Sad news hit me hard on Tuesday, June 25, in this year of Our Lord – my inimitable guru Tam Fiofori passed away. Tam was in his lifetime celebrated as a filmmaker, photographer, journalist, publisher and documentarian. Not many people knew that the icon popularly hailed as “Uncle Tam” was once a poet. It was Read More…
Literary Arts
Toast to Soyinka & Olatunji Dare
An ingrate is but a robber in disguise. I am thrilled to celebrate, on the same platform today, two great Nigerians who have impacted greatly on our collective intellectual environment and whose birthdays providentially fall within a few days of each other. Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka turned 90 on July 13 while Emeritus Professor Olatunji Read More…
Jimi Solanke, iconic Nigerian storyteller, dies at 81
Jimi Solanke, a veteran actor, dramatist, folk singer, poet, and playwright, who enchanted audiences with his expressive face, baritone voice, and contagious smile, died on Monday at the age of 81. He was on his way to the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital when he succumbed to a brief illness, according to his family. Solanke, Read More…
The role 21st century booksellers play in realising SDG 4—quality, inclusive and equitable education
SDG4 focuses on education and aims to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.” It includes seven targets, which cover eliminating disparities in accessing education at the early childhood and primary levels based on gender, ability, and other socio-economic factors and, as much as possible, encouraging all women and Read More…
Chimamanda advocates for more African stories
“African stories crucial for heritage, development,” says award-winning writer Nigerian-born and award-winning writer, Chimamanda Adichie, has emphasised the importance of more African stories to preserve the continent’s heritage, history, and development. She spoke at the launch of CANEX Book Factory and Prize for Publishing in Africa during the Creative Africa Nexus (CANEX) Summit in Cairo, Read More…
Salman Rushdie to publish memoir on New York stabbing: “A Necessary Book”
Salman Rushdie, the India-born novelist who endured years in seclusion due to an Iranian call for Muslims to take his life over his writings, is set to release a memoir recounting the events surrounding his 2022 stabbing in New York, as announced by book publisher Penguin Random House on Wednesday. Rushdie’s upcoming memoir, titled “Knife: Read More…
Remembering Ken Saro-Wiwa @ 82
Kenule Beeson Saro-Wiwa, famously known as Ken Saro-Wiwa, would have been 82 today, October 10. My lionised friend packed too many lifetimes into one life. His hanging by the General Sani Abacha regime on November 10, 1995 was a universal cause célèbre. It can be all too easy for many to give Ogoni activism the Read More…
An Airport for Achebe
There is a Chinua Achebe International Airport in Anambra State. It was a spectacular masterstroke from Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo when he renamed the Anambra Airport at Umueri after Chinua Achebe. The ovation that Soludo got when he made the announcement in his speech at the 63rd Nigerian Independence Anniversary, which took place at Dr Read More…