Eyin'juOdu

The road claimed a master of the stage. The shock of the violent death of my teacher, Femi Fatoba has become a deep wound on my heart... an endless stream of tears in my subconsciousness. It is harder to express it in words. Not because Fatoba, like every human, will not die but simply because he had to die the most undeserving death -- Road accident. And so the Road stole the dream in the broad daylight. I am still weeping in my the deep. Below is a tribute write up by MR SHAIBU HUSSEINI. So Long... Agbari Ojukwu (As appeared in The Guardian december 28, 2008) IT was difficult for the popular Nollywood actor Segun Aina Padonu ( Segun Arinze) to speak on the renowned actor, celebrated poet and playwright, Dr. Femi Fatoba in the past. ‘Uncle Femi can’t be dead,’ he exclaimed repeatedly as this writer tried to get his reaction as soon as news filtered in that the Ekiti-born theatre don, who until his untimely demise after a road accident last Saturday on the East/West highway near Patan...

In the ambience of the Azania Speaks conference that held November 17-19, the tall, gangling fellow with glasses firmly planted on his Hollywoodite face looked like just another character on the campus of the University of Udine; perhaps a student or a teacher in the school that was playing host to the conference on Spoken Word and Oral Literature in post-colonial Africa. However, many of the participants who could or must have given him such an inaccurate identity, had already encountered his work without putting the lean frame behind such a monumental piece. No one could have walked through the passage of the campus at Sala Conveni di Palazzo Antonini via Petracco 8 in the heart of Udine into the hall where the talking sessions held without encountering the work of Alfredo Bini. It was a video cum slide show installation mounted in the passage, and which welcomed everyone to the arena of the conference. Frame after frame of deeply affective images streamed out of the TV screens sig...

• *Caught blackberrying... shuuuuooo EniOlorutidakosefarawekosefenutembelekosebinukosena'kaiwosisiwiwolaawo

(As published in the LIFE magazine of The Guardian of Sunday, December 7, 2008) Azania Speaks, a conference on Spoken Word and Oral Literature in contemporary African literary discourse held between November 17 and 19, 2008 in Udine in the Northeastern part of Italy. With the sub theme Visions of Patnership in Africa: The Art of the Spoken Word, the conference focused much of its deliberations on the power of oral poetry and storytelling; female voices in contemporary African oral poetry and contemporary African poetic production in connection to ancient African oral traditions. It was organised by the Faculty of Modern Languages of the University of Udine, under the leadership of the Dean, Prof Antonella Riem Natale as convener, backed by Dr Maria Bortoluzzi. The Doctoral research fellow, Raphael D’Abdon was coordinator of the conference with support of Laura Pecoraro and Piergiorgio Tresvan. Music was coordinated by the South African poet, Natalie Moletbasi while Tiziana Pers over...

By Akeem Lasisi Each time some of her friends want to make a mischievous poem of her surname, Verismo, they pronounce it as ‘very-small‘. Actor and culture activist, Ropo Ewenla, is particularly guilty of this. What they play upon whenever they pronounce the name so is the modest frame of the Lagos-based writer, Jumoke Verisimo, who is also a copywriter with a Lagos-based advertising agency. Despite such a joke, however, many people know that in her is the promise of a good poet, one of those who should shape the future of literature in Nigeria. After about 10 years of active poetry writing and performance, Verisimo had a great day in Lagos on Saturday, when the just-concluded Lagos Book and Art Festival featured her as reading poet of the moment. The fact is that apart from providing an avenue to celebrate books, LABAF, organised by the Committee for Relevant Arts, promotes virtually all areas of the arts. This is one of the factors that differentiate it from other book fairs. Amidst...

DAY 1 FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2008 7am: Exhibition already set up 9am : Formal Opening of CHILDREN FESTIVAL VISUAL REPRESENTATION FROM ‘THINGS FALL APART’ :Exhibition and comic Workshop. 10am : “My Encounter with the Book” by Funmi Iyanda 11am: “Green Graffiti” Workshop – Karo Akpokiere & Chukwuma Ngene “Green Tales” Workshop – Obari Gomba & Adeleke Adeyemi Theme: “Lagos on My Mind”- [Organized by LC3 in collaboration with CATE/CORA]. 11.30am: The Festival Tour (where kids and their teachers are taken round the grounds of the Fair). Children on duty at the festival last year 12 noon: YOUTH ON LITERACY Theme: WHAT DO THE YOUTH DESIRE TO READ (Panel Discussion on “Youth, Creativity and Development”) with established artists and active young people such as: •Mrs Nike Davies-Okundaye: (Director, Nike Centre for Arts and Culture) •Dr. Hope Eghagha: (Lecturer, Dept. of English, Unilag) •Odion Ogogo: (Director, Heritage Ceramics) •Tunde Abod...

*The priestess of the word, Aiyeola Mabiaku, seduces with her words *Poetic Satirist Akinpelu... on duty *Awoko (right), Muri Amulegboja the dance, and the punnist Ajankoro of ife *Sage waow the house *Sage's sideman does it too By Bayo Olupohunda *Culled from The Guardian Friday Sept 26. 2008 THE biblical, cultural and historical significance of the Spoken Word as captured by legendary sayings such as this Yoruba proverb oro la fi da ile aye (the world was created through the spoken word) was re-enacted recently by the poetic journeys of the Word Slam series from the stable of the Culture Advocates Caucus and Goethe Institut Lagos. The success story of the maiden edition of Word Slam which began on that rainy day in July continued penultimate Saturday under the Samarkand tree at the National Theatre Lagos. From the scenic beauty of the Lagos Lagoon which provided the background for the court yard of Goethe Institut Victoria Island where the first edition was held in July, lovers o...

* They came from all over for the wordfeast

* Sage Has.Son on trip *Seun Beckley.. digging into the Ikale rootsy of Comfort Omoge *The romantist, Uche Nwadinashi... serenading the angel *The drum poet, Wale Laoye... on call

*Segun Eluyemi... doing music with his nose *Ajankoro... the wordgamist *Norbert Olisakwe... the philosophoco-spiritualist profesorialising on words and light *Ras Banjo.. wailing about Freedom and the Motherland * *The priest of the Feast, Ropo Ewenla, with Edaoto and Ajankoro mentoring the young of the Footprints