Olufemi Ogunsanwo Reads at Patabah Books – March 17, 2012

Patabah Books presents a book reading with Otunba Olufemi Ogunsanwo. He will be reading from and signing his books Obafemi Awolowo – Unfinished Greatness and General Yakubu Gowon – The Supreme Commander.

The author, Olufemi Ogunsanwo, was head of the political desk and chief political correspondent of the Daily Times of Nigeria between 1977 and 1979 and editor of Times International at the same newspaper till 1982 when he retired from professional journalism. He taught briefly at the Department of Mass Communication at the University of Lagos as a part-time lecturer in 1977-8 before venturing into private business in 1983. He holds the BA and MA (philosophy, politics and economics) from Oxford. He studied journalism at Columbia University, New York where he obtained his Masters. He has also authored, The Sunday Times – the first 25 years, as well as his memoir, Baptism of Fire.


Details of the reading are:

Date: Saturday, March 17 2012
Time: 3 – 5 PM
Venue: Patabah Books, Adeniran Ogunsanya Shopping Mall (Ground Floor), Surulere, Lagos

Dr. Tony Marinho Reads from “Hope’s Wristwatch” at Patabah Books – February 17, 2012

Bookcraft and Patabah Books presents a book reading with Dr. Tony Marinho. He will be reading from and signing his latest collection of short stories and poems, “Hope’s Wristwatch.”

Dr. Tony Marinho is a practicing obstetrician and gynaecologist in Ibadan, Nigeria. He is an author of several books of short stories, poetry and childrens’ books and he has also abridged Wole Soyinka’s childhood memoirs Ake for children. He is a frequent social commentator maintaining a regular weekly column in The Nation.

Details of the reading are:

Date: Friday, February 17 2012
Time: 5 – 7 PM
Venue: Patabah Books, Adeniran Ogunsanya Shopping Mall (Ground Floor), Surulere, Lagos

E.C. Osondu Book Reading - Saturday, July 23 2011

Join us as Caine Prize winner & author E.C. Osondu reads from & signs his new book Voice of America.


Voice of America is a collection of short stories exploring themes like loneliness, anger, destitution, longing, frustration and displacement. It examines the struggles of immigrants as they realise America is not what they imagined.

E.C Osondu won the 2009 Caine Prize for his short story ‘Waiting’. Voice of America is his debut collection of short stories.

Date: Saturday, July 23 2011
Time: 3 – 5 PM
Venue: Patabah Books, Adeniran Ogunsanya Shopping Mall (Ground Floor), Surulere, Lagos

This event is hosted by:

Book Event: The BookJam @ Silverbird

The BookJam @ Silverbird is a monthly event that consists of book readings, discussions, musical performances, poetry recitals, book signings and a raffle draw. At each edition of the BookJam you have the chance to meet and discuss with some of our finest writers—and you might win a prize too, if you buy their books.

The BookJam is hosted by A. Igoni Barrett and the Silverbird Lifestyle store.

The 4th edition of the BookJam will hold between 3 to 5 pm on Saturday 22 May 2010 at the Silverbird Lifestyle store, Silverbird Galleria, Victoria Island, Lagos.

The guest writers are:

SADE ADENIRAN is a graduate of the University of Plymouth and also spent time as an exchange student at the University of Massachusetts. She has written various pieces for theatre and her work has been performed at the Lyric, the Bush and the Riverside Studios. She won the “Best First Book Prize” (Africa Region) in the 2008 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for her debut novel Imagine This. She lives and works in London, and is working on her second novel.

CHUMA NWOKOLO is a lawyer and writer. He was writer-in-residence of the Ashmolean Museum and chair of Leys Newspapers, Oxford. He is the publisher of African Writing magazine. He has written short stories, novels and poetry. His story, Diary of a Dead African, was chosen by La Internazionale as one of the 3 best stories worldwide in 2003. He lives in the UK.

CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE is the author of Purple Hibiscus, Half of a Yellow Sun, and The Thing Around Your Neck. Purple Hibiscus won the 2005 Commonwealth Writers Prize (Overall Winner, Best Book) and Half of a Yellow Sun won the 2007 Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction. Her latest book, The Thing Around Your Neck, was shortlisted for the 2009 John Llewellyn-Rhys Memorial Prize. She lives between Nigeria and the US.

BINYAVANGA WAINAINA is the founding editor of the literary magazine Kwani?. He won the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2002 for his story Discovering Home. He is currently a Director at The Chinua Achebe Center for African Writers and Artists, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Guardian, Granta and National Geographic.

Raffle prize sponsor: DAVID WEJ (DW) CLOTHING AND ACCESSORIES

Refreshment provided by: COKE

Admission to the BookJam is free. Members of the audience who purchase books during the event stand a chance to win a special prize in the BookJam raffle draw. Any questions about the BookJam should be emailed to auggustmedia@gmail.com

Book Reading: Sade Adeniran

Following a very successful book reading on Saturday for author Adaobi Nwaubani, publishing house Cassava Republic is organising another one with details below:

Sade Adeniran will be reading at the House of Makeda on Sunday, May 23 at 4:00pm.

When: Sunday, May 23, 2010
Time: 4:00pm - 6:00pm
Where: House of Makeda, 7 Manuwa St, off Keffi St, off Awolowo Road, SW Ikoyi

Book Reading: Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani

Writer Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani will be reading from her novel I Do Not Come to You By Chance this weekend at Quintessence.

Details below:
When: Saturday, May 15, 2010
Where: Quintessence, Falomo Shopping Centre, Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, Lagos
Time: 4PM

Book Event: The BookJam @ Silverbird

This year has started off with a number scintillating arts events. Here's a new initiative:

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Writer A. Igoni Barrett (author of From Caves of Rotten Teeth and convener of the 9 Writers, 4 Cities book tour) will, in collaboration with Silverbird Lifestyle media store, host a monthly series of literary events tagged The BookJam @ Silverbird.

What it is? Book readings and discussion, musical performances

Why it is? To provide literary entertainment for the public, create opportunities for book lovers to meet and discuss with writers and artists, to support the local literary community.

When? Saturday 27 February 2010 (3-5PM)

Where? Silverbird Lifestyle store, Silverbird Galleria, Ahmadu Bello Way, VI, Lagos.

How much? Free

February's guest writers and artistes are:
• Kaine Agary, author of Yellow Yellow and winner of the 2008 NLNG-sponsored Nigeria Prize for Literature;
• Eghosa Imasuen, author of To Saint Patrick;
• Jude Dibia, author of Walking with Shadows and Unbridled and winner of the 2007 NDDC/ANA-sponsored Ken Saro-Wiwa Prize for Prose.

For more information about the BookJam please send an email to auggustmedia@gmail.com.

Book Reading: Sarah Ladipo Manyika

Cassava Republic Press is pleased to announce a new voice in Nigerian literature: Sarah Ladipo Manyika and her debut novel In Dependence. Sarah, a resident of California, is visiting Nigeria this November to promote her book, which will be available nationwide from December. Sarah spent much of her childhood in Jos, Plateau State, but has lived in Kenya, France, and England. She currently teaches literature at San Francisco State University.

There will be two book readings in Lagos and Abuja.

Lagos Venue: Quintessence, Falomo Shopping Centre, Awolowo Road, Ikoyi
Time: 4.00pm
Date: Sat 7th November 2009

Abuja Venue: Pen & Pages, Plot 79, Ademola Adetokunbo Crescent, White House, Wuse 11
Time: 5.30pm
Date: Tues 10th November 2009

Sleeping and Reading

What a productive evening I had yesterday. After being dead tired for the whole week and finding myself less-than-productive at work, I made good on my promise to get an early night's rest by actually doing so.

As soon as I got home, I pulled down the window blinds and climbed into bed and slept for the next 4 hours, after which I woke-up and finished Moral Disorder by Margaret Atwood.

I have to say that, aside by the fact that Margaret Atwood is the author, the other thing that drew me to this book is the title. I felt slightly (and rather proudly) reckless carrying a book with me entitled "Moral Disorder."

Chimamanda Book Reading, Lagos

The recent reading by writer Chimamanda Adichie sounds like it was a lot of fun, judging from this article in NEXT.

This & That. Plus Chimamanda Adichie Events

I have woefully neglected this blog. I really cannot believe that it's been close to a month since I last posted. And I am not really sure that I could tell you what I was doing in that time that prevented me from blogging. Well, I can, but it just doesn't sound very impressive to tell it.

There were countless arts events that I wanted to announce and blog about, but many have passed. Alas!
So, looking forward....

This Saturday (July 11) at 4PM, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie will be reading from her latest book the Thing Around Your Neck at the Silverbird Galleria, Victoria Island, Lagos. I read it a few months ago and it was a tight collection of stories, which deftly wove the immigrant experience with tales of being on the outside. I have also attended a book reading with Ms. Adichie in January 2007 when Half of a Yellow Sun came out and it was a rich and enlightening afternoon for me.

If you are a budding writer, then perhaps you will want to apply for the Farafina Trust Creative Writing Workshop to be held in September 17 - 16, 2009. The workshop will feature Chimamanda along with fellow writers Binyananga Wainaina, Nathan Englander, Jackie Kay and Zoe Heller.

To apply, send an e-mail to udonandu2009@gmail.com (subject should read 'workshop Application'). The body of the e-mail should contain:
- Applicant's Name
- Applicant's Address
- A few sentences about applicant
- A writing sample of between 200 to 800 words (fiction or non-fiction)

Deadline: July 30, 2009

See nbplc.com/newsdetails3.php?action=viewnews&n=35 for more info.

Random Thoughts on Reading

In the spirit of my anniversary, I got to re-reading old posts. It's funny. It almost feels like some of those were made in another lifetime. I used to write book reviews!!!!! I'll try to recapture some of that old joie de vivre that I seemed to exhibit back then.

I have been a very lazy reader of late; only managing to read the chick lit that I used to so despise and books related to my work.

So, right now I just finished Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married by Marian Keyes (probably THE queen of chick lit). And I am currently reading Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits by Leslie R. Crutchfield & Heather McLeod Grant.

The Marian Keyes book, to be perfectly candid, was NOT great. It was a good laugh in some parts. But Lucy Sullivan is one of those extremely tiresome characters who grates on your nerves with her chronic poor self esteem, which causes her to make questionable choices in men (What? Like so many of us? No, not quite. Her's is to the max).

I had to suffer through interminable chapters of her being "in love" with a total loser, who anyone could see was a scrounger who only came round for sex or money or food (or frequently all three). I had to flip impatiently through the pages until she FINALLY came to her senses. It was all very painful for me.

So why didn't I just fling the stupid book out of the window? Well, I've started a lot of books in the past that I never finished, often because I thought the book unworthy of my time. Well, that works sometimes; after all, life is just too short to spend time voluntarily doing something you're not enjoying (though, a popular school of thought believes that suffering builds character). But, over the years, I decided that I was leaving too many books unread and would save that for when a book was truly, truly bad. Besides, after you've spent money on the book, the least you can do is to finish it.

I have a brand new Marian Keyes to get started on and this one actually looks quite promising. It's called This Charming Man.

My other new book reading rule is to read one book at a time. I typically do not follow this rule and in the past and result is about half a dozen partially read books. When I absolutely need to read more than one book simultaneously (which is still all the time), I read books of very different genres or types. This usually takes the form of 1 'fun' book and 1 'work' book.

Well, enough of my blah, blah, blah. I could better spend the time reading.

Book Reading: Kunle Ajibade at Jazzhole

Glendora Readings presents a book reading by author, Kunle Ajibade from his book What a Country. This events features a discussion of his book by Odia Ofeimun, Reuben Abati, Toyin Akinosho and the author.

Date: Thursday, 17 July, 2008
Time: 4PM
Venue: The Jazzhole, 168 Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, Lagos

What a Country! goes beyond the narrative aesthetics of his prison memoir, Jailed for Life: A reporter’s Prison Notes, published in February 2003, to grapple with questions of justice, popular welfare, human rights and good governance. It is eloquent and poignant. Its vision is broad, both powerfully anchored in local knowledge and robustly cosmopolitan. Its passion for the betterment of Nigeria – indeed, what a country! – is evident and infectious. Kunle Ajibade, never lets go the respect for human value, the shared space that the creativity of writers, human rights activists and pro-democracy workers – especially the leading lights, avatars and exemplars of the cause – have defended across the world at great risks to their own lives.

Kunle Ajibade attended the University of Ife , where he earned a B.A. in English and an M.A in Literature-in-English. Before he became a co-founder/publisher of The News and P.M. News, he had worked in Grant advertising as a copy writer, in Chief Abiola’s African Concord as a senior correspondent and in African Guardian as an assistant editor. In 1995 he was jailed for life because of a story published in The News magazine and was only released in 1998 when his jailer, General Sani Abacha, died. Ajibade won the 1998/1999 Feuchtwanger Fellowship to write his prison memoir, Jailed for Life: A Reporter’s Prison Notes, which was published in February 2003 by Heinemann Educational Books. The book won the first Victor Nwankwo Book of the Year Award instituted by the Nigerian Book Fair Trust.

Biyi Bandele Book Reading

I attended the Biyi Bandele book reading over the weekend at the British Council. I'd have loved to do a proper post about it, but seeing as I missed most of it, I'm really not in a position to. I was running late, having had an earlier appointment, and I hoped that this would be one of those events that observed African time, but I guess even if they did, it still started early enough that I missed the actual readings.

I am not a fan of stories about war, so while I'd seen the book Burma Boy around, I'd not considered buying it. Plus, I already have too many unread books sitting on my bookshelf. However, I like attending book readings still, whether I've read the book or not; or intending to read the book or not.

Biyi Bandele, the author, appeared to be a very laid-back and chilled individual. He had an accomodating manner, as he responded to most of the questions pleasantly. There had been a fair amount of publicity for the event, as evidenced by the huge turn-out (standing room only); or perhaps this was a testament to the author's popularity. This might have been one of the most relaxed readings that I've been to in a while too; with the audience laughing easily at both intended and accidental humour; sniggering wickedly at sarcastic comments by the commentator; and sighing with impatience at questions that meandered just a bit too long.

Biyi Bandele Book Readings

Ooooh, it's that thing I love so much - a book reading! I read about this Biyi Bandele book tour in the papers and meant to blog about it. And then promptly forgot until I saw it on Naijablog.

Here are the details:

Lagos
April 5 2008
British Council, 20 Thompson Road, Ikoyi
5 PM

Kano
April 8 2008
British Council, 10 Emir's Palace Road
6 PM

Abuja
April 9 2008
British Council, Plot 3645 IBB Way, Maitama
6 PM

Port Harcourt
April 11
British Council Information Centre, Plot 127 Olu Obsanjo Way, GRA II
6 PM

Chika Unigwe Book Reading

'Tis officially the season to be jolly (what with it being December now and all .....). Here's news of an upcoming book reading, courtesy of Wordsbody.

Chika Unigwe reads from her debut novel, The Phoenix (published in Dutch in 2005 as 'De Feniks'). The West African edition of the book is published by Kachifo and the book readings will be held on:

• Saturday December 8 - The Jazzhole, 168 Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, Lagos @ 4pm


• Friday December 14 - Quintessence, Falomo Shopping Centre, Ikoyi @ 5pm


• Saturday December 15 - Bookworm, Eko Hotel Shopping Complex, Ajose Adeogun Street, Victoria Island, Lagos @ 2pm

The Helon Habila Book Reading

I attended the Helon Habila book reading this evening at Silverbird's Nu Metro bookstore. Or rather, I caught the tail-end of the Q and A. I sat the very back next to a crowd of people poring over the books on the shelf, deciding which ones to buy. Since I missed so much, of course I cannot do a blow-by-blow of the event. I haven't read either of Mr. Habila's books either, so I cannot write about them. However I purchased Waiting for an Angel, which the author signed and I look forward to the day when I will read it.

It felt like a long time since I'd been to a reading (could the last one have been Chimamanda's in January?). It was fun to sit in the midst of books, with people who like to read books and listen to people talk about books. In the brief time I was there, Helon Habila responded to all the audience questions with a quiet confidence (I think that's my favourite type of confidence. Hmmm, but 'quiet' as opposed to what? Showy confidence? Loud confidence? Does that even make any sense?).

I like the fact that he admitted that he likes books based on how interesting they are. He does not pay too much attention to genres. When a lady in the audience mentioned that she loved Coetzee's Disgrace (I think. I couldn't catch the author or the title), while her friend hated it and asked for his thoughts on the book (it felt almost like she was asking him to settle a disagreement between she and her friend), he politely shared his belief that what people like boils down to individual taste and preference. In short, we like what we like.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Reads

I attended a reading of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's book Half of a Yellow Sun.

Friday's reading was held at Quintessence. I wondered where we would all sit. The store is filled with books, arts and crafts. I found out soon enough. In the inner room, where most of the paintings and woodwork are displayed, is where we sat. Stools had been arranged around and in-between the merchandise. In many cases, we were actually sitting on the merchandise (beautifully carved stools).

Chimamanda read from the beginning of the book - to my great relief. I was worried that she would read from somewhere near the end or from the second half of the book that I had not gotten to yet. It's always such an interesting experience to have an author read aloud the words that he or she has written. Sometimes it makes you interpret a particular passage in a different way from how you saw it when you read.

It is always so fascinating to discover the variety of perspectives on a single book. 'Yellow Sun was no exception and in the Q&A session and discussion that followed, we realised how so many aspects of the book were subject to interpretation. You'd have one reader saying "I saw it like this ......" and others shaking their heads in vigorous disagreement. "No, not at all! I thought what was happening was this ....".

Chimamanda was sharp, funny and insightful, I thought. She was also very warm. I commented that it was obvious that she had done a lot of research for the book and wondered how she managed to convert so much research into something so readable. She replied that there was so much she had that wanted to use, but had to throw out. Ultimately, the characters had to drive the story and not the research drive the story and that meant many, many re-writes. The book took 4 years to write and she doesn't think she will be working on any more historical fiction.

Afterwards, we talked about hair (but, of course). We both have natural hair and I had just done mine into kinky twists. We talked about the types of reaction we get from hairdressers, who express anything ranging from dismay to disgust and utter bewilderment at our decision to wear our hair natural.

"But, Aunty, why you no wan pam ya hair?"

Like natural hair isn't what we were born with? Why should it be so difficult to understand a decision to stay that way?

Back to Chimamanda, the book has been a great read so far (Yes, still reading it. I'm not a slow reader usually. Just so many things to do lately.) And the reading was loads of fun. If you have read the book or even if you haven't - but like Chimamanda's work, or are interested in the Biafran War, or just want to discover a new writing talent - then I urge you to go if you can.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Book Readings

Just learnt about new book readings on Molara Woods blog.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie will be reading from her second novel Half of a Yellow Sun

Lagos:
Quintessence, January 5, 4pm
Jazzhole, January 11, 5pm
Lagos State University (LASU), January 12, 10am
Bookworm, January 12, 5pm

Port Harcourt:
Novotel, January 6, 12.30pm

Abuja:
The British Council, Abuja, January 13

I still haven't finished reading it, although it's really good so far. Well, I have a free week ahead of me with lots of nothing to do. Yipeee!!!