The Nation Newspaper

Tag: fagunwa

  • Fagunwa Study Group gathers in Akure for Soyinka and Fagunwa

    Come August 7th scholars and writers, will gather in Akure, under the auspices of Fagunwa Study Group, for a four-day conference in honour of Professor Wole Soyinka and D. O Fagunwa, two prominent writers who have enriched world literary values via their works. Edozie Udeze reports

    The Fagunwa Study Group is set to do it again.  This time around the group is set to have its second international conference.  The conference, like the first one which held in 2013, will also take place in Akure, the Ondo State capital.  Starting from August 7th to 11th the conference which will centre mostly on the Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka in relation to his 85th birthday anniversary, will have its theme as Wole Soyinka: Wole Soyinka, D. O. Fagunwa and the Yoruba Artistic Heritage.

    Addressing the press on the core essence of the group and why they have chosen to honour Soyinka this time around, Professor Tunde Babawale said “Yes, the conference is conceived as part of the 85th birthday anniversary of Professor Wole Soyinka, Africa’s first winner of the Nobel Prize of Literature.  In this instance, the programme is partly being sponsored by the Ondo State government headed by Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN).  This time around, all the papers to be delivered will concentrate on Wole Soyinka and Fagunwa basically on their contributions to the growth of Africa and Yoruba literary values and cultures and tradition”.

    Babawale, a former director general of the Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilization (CBAAC) and also chairman of the local organizing committee of the conference stated that members of the study group both home and abroad will be in attendance to give total credence to the subject-matters.  “We want to make it clear that the study group is to promote Yoruba culture and heritage.  It is made up of intellectuals, committed scholars, who use their resources to ensure that what the Yoruba race stands for and those who have done well to stimulate those elements of values are celebrated.  In this wise Soyinka is prominent; he has used his works to project and prosper Yoruba cultural heritages”.

    To the group, the name of D. O Fagunwa is important.  He began the history of writing; he documented and published works about the Yoruba culture.  His books came as pacesetters, paving the way for other literary collections and narratives that followed.  “As a pacesetter”, Babawale further noted with an unbridled nostalgia, “we see him also as the pioneer of our literature.  He is a forerunner, very vast and deep in his usage of Yoruba idioms, proverbs and wise sayings.  He promoted Yoruba language.  The time therefore to celebrate Soyinka is now.  It is also a mark of respect, honour and recognition.  It is to show that he is one of the foremost projectors of African literature.  When he translated D. O. Fagunwa’s Forest of a Thousand Demons into English, in 1968, he equally used his literary prowess to entrench the relevance of this pioneer writer in the history of the race.”

    The conference will have papers on all aspects of Soyinka’s literary exploits.  Scholars will not forget to dwell also on the need to promote and preserve the indigenous language of the people.  Fagunwa was a progenitor in this regard.  Some aspects of the papers will focus on Fagunwa as a way of constantly reminding the people about his role in local literary narratives.

    Babawale did not mince words when he said “the proposed theme of the conference has been motivated by the fact that Soyinka and Fagunwa represent two of the foremost figures in twentieth – century Nigerian and African literary history.  Indeed the two writers work in different primary languages, but prominent features of their imaginations, sourced deep in the Yoruba artistic heritage and then elsewhere cross one another in many profoundly stimulating ways.  Together and in the context of the expansive cultural and literary traditions they draw from, their work allows us to critically juxtapose interactively, explore key elements of modern African sensibilities and consciousness”.

    Consciously, the Fagunwa Study Group is a body of scholars, academics, intellectuals, mainly of Yoruba stock totally committed to organizing regular scholarly activities which include conferences, seminars, workshops, debates, roundtables and lectures on Yoruba cultural, literary and educational issues.

    In this regard, Kunle Ajibade, a member of the group who was present at the briefing said; “participants are assured of their security.  We will all be provided with adequate security.  Part of the programme will be a banquet to be hosted by the Ondo State government. People will be escorted to the venue in Akure which is the Dome in the state capital.  It will indeed be a massive intellectual outing involving some of the best scholars in Yoruba land”.

    In his own contribution, Professor Wumi Raji of OAU noted that of all the scholars who will be attending from outside Nigeria, Tejumola Olaniyan, the convener of the conference will give a deeper scholarly insight into both writers.  He said, “of course, Olaniyan is a Professor of English and Wole Soyinka professor of Humanities at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA.  He is the one in the forefront of this conference and the conference convener”, he concluded.

    Among dignitaries expected at the conference are Professor Wole Soyinka himself, members of D. O. Fagunwa’s immediate family, governors of all the states in the South West, Professor Olaniyi Yai, former Benin Republic’s permanent representative at the United Nations.

    The keynote speakers are Adeleke Adeeko, Professor of English at the Ohio State University, Columbia, USA, and Moradewun Adejumobi, Professor of African Studies at the University of California at Davis.

  • Celebrating Fagunwa the ultimate fabulist

    Almost all aspects of D. O. Fagunwa’s literary works were compiled into a book and presented to the public in Ibadan penultimate week, reports Edozie Udeze

    It was a collection of essays to celebrate Daniel Olufemi Fagunwa.  The essays, edited by Professors Adeleke Adeeko and Akin Adesokan, resulted from a conference held in Akure in 2013 to celebrate and honour Fagunwa whose works on Nigerian literature have spanned over many decades.  But the gathering of scholars, literary eggheads and enthusiasts, at the University of Ibadan penultimate week was to present the essays which are now in a book form to the public.  For this, scholars came from far and near.  Members of D. O. Fagunwa Study Group were in attendance.  In tow also were members of Fagunwa’s nuclear family, including his wife, Elizabeth.   Scholar after scholar poured encomiums on him and the dexterity with which he championed the literary cause of the people.  He wrote to preserve Yoruba culture.  He saw tradition as an invaluable asset that should not be allowed to fizzle into oblivion.  Using the local language of the people, Fagunwa made literature alive; he recreated the world of weird spirits, inspiring some and making the lily-livered scared about the evil forests of yore.  But in it all, he inspired confidence in the art of writing.  He didn’t write for art sake.  He wrote to document history, to see how those frightening forests could dominate the psyche of an entire race.

    It was for this reason and more that the likes of Professors Wole Soyinka and Femi Osofisan were present.  These are two renowned playwrights who have translated some of Fagunwa’s works into English.  They were there to lend their voices to the this man of letters who set the pace; who researched into the world of Igbo Olodumare to produce literary  works of outstanding statures.

    In his opening remarks, Professor Ropo Sekoni who stood in for Chief Michael Ade-Ojo, the chairman of the occasion, reminded the gathering that the efforts of the Fagunwa Study Group should be commended.  He said, “we know that majority of members of the Fagunwa Study Group are from the Yoruba Diaspora in the United States.  In addition to use of their personal savings, it will not be strange if they have all been supported directly or indirectly with grants from their various institutions or from donor organisations with interest in promoting the arts, not only in their own countries but also from other cultures that they believe can enrich humanity”.

    But how far can personal remittances go to fund culture?  Sekoni asked, noting that government should come in to help the art prosper.  However, he was excited that “the conference of 2013 (in Akure) that produced the book being presented today ended on a note of optimism…  It is remarkable that Governor Mimiko and his successor are with us today”.

    Speaking on behalf of Fagunwa Study Group, Tejumola Olaniyan said that the aim of the group is to make Fagunwa the springboard for scholarly explorations in Yoruba literature, religion, philosophy, culture and politics.  “We will, in the near future be asking you to be a part of an exciting programming in conference, workshops, public lectures and book presentations on many aspects of Yoruba intellectual heritage and its global reach.  To the community of Fagunwa scholars out there, we hope this book will serve as an inspiration.  Let us together create a thriving, lively and stimulating tradition of Fagunwa scholarship”.

    Adeleke Adeeko spoke on the genesis of the Study Group and how he and Akin Adesokan spearheaded scholarly works that gave vent to the ideas espoused in the collection.  Now based in the US, Adeeko and co started the idea of a collection six years before the epoch 2013 conference in Akure.  “In the end”, he said, “we collaborated with Professor Tunde Babawale as the Director of the Centre For Black and African Arts and Civilization (CBAAC) to make the conference happen.  We thank governor Mimiko and Babawale for making this possible.  This is good for us and for all Nigerians.  This book will help to deepen our knowledge of Fagunwa’s works.  It is for scholarship: it is to facilitate the art and show more commitments towards the promotion of art and literature not only in Nigeria but all over the world.”

    Kunle Adebayo who represented Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State praised the idea of sound scholarly works to embellish numerous literary efforts of Fagunwa.   According to him, the Ondo State government is proud of Fagunwa and what he did to bring out the place of Ile-Oluji in the literary map of the world.  Today, Ile-Oluji, the home town of Fagunwa is in the eye of the storm.  People troope in there to see those strange forests and perhaps commune in their many foyers and foliages.  Ile-Oluji is a tranquil little settlement off Ondo – Akure road, noted for its wonderful vegetations.  It is indeed a place where a writer can find his solace, seeking peace in the exoteric nature of various faunas and forests.  It was here that Fagunwa reclined in his own time to produce works that still defy human comprehension.  Today the Ondo State government is not relenting in its efforts to make Ile-Oluji a modern settlement to suit its status; its ambiance.

    Dr. Olusegun Mimiko who was the governor when the conference was held said that he was happy and passionate about the Fagunwa project.  “His were some of the books we read in primary school.  But if we had read them in our later years in school, we would have understood them better.  Yet, Fagunwa’s works teach us how to persevere, how to make uncommon sacrifice even in the face of the most difficult situations”.

    The occasion was made more exciting by the Ondo State Cultural Troup that performed excerpts from the books.  They also danced different cultural dances to depict some of the nuances of the weird spirits of Ile-Oluji and its surroundings.  And in his closing remarks Babawale was optimistic that this effort to document and further extend the literary frontiers of Fagunwa would yield more positive results.  “We hope to do more if the need arises”, he enthused.

  • Fagunwa, homeland-diaspora synergy and development

    Was he a spirit because of the way he died or was he just a man of stellar achievement, turned material for mythification?

    University of Ibadan served a few days ago as a site for discussion of many issues pertaining to development—aesthetic, cultural, social, political, and economic. A presentation of a book: Celebrating D. O. Fagunwa: Aspects of African and World Literary History provided a graphic illustration of the huge potential inherent in formalised collaboration between Yoruba diaspora and the homeland in Nigeria. Apart from launching the book, the event raised many issues that should be of interest to readers of this column and those responsible for governing the Yoruba region.

    The book presentation celebrated major Deliverable from an intellectual journey started four years ago in Akure, at the instance of Fagunwa Study Group (FSG), a consortium of scholars teaching in “Ivy League, Big Ten, and Pacific Eight” universities in the United States, where these institutions are synonymous with academic excellence in teaching and research and a small group of public intellectuals at home who also share with the FSG a commitment to research on the role of art and culture in development. The event also highlighted the need for further collaboration between the Yoruba diaspora and people of old Western Nigeria in particular and of Nigeria in general.

    Given the peripheral attention given by government to mother tongue education in the Yoruba region for the past few decades, it will not be a surprise if many of the readers of this column do not have an idea of who Fagunwa is (or was). Fagunwa was an educationist in pre-independence Western Nigeria and the first writer of full-length novels in Yoruba language:  Igbo Irumale, Igbo Olodumare, Ireke Onibudo, Adiitu Olodumare and other writings. His novels examine, among other issues, two recurrent themes: human progress and love. Readers of this column who want to know more about Fagunwa and why he should be celebrated more than half a century after his death should get their hands on some of Fagunwa’s books and the latest research on his works by some of the world’s finest writers, culture scholars, and public intellectuals too many to list in this piece.

    A book event that focused on a man who made a career of creating fiction that examines the universal theme of   human progress through the local motif of transition to modernity, transition from Animist to Christian religion and wrote in a language that was pronounced a vernacular by the principal agents of transition from orality to literacy must have reasons to look at the man from plural perspectives. Did he write in Yoruba to make money from younger readers under a pedagogical regime that aggressively de-programmed them from communicating in Yoruba while learning English? Did he write to subvert such pedagogy, or did he write to see beyond the tunnel vision of the imperialist design of colonial education in Nigeria, to predict an emerging new reality of double consciousness not so obvious to those creating and consuming an education that appeared concerned largely with upward mobility at that time? Was he a spirit because of the way he died or was he just a man of stellar achievement, turned material for mythification? There were many stated and unstated questions at the book launch, but one answer that emerged from the celebration is the consensus that Fagunwa as man or human deserves to be transformed into a monument.

    Attendance of representatives of many Yoruba governors at the event further underscored the growing belief that D. O. Fagunwa is ripe to become a monument to the future of promotion of art and culture in the Yoruba region of Nigeria. Former governor of Fagunwa’s state of origin, Ondo and the current governor emphasized the need to use celebration of Fagunwa’s literary success story to inspire new creatives and to incentivise new readers. It is not just through construction of physical monument (such as museum) in Oke-Igbo in Fagunwa’s honour but also through attention to intangible monuments that include commitment to a new pedagogy that will increase the market for artistic and cultural production that can add value to aesthetic and economic experience of fans of Fagunwa’s works. Celebrators of Fagunwa came from far and wide, the Southwest and the old Western Nigeria which Fagunwa served as educator, civil servant and knowledge promoter before his sudden death, which Mama Fagunwa referred to as “the death of a man and not the disappearance of a spirit.”

    To return to a key word in the title of today’s piece, Homeland-Diaspora Synergy, the Yoruba diaspora scholars who made substantial intellectual and material contributions to the Fagunwa Project, like all other community-oriented diapora groups, did not see their project as over with public presentation of the book. They made references to increasing collaboration between Nigerians in diaspora and those concerned with development initiatives in their communities of origin. Of course, there has been for decades, especially since the exodus of professionals to Europe and the Americas in the wake of Structural Adjustment Programme and other forms of harsh military rule, cooperation between Nigerians in diaspora and their kith and kin at home in Nigeria. Home remittance has been the most cited in the media.

    For example, in the last year, about $20 billion entered Nigeria in the form of home remittance. Undoubtedly, about one-third of that must have entered Western Nigeria for obvious reasons. Western Nigeria started the first free primary education scheme in Sub-Sahara Africa through government’s investment in education and access to education, thus leading to production of one of the largest manpower groups per kilometre in the world. The region during Nigeria’s Second Republic also initiated the first free secondary education programme in Nigeria. Unfortunately, many of those who benefited from these public education programmes under Awolowo, Akintola, Ajasin, Bola Ige, Ambrose Ali, Bisi Onabanjo, and Lateef Jakande had to go abroad to look for new means of livelihood when it was clear that the governance of Nigeria was no longer conducive to their livelihood, and the rest is history.

    But what is not history, which became evident during the celebration of Fagunwa in Ibadan, is the desire of many of those who emigrated to look back and give back to their homes of origin, not only by taking up an important function of government in modern societies but by creating platform for knowledge transfer or exchange between the two Nigerian communities. Various Nigerian communities in diaspora have generously performed informally the function of social security for their relations left behind for decades, but the Fagunwa Study Group has also added the responsibility of stimulating ideas that can revitalise a region and even a country that have potential to become a site for home remittances to other countries.

    Some of such ideas, expressed on and off the floor, include a new vision of governance in the region that valorises safeguarding and promoting arts and culture through investment of public funds in cultural infrastructure. It is people with proper education about their culture that have the capacity to become producers and consumers of cultural products. The more sensitive formal and informal education is to art and culture, the higher the possibility of emergence of talented people to reflect and refract that culture in objects that are pleasant to experience by consumers of such products. Fagunwa, Soyinka, Tutuola, Osofisan, Ofeimum, and many others too numerous to mention had benefited from governments (in and out of Nigeria) that invested generously in art and culture for budding artists.

    The vision that art and culture do not pertain to only creation of beautiful objects pleasant to experience but also to economic production was not alien to governments when many of Nigeria’s talented producers of culture were growing up. Understanding of the role of investment in the art and culture value chain, to use today’s vocabulary, was integral to education planning in Western Nigeria, even in the years before independence. The template used by Action Group and later Unity Party of Nigeria to nurture art and culture through a holistic approach: access to education, creation of agencies for cultural production (such as Book Council), and provision of grants to budding artists can be retrieved (for renewal) from the archives.

    Diversification of the economy to include, as in other countries, growth of the region’s creative industry requires, more than before, readiness of governments in the region to invest in education as building blocks for culture industry to stimulate production and consumption of art and culture. Currently, many Nigerian communities have their legs in two civilisations as a result of post-independence emigration to other societies that care for art and culture and in a homeland rich in talented citizens and a huge market to sustain a thriving cultural economy. Nigeria and Western Nigeria in particular have no excuse for not becoming viable for cultural and eco-tourism. It will be a welcome idea of Yoruba in science and technology currently in diaspora replicates the efforts of their humanities counterparts. The region direly needs their intervention too.

    Roposek@msn.com

  • It’s unfortunate I can’t talk to Fagunwa, Shakespeare or Jonathan Swift

    It’s unfortunate I can’t talk to Fagunwa, Shakespeare or Jonathan Swift

    Gbemisola Adeoti, a professor of English Literature is the dean of the Faculty of Arts, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State. He is the author of Naked Soles, Voices Offstage: Nigerian Dramatists on Drama and Politics, Aesthetics of Adaptation in Contemporary Nigerian Drama, Nigerian Video Films in Yoruba, Inside African Forests: Critical Perspectives on Novels of D.O. Fagunwa and more. In this interview with Edozie Udeze, he shares his long time dream of always wanting to be a writer, why he cannot talk to his favourite authors now and more  

    What sorts of books do you like most?

    I like reading life narratives. These include non-fictional works such as biography, autobiography, memoir, diary and so on.

    When you read a book, what are the salient things you look out for most?

    I always look out for the use of language especially the deployment of literary and figurative devices by the author. Language brings out humour. It is used to create characters and develop them. We rely on language to know the physical environment where actions and events are taking place. We come to deep awareness of the physical composition, emotional tendency, vision, aspiration, dream and the inner being of characters through the use of language. So, I pay attention to all these while reading a text, whether fictional or life narrative.

    Who are your favourite authors in the world and why?

    Regardless of the society and the age, my favourite authors across the world are Daniel Olorunfemi Fagunwa, Wole Soyinka, William Shakespeare, Jonathan Swift, Moliere, George Orwell, Ayi Kwei Armah, Femi Osofisan and Ahmed Yerima among others.

    I am fascinated by their works because in reading them, I encounter their abstractions and approximations of the human world in credibly incredible manner. They present in their works, the twist and turns of life, showing that no condition is ever permanent and that there is no need to give up. Man should keep on moving and struggling in spite of adversity, until he arrives at his goal or destination one day. Prosperity and adversity are the two sides of the same coin that life holds out for humanity.

    Their books are rich in evanescence of literary condiments – humour, wit, paradox, imagery and so on. They present the authors’ keen observations about life. Thus, we encounter the writer as the reporter, the writer as the chronicler and the writer as the seer. Their works are also ever fresh, as I come out of every reading with new ideas, new insights into the meanings of their works. I also come into a greater awareness of the complexity of the human mind and the natural world.

    When and where do you like to read; what time and why?

    I like to read anytime and anywhere that I can secure myself in my own world, oblivious of what goes on around me. It may be in a moving vehicle or under a tree. It may be in the morning but preferably at night up till around 2:00 a. m. I can read in my office or by the road side, while waiting for my car to be fixed or washed.  It can be while travelling or while waiting for a meeting that is late in starting. I see reading as a habit or part of daily routine like eating, drinking, sleeping and so on.

    What is your preferred literary genre?

    My preferred literary genre is drama. It confronts humans with life directly as it is being lived around them. Its direct imitation of various shades of human experience or existence is quite important to me. Drama captures various cultures, traditions and societies across the ages. In performance, drama holds the possibility of freeing itself from the static world of the written text.

    What book or books have had the greatest impact on you and why?

    The five novels of D. O. Fagunwa, in their Yoruba original versions and English translations. I mean Ogboju Ode Ninu Igbo Irunmole (The Forest of a Thousand Daemons), Igbo Olodumare (In the Forest of Olodumare), Irinkerindo Ninu Igbo Elegbeje (Expedition to the Mount of Thought), Ireke Onibudo and Adiitu Olodumare (The Mysteries of God). I also find enduring the literary appeal of Ayi Kwei Armah’s The Beautyful Ones are not yet Born, Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s Wizard of the Crow, William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar and George Orwell’s Animal Farm. I enjoy the boundless possibilities that Fagunwa’s people and places present before the readers. The topical, ever fresh depictions of Africa’s postcolonial predicament in the works of Armah and Ngugi wa Thiong’o leave lasting impression. The futility of inordinate ambition for power and wealth, the wide gap between appearance and reality, the timeless appeal of virtues are all important lessons in the plays of Shakespeare the bard. I enjoy these elements in any work where they are present.

    As a child what books tickled you most?

    Fagunwa’s Ogboju Ode Ninu Igbo Irunmole (which Soyinka translated as The Forest of a Thousand Daemons), George Orwell’s Animal Farm, Sir H. Rider Haggard’s King Solomon’s Mine and  Jean Jacoby’s Abimbolu.

    At what point in your life did you begin to nurse the idea of becoming a writer?

    I started nursing the idea of writing while I was in Secondary School in Iseyin. I carved out a small column below the Time Table on our class’ black board. I called it Daily Mirror. I used it to express my ideas with chalk on the board. I was the Reporter/Editor-in-Chief (or is it Editor-in-Mischief!). But I started composing poems and short stories while I was an undergraduate student at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife. I gained more confidence when I joined the Ife Literary Series, a group of staff and students who were lovers of the creative arts. I honed my skills in creative writing and literary criticism through that platform. That was in the late 1980s.

    How has writing shaped or reordered your life?

    Writing itself is always in a state of being and becoming. It never attains the status of immutable finality. The satisfaction felt by the writer after his or her creation comes out is always a product of great deal of efforts and trials. I have always learnt not to be contended with half-measure. Whatever I find my hands doing; I always want to give it my best attention so that I can make success out of it. Besides, having been exposed to so many realities through the lenses of literature, I hardly get shocked or surprised by many things happening in our world today, whether in the realm of religion or in the sphere of politics. The hitherto forbidden is now becoming the norm.

    If you meet your favourite author face to face what would you like to ask him/her?

    This is a strange question. But let me answer it as strangely as I can. The point is that I cannot meet Fagunwa of Shakespeare or Jonathan Swift face to face. So, I will not be able to ask them any question. But let us for the sake of discourse, imagine that Fagunwa re-appears now, I will ask him to show me on the map of the world, where precisely, Akara-ogun and Agbako fought that titanic battle. I will also want to know where exactly on earth is that Oke Langbodo, where people can hear the cockcrow and hymn rendition in heaven clearly; where people move effortlessly between the earth and the ethereal.

    I know that he is likely to ascribe his literary exploit to the astounding imagination and the mystery of fantasy.

    Of the plays you’ve read which character struck you most?

    The character is Cinna the Poet in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. His appearance is brief but of enduring significance. You can call him a minor character, but he represents millions of innocent victims of war, insurgency, uprising, terrorism and other expressions of man’s irrationality in ancient and contemporary world. Cinna is an innocent poet, reading his verse before he is pounced upon by the aggrieved mob that is out to avenge the assassination of Caesar by the conspirators. Unfortunately, he shares a name, Cinna, with one of the conspirators and the mob is not willing to hear his clarification that he is just a poet and not a conspirator.  His problem is compounded because his name Cinna also sounds like “sinner” who is guilty by implication. Instantly, the angry plebeians descend on him and tear him to pieces for his alleged “bad verses”.  His character reminds me of the truth in Yoruba proverb that says “ori yeye  nimogun, t’aise lo po”. It means that of those countless skulls at the Ogun shrine, many of them belong to the innocent ones. Many people die in the world today as innocent and helpless victims of circumstances. They just die because they travel on the day that the road is famished. May God continue to protect us. To me, the pun on his name – Cinna – sinner, and the mistaken identity are quite fascinating.

    In another sense, as a poet, Cinna represents many writers and artists all over the world who have to suffer on account of what the state perceives and “bad verses”. I recall the saga of Salman Rushdie in the 1990s with his Satanic Verses. What of Jack Mapanje, the Malawian poet under the dictatorship of the Imperial Kamuzu Banda? Many writers have been imprisoned or killed based on their products.

    What book do you plan to read next?

    I plan to read W. G. Sebald’s Austerlitz, a novel.

    How do you arrange your private library?

    I divide my shelves into sections on imaginative literature and non-fictional works. The imaginative literature section bears works on African and non African literature while the section on non-fictional works contains texts on life narratives, politics, religion, culture, sociology, history, psychology, health and so on. In all, I know where to find which book.

  • Family celebrates Fagunwa 53 years after

    Family celebrates Fagunwa 53 years after

    The family of the late Yoruba writer and pioneer author of the classics, Ogboju Ode Ninu Igbo Irunmale, Daniel Olorunfemi Fagunwa, has marked 53 years of his death.
    Fagunwa, author of Yoruba novels of magical realism, died on December 7, 1963, in a boat capsize.
    He died at the bank of River Wuya, near Bida, in present day Niger State, while returning to Ibadan after a working visit to Kano. He was buried on December 10 in Ondo State.
    He was author of four other imaginative books, Ireke Onibudo, Aditu Olodumare, told in a mythical manner. His last manuscript, Ireola Olodumare, was never found till today.
    The 53 years remembrance was celebrated last Wednesday with a commendation service and holy communion service held at St Luke’s Anglican Church,Oke-Igbo, Ondo State.
    Of her husband’s memory, Fagunwa’s widow, Elizabeth Adebanke, who was widowed at 31 and is now 84, said: “Many times, I looked at the blue sky but saw no sunshine and never expected rain. But as the bible says, weeping may endure a night but joy cometh in the morning.”
    His son, Dipo, said: “That probably was our saddest day as we finally knew that we shall behold him no more except in our dreams.”
    He, however, thanked family and friends, including fans of the late writer for “making the difference by helping us with your support to weather the throes of his death.”

  • Family celebrates Fagunwa 53 years after

    The family of the late Yoruba writer and pioneer author of the classics, Ogboju Ode Ninu Igbo Irunmale, Daniel Olorunfemi Fagunwa, has marked 53 years of his death.

    Fagunwa, author of Yoruba novels of magical realism, died on December 7, 1963, in a boat capsize.

    He died at the bank of River Wuya, near Bida, in present day Niger State, while returning to Ibadan after a working visit to Kano. He was buried on December 10 in Ondo State.

    He was author of four other imaginative books, Ireke Onibudo, Aditu Olodumare, told in a mythical manner. His last manuscript, Ireola Olodumare, was never found till today.

    The 53 years remembrance was celebrated last Wednesday with a commendation service and holy communion service held at St Luke’s Anglican Church,Oke-Igbo, Ondo State.

    Of her husband’s memory, Fagunwa’s widow, Elizabeth Adebanke, who was widowed at 31 and is now 84, said: “Many times, I looked at the blue sky but saw no sunshine and never expected rain. But as the bible says, weeping may endure a night but joy cometh in the morning.”

    His son, Dipo, said: “That probably was our saddest day as we finally knew that we shall behold him no more except in our dreams.”

    He, however, thanked family and friends, including fans of the late writer for “making the difference by helping us with your support to weather the throes of his death.”

  • Promoting Fagunwa’s literary landmarks

    Fifty years after the death of renowned Yoruba author and educationist, Chief Daniel Olorunfemi Fagunwa, his literary exploits will be celebrated in an international conference holding at Adegbemile Cultural Centre, Akure, Ondo State between August 8 and10.

    It is being organised by the Centre for African Arts and Civilisation, (CBAAC) in collaboration with the Ondo State Government, the Fagunwa Study Group and the Fagunwa Foundation. The international conference is being promoted by an international group of scholars and enthusiasts of the work of the late distinguished pioneer writer, Daniel Olorunfemi Fagunwa (1903-1963).

    The conference’s theme is D. O. Fagunwa: Fifty Years On and was conceived to mark the first half-century after the death of Fagunwa. It is also to celebrate and reaffirm Fagunwa’s major contributions to African literature and culture, re-examine his work as a store-house of hitherto undiscovered sources of knowledge, and assess his continuing relevance to our contemporary times.

    According to the Director General of Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilisation (CBAAC), Prof. Tunde Babawale, the conference is being organised to examine the impact and significance of the Yoruba writer, and it will bring together writers, scholars and artists who have worked in different ways on Fagunwa’s literary works.

    Babawale who acknowledged the interest of Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, in the commemoration of Fagunwa’s literary works, said that the commemoration of Fagunwa’s life and literary works after 50 years is of great significance and deserves to be celebrated.

    Two members of Fagunwa’s Foundation, Mr. Kunle Ajibade and Diwura Fagunwa identified the role of Fagunwa as a creative user of Yoruba language. They described him not only as a novelist, but also as a writer of travelogues, essays, petitions and translation of other literature into Yoruba. Daughter of Fagunwa, Diwura said of the success of Fagunwa’s five novels: “His books were all a success, the last of which was published in 1961, Ogboju Ode was a phenomenal, and has it had gone through 24 reprints.”

    The conference will be hosted by Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, while the special guests are Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation Chief Edem Duke, and Dr. Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State. The ceremony will be chaired by Oba Dokun Abolarin, the Orangun of Oke-Ila while keynote speaker is Prof. Wole Soyinka.