai, China dey try, no be small. People thought I was just being a clown when I strongly opined that, with the sizes and hummer-listic structure of some *chinko* phones, if we place them on a well tarred road, especially express lanes, they would speed faster than some cars on the road would. Chei! You only need to know how big these models of *chinkos* were before you understand why I said they could run as cars too. Even blackberry is not curing the malaise any inch. I almost passed someone for a cripple, when he firmly held out his right hand holding a blackberry out in a stiff posture while he was riding a bike. It took me some reasoning and logics before I knew what he was trying to impress about. "My blackberry fine and dey costly, even though he no big; this is it in my hand, because you might not get to appreciate it if it is in my pocket."

Nigerian men's flair for sizes cannot be removed from the desire to get sexual attraction. As it is with animals, so is it with man. A research conducted to find out the object of sexual attraction of chimpanzee was able to identify their objection of sexual attraction in the things they most desire to have. Sometimes, inconsequential things that trigger the sexual hormones of their opposite sex. Though, I knew very soundly what a computer can be used for and the purpose of my wanting to have it clearly defined, I still was clouded in reasoning that only size-intimidating ones would get me the respect from the girls around. Especially those skimpy skirts of Bola and Tosin, who made cartoons of me when I was having only flash drive as a sole means of storing the files I had prepared on friends' numerous computers. Any true Nigerian man will always feel inferior when his size is challenged. Size in cars, in house, in gadgets and even in that piece of flesh supported by the thighs (for so I heard that we now have pumpers for those whose things are too small. Don't be surprised numerous divorces are on that basis)

I was embarrassed when someone jeeringly asked the amount my netbook went for, while I knew what he wanted to say was if it was more expensive than his DVD player at home. That man only need to know that I've just typed in more than nine hundred words on this post to know why my netbook shouldn't be as big as his DVD player before it is appreciated.

If you think this post is too short to be objective on this topic, you might be a sufferer of the size syndrome too. Don't rant jo… the better you could do to this post is tell us the readers why the size syndrome is…

Happier moment awaits me this week as I've just gotten some eclectic books from Lifestyle Store and Terra Kulture's library. Don't come borrowing any book from me o. For now, my library is on fire, don't touch it. File! It's a danger zone…

I'm out of here!

Meet the Writer, Adunni, of Under The Brown Rusted Roofs

2011-03-20T18:29:00.005Z

Abimbola Aduuni Adelakun is the author of the pastoral novel, Under the Brown Rusted Roofs, a book which perfectly uses Yoruba's folklore to mirror the malaises of the country, the joy and sorrow that exist in the communal relationship of the Yoruba and the polygamy of the patriarchs. She writes for the Punch Newspaper as an Opinion Columnist. If you don't know her, it is possibly you have not been reading Punch Newspaper every Thursday. She studied Language and Communication Arts at Ibadan University, receiving BSc. She also graduated with Masters at the same institution.

In this interview, Adunni humorously speaks about writing, her book (UTBRR) and the impact of her journalism work on her creativity.

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True Talk: Who is Abimbola Adunni Adelakun?

Abimbola Adunni Adelakun: Frankly, I don't know myself. I believe I am still being unravelled. The part of me that is visible now is a young feisty spirited woman who is going from one level of strength to another.

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TT: How did you come about writing?

AAA: I think it is more appropriate to say writing came about me. It started when I penned words in school big notes to stave off boredom and document my wandering thoughts. Most of the things I penned down have gone with the wind but then, it helped me to build some self confidence. Then, I didn't see myself writing because I wanted to have a book. A book ke? I thought that was for geniuses and very very on top people. I didn't think I could do it. It never crossed my mind. I just wanted to write because my hands were itching and my mind was full of lots of stuff I thought I should put down. Then, it was therapeutic for me too. If I felt depressed or down or anyhow, I turned to writing and I would be fine. Writing, for me, thus started as something I was doing to keep my hands occupied and to help myself feel good about my life. For a long time, I never imagined it would be taken serious. I had written several pieces and they are all in my wardrobe in Ibadan, rotting away. I believe one day I will do something about them. My BA project is a novel too and I believe all those things that I have written have helped me to be a write Under the Brown Rusted Roofs.

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TT: Your write for the Punch, what has your experience been?

AAA: Fantastic! That is another level of experience in writing. In this instance, there are rules that must not be broken. News writing is a technical thing but the discipline is worth it, frankly. Then, writing a column is another discipline entirely which has its own rules but allows for more creativity. It has been a hell of interesting experience, one which I am glad for because it helps me learn the ropes and at least ensures I do not stop writing.

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TT: How does your writing for a print medium impact on your creative writing?

AAA: It affects me both positively and negatively. Positive in the sense that at the end of the day, writing is writing but doing various types of writing is a superb experience. I can flow in between technical and creative writing. I can learn from one and bring it into another. I can write everyday and that is a lot of advantage.

It could be negative in the sense that if you are not careful, you begin to sound like a journalist in creative writing and then stifle your own creativity.

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TT: Aside the challenges of meeting up with deadlines, what part of you does it take to always measure up to standards, especially when it comes to Opinion Writing which you do for the Punch?

AAA: You want to know the truth? Research. Nothing kills a well written opinion like a badly conducted research. There are people out there who know one or two things more than you and are waiting to jump on your back and say, 'yeah, I got you! You are daft!!' So, you have to really really be sure. Besides, people tend to say 'You are wrong' when they actually intend to say 'I disagree' so you need to let them know that what you are touting is your opinion and be decisive about the matter.

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TT: True Talk has been following you for quite a while now, you were writing for the Literary Column and Super Thursday spread of the newspaper before you progressed to getting featured on the back page. Was that really some kind of promotion in your journalism career?

AAA: Yes and No. It is a promotion because it is the highest form of responsibility that can be given to a journalist or writer anywhere. It is not a promotion because I still remain where I am. I still do stuffs other journalists on my rank do and I still obey my bosses.

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TT: What brought the idea of Under The Brown Rusted Roofs?

AAA: I wanted to write a book about Ibadan, that was where it started. Prof Femi Osofisan gave a tripartite faculty lecture then and said Ibadan has fallen because the city no longer produces writers. As a proud Ibadan girl, I felt bad and swore I would do something about it in my own little way. That was where the whole thing came from. Even then, I didn't have the story or the least idea but I knew I wanted to do it.

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TT: You meshed the folklore of the Yoruba, Nigerian politics and Ibadan lifestyle skilfully, what inspired the story. Why do you choose Ibadan as your setting in the book?

AAA: Like I said above, I just wanted to redeem the image of Ibadan as a place that was no longer producing books. Then, most importantly, the story came to me. It was inspiration merged with desire.

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TT: What problems did you face when seeking for publication? Can you say KRAFT has done well in giving the book the necessary publicity?

AAA: Not many problems and I believe that is the root of all the challenges the book later faced. On the second question, the answer is No.

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TT: You agreed KRAFT never gave the book the needed publicity it should have had. Where do you think KRAFT failed in making the book a reader's choice? Do you really believe a publisher's effort in advertising a book pays off?

AAA: Not at all. I didn't agree on anything.

I would not say Kraft failed in making the book the reader's choice. Kraft didn't give the book the needed publicity but I will blame myself 10 ten times before blaming Kraft. There are some things I should have known and done for myself. UTBRR is a reader's choice 99 times out of 100 from the feedback I have been getting. People love the book and when we are done with repackaging, we will distribute further.

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TT: How has the book being doing on the shelf?

AAA: Much more than I thought but it could have been better if I had more exposure than I do now. I have learnt every serious lessons, bro.

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TT: If you had known better than what you knew about publishing a book, would you still have given it to KRAFT?

AAA: I wouldn't know, frankly. But I do know that there are some things I would have insisted upon.

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TT: Apart from the NLNG three years ago, what competition have you entered the book for?

AAA: After the book has been repackaged, I plan to enter it for some serious competitions.

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TT: You implied NLNG is unserious in the way books are judged to be winners of prizes by saying the book will be entered for more serious competitions after its repackaging. Does that show your lack of confidence in NLNG? Why?

AAA: I don't have problems with NLNG. If I did, I would not submit my book to the contest. What I mean is that I will look for contests that offer you more than money. Nigerian prizes gives you money but not opportunities. I have not met a writer who thinks his/her book sold more because it was shortlisted for NLNG. That is not the fault of NLNG of course but then, I want a broader market.

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TT: The book was among the eleven shortlists for the competition. How has that feat helped in creating awareness for the book?

AAA: It has not helped in any way that I have noticed.

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TT: It's been a norm with contemporary writers now; they leverage on the power of the Internet to push their books to the readers. Do you think that encourages reading in any way? Why haven't you been doing that for Under The Brown Rusted Roofs?

AAA: I am sure putting a book on internet helps the book but what I am not exactly sure is how and to what extent. I could have done same for UTBRR but it has been off the market for a while. It was actually a tacit withdrawal and it was to help touch up one or two things in the book and then relaunch it. It will be concluded soon.

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TT: You said UTBRR was withdrawn from the shelf/market because of some fallings in the book. What were the spoilers? Is it still going to be published under the same platform?

AAA: The editing was not properly done. We have corrected that and even changed the cover. Now, we have a new improved packaging. Yes, it's still Kraft.

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TT: It's been three years since Under The Brown Rusted Roofs was published, the last creative writing True Talk read from you was a short story you did for ATE OGBON LITERARY CLUB in Osogbo. Are you presently working on any book? When should the next publication be?

AAA: I am done with a manuscript but it is currently going through levels of reading. I have given it out to members of the Jalaa and some have started reading it and giving me interesting feedback. I don't want to rush it. I hope by the end of the year, it will be done. If not, next year. No rush.

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TT: Is it only going to be Prose as far as Abimblola Adunni Adelakun is concerned?

AAA: Actually, I cannot say. I wish I can write poetry but it doesn't come to me like it used to. When I was younger, I used to write it but now, I don't feel it. I get distracted when I try to do plays so I gave up. Let's see, it might still happen.

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TT: Give a sentence for the blog.

AAA: I love y'all. Where will I be without you?

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TT: It's been good engaging you, Abimbola.

AAA: Me sef.

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Weaverbird Collection {An anthology of 14 Short stories}

2011-03-07T11:04:00.005Z

The reason why I have a bias for prose anthology is simple; unlike a full fictional piece that compels you to go through the gamut of a particular writer's thought in order to make reason of the message it passes, a collection of short stories rather gives the reader the choice of random selection of piece that appeals to his literary taste. In an anthology of different writers, whenever a story put you off, there's the likelihood that succeeding stories might make up for the dourness. Weaverbird Collection, a show of literary deftness, mingles skills in a way a compilation of such should. What excites a reader more is in the exactitude that some of the stories are told with. Though, it is of a truth, that an anthology does not only showcase motley of knacks, but also uneven balances that smear some. I wouldn't know if open submissions were really called for in this publication or the literary clique that dominates the Nigerian scene was a factor.

Weaverbird Collection streams definitions across themes that express the new Nigerian writing. The new Nigerian writing that comes with the age of the Internet with patches of emigrant experiences. Ikhide's and Khalidah's pieces are an attestation to this fact. Some are daring enough to stir fantasy with concocted literary adroitness to bring attention to issues the society may consider permissive. Uche's, Shylle's and Tade's pieces bear this tale. Others only regurgitate known matters to our terrain in a way that make them new. Tolu's story of deep-eaten corruption, Ike's contribution that brings to memory the plight of the Niger Delta and others, fit into this portion.

The collection's categorization makes a whole as its various themes dazzle readers of different understandings of what Literature is or should be. Weaverbird Collection is an anthology of fourteen short stories by different writers.

A Peep into the Book:

Seafood Pasta (Mogbolahan Koya-Oyabola) - When Sownade is in Nigeria, what the Whites mean to him is only seen from the hospitality of his half-caste Uncle's wife, Dane. When he is exiled to UK to seek greener pasture in a Restaurant, though as a would-be lawyer, his views about life generally change.

Hair Memories (Khalidah Aderonke Bello) – Hair memories recounts the ordeal Khalidah goes through in the name of making her hair less kinky. The story depicts the hypocrisy of female hair fashion. It is a side swipe at the manner African women tends to follow everything Western. Khalida crinkled hair moves her to frustration. The personal reinvention of the psyche of Khalidah at the tail end of the story passes judgment on what boundary African women shouldn't cross in looking good and 'beautiful'.

How Sergeant Redwood Lost His Penis (Ike Okonta) – A vacancy for a bodyguard at Imperial Oil in Port Harcourt opens up and Tom fits in as the only experienced candidate for the job. Tom Redwood's job is simple; his task is to help contain the restiveness of the tribe that poses constant threat to Imperial Oil. For Redwood and his 'aid-de-crime' Major Okuntime, the job becomes a game of blood and free sex. During bloody raids, Major Okuntime will let his libido lose on married women in the presence of their husbands and Redwood will have his privately. By some stroke of luck, Major Okuntime escapes karma, leaving Redwood alone to narrate the story, years after, of how he pays with his scrotum.

Digital World, Analogue Planet (Ikhide Ikheloa) – The narrator relives his memory in the land of his ancestors with ambivalent feelings. His homesickness gradually transmutes into boredom as the narrator quickly longs for the clinical serenity of his American home few days after visiting his ailing mother in Nigeria. The narrator repulses the static state of the country on his visit. The American comfort he revels in is denied him in Nigeria. His journey to Nigeria is able to bring to light how stagnant the condition of Nigeria has been over years.

Shadow of Eclipse (Adebayo Ayobami) – Folashade's plan of surviving on campus without support from her parents would have paid off if the table hadn't turn against her. Folashade's hunts for rich men who pay young campus girls for sex, her search turns successful when Chief Bamgbose becomes her symbiotic sex partner {aristole}. One thing Folashade Ogunroke shares with the eclipse is uncertainty. Just like the eclipse will suddenly change the weather, Folashade regrets her fortune of meeting Chief when she realizes her mother is once Chief's Abeke {darling} and her the pregnancy Chief runs away from when he dumps her mother in his days as a teacher who cashes on the innocence of her mother as a young girl-student.

How I Became An Assassin (Tolu Ogunlesi) – Tolu's contribution in this anthology catalogues the life of a man who repulses corruption like an excreta one spits on. The man fights the menace with the emotion that later translates to the unsuccessful death attempt he plans against the corrupt Local Chairman of his borough. Eons later, after he has tasted the juice of office himself, he metarphosizes from a poacher to a gamekeeper as he becomes morally rotten than the Chairman he almost kills. His transfiguration as a puritan to the social ill he wants to erase lends a voice to the weakness one faces when what one loathes becomes one's daily bread.

Walking into my Groom (Unoma Nguemo Azuah) – This story infuses mythical belief with the currents of the present day society. Nneka, an archetypical character of the sufferers in modern day civilization cuts a good picture. Nneka marries Ikwe, a man who is later known as a being who lives after death {akudaya}. After so many quarrels and heated arguments, she is able to get the location where Ikwe is from. Her discovery of Ikwe's hometown turns everything called reality into a mirage of some sort for her. It is then she knows the truth. The truth that Ikwe, Ubani (the friend of Ikwe she has always known), Ikwe's children she once visits in school and Ikwe's wife; have all died in an auto crash years before she knows them all.

Letters To The Authors:

I always have matter to settle with the works of writers that try so much beyond their literary muscle to remain African. As a writer, if what you are used to living with everyday are sleet and snows while seeping coffee, don't try writing about how tasty amala with egusi or eko with ila (Okoro soup) could be. You could miss details if you do. Remember, the frosty weather of your exile might have rendered your thinking blurred about the scorching sun of your fatherland. Khalidah Aderonke Bello's Hair Memories nearly pisses me off the reading. I understand she wants to romance with the language of her pantheon so as to have an identity. What she should have done is to see how the rhythm of the narration would not be affected. The input of Yoruba expressions amidst the conversations of the story deskills her effort as she struggles to interpret them in English. She should know one of her expressions isn't it in the way it blunders what the real one should be. "Me o ni time fun awon are oshi yi!" reads better as "Mi o ni time fun awon are oshi yii!"

A short story is in its meaning; simple, short and succinct. When the conversation becomes so wordy and lengthy, writers struggles to give hasty conclusion to it. Mogbolahan Koya-Oyagbola's Seafood Pasta is one story of untidy climax. I find little connection in the exchanges between Sam and his cousin, Daphne. The conflict of the story is farer from it. If Mogbolahan would say it is to support his description of Nigerian political situation and any other thing in the story as Galump, then the effort is not near necessity.

Gorge Orwell posits that what makes a good book is when the matters it systematically tells you are things already known to you. The subject matter of Shylle's Seventh One is easily decipherable. Reading few couples of words, you would know what the story is all about. Even at that, Shylle crafts her plot with the majestic confidence a good storyteller uses while everyone already knows tortoise to be the conman in the fabled animal kingdom. The temerity Shylle absorbs the reader with is splendid. Three things make hers a good read; Confidence, Diction and Plotting Creativity.

· With Weaverbird Collection, my anthologies of short stories are gradually heaping up on my shelf. I'm glad I have it.

…to be updated later. More to come under 'Letters to the Authors'

Differences Between a CREATIVE WRITER and a CRITIC

2011-03-01T18:38:00.005Z

In November 2010 when I 'poped' a friend of mine, Dami Ajayi, up on facebook, I thought it was going to be the normal chatter that one indulges in on the social media while other important things pile up for attention. As it turned out, the conversation we had became a foray into a topic that would never stop leaving controversy in its trail whenever it is dragged into any discourse. Within the hours that my subsisting Internet connection could allow and many eye-blinks at the glare that beamed from our various computers' screens at different ends of the cyberspace, we gave our opinions on what could differentiate a Writer from a Critic. To shed more light on the topic, I have also enlisted the pen of a friend, whose write-up shows nothing but the assiduousness that could only come from the effort one makes after one sleeves had been rolled up to the elbow before picking up the pen to write. Oyebanji Ayodele's versed article on the topic comes up after the chat history.

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The Chat History –

Omotayo: how are you doing?

Dami Ajayi: i am fine

nice work with ur reviews

Omotayo: you read them?

thank you.

Dami Ajayi: yeah, i did read them

but is that what u really like, reviews?

Omotayo: what do you mean?

I don't understand your question, could you simplify it more?

Dami Ajayi: are u a critic or a creative writer? or both?

Omotayo: both.

Dami Ajayi: now, that is dicy

cuz they are opposite roles that are not necessarily equal

Omotayo: It quite depends on the perspective you are taking them from.

Dami Ajayi: no perspectives man

am laying it down like it is

Omotayo: well, I'm open to learning, tell me more about the two as they are.

Dami Ajayi: i will always take a creative writer over the critic

its like balance and checks

balance is d creative writer, who churns out literature

critics seek patterns in this works by comparison and aligning it with deir personal aesthetics and pass a verdict

Omotayo: so you are saying a critic could be personal and imbalanced in his judgement of a work?

Dami Ajayi: of cuz d crtic can be personal, but imbalanced? u wud have to dilate that

Omotayo: could this not also be aligned with writers too as their pieces could be fed from their experiences which could at times be shallow and not rational enough?

Dami Ajayi: d writer seeks to create or in this context recreate

d crtic seeks to assess the created works. sort of like an exam

Omotayo: creation can be deceiving when the origin is not well defined too.

Dami Ajayi: creation cant be defined

i think

creation is an act rather than an act

it is a subliminal process that spurts from the act of living

Omotayo: what if the view the origin is defined from is blurred by faulty reasonings?

Dami Ajayi: there are a lot of faulty reasonings that have given birth to real works of art

faulty reasoning is not a setback; it's not of importance at all, i think

Omotayo: then where is the beauty in the works that are riddled with hoaxes that only set out to confuse?

Dami Ajayi: pls be exact

are u refering to a piece of work

Omotayo: call me to correction if I have deviated... where was that?

Dami Ajayi: ur last statement connotes that u have a piece of work that u are referencing

Omotayo: I'm sorry for the grammar... I really sidetracked there.

Dami Ajayi: ok

Omotayo: I have really enjoyed the lessons my man.

Dami Ajayi: lessons?

no man

there are no absolutes in literature

i cud be telling lies, for all i care

Omotayo: lessons are eye-openers to some resources that could still be explored - they are not necessarily the absolutes as you said.

They nudge one to keep searching to build more flowery arguments around things that might not actually exist in the real sense.

Dami Ajayi: ok sir

it was nice engaging u

Omotayo: u are welcomed. I've been indeed engaged.

thank you.

Dami Ajayi: tk u too.

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Oyebanji Ayodele's Article on the topic

When a subject like this comes into view or is meant to be discussed, a sight of frowned faces, crossed legs and grins at inexplicable intervals among the discussants cannot be prevented. This is because a perfect treatment of the subject takes what philosopher will refer to as "critical thinking". It is because as inseparable as a creative writer and critic are, they are both germane to the art of writing.

Creative writing requires the ideas of an individual; his proficiency in the use of language and how distinctly he achieves that; his painstaking discipline to labour by his desk putting and ideas together and more than not cross-checking or distilling his output with his aesthetic sense. Thus, a creative writer has the following trappings:

· He is more concerned with how his ideas are germane to his environment.

· He is interested in charging language with the vigour of his experience. Therefore, he rhapsodizes.

· He is prone to every detail he encounters and consigns them a place in his art.

· He is interested in getting public recognition and making money.

Someone said, "Writing is a witty way for recognition and money". Writer of all genres of Literature fall under this category. Writers of essays and articles are not left out.

A critic on the other hand is a person who forms or gives judgments about works of art, especially Literature. A critique can be as positive as it can be negative sometimes. Something is worthy of note about a creative writer and a critic is that between them exists a sort of symbiotic relationship. Thus, a critic is as dormant as an animal on hibernation until a literary work is released.

Moreover, one other thing one must not ignore is that a creative writer can be critical in the presentation of his work. Nathaniel Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown and The Scarlet Letter, Odia Ofeimun's Go Tell The Generals, Athol Fugard's Sizwe Bansi is Dead and the like are examples of this. Therefore, taking a closer look at the two kinds of writing, it becomes glaring that they have their similarities as well as discrepancies. The following are the criteria with which one can examine the differences between the two:

Motive:

A very important way of differentiating between a creative writer and a criric is the motive for which they do what they do. The primary aim for writing to a creative writer is quenching the thirst to live up to the epithet "creative". The secondary aim can be seen from two perspectives. First is the recognition and the other, making money. These are intertwined – a creative writer's prowess ascertains his level of recognition and probably, the amount of money he makes.

However, the case is different when one examines a critic. All a critic is poised for is to appreciate or find faults in the works of writers. A critic cogitates on the subject matter, the thematic preoccupation and the other devices in the creative work.

Inspiration:

The flow of ideas in the mind of a writer based on his experiences or day-to-day encounter in his environment and the like are some of the things that trigger picking a pen for scribble. The paper then assumes life as it inhales everything that diffuses out the writer's mind as well as his wealth of creative experiences.

In contrast to a creative writer's source of inspiration, a critic is inspired by what the creative writer produces {output}. Writing is not scientific and thus, a critic sees either praiseworthy side or otherwise of the book.

Acceptability:

The massive or otherwise acceptability of the works of creative writer and a critic is another point that emphasizes the differences between them.

Every literary age produces a sizeable population of admirers of creative work irrespective of age, sex or area of specialization. These admirers go extra mile to satisfy this urge. For instance, an age like ours has taken creative writing to another level – the internet which enhances a wider acceptability of creative works.

The case is not the same with a critic. Literary works like critiques can never be appreciated efficaciously without attaining a particular level in Literature. As a result, the rate of acceptability of critiques is in no way equal to that of the works of creative writers as most issues treated in critiques go beyond the cognizance of laymen. A creative writer, most times bridges the furrow between laymen and specialists in the field.

If getting a Philistine to appreciate a work of art is close to impossibility, getting a laymen who finds pleasure in reading a critique compared to a short story is closer.

Functions in Inter-relatedness:

Being a creative writer and a critic are two threads in the same web. Considering the ebb and flow of their activities asserts that a critic despite his creativity depends solely on the creative writer to achieve his aim

To the creative writer, a critic is a builder. The critic tends to build the confidence, credibility and creativity of the creative writer by means of "constructive criticism". The life span of a creative work depends on nothing else but its ability to withstand criticism. Anglo-Saxon writings {such as "Beowulf"}, Shakespearean works and other works that have failed to bow out of the stage of this literary age possess this ability.

A summation in the case of a subject like this seems impossible even if it is taken to a place farther that Timbuktu. "Literature is life", most people will say. Critics and creative writers make this possible.

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· Dami Ajayi of Saraba Magazine featured in the chat.

· Oyebanji Ayodele, a poet, contributed the article