In Conversation with Segun Adeniyi

The March edition of The Life House's “In Conversation” series comes up on Sunday, March 4 2012. This edition features Segun Adeniyi, journalist, columnist and author of the acclaimed book, Power, Politics and Death, in conversation with Tolu Ogunlesi. The discussion will touch on politics, governance, public service and the news media in Nigeria, and copies of Power, Politics and Death will be available for sale.

Date: Sunday, March 4 2012
Time: 7.00 pm to 9.00 pm
Venue: The Life House, 33 Sinari Daranijo Street, off Ligali Ayorinde Street, Victoria Island, Lagos
Entry is free, but reservations are recommended. For reservations and more information, please email info@thelifehouselagos.com

*Segun Adeniyi has previously served as editor of ThisDay newspaper, and Special Adviser on Communications to the late Nigerian President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. He is currently the chairman of the ThisDay editorial board, and author of four books, including The Last 100 Days of Abacha.

*Until recently, Tolu Ogunlesi was features editor and editorial board member of NEXT newspaper. He is also an acclaimed writer.

IN CONVERSATION with PROFESSOR KOLE OMOTOSO

The January edition of the Life House "In Conversation" series features acclaimed writer and intellectual, Kole Omotoso. In a moderated discussion with Tolu Ogunlesi, we'll delve into a discussion of his non fiction works in particular, Just Before Dawn and Achebe or Soyinka: A Study in Contrasts. The Life House audience will also be treated to exclusive first readings of excerpts from his forthcoming memoir, Witness to Possibilities.
Some of Omotoso's old works include "Achebe or Soyinka: A Study of Contrasts" will also be available to buy and to immortalize with the author's signature.

Date: Friday 27th January, 2012 from 5pm

Venue: The Life House, 33 Sinari Danijo, Off Younis Bashorun Street, Off Ajose Adeogun Street, Victoria

iRead

44 Bookers in 25 Words (Each )by Harold Augenbraum

 In light of the October 18th announcement of the 2011 prize, the Review's editors asked Harold Augenbraum, Executive Director of the National Book Foundation, presenter of the U.S. National Book Awards, to provide a bite-sized "take" on each Booker or Man Booker recipient (its sponsorship changed in the 1990s). He responded with precisely 25 words on each and every winner.

His thoughts on Famished Road. 1991 -- The Famished Road by Ben Okri -- Raises the coming-of-age novel to the thrill of epic, candidate for the Great Nigerian Novel. Okri is a worthy successor to Achebe, predecessor to Adichie.

To Fall Twice for the Same Trick (or Déjà Vu) by A. Igoni Barrett

"As I pushed the second leg into my yellow tiger paw boxer shorts, my mobile phone rang. Startled by the shrill of a ringtone I hadn’t selected, I lost my balance and pitched forward. My head struck the edge of the new writing desk, I hit the floor, and just before my mind emptied I said to myself: so this is what it feels like to die with your pants down.When I awoke the first thing that strolled up and muttered “hello” was the pong of clinical iodine. I opened my eyes to find that my nose, too, had turned traitor: I was sprawled at the foot of the new writing desk. I reached forward to pull myself up, and grasped a leg, which, after I whipped up my head to look, became in my hand the leg of the new writing desk.The floor was cold; My head hammered; The phone rang."

Tolu Ogunlesi on the Jaipur Literary Festival and literature in India

"Jaipur stands out for the prominence it gives to literature in local languages; as many as half of the fair’s guest writers write in Indian languages. This may also account for the popularity of the festival, in a country where the number of speakers of Hindi, a local language, is 4 times the English-speaking population, and where as many as 22 local languages each have more than 1 million speakers."

The 9th Issue of ITCH Online
The 9th issue of ITCH  Online features a variety of multimedia works exploring the notion of ∞ (the mathematical symbol for infinity).Poetry, prose, video artworks, graphics, drawings, photography and more dig into the corners and stretch out the sides of this sign of intertwined forever-ness.

Have a great week!

'Poor Citizens=Poor Reading Culture': Tolu Ogunlesi

When and why did you decide to become a writer?
I don’t know… I remember writing a novel – and actually finishing it – when I was twelve.

What is the secret to being a fine writer?
Wanting it so badly that nothing else appears good enough as an alternative. And sometimes, discovering that you are hopeless at every other thing helps.

Your first story published
My first real published story was titled 'Solemn Avenue', and it was published in the PEN Anthology of New Nigerian Writing (edited by Femi Osofisan, Remi Raji and Ronnie Uzoigwe) in 2003. Helon Habila’s “Prison Stories” inspired the story. But before then I had been writing loads of poetry.

Greatest achievement in writing career
Every bit of success, at the time of its attainment, insists on being the greatest. And that, I think is how it should be. When an email comes into my box telling me about a success (publication/competition), it doesn’t care about yesterday’s email, or tomorrow, bringing bigger news. All it does is ask me to rejoice, which I do.

Favourite writer of all time
I haven’t got any one favourite writer. Everyday I encounter new ones, each one loved for a unique reason

When is the best time for you to write?
Anytime… so long as I can quell the loud whisperings of all my procrastinating spirits

Which historical figure do you most identify with? 
King Solomon I think. He was a rich poet… which I wouldn’t mind being. Plus he wrote great love poetry. And his poetry outlived him.

Which talent would you most like to have? 
The ability to read people’s minds… or the patience to learn anything I’d love to be a master of.

What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? 
Hopelessness… that state in which you look all around and all is silence and pitch darkness

What is your philosophy of life?
I don’t have any one philosophy, but if I had to say something, it’d be this: Life is Short, Art is Long, but No Long Thing (which I’d translate to mean: Work hard but never take yourself too seriously)

What is the hardest thing to write about?
Sometimes, everything can be equally hard to write about… the act of writing is in itself the hardest thing about writing. Which is why someone said: “Many people don’t want to write, they only want to have written…”

Who is your perfect reader?
A person who comes to a book with eagerness, curiosity and a wide open mind.

Who are your literary heroes?
Too many to mention. Seriously.

What is the last thing you read that made you laugh?
Brian Chikwava’s Harare North and Adaobi Nwaubani’s I do not come to you by chance. I love both books, and will be reviewing them.

What book changed your life?
One book? I’m afraid I haven’t yet read it. Books usually don’t have to change lives before they can be deemed successful… and of course books often have very different purposes; every book I’ve read has done something to me, in many cases you can’t tell until much later, months, years even… all the books I have ever encountered have changed my life in their own unique ways.

What is the strangest research you’ve done?
I haven’t really written on any strange topics yet… but I remember how agonizing it was to find out about the art of molue painting when I was working on a recent piece of mine… one lunch time saw me wandering around Obalende…

Have you ever imitated another writer’s style?
All the time. Okay, not all. But most of the time. You often can’t help it, what you read influences what and how you write, often unconsciously. Life as a writer is often about being at the mercy of a million competing voices in your head, offering possibilities on how and what to write about… what they call your voice or your style is a mélange of all these voices, whipped into shape by your own stubbornness and instinct…

How do you choose your characters?
I’ll go for the cliché – I don’t choose them, they choose me. And I say thank you for choosing me. What did you see in me that made you choose me?

What inspires your writing?
Everything… sights and sounds, visions and voices, dreams and doubts. A wall gecko in the morning bathtub is the father of an afternoon poem in the spiral-bound notebook.

What is the worth of a book?
Not the paper on which it is printed, not the recommended retail price. A book is worth the vision that inspired it and brought it to completion, it is worth all the time that went into it, worth all the crushing self-doubt that hammered it into shape…

Which of your works was the most challenging for you to write?
It doesn’t get any better, every one has been bloody challenging… a blank page doesn’t respect any credentials you shove in its face – at least in my case. Every time I have to start from the beginning.

What book would you give to someone who had time-travelled from another era, to paint a picture of the 21st century?
The internet – collected into a book

What sort of books would be your guilty pleasure?
In truth, no book should have to be a guilty pleasure. Some books are read to be struggled with, others to escape into… but I think that reading, like eating, should be a balanced diet, all classes should be represented on the diet. And with reading, unlike eating, junk is often permissible… so long as you have your notions of what is junk and what is not, and can defend them if you have to … I love to read biographies and autobiographies and business management books, and they are certainly not guilty pleasures…

Solution to poor reading culture in Nigeria
I’d hate to sound simplistic, but poor citizens is equal to poor reading culture. When people have to spend all their time making ends meet, what time – or money – do they have to read? The solution to what they call Nigeria’s poor reading culture is to increase the per-capita income… which increases disposable income. And of course, bring the public education system back to life again.

Five years on as a writer: what are your aspirations?
To have written and published a novel, and perhaps a full-length non-fiction book.

What does it mean to be a writer?
Hanif Kureishi defined it as “indolence, perversion, uselessness and hanging around.” I’ll let you know when I find a better definition. But in the meantime I’ll add “unexplained moments of pure, wild euphoria” to the list.

Tolu Ogunlesi is everywhere on the internet but can be found on his blog.

All bloggers are writers (well, in a way) but not all writers are bloggers; we are set to haunt out writers that blog. And guess what? You can suggest them to us...

Tolu was the first...hope you enjoyed this interview; send us your comments, it means a lot to us!

Short and Sweet:: Tribute to Hunger

Excerpt from “A Tribute to Hunger” (essay) by Tolu Ogunlesi

Asaba: The Madam

Madam
– from Dictionary.com:
1) The woman in charge of a household.
2) The woman in charge of a house of prostitution.

I spent almost year in Asaba (October 2005 to August 2006), in the oil-rich delta region of Nigeria (six hours away from home and from the “tyranny of the familiar”), serving Nigeria on the mandatory National Youth Service Corps scheme.

For much of that year, my fingers engaged in endless conversation with the plates and bowls of strange women, because my own plates and bowls remained behind at home. I had taken a vow of culinary chastity; I would not soil my hands with the soot of cooking pots in a strange land.

I call them (the “strange” women) the queens of the stomach, wielding supreme power from behind thrones of steam, soot and smoke. They all go by the generic name of “Madam”, and in turn inflict revenge-anonymity on their patrons by tagging them all “Customer”. But the generic-ness in my opinion suits the Madams better. If you have seen one Madam you have seen all Madams:

Buxom, with fat buttocks that you, in one absurd flight of the imagination, decide are layered in the way that critics say a well-written short story should be layered; soup-stained blouses and wrappers (fresher stains dissociating themselves visibly from the older, much-scrubbed ones), bare-feet (long, painted nails pouting from them) sewed onto charcoaled soles, forearms powerfully built from the endless motions of scooping out plate upon plate of Akpu and garri and rice from blackened pots over the course of a kitchen-based lifetime; upper-arms shaped as fluidly flabby counterpoints to their heavily muscled forearms.

Whatever the truth of the matter is, these women approach their vocation with a skill and a work ethic that would make the young, rat-racing, upwardly mobile clan look like a bunch of truants.

Tolu Ogunlesi makes another point!

Tolu Ogunlesi has proven once again that writing can fun and can also come with winning!

Go here for details...

What else can we say? Bookaholic Tolu, the sky is the starting point!

Expect an interview with Tolu on TBB soon!