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Tag: Joop Berkhout

  • FOR JOOP BERKHOUT (The Brave Bookman, 1930 – 2025)

    FOR JOOP BERKHOUT (The Brave Bookman, 1930 – 2025)

    Migrant bird with a plural plumage

    You have crossed many oceans 

    And nested your eggs in trees

    Too tall for the breaking wind

    Those eggs touched the ground

    And books were born

    In them were ideas which unchain the mind,

    Wisdom which tames the terror of hidden things

    In the universe of your being

    Is a compass with a thousand points

    Your Northern needle being so steady

    You have never lost your way around the Light 

    From the hilly heights of Tanganyika

    To the copper plains of Zambia

    Those restless feathers powered north where,

    Europe-born, you dug your feet deep into the Nigerian soil

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    From Evans Brothers to Sunshine House to Safari Fare

    The Book remains the priest of your passion

    The temple of your trust where the altar

    Glows from the lyric of a thousand lamps

    From that busy haven in Kingston- upon- Thames

    To Cambridge-Okigbo House in Ibadan, the world’s best books

    Live between your covers, ennobled

    By your ageless energy, your relentless enterprise

    Seasons come, seasons go

    Passing moons unfurl your feathers

    Wherever your feet have touched the ground

    A city of Light has risen and bloomed

    •First published in this column four years ago when the  famous Bookman was 90.

    Re-used here with minor adjustments.

  • Tinubu mourns renowned Dutch-Nigerian publisher, Joop Berkhout

    Tinubu mourns renowned Dutch-Nigerian publisher, Joop Berkhout

    President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has expressed deep sorrow over the passing of Chief Joop Berkhout, a distinguished publisher and naturalized Nigerian, who dedicated over six decades of his life to advancing Nigeria’s literary landscape.

    Chief Berkhout, who passed away at the age of 94, was a towering figure in the country’s publishing industry. 

    He served as Managing Director of Evans Brothers and Spectrum Books Limited, later founding and chairing Safari Books Limited, where he continued his work even after his retirement in 2008.

    In a statement issued by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, President Tinubu described Berkhout as a man whose passion for Nigeria extended beyond business, embracing the nation’s culture and traditions to the extent that he was honored with the chieftaincy title of Okun Borode of Ile-Ife.

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    “Chief Berkhout lived a remarkable life in Nigeria. He was a doyen of publishing for over 50 years, shaping the industry and inspiring many Nigerian writers. 

    “He immersed himself in our culture and tradition such that he bagged a chieftaincy title as Okun Borode of Ile-Ife. Though he hailed from the Netherlands, his heart belonged wholly to Nigeria”, the President said.

    The President extended his condolences to Berkhout’s family in Nigeria and the Netherlands, as well as to the literary community across the country and beyond.

    “May his soul find eternal rest, and may his family draw strength from his legacy,” Tinubu said.