Eyin'juOdu

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

By FEMI SALAWU DAILY SUN, Tuesday, July 22, 2008 Despite the huge number of acclaimed poets in Nigeria, performance poetry as an artform is a less patronized genre. But a recent move to revive this art was demonstrated at an event tagged Word Slam, held at Goethe Institut, Victoria Island, Lagos. Kindred spirits and lovers of the art including Amb. Segun Olusola, Odia Ofeimun and Arne Schneider defied the downpour that initially threatened what the organizers called A Feast of Poetic Flights. The evening featured poetic presentations with dance and musical accompaniment from artistes including Ropo Ewenla, Jojo Body Beats, Akeem Lasisi, Sage Has.Son, Muri Amulegboja, Iquo Eke, Edaoto, Awoko, Jumoke Verissimo, Dagga Tolar and Conerstone. The choice of Ropo Ewenla, a respected poet as compere was not a mere coincidence as he often spiced the evening with Ijala, Yoruba traditional hunters’ chant. The highpoint of the event was the performance by Sage Has.Son. The Kaduna- born artiste who ...

10th Lagos Book and Art Festival, November 7-9, 2008 Theme: Literacy and the Global Knowledge Society DATE: NOVEMBER 7-9, 2008 Key Literary Events Panel Discussions . Dialogues . Conversations . Arthouse Parties Details on www.lagosbookartfestival.com Physical; CORASECRETARIAT, 95 Bode Thomas Street, Suruletre, Lagos Contact; Toyin 08057622415; Jummai: 08023683651 Marketing Consultant: INSPIRO PRODUCTIONS c/o AYOOLA SADARE 08023044806; inspiro77@yahoo.co.uk Knowledge capacity of the people of Africa Preparations for the 10 th Lagos Book & Art Festival, scheduled for November 7 – 9, 2008 , began on the last day of the 9 th outing. The key goal of this edition, which is slated to hold in the spacious Exhibition Hall of Nigeria's National Theatre, right in the heart of the city, remains two fold: (1) To help improve the African human capacity through encounters with The Book and (2) to provide a site for the most informed, robust debates on the literature of the continent. In purs...

WORDSLAM Words are for the sage Of old but now on page We publish its message. WOW! Fantastic, Fabulous, Mindblowing... were some of the adjectives deployed by members of the distinguished audience of the old and the young -- that congregated satrurday July 5 in the Goethe Institut garden in Victoria Island-- to capture their impression of the proceedings at the first edition of the newly-birthed WORDSLAM. Under the misting cloud, they sat stubbornly and stuck with the artistes, defying the troublesome rains that kept disorganising the technical set-up (and eventually annihilated opportunity for a technical rehersal for the eventl) to flow with the flow of melody and rhythm of the poetic performances dished out by 10 specially selected artistes; and a score of unbilled budding and aspiring poets that featured in the programme. It was such a splendid evening of celebrating the essence of the WORD in the life of man; particularly, the very essentials of WORD expressed in poetic colours t...