Tag: Association of Nigerian Authors

The Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) has called on the leadership of the country to take into cognizance the sensitivity of the Nigerian political and social scene as they engage in campaigns for the 2019 elections. In a statement signed by the President Mallam Denja Abdullahi and the Secretary Dr. Ofonime Inyang, ANA said:  “The current leadership of the Association is committed to its inaugural objectives of building on the values of the founding fathers of the association in upholding and maintaining its status as the foremost and authentic umbrella body of all creative writers and literary persons in the country and therefore will continue to pursue programmes and initiatives that will unify and build the capacity of writers and strengthen the bonds that has sustained the nation as a whole.

Talking about the online database project and documentation of the membership of the association towards the development of a data and statistical resource base to enhance the implementation of the the vision and objectives of the Strategic Development Plan will be pursued to a viable conclusion and therefore all chapters and members are requested to immediately forward the membership forms and fill the online registration forms on the ANA webpage and submit same to the national secretariat on or before 30th March, 2019. Failure to do so will automatically lead to the de-registration of defaulting chapters and exclusion from benefiting from subsequent  national projects and initiatives.

They commended the Yusuf Ali Literary Campaign initiative this year which shall be open to chapters with innovative literary programmes and projects involving educational institutions in the host states and with the collaboration of key stakeholders in the field. Such chapters MUST  also have complied with the membership database documentation project as in 2 above to be considered at all.

The statement focuses on the ongoing development of the ANA’s Mamman Vatsa Writers’ Village in  Mpape, Abuja is intensifying with a view to commissioning some aspects of the project later in the year. The National Executive Council therefore enjoins the developer and all persons connected to the project  to keep to the terms of the existing memorandum and promise to deliver on target.

It said Nigerian writers should continue to engage their writings as tools of tackling rising dislocations and banes of our national development including corruption, terrorism, bigotry in high places, herdsmen atrocities, ethnic militia formations, degradation of social standards, ritual killings, maltreatment of pensioners, the elderly, women and children, instability in tertiary institutions among other issues with a view to drawing the attention of the government to stemming their tide, outright stoppage and regeneration of the confidence of the masses in the State.

ANA also expresses consternation at the desperation that has settled into our political arena whereby those angling for political power to be secured during the forthcoming General Elections have resorted to discrediting the process even before it began and employing all sorts of self-help methods ; all geared towards opportunistic ends. Like we asked before, where will all these leave the people of Nigeria?.Careless and inciting   utterances and disorderly conduct by political players in the country constitute a  threat to the peace and harmony in our nation  at a time like this. The Association calls on concerned agencies and the government to work towards curbing this ugly development by ensuring strict adherence to due process, rule of law and the constitution of this country.Politicians are  advised to go about their campaigns and electioneering in ways that will not release further heat on the polity and allow the will of the people as will be expressed at the polls to prevail.We appeal to the politicians and power players in and out of government to allow us have a country after the elections.

The Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) has started this year on a sound footing. It has secured funding for the 8th year towards the   ANA/Yusuf Ali nationwide literary awareness campaign. The Association received N3 million on the 7th  of this month for the 2019 project from the donor,  Yusuf Ali(SAN), an Ilorin-based renowned legal practitioner, author and dedicated  philanthropist.

In a statement made available to The Nation and signed by ANA’s Publicity Secretary (South) Wole Adedoyin, it says: “The Grant was first secured by the National EXCO of ANA in 2012 and all state chapters of the Association  received sub-grants of N150,000 at various times between 2012-2014 for local literary awareness campaigns involving secondary schools across the country. In 2015, the grant was applied by the then National Executive Council of ANA to host a workshop on fiction writing in Abuja in which about 25 students, drawn from tertiary institutions across the country via a competitive process, participated.

In 2016, the Denja Abdullahi-led National Executive Council of ANA took the literary awareness campaign a notch further by focusing on innovative literary awareness campaign among tertiary institutions across the country through the States’ chapters. Chapters submitted proposals on envisaged activities based on which they were assessed and sub-grants finally awarded to 16 Chapters that met the provisioned requirements. The competitive process was introduced to ensure greater compliance to the overall project vision and to improve on the process of monitoring, evaluation and reportage of the implemented activities. The grant was used in 2017 to publish  three (3) children’s literature titles under the Nigerian Writers Series(NWS) which have been distributed to chapters of ANA Nationwide to power  ANA ‘s A-Book-A-Child nationwide project that was flagged off at the ANA ‘s 36th International Convention which held in Makurdi, Benue State in October, 2017 and the phase two of it launched by the wife of the Governor of Ekiti State,Erelu Bisi Fayemi, at the 37th International Convention of the Association held in Ikeja, Lagos in October,2018.

For the year 2018, the Yusuf Ali grant was deployed to facilitate a comprehensive media supplement on the projects executed with the yearly grants over the years since 2012 to date and an intensive workshop for 15 selected chairmen of ANA chapters focusing on ‘innovations in contemporary literary awareness campaigns’ to deepen the execution of the project in the coming years.

This year 2019 grant will be devolved to selected State Chapters of the Association to carry out innovative and cutting edge literary awareness campaigns in their domains as learnt in the capacity building workshop held in Ilorin in 2018.

Yusuf Ali, who in 2015 promised to sustain the annual grant to ANA for life, is a Nigerian lawyer who received the highest honour available to practicing lawyers in 1997 when he was called to the inner bar as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria. He attended the University of Ife [now Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife] and is the Principal Partner at the Law Firm of Yusuf O. Ali & Co in Ilorin. His reputation in the Bar has been balanced by a deep interest in literature which has seen him supporting the Kwara State Chapter of the Association of Nigerian Authors as well as serve as an Editor-in-Chief of the Nigerian Bar Journal. He is also an associate lecturer at the Faculty of Law of the University of Ilorin.

Yusuf Ali in 2017 presented a book “ Anatomy of Corruption in Nigeria” to the public in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja . He has also been consistently hosting the National Executive Council members of ANA and chairmen and secretaries of chapters in his office during their annual meeting in Ilorin since 2012.

We thank Yusuf Ali(SAN) for his consistent and yet-to-be matched generosity in supporting literary awareness in the country and we call on other well meaning Nigerians to emulate his gesture of support for the literary arts.

JOJ Nwachukwu-Agbada, is a professor of English at the Abia State University, Uturu. A prolific writer and author of many books, he won this year’s Association of Nigerian Authors, (ANA), poetry prize with his book Bombblast or Breakfast. In this interview with Edozie Udeze, he talks about his love for literature, mostly prose and poetry and what needs to be done to encourage young writers to read and write well.

What motivates you to write?

What motivates me to write has to do with life’s experiences.  Because some of these experiences you cannot recall them except you create their own world.  You recall them and then put them into writing.  It can be sad or sweet memory and once you put them down, you can also ensure you teach your students most times based on some of these life’s experiences and how to handle life.  You can tell people also to take more positive stand concerning certain issues of life.

What issues occupy your mind when you write?

Basically human issues; issues of life generally.  I deal more specially with issues of poverty, issues of life where I can create alternative.  I show often that even when you are humiliated it is not the end of life.  If the experience is sad I may make it sadder or the opposite of it.

What genre of literature do you express yourself most?

I love poetry and fiction, yes, I do.  I write poetry and fiction.  And in poetry I deal with the same issues I’ve talked about.  In the last poetry collection I did last year, which I put up for a contest, I dealt with the issues of life.  It was in this year’s ANA poetry prize (and it won the poetry prize for the year.)  The title is Bombblast or Breakfast where I tried to tell the world that people are dying because they cannot find something to eat.  I looked at it from different points including building too many arms which does not make sense when there’s plenty of hunger in the world.

What kinds of books do you like reading most?

I love to read Nigerian authors whether they are here or outside.  I am excited to get to read what they are saying to know what is in their minds; what subjects they are handling, especially those outside Nigeria.  I also read autobiographies and biographies, so that I can learn or build on people’s experiences over time.  Writing itself is about experience.  If there is no experience you cannot write; there is practically nothing to write about.

Who are your most read Nigerian authors?

(Laughs) Ah, this is a very difficult question because I’ve not even thought about it before now.  Em, Achebe remains at the top.  But then I read anything that comes my way especially when people go out of their way to give me their books.  I read them, yes I read them.  If you have looked at ANA review this year, I wrote on Alagboso’s works, his dramas.  He gave me his books and I had to do that piece on his works.  I said ok, I would do that and I really did.  So once a book is well-written, well-punctuated, well-edited, I will read.  If it is not a standard text, it may put me off.  That’s the problem I have.  But once I am assured that it is well-proof read and all that, I will pick it and read.  Be it poetry, prose or drama I spend enough time reading them.

At what point in your life did you decide to be a writer?

Ah, it is a long time oh!  Very long, long ago.  But I started reading writers very early in life.  That was how I started; by reading writers first.  But these days people start writing before they begin to read.  And this is creating a problem; a big problem.  You have to read before you begin to write.  Right from the secondary school, I had shown enough interest to be a writer.  I attended, if you like, a backyard secondary school, I will not quarrel with you if you call it that.  But what happened was that many of us in the class had interest in reading; reading many materials that came our ways.  We were generally good at reading, almost all of us in our class then.  Each day you would like to talk about what you’d read.  And we exchanged novels and other sorts of books.  And if it was an essay someone wrote and you loved it, you’d like to have a copy to read.  You’d like to make it available for others to read.  So, we were very hardworking, very studious and committed.  A lot of interest was shown to books by us and we loved books tremendously.  We often discussed authors and what they said, the issues they treated and how they treated them.  This helped us a lot and today I am a writer, a teacher of the English language and literature and drama.

Of all the books you’ve read, which character struck you most?

Ah, this is another very difficult one!  Oh, the Achebe character!  Yes, the Achebe characters are unique and striking.  All of them are striking and intriguing.  And also Chimamanda.  All the characters she creates strike me.  In Americanah, she created very good character in Ifemelu and how the story revolves around other characters in the book.  It is amazing.  Even the rise and fall and the rise again of Obinze is fascinating.  It makes the Americanah story striking.  I am impressed by what I read in that book.  They are live characters who made the book come alive.

How do you arrange your library?

My library?  The majority of my books are literature.  Any other books, I arrange them the way I can always locate them; drama, prose, poetry and all that.  There’s space for critical essays, journals and that’s the way I arrange everything in my library.

What book inspired you to start writing?

There was no particular book.  I told you we read so many books – simplified series mainly – in our days in secondary school.  So, I can’t say it is this or that.  No, There were many books we read then.

What book are you reading now?

Eh, there are many.  People give me books.  So sometimes, in fact, I read them.  I read the books people give to me.  Sometimes also, I feel like writing or saying something about the book.  That’s my preoccupation, but I have so many other things now to do.  But those ones I kept them where I can always see them.  Then occasionally I read one or two chapters of those books.  I may be interested in reading all the books available to me, even those who are trying to find their feet as writers.

In recent times which book did you read that touched you most about the society?

Yeah, I read books.  I read a lot of books.  But the one that touched me most and which I am likely to read again is Chimamanda Adichie’s Americanah.  I have read it twice and I’ll read it again.  This is so because she did well – it is a marvelous work of art.

Are you a re-reader?

Oh yes, I am.  I do, especially if I want to write on it, to be very current so that I do not say what did not happen (laughs).

Art is too important not to share – Romero Britto

The Lagos art community is small but boisterous. It is perhaps one of the most close-knitted communities in the country. If last year you attended any of the community’s functions, and you did so again this year and even many years to come, barring any unfortunate death or ailment, you are sure to see the same faces you saw some years past at the same gathering. Make no mistake; this is not to say the community is static or lacks variety of attendees. No, far from that; what I am saying is that there are some faces that are constant and you expect to see them at such events.

So, if you go to an art event – photo/art exhibitions, book readings or launch, film shows and other such things – and you fail to see some faces; then it is time to start asking questions and wondering why they are not at such events. This was the feeling that enveloped me last week when two very important arts/book events’ organisers decided to hold their crucial events at the same time and in the same city!

The 37th Annual Convention of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) after more than two decades that it was last held in Lagos made a return to the city. At the same time, the ever-growing Ake Art and Book Festival for the first time since it began six years ago decided to shift its venue to the same city. Ordinarily, this should be something for arts and book lovers in the city to crow about.

In the first place, as I stated in my opening shot – the Lagos art community is small but boisterous – so why did the date clash? Did the organisers not know that their community and audience were the same? Didn’t they know they were going to spread their patrons thin and also not have the best of audiences? It was good the two events came to the city but for them to have held during the same weekend was bad. Who goes to a book and arts festival if not writers and who goes to authors’ event if not writers and art enthusiasts?

In this small art community, why can’t we talk to ourselves and listen to one another to avoid such clashes in future? Now let me focus on the ANA event of which I was able to attend one or two sessions; it is a complete disappointment that the Lagos State government did not maximise the fact that the best of the coteries of writers in the country met in its territory and not even a director was sent to represent the state at the opening ceremony! So much for a state that says arts and tourism were its unique selling point in this State of aquatic splendour! To think that its Arts and Culture Council is just a shout away from the venue and not even a director could be sent to make an appearance!! In the run up to the convention, the media was agog with the visit of the local organising committee to the Secretary to the State Government and other state officials, so what went wrong? What were those visits for, were they not to brief and sensitise them about the upcoming events? So why was the Association given a cold shoulder?

Did the state consider how much was pumped into the economy in those three days? Let’s look at it in terms of money made by food vendors, book sellers; hoteliers and even ordinary ‘pure’ water sellers, makers of souvenirs, printers and cloth sellers! Not to talk of the goodwill and publicity it attracted to the state, taking into cognisance the fact that those who gathered at the venue came from all over the federation?

Well, in spite of the glaring shortcomings by the state, kudos should go to ANA under the leadership of its President, Denja Abdullahi, for organising a good convention with such gravitas. I am totally taken by its ANA Review 2018 which has graduated from being printed like a newspaper to book format, a well published one for that matter. The lecture by its keynote speaker, Prof Karen King-Aribisala, is rich and profound and should be read by all. It is what every lover of written word should read.

One great lesson from this is that the art calendar needs to be harmonised to eliminate clash of events.