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Tag: Rainbow Book Club

  • Rainbow BookClub hits double

    Rainbow BookClub hits double

    Ten years ago, Nigeria made history, as Port Harcourt assumed its tenure as UNESCO World Book Capital, beating 8 cities, including Oxford. Project managers of Port Harcourt World Book Capital programme, the Rainbow Book Club, last week. launched two exciting initiatives; Talking Books Africa, a monthly, virtual, live conversation with authors, and made its debut with award-winning Chibundu Onuzo as guest and R.O.A.R. Africa series (biographies of notable Africans for young readers), beginning with Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka, who turns 90 this year.

    The initiative is a partnership with UNESCO Paris.

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    Last Tuesday, Strasbourg, France assumed the World Book Capital title. The Get Nigeria Reading again campaign, which the Rainbow Book Club, kicked off with Chimamanda Adichie in 2005, played a significant role in Port Harcourt’s nomination as World Book Capital 2014.

    From 2008, the Garden City Literary Festival (later named the Port Harcourt Book Festival) drew writers, artists, book lovers, other creatives and culture connoisseurs from across Nigeria, Africa and other continents to the city of Port Harcourt. The festival, which was described by This Day newspaper as ‘arguably the biggest of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa’ was sponsored by the Rivers State Government and hosted by the Rainbow Book Club.

    At the opening ceremony of Port Harcourt’s year-long World Book Capital tenure, Soyinka, in his keynote address, spotlighted the important of the book in national development and the threat to education, highlighting the plight of the Chibok girls who had been kidnapped from their school two weeks earlier. Obi Ezekwesili, former education minister, made the call to bring back the girls, sparking off an international campaign for education. Nigeria’s musicians (now Grammy award winner Burna Boy, Timi Dakolu, MI, Waje, Yemi Alade and Nosa) lent their voices to the reading campaign as they rendered the PH World Book Capital theme song.

    The dozen programmes of the World Book Capital year included 200 book clubs set up in schools, establishment of a 350-seater library sponsored by SHELL, as well as stories written by children from the 23 local government areas of Rivers State and the 36 states of Nigeria, about their communities and published in books. Hay Festival and Rainbow Book Club collaborated on the ‘Africa 39’ project that selected and celebrated 39 of Africa’s most promising writers under the age of 40. Other international partners on this project included the Caine Prize and PEN International. In that year, Port Harcourt World Book Capital exhibited at the Cape Town Book Fair, the London Book Fair and the Frankfurt Book Fair.

    Other partners, who are working with Rainbow to spread the joy of reading include Nigeria LNG and Total Energies.

    The Rainbow Book Club pioneered getting notable people to read to children to stimulate their interest in books. Readers have included former Vice President Osinbajo, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Soyinka, former Governors Fashola and Amaechi, ex-Ministers Dora Akunyili, Ajumogobia, Emeka Anyaoku, Burna Boy etc.

    The creative and passionate Rainbow Book Club team is led by its founder, Koko Kalango, whose work in social development, earned her a national award in 2014.

  • Rainbow Book Club trains pupils in Lagos

    TO involve teenagers in humanitarian works and create in them the culture of giving back, Rainbow Book Club (RBC) ran a summer programme for children at a community in Lagos.

    The programme, which held at Bethesda School in Ikota, Lagos, had in attendance over 45 pupils from the junior secondary and senior primary classes. The school is owned by Bethesda Child Support Agency, a non-profit organisation established in 2001.

    According to the founder of Rainbow Book Club, Mrs. Koko Kalango, who also trained volunteers/facilitators at the event, the choice of working with the NGO was motivated by its focus on mobilising goverment’s efforts, private sector and other development agencies towards securing educational opportunities for children in poor communities.

    The book used during the programme was 17 Secrets of High Flying Students by Fela Durotoye. The participants said they were inspired by the different sessions at the programme. One of them, Friday Emmanuel, said:”I can now search for words from the dictionary by myself…The Rainbow Book Club has helped me to stop playing too much.”

    For Joy Adoyi, whose father is a security guard and mother, a cleaner, the programme helped in the discovery of more words in the English vocalbulary. “I will like to thank the Rainbow Book Club for what they have done in my life, I have learnt words that I didn’t know before and so many lessons that would help me in life,” she said.

    The programme also witnessed presentation of gifts and awards to the children for active participation, remarkable improvement, interest and effort.

    The pupils were not the only ones who received trainings. The volunteers/facilitators, who took the children on diverse subjects, were also trained byMrs Kalango at the event.

    The facilitators made the book club sessions interactive and educative, sharing their experiences to support the tips provided in the book. Feedback from the participants was also insightful. The four volunteers were Tara Bond, TarariIdara, Seyi Sobowale and Ayomikun Kosoko.

    The facilitators said they were unsure of what the experience would be like at the beginning, but by the time the programme ended they all said they would be happy to volunteer again in the future.

  • Rainbow Book Club marks Children’s Day with contest, reading

    Rainbow Book Club marks Children’s Day with contest, reading

    To mark Children’s Day, the Rainbow Book Club organised a writing competition entitled: The Rivers State of my dream and book reading.

    The event, which held at Alliance Francaise, was also used to mark of the Golden Jubilee of Rivers State. It was attended by over 100 pupils from 20 primary and secondary schools in Port Harcourt.

    After the competition, the group held a reading on Fela Durotoye’s book, 17 Secrets of High-Flying Students. This session was moderated by Rainbow Book Club founder and Project Director, UNESCO World Book Capital 2014, Mrs Koko Kalango. On stage with her to discuss the book were Emmanuella Wokoma from Baptist High School; Oreke Onyekachi from Kenneth Commercial and Technical College; Praise Seimode from Archdeacon Brown Education Centre; Wike Shalom from Olivet Heights International School; Isaac Obiazi from Port Harcourt International School, and Sobowale Excellence from Model Junior Secondary.

     

  • Garden City Literary Festival now Port Harcourt Book Festival

    The Rainbow Book Club founder, Mrs. Koko Kalango, has expressed her anxiety over the annual festival holding in October. She disclosed the renaming of the Garden City Literary Festival as Port Harcourt Book and that plans are underway to institutionalise and re-brand the festival. She spoke at Port Harcourt on the several activities lined up for the festival. The Garden City Literary Festival began as an idea of Gov. Rotimi Amaechi to organise a programme that would draw writers to the city of Port Harcourt, annually.

    The birth of the Garden City Literary Festival in 2008 brought with it an influx of writers, literary connoisseurs, publishers and other players in the book chain to Port Harcourt. Now in its sixth year, the festival has been described as ‘arguably the biggest of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa’.

    Kalango said the renaming of the festival is in line with international best practice as done in similar events such as The Cape Town Book Fair, the Edinburgh Book Festival and the Ghana International Book Fair which are named after their host cities or countries. Port Harcourt’s nomination as UNESCO World Book Capital has also generated increased interest in the city. The new name will help consolidate the city’s reputation as a haven for literary activities.

    She observed that since several other ‘Garden Cities’ exist around the world, there was much ambiguity around the identity of the festival, noting that using the name ‘Port Harcourt’ makes the festival easily and quickly recognisable. “Replacing the wording ‘Literary Festival’ with ‘Book Festival’ widens the content and scope and thus the festival’s appeal. Instead of solely literature-type books, the focus would move to books in general e.g. motivational, business books, memoirs, etc.” she added.

    This year, the Port Harcourt Book Festival will hold from October 21 to 26 with the theme: Literature and the Creative Economy. For six days, attendees will be able to participate in activities such as a book fair/exhibition, a symposium, children events, meet-the-author sessions, book signings, to name a few.

     

    •Udoh is of Rainbow Book Club, Port Harcourt.

  • Tributes to Achebe

    Tributes to Achebe

    The Rainbow Book Club, in partnership with the British Council held an evening of tributes for the late Prof. Chinua Achebe at the council’s office in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

    Pa Gabriel Okara, celebrated poet and author, set the tone for the evening with his moving tribute on Achebe who he said was not dead but lives on in his works.

    The evening also had a session tagged Why we love Things Fall Apart. It began with opening remarks by Ms. Ijeoma Agruba, the Centre Manager of the Council office and followed by a reading of Achebe’s biography by Mrs. Judy Nwanodi, a trustee of the Rainbow Book Club.

    An open discussion on why the classic novel, Things Fall Apart is held in such high regard was lead by PEN. The session provided people the opportunity to share their favorite characters, scenes and proverbs in a book that is widely believed to have changed the way African literature was viewed by the rest of the world.

    The beauty and simplicity of the language in Things Fall Apart with its proverbs and vivid imagery, the characters like Okonkwo, who rises above adversity against all odds, the book’s unique title, and its ability to yield itself to different age groups of readers, were all part of the reasons why TFA has endeared its self to generations .

    The tributes continued with people coming to share with the audience, different Achebe’s books and poems they love. The founder of Rainbow Book Club, Mrs. Koko Kalango also delivered a moving tribute on Achebe who was an Honourary member of the club. Mrs Kalango told the audience how Achebe had severally supported the clubs events including what was to be his last outing in Nigeria, when he delivered the keynote address at the 20II Garden City Literary Festival.

    A one- minute silence was observed in honour of the late Prof. Chinualumogu Achebe and this was followed by the signing of a condolence register, after which photographs were taken.