Literature
Writers? brotherhood never had a single event so loaded. That was what happened at the November edition of the Guest Writer Session organized by Abuja Writers? Forum (AWF). It was a literary outing packed with interesting activities. Writers from various backgrounds had all come out to interact with newspaper editor and short story writer Sumaila Umaisha as well as poetry performer, Ify Omalicha, but they had more than they bargained for. In the end, every participant walked out of the Pen and Pages, Abuja venue, excited. Comments such as ?I have never been part of a literary event like this,? with the expression of desires to be more involved in literary activities, were part of what the event provoked. As some of the writers present said, the nation?s literature never had it so good with the more than two-year consistent running of the literary event that featured mini Art Exhibition, musical and poetry performances.
An opening glee by Omalicha was what the Compere, Mike Ekuno, brought to the stage after the introductory remarks. That had the title: The green pasture. The fervour associated with some religious sects and visits to them by miracle seekers featured prominently in the piece. To point out that Omalicha and her fellow performer, Hanah Chima, a 300 level Theatre Arts student, were as electric on stage as they were passionate about their art was an understatement. Their audience was enthralled, laughing, clapping, not just for the believability but for the good grasp of the craft in poetic delivery. Those were top class performers there, Omalicha and her fellow. But it was just the opening glee, a sort of first course. Her main performance of the day was ahead.
Meanwhile, Miss Millicent, an artist came to the stage next. A member of the audience would soon remark that her work was as expressive and bold as she was. A true thing. Millicent?s painting came in bright, gay colours. Her explanation showed why. There was this three-piece work that had a man in-between two ladies. A man?s world, she called the name of the three-in-one piece. Imagine a man?s eyes set on two ladies at the same time and you got the essence of Millicent?s work. Two ladies were dying to have a man, he stayed in between enjoying the show like an unbending Iroko tree at a time wind and flood terrorize every other plant around. The artist said, ?We women can?t do without men around us?; under normal circumstances, that is. Yet, see the way the man threats the ladies, ?It?s an irony,? of some sort, she concluded about ?A man?s world.?
Many in the audience pointed out that they liked her work, they were beautiful. Ladies especially saluted the punches the artist threw at men in the course of her explanation, even though the title of her most interesting work would give a different impression. Then came the musical duo. Laolu, who said ?I am part time singer and he is a full time,? referring to his fellow, Valerino, would join him to give life music performance. A scintillating thing, that one, comprising of a song titled, ?Abuja Queen.? And there was a pidgin English song titled, ?Anaconda? performed by Valerino. Anaconda was a girl, as its performer explained. The two songs had told stories of what guys come up against in the timeless effort to conquer.
The big masquerade was what the MC called the first Guest Writer to climb the stage. And so he was. Umaisha, literary editor of the Kaduna-based New Nigerian, is a short story writer, poet and an award winning literary journalist whose stories and poems have appeared in journals, anthologies and online publications. He read ?Militants? and ?After the riots? from his debut collection of short stories, Hoodlums, a book that has attracted attention in literary circles for its focus on the violence perpetrated in the country in the name of religion, politics and culture. The Guest Writer would be taken on by his audience for his stories that not only painted pictures of violence in its diverse forms but also indicted everyone, including the reader. He would explain that he belonged to the realist school of thought which posited that a writer should use his medium to bring issues across ?the way they are.? But all of that were yet for the Question and Answer Time.
Omalicha?s second coming was a full blown performance. She might as well have been performing on the stage of the patriarch of Theater Arts department in the country ? the University of Ibadan. This post-graduate Theatre Arts student of the University might have put up for her lecturer, the seamless, entertaining performance of the poem titled, ?Untitled,? in an examination and she would have passed. There was that professional, well-rehearsed touch to every move, every line she performed alongside Hannah. Untitled was about apartheid South Africa and the plight of the poor black under the oppressive regime in place at one stage in the life of the people in that part. That was a poem with no identification going by its name; but the first few lines of the poetic rendition showed it for what it was ? a poetic exposition of poverty, sufferings, oppression, lack, denials, and values that had been devalued. Omalicha?s work was dissected by her audience: Why did she take to poetry performance? How did she memorize such long lines of poems for her two performances of the day? How did she come up with so much energy and zest that everyone saw her display? Who and what were her motivations? These were some of the questions the audience asked. But that happened during the Question and Answer Session.
?For me words don?t live on paper. When I write a poem, I want people to hear it. I don?t believe it can connect with you as much as it will when I speak or perform it,? was one of her responses. And she had been in theatre for ten years, so it had become part of her ? internalizing lines. Even when she performed the works of other poets, she actually internalized them, felt what they felt, a thing that enabled her to interpret the works? very essence on stage.
?I go through the emotions of the writer and that pushes me to express it; It is not about memorizing?, she explained how she was who she was on stage. Passion for anything one does, she pointed out, is important.
The comments directed at Umaisha were as ponderous and thought-provoking as his work. They were about why and how he focused on themes he treated in Hoodlums. It so happened that he initially wrote many of the stories in the collection for his newspaper audience, and he had had to write one story a week. That raised some issues. One, some of the stories reflected current situation in the country, they were topical. The writer knew of the amnesty granted to militants in the Niger Delta, he wrote angles to it that no government official seemed to have given a thought. He read most news items on violent situations around the country, took note of aspects of it that didn?t make it into the news, the realities of the issues ? he caught them in stories. ?if you look at some of the stories, you will notice that they are topical,? Umaisha explained. And he felt writers have a duty to tell things as they are. ?Bring out all the dirt for everyone to see.? It was why he wrote the way he did.
The event ended with a raffle that had the audience winning books courtesy of AWF. In his remarks, the president of AWF, Dr Emman Usman Shehu, noted that the Forum would continue to engage in intervention programes that would positively change the nation?s poor reading culture. The AWF Guest Writer Session is one of the platforms created to showcase the works of published writers while the Forum has created other opportunities for unpublished writers to become published.
Reported by Ajibade, a Consultant Writer, who lives in Abuja. [email protected]
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Literature
Umaisha, Omalicha thrill Abuja writers
Writers? brotherhood never had a single event so loaded. That was what happened at the November edition of the Guest Writer Session organized by Abuja Writers? Forum (AWF). It was a literary outing packed with interesting activities. Writers from various backgrounds had all come out to interact with newspaper editor and short story writer Sumaila Umaisha as well as poetry performer, Ify Omalicha, but they had more than they bargained for. In the end, every participant walked out of the Pen and Pages, Abuja venue, excited. Comments such as ?I have never been part of a literary event like this,? with the expression of desires to be more involved in literary activities, were part of what the event provoked. As some of the writers present said, the nation?s literature never had it so good with the more than two-year consistent running of the literary event that featured mini Art Exhibition, musical and poetry performances.
An opening glee by Omalicha was what the Compere, Mike Ekuno, brought to the stage after the introductory remarks. That had the title: The green pasture. The fervour associated with some religious sects and visits to them by miracle seekers featured prominently in the piece. To point out that Omalicha and her fellow performer, Hanah Chima, a 300 level Theatre Arts student, were as electric on stage as they were passionate about their art was an understatement. Their audience was enthralled, laughing, clapping, not just for the believability but for the good grasp of the craft in poetic delivery. Those were top class performers there, Omalicha and her fellow. But it was just the opening glee, a sort of first course. Her main performance of the day was ahead.
Meanwhile, Miss Millicent, an artist came to the stage next. A member of the audience would soon remark that her work was as expressive and bold as she was. A true thing. Millicent?s painting came in bright, gay colours. Her explanation showed why. There was this three-piece work that had a man in-between two ladies. A man?s world, she called the name of the three-in-one piece. Imagine a man?s eyes set on two ladies at the same time and you got the essence of Millicent?s work. Two ladies were dying to have a man, he stayed in between enjoying the show like an unbending Iroko tree at a time wind and flood terrorize every other plant around. The artist said, ?We women can?t do without men around us?; under normal circumstances, that is. Yet, see the way the man threats the ladies, ?It?s an irony,? of some sort, she concluded about ?A man?s world.?
Many in the audience pointed out that they liked her work, they were beautiful. Ladies especially saluted the punches the artist threw at men in the course of her explanation, even though the title of her most interesting work would give a different impression. Then came the musical duo. Laolu, who said ?I am part time singer and he is a full time,? referring to his fellow, Valerino, would join him to give life music performance. A scintillating thing, that one, comprising of a song titled, ?Abuja Queen.? And there was a pidgin English song titled, ?Anaconda? performed by Valerino. Anaconda was a girl, as its performer explained. The two songs had told stories of what guys come up against in the timeless effort to conquer.
The big masquerade was what the MC called the first Guest Writer to climb the stage. And so he was. Umaisha, literary editor of the Kaduna-based New Nigerian, is a short story writer, poet and an award winning literary journalist whose stories and poems have appeared in journals, anthologies and online publications. He read ?Militants? and ?After the riots? from his debut collection of short stories, Hoodlums, a book that has attracted attention in literary circles for its focus on the violence perpetrated in the country in the name of religion, politics and culture. The Guest Writer would be taken on by his audience for his stories that not only painted pictures of violence in its diverse forms but also indicted everyone, including the reader. He would explain that he belonged to the realist school of thought which posited that a writer should use his medium to bring issues across ?the way they are.? But all of that were yet for the Question and Answer Time.
Omalicha?s second coming was a full blown performance. She might as well have been performing on the stage of the patriarch of Theater Arts department in the country ? the University of Ibadan. This post-graduate Theatre Arts student of the University might have put up for her lecturer, the seamless, entertaining performance of the poem titled, ?Untitled,? in an examination and she would have passed. There was that professional, well-rehearsed touch to every move, every line she performed alongside Hannah. Untitled was about apartheid South Africa and the plight of the poor black under the oppressive regime in place at one stage in the life of the people in that part. That was a poem with no identification going by its name; but the first few lines of the poetic rendition showed it for what it was ? a poetic exposition of poverty, sufferings, oppression, lack, denials, and values that had been devalued. Omalicha?s work was dissected by her audience: Why did she take to poetry performance? How did she memorize such long lines of poems for her two performances of the day? How did she come up with so much energy and zest that everyone saw her display? Who and what were her motivations? These were some of the questions the audience asked. But that happened during the Question and Answer Session.
?For me words don?t live on paper. When I write a poem, I want people to hear it. I don?t believe it can connect with you as much as it will when I speak or perform it,? was one of her responses. And she had been in theatre for ten years, so it had become part of her ? internalizing lines. Even when she performed the works of other poets, she actually internalized them, felt what they felt, a thing that enabled her to interpret the works? very essence on stage.
?I go through the emotions of the writer and that pushes me to express it; It is not about memorizing?, she explained how she was who she was on stage. Passion for anything one does, she pointed out, is important.
The comments directed at Umaisha were as ponderous and thought-provoking as his work. They were about why and how he focused on themes he treated in Hoodlums. It so happened that he initially wrote many of the stories in the collection for his newspaper audience, and he had had to write one story a week. That raised some issues. One, some of the stories reflected current situation in the country, they were topical. The writer knew of the amnesty granted to militants in the Niger Delta, he wrote angles to it that no government official seemed to have given a thought. He read most news items on violent situations around the country, took note of aspects of it that didn?t make it into the news, the realities of the issues ? he caught them in stories. ?if you look at some of the stories, you will notice that they are topical,? Umaisha explained. And he felt writers have a duty to tell things as they are. ?Bring out all the dirt for everyone to see.? It was why he wrote the way he did.
The event ended with a raffle that had the audience winning books courtesy of AWF. In his remarks, the president of AWF, Dr Emman Usman Shehu, noted that the Forum would continue to engage in intervention programes that would positively change the nation?s poor reading culture. The AWF Guest Writer Session is one of the platforms created to showcase the works of published writers while the Forum has created other opportunities for unpublished writers to become published.
Reported by Ajibade, a Consultant Writer, who lives in Abuja. [email protected]
- Kaduna Ana October Lecture: A Weekend Of Literary Carnival
For the Kaduna State chapter of Association of Nigerian Authors, ANA, October of every year is a literary carnival ? writing competition, reading sessions, poetry performances, lecture and a host of other exciting activities. This year is no exception;...
- Rhythms Of Life And Death
SUMAILA UMAISHA?s review of IFY OMALICHA?s collection of poems, Now that dreams are Born, published by Kraftgriots, 2011, p.141. The Nigerian literary scene is fast becoming famous for churning out promising writers. Ify Omalicha, a master?s degree holder...
- Umaisha Unleashes His Hoodlums On The Public
Hoodlums, a collection of short stories by Sumaila Isah Umaisha, an Associate Editor with the New Nigerian Newspapers, and Chairman of the Kaduna State Chapter of Association of Nigerian Authors, ANA, was presented to the public in Abuja,...
- Awf: A Commitment To Literary Service
DR. EMMAN USMAN SHEHU, founding President of Abuja Writers Forum (AWF), and Director of the International Institute of Journalism (IIJ), Abuja, hails from Maradun in Zamfara State. The holder of doctorate in African Literature in English has published...
- National Sports Festival As Cultural Showcase (report & Photos)
The National Sports Festival holding in Kaduna (15th ? 25th February, 2009) is a proof of the fact that the biennial event is not just about sports but also about arts and culture, as various activities portraying Nigeria?s rich cultural heritage were...