My Post of Thanks

...after the $100 had been won

True talk has just won the prize! Nooooo… Strongself topped the poll. Not exactly! Joseph Omotayo has been announced the winner of the writing contest… Don't be such an ingrate!!! You, my readers, won the $100 and offered it to True Talk (Now I am confused!J). Okay, I needn't to. We are all in one. Aren't we? The readers ensure True Talk constantly gains popularity through comments and post-reading. True Talk in turn is administrated by Joseph Omotayo who writes and chiefly edits posts for the blog under the name "Strongself". Phew….

Better now...The difficulty in referencing the prize to a winner is solved and shouldn't take more lines than it had done.

The adventure was on for six days. The voting for the entries in the competition started in the weak hours of Thursday. That day was the beginning of the frenzy of whose post gets the highest votes. The writing competition was organized by NaijaStories.com in the spirit of promoting dutiful reading culture. The aim of the contest was simple. Each contestant was to write, in not more than 350 words, about a Nigerian character in any book that he/she so empathically relate with. 13 entries were shortlisted, out of which Imagine Lola, my entry, was one.

Imagine Lola is a character sketch I did on the characterization of Lola Ogunwole in Imagine This. Imagine This is a book written by Sade Adeniran. My submission on the character of Lola Ogunwole strived with brevity, aptitude and creativity to collage the moments of Lola Ogunwole. Moments which were mostly marred by the unnerving turbulence that redefines Lola Ogunwole from the little innocent girl living at Edgecombe House in London. The entry also infused the opinion of my reader-mind in creating an aesthetic proximity that exists between the author and the book. In the last paragraph, it adjoined the similarity of my relative experience with the life of Lola Ogunwole.

Have a Read…

"At age nine, Lola Ogunwole's life crashes with the mishap that will characterize her life in years to come as she is forced to live in Idogun. Idogun, a far contrasting picture with the world she is used to in Edgecombe House in London. In the time of uncertainties, a becoming reticence later turns Lola's language of survival. She reposes her solace in the only diary she addresses her woes, joys and encounters as her life mundanely passes by. A diary where every word, no matter how awful or memorable, begins with Dear Jupiter.

Imagine This is the tantrum of Lola against uncontrollable fierceness confronting her life. The book is a poignant account of the compromise of hapless children in the face of domestic violence, matrimonial disarray and cultural imbalances. It narrates the plights of Lola and Adebola Ogunwole as they toil to remedy the taints only the attentiveness and care of a father could make them overcome. Imagine This measures the anguish of a teenage girl (Lola) and how she battles to retain the love of those around her. Her action towards this changes everything about her life; her father's attitude and her brother's, Adebola's, existence.

That the character is portrayed in the first person narrative view shows how far its aesthetic distance is to the author, Sade Adeniran. I could quite observe from the tone every of the sentences carries that Sade is only creating a medium to pour out her heart about issues of her past. Having said a sequel, Imagine That, will follow confirms that she has not yet drained her emotions in those pages in Imagine This.

It is quite easy sharing empathy with Lola Ogunwole. Most especially how her sudden urban-rural migration triggers the trauma I had to put up with when my academe changed location from Festac in Lagos to Ilesa in Osun. The change was brutal and scarring, just like Lola's."

*****

That was the entry you made the winning one. I'm indeed so glad you put yourself out for me on this one.

With the unflinching support you, my readers, gave to me during the voting period, I have come to even understand better that your love transcends the encouraging comments you drop on the blog. Your votes through the polling exercise kept Imagine Lola at the peak of votes cast till the end of the contest. With this gesture, I am more bound to keep True Talk running on insightful posts as ever. I'm just too thankful.

To friends who supported by canvassing for votes on various social media, I appreciate your helps. Blogosphere was warming with love too. I humbly praise the strength fellow bloggers pulled for the entry. Thank you! Without your contributing arms of strength & power, this prize wouldn't have chosen this path.

Thank you all for making True Talk, You, Joseph Omotayo & Strongself the winner of this prize. You would be surprised how $100 would command little changes here and there. At least my bookshelf is bound to swell with books I have been daydreaming of before now.

There are still more to be won… This I am very sure of with your continued support.

Thank you!