GCLF 2012 Bookfair

GCLF 2012: Books of the Festival

Death and the King’s Horseman, by Wole Soyinka

Elesin Oba, the King's Horseman, has a single destiny. When the King dies, he must commit ritual suicide and lead his King's favorite horse and dog through the passage to the world of the ancestors. A British colonial officer, Pilkings, intervenes.

The Concubine, by Elechi Amadi

Ihuoma, a beautiful young widow of exemplary character, has the admiration of the entire community in which she lives, and especially of the hunter Ekwueme. Obedient to the expectations of the traditional society they belong to, they forswear their love so that Ekwueme can marry the girl to whom he has been betrothed since birth. But their passion is fated, and jealousy, a love portion and the closeness of the spirit world, lift this simple tale on a tragic plane.

The Spider King’s Daughter, by Chibundu Onuzo

Seventeen-year-old Abike Johnson is the favourite child of her wealthy father. She lives in a sprawling mansion in Lagos, protected by armed guards and ferried everywhere in a huge black jeep. A world away from Abike’s mansion, in the city’s slums, lives an eighteen-year-old hawker struggling to make sense of the world. His family lost everything after his father’s death and now he sells ice cream at the side of the road to support his mother and sister. When Abike buys ice cream from the hawker one afternoon, they strike up a tentative and unlikely romance. But as they grow closer, revelations from the past threaten their relationship and both Abike and the hawker must decide where their loyalties lie.

Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria, by Noo Saro Wiwa

At its heart Noo Saro-Wiwa's Looking for Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria is both a travel memoir and a search for closure. Noo Saro-Wiwa, the daughter of the world-renowned anti-corruption and environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa was brought up in England but regularly visited Nigeria every year, that was until her father was executed in 1995 by the military government of Sani Abacha. After her father's murder Noo Saro-Wiwa decided that she would rather not have anything more to do with Nigeria and stayed away from the country for 10 years. Looking for Transwonderland is Noo Saro-Wiwa's attempt to rediscover and come to terms with Nigeria, to connect with her family history and heritage through experiencing Nigeria's rich diversity and to understand its complexities.

Tropical Fish, by Doreen Baingana

Tropical Fish follows the three Mugisha sisters, as they grow up against the backdrop of Uganda in the 1980s. Patti is a born-again Christian; Rosa is adventurous and sexually precocious. The star of the show however is Christine. We travel with her as she takes her first wobbly steps in high heels and later encounters the alienation amidst material wealth of America, before her final return home.

The Blind Kingdom, by Véronique Tadjo

This multi-layered narrative comprises a series of interwoven short stories and poetic texts which can be read within continental Africa, the African Diaspora and beyond. Véronique Tadjo imagines an African society on the brink of total collapse, yet there is no doubt that the story resonates in unsettling ways with recent political and social unrest in Côte d´Ivoire. This is a lyrical and yet haunting story, a book of love with fresh insights into the unfinished and complex struggles for African independence. Tadjo envisions a new world where outrage and chaos — necessary for change — generate hope, creativity and renewal.

Joys of Motherhood, by Buchi Emecheta

Nnu Ego is a woman devoted to her children, giving them all her energy, all her worldly possessions, indeed, all her life to them -- with the result that she finds herself friendless and alone in middle age. This story of a young mother's struggles in 1950s Lagos is a powerful commentary on polygamy, patriarchy, and women's changing roles in urban Nigeria.

The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives, by Lola Shoneyin

The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives is a book that explores the dynamics of a polygamous home in urban (circa 2001) Ibadan in Nigeria. It is told with a dry wit, very satirical and earthy. A stirring tale of men and women, mothers and children, servitude and independence, Shoneyin's novel illuminates the common threads that connect the experiences of all women: the hardships they bear, their struggle to define themselves, and their fierce desire to protect those they love.

***These books may be the focus of the festival but there are many other titles available for sale at the book fair. You don't want to miss out on these treasures. Happy New Month readers!

Call For Entries: The GCLF Writers' Workshop

Entries for the 5th edition of the annual Garden City Literary Festival Writers’ Workshop are now being accepted. The workshop will hold in October 2012.

The Writers’ Workshop is a creative platform where aspiring writers sit under the tutelage of their established counterparts. It is recommended for anyone who wants to improve their writing skills. Each applicant must indicate their preferred choice of workshop.

Application to more than one class will not be considered. Participants are required to submit samples of their writing (in line with requirement for the different genres) before Friday 31st August, 2012, to secure a place.

All applicants must submit the following:

FOR SHORT STORIES:

• Sample short story of between 1000 and 1500 words (please highlight--in the subject of your email--how many words your story contains). You should submit only your best story.

FOR POEMS:

• Sample poem (no longer than 1000 words). Please note: synopses or abstracts will NOT be accepted.

FOR DRAMA

• A ‘one act’ play script on any subject.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE FOLLOWING GUIDELINES MUST BE ADHERED TO:

• A one-page personal CV must be submitted along with each entry;
• A brief paragraph about what you intend to learn from your chosen workshop must be included in submission;
• All manuscripts must be double spaced with a header showing ‘author’ to the left, ‘title’ in the middle and ‘page number’ to the right;
• Handwritten entries or entries that do not adhere to the manuscript format above will not be accepted.

All sample materials must be submitted to info@gardencityfestival.com not later than 12 noon on Friday 31st August, 2012. Materials submitted after this date and time will not be accepted.

*Guest writers at the 5th edition of the Garden City Literary Festival include Doreen Baingana, Lola Shoneyin, Veronique Tadjo, Noo Saro-Wiwa, Chibundu Onuzo and the Caine Prize administrator, Lizzy Attree.

Rainbow Book Club: Vacancies

Rainbow Book Club, organiser of the Garden City Literary Festival and the Port Harcourt World Book Capital bid, is seeking team members. Among the available positions are those of Chief Operating Officer, Communications & Public Relations Officer, Programme Coordinator, and Accountant. Go here for the full list of positions.

Iheoma Nwachukwu: On PH World Book Capital Bid

The Adventure of Port Harcourt’s Bid to Become World Book Capital City

By Iheoma Nwachukwu

Peter Pan and Port Harcourt have one thing in common—Lewis Harcourt, for whom the city is named. In 1912, the year the city was christened, Lewis Harcourt, serving in H.H. Asquith’s cabinet, authorized the placement of the Peter Pan statue in London’s Kensington Gardens. He might as well have authorized the placement of the statue in Port Harcourt (or the placement of the Muse in Port Harcourt), because the qualities of adventure, diversity, and eternal youth that Peter Pan personalizes, that the Peter Pan story embodies, are attributes that have drawn migrants, and writers, to Port Harcourt for all of its hundred years.

Peter Pan

Port Harcourt’s bid to become the 2014 World Book Capital City then comes as little surprise for a city that shares a historical bond with probably the most popular, most exciting, most adapted character in children’s literature.

The World Book Capital City title, which began in 2001, is presented by UNESCO to a city with the best programme that promotes books and reading, and shows the most convincing dedication of all players in its local book industry.

The title runs from April 23 (UNESCO’s World Book and Copyright Day) to April 22 of the following year. Madrid won the incipient award; Yerevan in Armenia currently holds the 2012 award. Oxford (United Kingdom) and Pula (Croatia) are just two of the other cities Port Harcourt has to defeat for the 2014 title.

Port Harcourt, capital of Rivers state and Nigeria’s oil capital, seems the obvious choice for the 2014 title given the quality, variety, broad international scope, and commitment of all actors in the local book industry, evident in its World Book Capital City programme. First, the theme for the bid—Books: Window to Our World of Possibilities—evokes a potent image of the book, knowledge, as the lens through which we interpret and influence our world.

The Port Harcourt World Book Capital City programme proposes to begin with the performance of an inspiring theme song, performed by a popular Nigerian artiste, and written by a lucky youth whose work is chosen from a nationwide pool. Another slated activity is a national symposium which will assemble stakeholders in the book chain industry to discuss the future literacy and literary culture in Nigeria, and the importance of literature in unlocking the potentials of the country’s youth. The Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, an avid reader who holds Bachelors and Masters degrees in English Literature, will lead this discussion.

Nigeria’s President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, will also be invited to read an excerpt from a classic Nigerian novel to children. The President recently led a national reading campaign named ‘Bring Back the Book,’ and his involvement will surely encourage more young people to read and write. Also expected to read to children at chosen locations across the city of Port Harcourt are authors, poets, and celebrities from film, music, sports, as well as the business communities.

Perhaps the greatest boon to Port-Harcourt’s bid is the Garden City Literary Festival, held yearly in Port Harcourt since 2008 by the Rainbow Book Club. The festival, which has seen attendance by writers like Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, Ngugi Wa Thiong’O, and Ama Ata Aidoo, holds author readings, fiction and poetry workshops for emerging writers, writing, drama and arts workshops for children, book fairs, and many other activities over a five-day period. Thus, the World Book Capital City programme will gain from the experience of the administrators of the literary festival, since the Rainbow Book Club, which runs the festival, manages Port Harcourt’s bid, too.

Nigeria’s literary heritage is not in doubt; it has gifted the world legendary writers like Wole Soyinka, the first person of African descent to win the Nobel Prize for Literature; Chinua Achebe, author of Things Fall Apart, the most widely read book by an African; and other world-renowned writers such as Ken Saro-Wiwa, J. P. Clarke, Ben Okri, and Elechi Amadi.

Port Harcourt’s win will not only cast a fresh eye on Nigeria’s past achievements, but will also catalyze the intense literary scene (many successful young Nigerian writers like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who runs a yearly workshop, and Port Harcourt-born Igoni Barrett, already inspire lots of Nigerians) and give Nigerian literature a helpful jab in the arm. In its own right, Port Harcourt has a rich literary pedigree, and has provided roof and Muse to writers for decades. For example, it is home to numerous authors, including the iconic novelist Elechi Amadi, the brilliant poet Gabriel Okara, as well as celebrated historians like Robin Horton and E. J. Alagoa. Also, Old Port Harcourt Town was a vibrant cultural centre in the 1970s, and provided entertainment and education through plays directed by the likes of Comish Ekiye with a distinguished cast that included actors Doye Agama, Barbara Soki, and Aso Douglas. Some of the famous early educational institutes in Nigeria such as the Okrika Grammar School, and the Archdeacon Crowther Memorial Girls Secondary School, also actively promoted literature in Port Harcourt.

The promotion of literature among the youth is one obvious impact of any literary programme, especially one overseen by UNESCO. The Garden City literary Festival is proof of this kind of impact. Dana Donubari, who attended one of the festival workshops in 2009, was inspired to publish a collection of poems titled Tears for Ogoni. Port Harcourt, which until recently experienced violent activity from militant youth demanding a fair share of Nigeria’s oil wealth, has the potential to change the lives of even more youth as a World Book Capital City—perhaps reach an ex-militant and inspire this youth to tell his story.

There is so much potential here, and UNESCO must know this, too. Port Harcourt looks ready to become World Book Capital City. This would be something of an adventure, a win that has potential to draw the adventure-boy himself, Peter Pan, to the fascinating coastal city of Port Harcourt. As well as draw the gaze of the entire globe.

The world can hardly wait.

Iheoma Nwachukwu is a creative writer. He has received fellowships from the Chinua Achebe Center for African Writers and Artists, Bard College, New York, and the Michener Center for Writers, University of Texas, Austin.

Sylva Ifedigbo: On the PH World Book Capital Bid

Books Are a Window to Our World of Possibilities: A Look at the Port Harcourt Bid for UNESCO World Book Capital City

By Sylva Nze Ifedigbo

Home to renowned writers such as Elechi Amadi, Gabriel Okara and Kaine Agary, Port Harcourt, Nigeria’s oil-rich city and capital of Rivers State, has announced its bid to be named the UNESCO World Book Capital City in 2014, a bid which will see it emerge as the first city in Sub-Saharan Africa to hold the enviable title.

Every year UNESCO convenes delegates from the International Publishers Association, the International Booksellers Federation, and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions to grant the title of UNESCO World Book Capital to one city. This city holds the title for one designated year, from 23 April (UNESCO World Book Day) until 22 April of the following year and undertakes to organize a series of enriching, educative and entertaining events around books, literature and reading. The title of World Book Capital is given to the city with the best programme dedicated to books and reading.

The Port Harcourt bid for this title—which is spearheaded by the Rainbow Book Club, organizers of the annual Garden City Literary Festival, in conjunction with the Rivers State Government—sees Port Harcourt pitched against cities like Oxford in the United Kingdom, Vilnius in Lithuania, Pula in Croatia and Yaoundé in Cameroon, the only other city from Africa. The title, which was launched in 2001 and is currently held by Ljubljana in Slovenia, has been held at various times in the past by Madrid, Alexandria, New Delhi, Montreal, Antwerp, Turin, Bogotá, Amsterdam, and Beirut, with Bangkok already announced as the chosen city for 2013.

The bid by Port Harcourt comes at a time when Nigeria is experiencing a literary revival with the rise of writers such as Sefi Atta (Winner of the Noma Award, 2009), Kaine Agary (NLNG Nigeria Prize for Literature, 2008) Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (winner of the Orange Prize, 2007), Commonwealth Book Prize winners like Helon Habila, Uwem Akpan and Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani, Caine Prize Winner E.C Osondu, and a host of others who are blazing the trail globally.

Closely related to this is the increased focus on literary activities in the country. This commendable trend is highlighted by programmes such as the President Jonathan-initiated “Bring Back the Book” project, the Farafina annual creative writing workshop, and the Garden City Literary Festival. Also worthy of note is the institution of competitive literary prizes and awards such as the Caine Prize, the Wole Soyinka Prize, and the NLNG Nigeria Prize for Literature which at $100,000 stands as the most lucrative literary award in Africa.

The city of Port Harcourt, significant for its mix of cultures and its status as the hub of the oil-rich Niger Delta region, has come of age as a haven of culture and is fast making a name for itself as a major player on the global literary stage. Port Harcourt is also home to the annual Garden City Literary Festival. This festival is organized by Rainbow Book Club and has been described by Thisday Newspapers as “arguably the biggest event of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa.” The festival in its five years of existence has attracted such literary heavyweights as Kenya’s Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Ghana’s Ama Ata Aidoo and Nigeria’s Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, J. P. Clark and Sefi Atta. Other guests of honour at the GCLF include dignitaries such as former Commonwealth Secretary-General Chief Emeka Anyaoku, as well as revered civil liberties activist Reverend Jesse Jackson.

It is to such earnest efforts in promoting literature that the award of the UNESCO World Book Capital title is sure to make the most impact. The status will contribute in no small way to maintaining the focus on literary activities in Nigeria. Furthermore, should its bid be successful, Port Harcourt will no doubt have a golden opportunity to build on the legacy of its literary history and culture to expand its role and influence on the continent.

One big plus for Port Harcourt’s bid is the endorsement and spirited support it enjoys from the government of Rivers State led by Rt. Honourable Rotimi Amaechi. The governor, a literary enthusiast, has committed to supporting a dynamic team composed of literary figures and leaders from the private sector, coordinated by the Rainbow Book Club, to drive the activities for the 2014 bid. This team includes such names as Noble Pepple, Ndidi Nwuneli, Anthony Epelle and A. Igoni Barrett, and it is chaired by Koko Kalango, founder of the Rainbow Book Club and Director of the Garden City Literary Festival.

As part of the bid process this committee has chosen the theme of “Books: Window to our World of Possibilities” to drive the 2014 activities in Port Harcourt. A rich itinerary of events is also planned to run through the World Book Capital year in Port Harcourt, including the opening of the multi-purpose Garden City Library Complex, drama performances, celebrity book reading sessions, a national symposium, and a host of other projects.

It is interesting to note that the 2014 bid by Port Harcourt coincides with the centenary celebration of Nigeria as we mark 100 years since the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Protectorates by the British colonial government. It will be a befitting gift for the entire country if Port Harcourt were to become the World Book Capital at this time. Besides being a valid acknowledgement of the country’s rich literary heritage, it will also be a worthy template for emulation by other African countries in the promotion of reading, literature and the arts in general.

It is exciting that Port Harcourt is in contention for the World Book Capital and one must applaud the vision and forthrightness of the Rainbow Book Club and the Rivers State Government. As a major city in the literature-rich country of Nigeria, Port Harcourt will present unique opportunities for enhancing the idea of the “book” in the 21st century and its role as a window to a world of opportunities. This is one commendable effort that surely needs all the support it can get.

Sylva Nze Ifedigbo is a creative writer and communications practitioner who lives in Lagos, Nigeria.

A Bit of Difference: Sefi Atta's Latest Novel

Sefi Atta is the author of  the novels Swallow and Everything Good Will Come, and a collection of short stories, News from Home. She has been awarded the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature and the NOMA Award. Sefi Atta was a guest author at the Garden City Literary Festival in 2010, and she said the following of her her experience there: "This literary Festival was the best I've ever attended."

On A Bit of Difference
In this interview on Publishers Weekly, she speaks about the opening of the novel: "I begin it with a short description of the poster of an African woman advertising a charity, and the rest of the novel is a profile of Deola, a young Nigerian woman who notices the poster at an airport. Her views are similar to mine: If the occasional stereotype is all she has to deal with as an African woman, then she is fortunate. I don’t set out to challenge Western perceptions of Africa, but I might by writing honestly."

Dialogue Series attempts a synopsis of the novel: At thirty-nine, Deola Bello, a Nigerian expatriate in London, is dissatisfied with being single and working overseas. Deola works as a financial reviewer for an international charity, and when her job takes her back to Nigeria in time for her father's five-year memorial service, she finds herself turning her scrutiny inward. In Nigeria, Deola encounters changes in her family and in the urban landscape of her home, and new acquaintances who offer unexpected possibilities. Deola's journey is as much about evading others' expectations to get to the heart of her frustration as it is about exposing the differences between foreign images of Africa and the realities of contemporary Nigerian life. Deola's urgent, incisive voice captivates and guides us through the intricate layers and vivid scenes of a life lived across continents. With Sefi Atta's characteristic boldness and vision, A Bit of Difference limns the complexities of our contemporary world.

Praise for A Bit of Difference

"Atta's splendid writing sizzles with wit and compassion. This is an immensely absorbing book." —Chika Unigwe, author of On Black Sisters Street

"Like Teju Cole’s Open City, Deola’s story is low on drama but rich in life, though Atta’s third-person voice makes less for a portrait of a mind in transit than a life caught in freeze-frame, pinned between two continents and radiating pathos. Wholly believable, especially in its nuanced approach to racial identity, the story feels extremely modern while excelling at the novelist’s traditional task: finding the common reality between strangers and rendering alien circumstances familiar" —Publisher's Weekly

Programme for GCLF 2012 (Tentative)

Download the complete programme HERE.

GCLF 2012 Guest Speaker: LIZZY ATTREE

Lizzy Attree is the Administrator of the Caine Prize for African Writing. She will appear on a panel at GCLF 2012.

GCLF 2012 Guest Artist: DOREEN BAINGANA

Doreen Baingana is the author of the 2006 Commonwealth Writers' Prize-winning collection of stories, Tropical Fish: Stories Out of Entebbe. She will facilitate the fiction workshop at GCLF 2012.

Port Harcourt Announces Bid for World Book Capital

From the bid website:

The title ‘World Book Capital’ is conferred by UNESCO to a city in recognition of its quality of programmes to foster the promotion of books and encourage reading. The scheme was launched in 2001 with Madrid as the first city to be given the title, followed by Alexandria in 2002 and New Delhi in 2003. Bangkok was most recently selected as the 2013 World Book Capital. Port Harcourt has submitted a bid to become World Book Capital in 2014.

The bid was submitted a team headed by Rainbow Book Club founder Koko Kalango, who's also the Director of the Garden City Literary Festival. For more information you can download the bid summary here.

Koko Kalango: For the Love of Books

On Sunday, June 3rd, 2012, ThisDay Newspapers published a piece (on pages 78 and 79) titled "For the Love of Books", which focused on Rainbow Book Club's book reading on May 28 to encourage reading among children. The Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, read to public primary school children  in the Enuoha Local Government Area of Rivers State.

The article was also about Koko Kalango's work with the Garden City Literary Festival and the Rainbow Book Club. Below are excerpts.

On the Origin of the Name "Rainbow Book Club"

"Over time, the sign  of the rainbow has been used by different people to designate different concepts. But it has its origin in the Bible. The rainbow was given by God as a sign of promise. All the work that I do comes under the name as a reminder that I am ultimately accountable to God."

On RBC's Significance

"The book club's visit to schools, has, meanwhile, begun to yield results. A boy in one of the schools was once moved to tell a story of how reading had changed his life. A flurry of emails also came from university undergraduates, who were in secondary school when they attended the reading programmes. Keeping in touch with RBC was their way of saying "Thank You."

RBC's Ultimate Goal

"The book club's ultimate goal is to change the society through changing the mindset of its citizens. And this is possible through the love of reading. We also hope, as a long-term goal, to change the entire continent."

The festival is scheduled to hold between October 15-20, 2012. Keep those days open.