Mark Your Calendar!

CelebrityRead Africa - 6th Edition!

Come watch our special celebrities read off their favorite book, alongside invited authors! And get the chance to chitchat and network with them, the students and their fans amidst so much media glitz and grandeur.

Reading:
Segun Odegbami (Nigerian Ex-football International)
Uti Nwachukwu (Winner, Big Brother Africa All Stars 2010)
Kelechi Amadi-Obi (Veteran Photographer)
Y.Q (R&B Singer and Performer)

Special Guest Authors:
Jumoke Verissimo (Writer/Author of the book 'I am memory')
Tolulope Akanni (Writer/Author of A-Z Life Lessons)

Live Musical performances by: Don Perona, Eleri, Cynnade and Elfizzy
Loads of exciting poetry performances.

Date: 29th January 2011 @ Terra Kulture, Tiamiyu Savage Str., VI - Lagos.
Time: 3pm prompt.
Visit www.celebrityread.com, for more insights.

RSVP event here

Debonair Sudoku Sunday
You are invited to attend Debonair's Sudoku Sunday event this Sunday 30th January 2011.

Sudoku is a number puzzle in which the numbers 1 through 9 must be placed into a grid of cells so that each row or column contains only one of each number.

RSVP the Sudoku Sunday Event.

Bring Back the Book: Where Did the Book Go?

Written by Oyindamola Olofinlua

If you are banished to a desert where you are allowed to take only one thing, what will it be? Research has shown that many present-day Nigerians would go with either their television, radio or blackberry. The percentage of those that would go there with a book would be the least. No wonder it is said that if you want to hide something from an African, put it in a book. On Monday, 20 December, 2010, President Goodluck Jonathan GCFR launched Bring Back the Book campaign in Lagos. The initiative was supposed to resuscitate reading culture among Nigerians.  

On Monday, 17 January, 2011 the Banquet Hall of Eko Hotel and Suites, the Committee For Relevant Art (CORA) in furtherance of the President’s objective conveyed a meeting of stakeholders in the book industry – publishers, booksellers, authors, teachers, librarians, NGOs/CSOs, Corporate Donors – to work out a practical framework for the rebirth reading among Nigerians.

There were two divides. The first believed that many Nigerians do not read again. The second divide was of the opinion that Nigerians still read but that what they read should be the issue. Those who believed that many Nigerians no longer read were of the opinion that the ever-swinging tide of the economy has redirected people’s focus from the book to money. In the words of Erabor Okogun “The skill to read is lacking. The skill is the ability to sit down and let the book speak to you.” Potential readers these days are not patient enough to allow this happen. Some of the speakers went down memory lane to recall the years when Nigerians really read. At least one of the speakers accused the military of killing.

Some of the speakers said that the high cost of books is a deterrent to reading. So, they advised for government subsidy. On the other hand, it was made clear that even if books are sold at an affordable price, many people would still not find any interest in it. Some of the speakers were expressed the opinion that since many Nigerians can afford to buy phones, they can afford to buy books. 

In the words of Chuka Nnabuife, the anchor of the third session of the conference, “Nigerians still read.” According to him, many Nigerians read sports papers, others read books that are either written or recommended by their pastors or imam. Since it is true that some Nigerians are reading, it may be wise to pay attention to the areas they focus on. For instance, if sports is what people are reading, then attention should be paid to sports. This is more so as other media have also been accused of complicity in the death of the book.

A high point of the event was when the poet, activist and social critic, Odia Ofeimun added his voice to the whole debate. Ofeimun’s opinion is that policy making is not the issue, the issue is policy implementation. In spite of the high number of literacy policies that have been worked on in this country, Nigeria remains one of the leading countries in terms of illiteracy prevalence. “Supporting the book is not just about the book, it is about infrastructure”, Ofeimun said. 

The poet, Austyn Njoku, presenting a paper on behalf of the coordinator of the Abuja Writers’ Forum, Emman Usman Shehu, towed a line similar to that of Ofeimun. Citing the example of the detention of Okey Ndibe, he criticized the disrespect of writers. “You cannot bring back the book without respecting writers”, Njoku said. He didn’t fail to recall the fact that government in the past had embarked on similar campaigns, one of which was the READ campaign which was launched by this same administration. One must not forget what many have termed inconsistency on the part of Nigerian leaders. For instance, some have criticized the president for being the same person that wants to bring the book and the same person that has ordered the closure of schools for two week (This is arguable, though!). 

At the end of the conference, it was agreed that everyone – schools, government, NGOs/CSOs parents, e.t.c. – has a role to play. A draft document which would be sent to the president was drawn. One can only hope that this time around, this dream would not die as many of its predecessors. 

Read 234Next's Report of the Event

Deadline Reminder!

The African Writing Competition's deadline knocks....few days to go. It's time to edit your work--dot your i's and cross your t's; and finally, send!

More info here. Also read excerpts from the freshest issue of African Writing Magazine 

#Writing Quotes

Once in a while, we will bring you interesting quotes by writers..short, sweet, crazy, fun but sure not dull. Share your favourite writing quotations with us! Have a great week :-)

• There's nothing to writing.  All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein.  ~Walter Wellesley "Red" Smith
• So often is the virgin sheet of paper more real than what one has to say, and so often one regrets having marred it.  ~Harold Acton, Memoirs of an Aesthete, 1948
• The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say, but what we are unable to say.  ~Anaïs Nin
• Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.  ~E.L. Doctorow
• A word is not the same with one writer as with another.  One tears it from his guts.  The other pulls it out of his overcoat pocket.  ~Charles Peguy
• And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise.  The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.  ~Sylvia Plath
• I would hurl words into this darkness and wait for an echo, and if an echo sounded, no matter how faintly, I would send other words to tell, to march, to fight, to create a sense of hunger for life that gnaws in us all.  ~Richard Wright, American Hunger, 1977
• Originality is not seen in single words or even sentences. Originality is the sum total of a man's thinking or his writing.--Isaac Bashevis Singer 
• I always write a good first line, but I have trouble in writing the others.--Moliere
• In order to write about life, first you must live it!---Hemingway

You Tell Me: Why Bother Read Fiction

It's Friday. Thank God it's Friday huh? Time to curl into those books you stole to read through the traffic, during break at work and early in the morning before you set out. We have this light argument...well about fiction.More like about the purpose of fiction. Here you go: tell us why you read fiction.

The first question is: why bother read fiction? Life as short as it is, with books of information, instruction and discussion, waiting to be read, waiting to show you an easy guide to existence and survival; why should you spend your precious time on works of imagination?

You tell us!

Crown Troupe@Terra

The Crown Troupe of Africa presents five sizzling performances, every Sunday, this January at Terra Kulture...what better way to start a promising year?

Schedule of performances:
Three performances have gone down already...there are two to go!

Sunday 23rd January- Mixed Menu

Sunday 30th January- No More the Wasted Breed by Femi Osofisan. Also featuring performances by the Amulegbajo Dance Company.


Time: 3pm & 5pm (2 shows) Venue: Terra Kulture, Plot 1376 Tiamiyu Savage Street, Victoria Island, Lagos.


Gate fee: N2,000 only.

More Music! More Dance! More Drama!
For tickets, call: 08162641754 or mail: olomuaperan@yahoo.com
Supported by Terra Kulture and the Dream Arts & Design Agency (DADA)

Happy 2011 People!

Welcome to 2011. Oh yeah, we've been posting; this may be rather late but this is official welcome to 2011 from the Bookaholics. 2011 beckons...we dream of a better Bookaholic: more interviews with writers and bloggers (yes, we will bring back the Blogger and Writer of the Month series!), more writing tips and writing news. Email us if there's something you want to read here; here's your chance to write what you want to read on Bookaholic ;)


Here is a poem from Ella Wheeler Wilcox, from way back. And yes, a dialogue. May the year bring you happiness, love, good cheer and many reasons to smile. And dance. And make 2011 your best ever!

The Year by Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1910)

What can be said in New Year rhymes,
That’s not been said a thousand times?

The new years come, the old years go,
We know we dream, we dream we know.

We rise up laughing with the light,
We lie down weeping with the night.

We hug the world until it stings,
We curse it then and sigh for wings.

We live, we love, we woo, we wed,
We wreathe our brides, we sheet our dead.

We laugh, we weep, we hope, we fear,
And that’s the burden of the year.

NEW YEAR: A DIALOGUE

MORTAL:
    “The night is cold, the hour is late, the world is bleak and drear;
    Who is it knocking at my door?”

THE NEW YEAR:
    “I am Good Cheer.”

MORTAL:
    “Your voice is strange; I know you not; in shadows dark I grope.
    What seek you here?”

THE NEW YEAR:
    “Friend, let me in; my name is Hope.”

MORTAL:
    “And mine is Failure; you but mock the life you seek to bless. Pass on.”

THE NEW YEAR:
    “Nay, open wide the door; I am Success.”

MORTAL:
    “But I am ill and spent with pain; too late has come your wealth. I cannot use it.”

THE NEW YEAR:
    “Listen, friend; I am Good Health.”

MORTAL:
    “Now, wide I fling my door. Come in, and your fair statements prove.”

THE NEW YEAR:
    “But you must open, too, your heart, for I am Love.”