On Maroko, Writing and “Blackbird”: A Talk With Jude Dibia

Jude Dibia has authored three novels. He wrote the well acclaimed and daring novel, Walking with Shadows in 2005. His second book, Unbrilded (2007), was awarded the 2007 Ken Saro Wiwa Prize for Prose and was also a finalist in the 2008 Nigeria Prize for Literature (sponsored by NLNG). His recent work, Blackbird (2011), is still receiving reviews from its readers and critics.

In this interview, Jude Dibia speaks enthusiastically about writing and Blackbird among other related issues.

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True Talk: How well have you fared on the path of your writing career over the years?

Jude Dibia: I have managed to write three novels, a couple of short stories and bag a couple of writing awards, and critical acclaim while at it. My journey has not been too bad, but still, I feel I could do more if writing was all I did.

 

TT: In your opinion, how has the internet been shaping writing and book publishing in Nigeria and Africa?

JD: The internet has helped closed the huge gap that existed between writers and readers. Writers have become much more accessible in general. Publishing, too, has changed with the advent of the internet. There's now desktop publishing and everyone can own a blog or website, thus making their work accessible to a wider audience. Also, aspiring writers can join online writing workshops, learn from more experienced writers and share their work.

 

TT: What bent should an African writing take to remain African? Can you say you have ever practiced one?

JD: This is an unusual question, and one I find rather prescriptive. Writers should simply write. We all have different interests. Africa today is different from the Africa of fifty years ago or one hundred years ago. Africa is ever evolving and her writers will too.

 

TT: What kind of agenda do you think African writers should set for the continent? Should writers keep portraying an unstable polity or continue piecing together a picture of future bliss?

JD: This whole idea of "agenda" worries me. It sounds like writers come together in secret forums and start charting the course of the continent. This is not the way it works. There are different genres in writing; most writers write within the genre they feel most comfortable in. There are some writers who are versatile and write in more than one genre.

 

TT: What is your expectation of a Fiction? Is there any constraint for you as a writer on how much of a reality should be shown when writing Fiction?

JD: I have a very simple expectation of fiction; it should be well written, it should tell a compelling story and it should be truthful to the characters, to the subject matter and to the era/time it is portraying. There is always a constraint for me or many other writers to show reality in our writing, especially if I am writing within a period that has historical significance. However, like I did with 'Blackbird', I can invent fictitious places within a real place and thus create a parallel reality that readers can still relate to.

 

TT:

How linkable is the prologue in Blackbird to the entire story even when the rationale behind the assassination of Katherine was never known in the book? Did you do that intentionally?

JD: Blackbird was not written as a thriller. The core of the story rests on the shoulders of a quartet of characters i.e. Omoniyi, Maya, Edward and Nduesoh. I did not want to start the story focusing on one character, as it could make readers think one character was more important than the order or that one character was the sole protagonist. Katherine's killing was simply the catalyst that propelled the story forward.

 

TT: Reading Unbridled and Blackbird, I quite observed the length at which you went in commenting on the socio-economic defectiveness of the country, would you want to be perceived as a political commentator with literature as his tool?

JD: I guess Nigeria has always been the 'second' character in most of my writings. I write as I see it, I don't care so much about labels.

 

TT: Can literature be separated from political commentary or are they entwined?

JD: Must literature always be labeled as 'political commentary' when a writer tries to be true to his material? Literature, far and wide, deals with people and how they handle conflicts. These conflicts could be love, could be embarking on a difficult journey or even surviving in through a difficult period, and of course, there are more forms of conflicts.

 

TT: How long can a story be told before it becomes stereotypical about a particular people?

JD: When you think of it, there are no new stories. Writers have to find creative ways of retelling familiar stories, bringing out new insights on things that otherwise may be viewed as stereotypes.

 

TT: Jude, I love your books in the way they stir untold matters coupled with effortful researches into debate. Do you consider the success of a book on the subject it is written upon or on the creativity brought to play?

JD: The success of a book, for me, is on how well it is written. Subject matter and creativity play a huge role as well, but on their own they don't do much.

 

 

TT: Why have you chosen to write on the Maroko incident in Blackbird? Do you think literature can effectively fight against an ill policy that displaced approximately 300,000 people over two decades ago? Do you seek closure with Blackbird?

JD: I was interested in the story. I remember how heated things were during that period, but I was also thinking about the ordinary people that were affected by the mass displacement. How did this affect people that have no choice? And then, there are the people that things like this don't bother; people that wouldn't notice if the price of bread went from ten naira to one hundred naira. People from these two divides must coexist.

 

TT: Was writing on Maroko a spur of the muse-flurry or a dedicated effort to tell a story that has over the years been delegated to dessert papers that are left to gather dusts at various institutions' archives?

JD: Well, I found inspiration there.

 

TT: Do you think the Oniru's family's contribution to the 1990 Maroko eviction exercise was well intended?

JD: I cannot comment on this, but in time we will all know.

 

TT: You have been tagged a female apologist in the manner your last two books were effused with feministic affinity. Don't you think if your next work features more Whites in the antagonism, you might be labeled a budding racist?

JD: I'm many things, but certainly not a racist. I have tried to show in my writing that you don't have to be a certain race to be good or evil. Humans have a huge capacity to love each other or cause major harm toward each other; it has nothing to do with race or gender.

 

TT: Do you fear your works being misinterpreted?

JD: No. I understand that people will take away different things from a piece of writing and bring unique interpretations to it. Why should my works be any different? It is to be expected.

 

TT: You published your latest on a writers' collective platform, Jalaa. Is a Writers' Collective the answer to the publishing need of the country and a solution to her literature?

JD: There are a lot of issues with publishing in Nigeria, far too many. There is no single solution to our publishing needs, and writers' collectives will play their role in getting books published and distributed.

 

 

TT: Your book was among a finalist of two books in the NLNG literature prize. What impact has the prize had on literature in Nigeria?

JD: The NLNG has made a lot of people aware of Nigerian writing. The prize money has continued to draw a lot of interest to writers and literary enthusiasts.

 

TT: In Walking with Shadow, you wrote about gay. However, Blackbird speaks about such in a subtle way. Does that mean readers' past observations whittled down your confidence in giving it a full blown exposure in Blackbird?

JD: Blackbird in no way was like my first novel. Both books hardly share anything in common. I will revisit the themes I explored in Walking with Shadows in another novel. I still think there is more to be written on the subject of same gender coupling in our society.

 

TT: Why would you want to write another book on homosexuality? One primary thing Literature does is to speak about familiar matters identifiable with the very people it focuses on. Is homosexuality itself not foreign to the African culture?

JD: Why would you think my first novel was on homosexuality? The novel's central character, Adrian, is gay, other than that, generalizing the entire novel as a book on homosexuality only goes to show how disturbing our views are on anything that centers remotely on sexuality. It is interesting you should state that 'literature speaks about familiar matters identifiable with the very people it focuses on', I will like to add to that as well; literature in many instances speaks for the voiceless in a society. This whole argument on what is or isn't African culture coming especially from people who have no idea what African culture is, is not only lazy, but also exposes the deep state of denial that plagues us. I want to revisit the themes I explored in Walking with Shadows because I hardly scratched the surface. It is my understanding that people are prone to fearing and hating what they do not understand, so maybe in my own little way, I can help with my stories.

  

TT: Some words for the blog.

JD: I will like to thank you for this opportunity. It has been wonderful having this discussion. This is an interesting blog and I commend the work you all are doing to keep literature alive and thriving.

 

TT: Thank you, Jude.

JD: You are welcome.

Synopsis - "Tales from Different Tales" by Nana Awere Damoah

Everyone has a price and… their broom. You either name the price or find the broom that sweeps them off their feet!

 

 

October Rush

 

The new academic year has started and school is under siege. Reason? 'October Rush'. Heads keep turning as students struggle to juggle academic work with relationship wahala. The freshers are tagged New Stock, sophomores as Reduce to Clear while final years are Buy One Get On Free. Follow 'October Rush' as it tells the intricate story of University romance. For some, it is learning the ropes, for others it is a do or die affair.  Find your feet in this hot, intense, and pacey affair. The Rush is on!

 

 

Truth Floats

 

It is true that the one who you save the bullet for might be the one pulling the trigger. So the story goes that Kweku Ananse took the meat right out of his bosom friend, Akoto's, mouth when he stole Ama Adoma from him. But it is also true that when they lie they will lie again because the deception never end. Amidst the lies and disloyalty truth comes to light like a calabash that has been forced in water. All said and done, did Ama fall for Kweku? How did Akoto find out about his fiancé, Ama's, true love for him? This story teaches the values of patience, perseverance and love in the face of lies.

 

 

Dribble de Zagidibogidi

 

Vengeance is of God but can the human mind truly forgive and forget? Zagidibogidi (Randy) is accused of brutally raping Rose, the only lady he would catch the moon for. As things turn out, Rose is the only one who could save him from going to jail. Wicked twist? Rose has fallen into coma.  But help comes from strange places. Babyface, Randy's lawyer, vowed to do his best to prove his client's innocence. Will justice be denied by it being delayed? Could there be some unfinished business with Babyface on Get Even Day? Revenge must be sweet when served cold and slowly…it is payback time! Yes, a broken mirror can be patched but the crack will forever be there.

 

 

Hope Undeferred

 

The elders say women are supposed to sell garden eggs not gun powder. But Araba's heart aches for Kwesi. What risks can a young lady take in making her love known to the man she loves? Should she go ahead and propose love? For the most haunted spinster in Assin Kabrofo, it is only a matter of time before she loses heartthrob Kwesi. This unwritten law in African setting is eating away this beautiful village queen. But do African gods condone breaking gender ranks? Hope can only be held onto with hands and feet. And with prayer that it is not dashed to pieces as pottery on the rocks that line the banks of River Ankobra.

 

 

Kojo Nkrabeah

 

The only stories villagers hear of the city is that of glamour with streets paved with gold, money hanging on trees and the taps overflowing with milk and honey. This story shatters the dream of city life for Kojo Nkrabeah and Akwasi Poku. Akilipee has come to Moseaso from the city with well embellished stories. These stories lured the orphaned Kojo Nkrabeah and his friend, Akwasi Poku. In their haste to escape their mundane village lives, they learn the hard way where the  grass is green. This is not your ordinary village-to-city story but one that immerses the reader into the best of both worlds.

 

 

Guardian of the Rented Well

 

Akos is a married woman who wants her book published. Benson wants everything in skirt. How does he draw the line between pleasure with this taken lady and the business at hand? This story shows the resolve of married women and the extent to which they go to show or betray love and trust.

 

Was it Akos who coveted Benson to get her way? Or it was Benson who risked his life guarding the rented well. What has all this got to do with Lieutenant Patrick Atiemo? Something has to give, but what? Follow this maze of a crazy love affair gone terribly wrong …

 

 

Face to Face – Trotro Palaver

 

If you have not taken a trotro, aka troski in Ghana, then either you are not a Ghanaian or haven't visited Ghana. The ordinary man's means of transportation in Ghana comes with lots of hustle and drama. The tight seating arrangements, the conversations, the potpourri of smells the laughter, gossips, the political debates as well as the twists, turns and trickery to outwit the police. This adventure brings you face to face as we take a short winding yet hilarious ride in the old Morris troski, with registration number ABC 4037. Join Akwasi the aplanke (drivers mate) who holds a PhD in cunning, slippery mathematics and his master, Massa Kojo, the man who uses a toothpick in his mouth like a ceiling brush, as they drive us from Pig Farm to Circle.... vroooooommmmmm.......Away bus!

 

 

Project Akoma

 

When the heart decides, it is the mind that plans. A message sent to the mind simply reads: "I have found my desire—my missing rib," and sets the brain in motion. Stories of human love always go with sorrow, joy, deceit, unfailing dedication and jealousy. To win the heart of this striking beauty of eve's daughter, he must climb the seven skies and back, he must scale the China wall to profess love and win her heart. A moving rollercoaster of a love story which takes readers through the steps to win Adjoa's heart. This was so delicate and complicated it had to be handled like a final year project work on a University campus. Was this another happily ever after tale or a masterpiece of storytelling with sting at the very end?

 

 

 

• 
  Tales from Different Tails will be launched on 1 December 2011 at the Teacher's Hall Complex near Workers' College and Tigo Headoffice, Adabraka, Accra, at 6pm. This is Nana Awere Damoah's third book, the first two being Excursions in My Mind (2008) and Through the Gates of Thought (2010). Please, if you can make to Ghana, join Nana. Let's support Literature.

 

Synopsis Credit: Abubakar Ibrahim/Kofi Akpabli

With Sentinel and Saraba (2)

We started reviewing these literary magazines here. Please go and read the prequel of this post to follow the trend well and appreciate this series of post more.

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With every issue, Saraba and Sentinel present written works of peculiar standpoints exhibiting starling performances from the established, the molting and the budding. After going through the rundowns this post will be featuring, follow the provided links of these sites to know how true my proclaimed assertions are. I make no panegyric. Your hard-drives on your reading gadgets are slipcases of these two magazines. Just go and read from them whenever you are online, their arrays are beautiful crafts of innovative minds.

The efforts that go into each issue of these two are gutsy and heroic. Of great allure are their artistic productions when you consider that they are delivered pro bono for the intellectual pleasure of the reading public. In expression of my dedication to the expensiveness of lateral thinking involved in art, especially in the written words, I have recently made personal commitment towards creating awareness for their existence through online and offline platforms. The online part I began fulfilling from the phase one of this review.  Offline: there are friends I have started various discussions with using these questions; "Do you know Saraba? Have you ever read from Sentinel?"

After this post, when you must have been made acquainted with the offerings these online literary portals churn out, I know you would readily become an initiate bent on winning more avid readers for Saraba and Sentinel. It is only then would you begin thinking through this tittle-tattle of mine in the reasonable sense. I thump my feet to affirm again; Saraba and Sentinel are proficient hands arranging the pieces of the marquetry of new Nigerian writing with new generation technology.

Slices from Saraba 9 Food Edition

As the norm is with Saraba, Dami and Iduma set the pulse for the collective works in the issue 9 with their opening editor's note. Their co-written editor's note always goes to reflect the mortise that exists between them, one which affixes suitably the different literary joints from the two co-publishers.

In this issue, Food is romanced with in varying works that try eliciting the importance of Food to human and how literature could come as close to it in analogy when the human mind is involved.

"Dodo and A Notebook" (Chika Unigwe)

How long will you go maintaining a habit? How far can you go in professing it? Chika writes about the favourite food she's been fixated on since childhood. Hers is Dodo, the fried chop of plantain. She also likes reading, a long time trait that balances well with her Dodo. Instead of smarting out of Dodo as adulthood tends to pare infantile obsessions to the minimum, she rather nurtures it into maturity. There is only one thing that accompanies Chika's Muse whenever she scribbles on her notebook – Dodo is it. When she claims Dodo is the food for Muse, I shake my head bitterly; wondering where my favoured palm oil-cooked beans with Agege bread stand if Dodo is ranked over them.

"Creativity of the Stomach" (Olaoluwa Akinoluwa)

There can never be a better personality without food. What you have is a despondent and forlorn look of utter dejection when you stay without it. Olaoluwa never thinks so when he sharpens his bladed weapon of creativity with the file of hunger-strike. He hopes to be the better for it as he settles down to work on his novel with only fluids replacing solid food. At the end of his self-imposed fast, Olaoluwa bitterly realizes that going without food can't make him more creative than he is. He comes to this understanding as various packs of juices litter his trashcan and numerous descriptive languages of food smear his writing during the period.

"Food, Again" (Novuyo Rosa Tshuma)

Novuyo bears her mind in a lapidary state. The way she philosophizes with Food makes one ponder on the complexity of Food in its various forms. The close borderline Novuyo draws between the smugness of the Western capitalist and the servile needy Africans is textually appropriated in the few words she crams her view into. Every time I read this piece, I pick out different slides of meanings from it. Novuyo's piece is one with a well related ambiguous tendency.

"The Pleasure of Swallowing" (Kola Tubosun)

Kola's nonfiction appreciates the very art that goes into making swallow of molded food. He details the arithmetic that takes place between the different regions of the mouth before such food is digested. Kola's contribution is an ode to his loved food of pounded yam.

Download Saraba 9 Food Edition here

Reading Sentinel Nigeria Issue 7

Sentinel 7 is a matured collection without making forced claims of its fittingly-matched contributions. With few submissions in each genre of literature, it radiates with the great depth that is not usually accorded to compactness.

"Purple Hibiscus – Adichie's Debt to Achebe?" (Ahmed Maiwada)

Contrary to the comments that have been trailing this review, I love its clinical dissection of Adichie's first novel. The perceptiveness of the review displays the rich effort Ahmed includes in his research before arriving at his calculated conclusion on Adichie's Purple Hibiscus. On the first encounter with this review, I had this to say about it on facebook;

"A beautifully illustrated juxtaposition of Adichie's Purple Hibiscus with McCullough's The Thorn Birds. Analytic and straight forward. Polemic yet with astounding breakdown that uproots the bases of past purportedly incorrect evaluations about Adichie's first novel…"

"Pinchomie, the Distinguished Loot and the Banana Republic" (Esien Ekpe-Ita)

This is a real satire, unrefined! The humor in the story is well blended. Lengthiness in this story is quickly forgiven as the reader is taken through bouts of laughter that could result in permanent hiccups if not medically checked. This story is hilarious in its entirety just like Nigerian rulers are incredible in their governing. Esien speaks through a child to amusingly capture the shared banditry among Nigerian parliamentarians. The main theme is the recent matter on their state-fund-ripping remuneration.

"Late Twenties Woman" (Osayi Osar-Emokpae)

I consider poetry too arcane for my chewing. In the hands of the confused, poetry is a cloak of messy things covered, left to the perspired search of a committed reader. I dislike most poetry for this inclination. Osayi's poetry is really written with the vigour at the very centre of the matter it dwells on. Her messages are clear and not mangled in the transience of the verses they are in. Late Twenties Woman runs through the fulfillment a woman gets with the pride of locating her space.  It versifies the worthiness of a woman's wholeness in her own unpaired self, her wistfulness of things sacrificed to blasé disregard and joyfulness in the hindsight of the action she takes in her late twenties.

Read Sentinel Issue 7 now >>>

Still on this same road

True Talk isn't through with this yet. There are still some literary sites I am obliged to in kind and reviews.  By the way, do you know what NaijaStories is? What about StoryTime, can you tell me anything about it? Come around soon and let's get to those places I've just mentioned. Wouldn't you love that?

Do you know of any online literary sites? In the comment box, drop a few you think might interest me too.

Much Ado About Baba Suwe's Shit

What interests me in this short piece is not the humour the very story it is written upon has been generating all over the media in recent days. It isn't even in the shallowness of the circumstances surrounding the story. The humour, for me, is in the satire Isaac weaves around the complexity of Baba Suwe's "cocainic" adventure to NDLEA. It is the telling style of Isaac that makes this story very enjoyable.

But come to think of it; it is the personality of a man that is at stake here. The privacy of Babatunde Omidina's aka Baba Suwe has been stolen away from him. It's been days now and Baba Suwe's excreta are still been daily scrutinized for substances that seem to be in the imagination of his captors alone. Read Baba Suwe in Isaac's sidesplitting writing…

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© Isaac Anyaogu

It is now thirteen days since popular Yoruba movie actor Babatunde Omidina otherwise known as Baba Suwe was "kidnapped" by stern-faced officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) over suspicion that he swallowed more than pounded yam on his way to the airport few days ago. They have been watching his shit for traces of cocaine the way housewives watch Nollywood movies to see what Genevieve is wearing.

In case you missed it, they have Baba Suwe hold up in a cell, perhaps force-fed him ewa agoyin and Agege bread, fetched him a tank of water, waited for him to hit the toilet, then bagged his shit in a white cellophane and ran to the lab hoping his shit would somehow turn to cocaine. And I used to think I have the worst job in the world.  

The last time I heard they turned something into something else was in the holy book. One wedding in Cana where booze ran out so they had Jesus turn water into wine. Perhaps the NDLEA know a thing or two about miracles. Rumour has it that they are trying to turn shit into cocaine. I wish them good luck but I'll choose turning water into booze any day. Imagine if Jesus were here to see what the breweries are charging us for 75 cl of beer? He'll just turn the Atlantic into booze and run them all out of business!

Baba Suwe has been to the toilet three times now and all he excreted were, well, just shit. NDLEA spokesperson, Mitchell Ofoyeju, still insisted he will remain under observation for other "procedural measures". Procedural measures is just the technical equivalent of "we screwed up badly".

Some Mondays past, the Director General of the anti-drug agency went on air to say that Baba Suwe would be released if the report of the CT scan and his third excretion proved to be negative. Now they are waiting for CT scan result? Pray, how long does it take to get one?

If your father works in a shit-testing factory or NDLEA lab (if we want to be cute), you should be worried. Your father tests the shit of adults for a living. That's the last person you want to get a career advice from unless of course shit testing runs in your genes. Hell, I'll pick a father that "packs" shit to the one that "tests" it any day.

Imagine this scene, two officials of the NDLEA dressed up in a white lab coat over a black jacket and paisley tie hunched over a funny looking contraption with yellowish fluid and several glass containers, one labeled "BABA SUWE's SHIT". They make notations on writing pads as they take a reading on the meter attached to the machine… Just what kind of education does one need to get a job testing other people's shit?

In June 2008, the United States brought four OD Security SOTER RS Security Body Scanners for the NDLEA for security operations for Lagos, Port Harcourt, Kano and Abuja International airports to stop Nigerians supplying their teenagers coke. The machine is believed to be one of the most sophisticated in the industry available for drug detection. It can look through clothes and see anything/everything inside and outside the human body in 10 seconds. (Who do I need to bribe to get the job of watching the machines?

In any case, the sophisticated machine started flashing red when Baba Suwe was ushered through and the NDLEA guys pounced on him. Seven days now they have held him as Baba Suwe continues to shit just shit sans cocaine. How come they are not exploring the possibility that the machine has been Nigerianized (corrupted)?

In a country where nothing works, is it any wonder that some fancy machine contrived to detect cocaine has started detecting digested pounded yam as cocaine? If a government agency can't understand logic that simple, shouldn't we hire drug addicts to do the job? At least, they'll know their suppliers.

People are already envying Baba Suwe. Just why didn't I study law?

 

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!

Please!!! Vote for Me!!!

The time you spend browsing through the pages of this blog only says something – love and support. Your commitment to reading my posts even when some of them are slightly smeared marvels me a lot! I am so thankful! I have quite observed overtime that the comments that trail each post on this blog are not the measurement of the audience it constantly pulls. Whenever I check my Traffic-Stats, the enormous traffic it shows makes my heart leap for joy.  This is to say that there are more readers of the blog than the numbers of comments each post gets.

To all my readers, this is a short appreciative note to you for always sparing your time visiting and reading the blog. The blog stands out everyday on search engines because of you. Posts are also written because I know you would be there behind the screens to read. I am just too grateful to you all!

To bond this love and support you have always shown me more, I humbly implore you to take this support a little further by voting for my entry in the writing contest, My Favourite Nigerian Character in a Book. My entry's name is "Imagine Lola". You are allowed to vote for this entry once in a day till next week Tuesday when the poll will be rounding up.

Show me some support in this contest and vote "Imagine Lola". Help me keep this entry constantly on top of the poll till Tuesday when the poll will be closing for voting.

Vote for ME!!!!

Vote "IMAGINE LOLA"  

Vote HERE

Read the entry HERE

Thank You!!!

With Sentinel and Saraba (1)

Surfing the web could be elating, time-wasting, indulging and in other instances fulfilling. It all depends on what takes your time and how much knowledge you garner during the cyber-period. I have had moments which left me with aftertaste that I can't just stop relishing. There were days too when I recoiled from the screen and wondered at the frivolities and trivialities the Internet offered. The internet is functionally multifaceted. You chose which grain your pestle gets to grind. I roughly have 20hrs access to the Internet a week. But the trove stored on my hard-drive conflicts this. You would think my connection is always up and running. Really, it isn't. Not in this part of the world where connection is measured in meager bytes with preset timing. What I do on the web with the shortest of access time could be amazing. Reading newspaper, magazines, blogs, literary portals and journals makes my eyelids puffy from multitudinous of words.

They say life is in twos in everything and to every individual. The internet is not without the contradiction of use that people make of it too. Your internet is for inane chats, mine is for reading. What a striking opposition. The way the web works is in the attitudinal individuality of persons.

I have two ways I want people relating with me whenever my netbook calls for my attention. When I surf the net over a cup of kunu and roasted plantain, with intermittent laughter appreciating the pleasure of the food, I could be selfless in giving my attention to other things apart from what mesmerizes me on the screen.

The other, I can't really couch in words for clear definition of the mood that submerges my whole. But I know the symptom before and the effect after it. When I hunch slightly, creating a slantingly tangent view with my screen, blinking sharply at the screen's glare, rushing over meals, preferring taking meals on the bare floor over the dining table that seats my netbook; I know the latter moment beckons to me. In this period, I could ignite when my skin senses the least of friction on it. The effect; my eyes redden, pores break out sweat and my mind goes into a trance of reasoning induced by the words the Web screens on my netbook.

Of some of the activities that currently take my web-time; I share with you these two:

 

On Sentinel Nigeria Issue 7

Sentinel Nigeria has berthed again. This time at the sea with tidal waves that direct all to the dock of variously apt pieces. It is moored to Issue 7. In my years of fraternity with Sentinel Nigeria, a quarterly literary magazine, giving preference to previous Issues over the current has always remained herculean. So is this same Issue that partly inspires me to write this. The issue is new and the steam that each contribution boils with still visible.

Reading literature online is more engaging; this I have observed over time. It interacts with the reader, unlike a paperback that leaves the reader slurring between pages that feed him without taking in personal reflections from him. Online, the beholder's views are only some keystrokes' away. In this Sentinel Issue 7, find yourself disagreeing and acquiescing with opinions so compact yet resounding. Observe when you nod to the exactitude of points so correctly driven. Validate my claim when you converse with each writer in a telepathy that can only be in pieces very spellbinding. 

Read Sentinel Nigeria issue 7 now >>>>

 

Of Saraba 9: The Food Edition

Always on Saraba do I notice myself immerse in the analyses that brew out of fertile minds of versed resourcefulness. The correctness of every year's submissions to the subject they individually peruses is intellectually engaging. Subconsciously, I have built an ingrained attitude of keen interest in the artistic depiction this downloadable magazine showcases.

Each issue usually works on a tailored theme. Not in order though, there have been Fashion, Technology, God, Economy, etc. With each of these themes, new perspectives are delivered. It is in the way Saraba achieves deepness from clichéd topics that takes one in. In the end, there is always a reinvention of ideas from simple hackneys.

In Technology for example, technology is looked at from ways it affects and shapes our literature and lives. The pains and benefits it has holed through basic human endeavours are bared.

In this newly published edition, Food is closely juxtaposed with Literature. Its advantages are weighed with the knowledge the mind needs feeding on. In this new collection, writers strive to show the indispensability of Food to human and literature to the mind. Some contributions portray the infusion of Food into the literature of humanity. Food, in this issue becomes the mirror that reflects the importance of literature. This edition goes out to array the intermingling of literature, Food, knowledge and life.

Download the magazine now>>>>

I would implore you frequent this blog more in days to come. This space will be featuring rundown of pieces in these magazines and other literary websites yet unmentioned. To download past Issues of Saraba, browse the archives on the site for it. Sentinel Nigeria, a non-downloadable magazine also stores past editions on the site for easy rummage.

Follow this activity of mine and maximize your web-time. Up online Literature!!!

"On Black Sisters’ Street" by Chika Unigwe

·         Thanks to Ayọdèlé Morocco-Clarke who thought it good to bless me with this book.

*****

Agreed, I haven't read much on Nigerian-women-immigrant-prostitution. A fact, the multitudes of hearsays and valid stories that I have heard, ones which all culminated into the same story of women trafficking, could easily make banality of any fiction that hinges on that theme. In Nigeria, especially in Ubiaja, Edo state where I spent the early years of my teens, we call the women of this ignoble foray the 'Italos'. Whether what they do was in Belgium or Italy, the least mattered to us and the tag we gave them stayed untainted. What we saw of them were splotches of skin-burns that gave them the peculiarity their sudden wealth brought. Riches that separated them at families' funerals as they threw money at everything, even at anybody who complimented 'welcome Sista. Sista, you just too fine'.

With my foreknowledge of this subject that the media seems to give this book so many accolades for, I didn't go into On Black Sisters' Street starry-eyed like a reader who obsequiously feeds on the imagination of a writer with unrealistic hope that he would be satisfied with mere literary figments. I already had my preconception of the conflict and resolution. When Sisi's death is known from the few pages I had hurriedly zapped, my mind fleshed out the characters and the mysteries that may surround them and I wondered what more should I give my curiosity to. At the estuary of tossing the book to the back of my shelf and wanting to know why the denouement had hurriedly been given away when Sisi's demise welcomed me into the book, my indifference was somewhat redeemed.

It was few pages later that I got to know the book isn't only about the death of a particular character. The demise of Sisi is simply an image about what may have gone wrong with the lives of the characters before their arrival at Antwerp. Though the reader knows the death of Sisi beforehand, the circumstances that lead to her death are also the conflicts of the theme of the book. In the book, Sisi's death is inevitable if the reader must know the cruxes of the conflict that climaxes in the lives of the other characters. Sisi is the beginning of the novel, the crack in the window that allows us a satisfied look at the lives of Joyce, Ama, Efe, Dele, and the resolution of the conflicts.

 

The Themes:                               

Political & Family Imbalance - Either affects the other. When something goes awry with one, the other shoulders the responsibilities. The political shame that exists in the African terrain is no doubt what writers have always given a larger part of their literary devotion to. If Nigerian economy were good, perhaps, Sisi's dream of nailing a job would have been a reality and the prophecy of greatness given at her birth a certainty. Chisom (later known as Sisi) becomes the prime investment of her family after her degree. She will dream of riding in her company's executive cars, her parents will debate over the model she will buy and how they will be lifted from the muck of poverty. After many applications to known and unknown companies without a response, Dele shows her what treasures she could get on Zwartezustraat posing her flesh in booth for whoever pays for its pleasure.

Alek (Joyce) faces trauma at its worse. Hers is the story of a country's defeated political structure. Alek loses her parents and sexual privacy to the militia who evade their home on the kill the Dinkas' rampage in Sudan. When she arrives at Black Sisters' Street, the price to pay pales in comparison to the pains she bears at the penetration of each member of the militia on her parents' bed in Sudan.

When Ama's parental cocoon breaks at the revelation that the man who had been violating her is not her father, the short-lived freedom that gives her at the place of Mama Eko, her mom's sister, paves the way for Dele, who introduces her to what the black sisters in Antwerp do on Zwartezusterstraat.

Verisimilitudes of Life - When Sisi's father's pay rises up a notch at work, the future gleams to him at the prospect of more pay-increases at work. The skewed shape his life takes after so many years of hoping when his next salary would swell directs his dream to the glory his daughter's (degree) would bring. When Ama hitches to explore more places and escape from the mundane task of shuttling between home and Mama's Eko's restaurant, she is little aware of what may come afterwards. Excitedly as she brims with dreams at the proposal of Dele to travel abroad, she only becomes prepared for the fate that lies ahead of her when Dele samples her for her new job with the black sisters.

 

My Re-Commendation:

Fiction is a fragment of the assiduousness of imagination with a subsumed division of researches. The in-depth knowledge a writer possesses about a story spices the art of storytelling and rid fiction of unnecessary complexities that only tend to cover up for ineptness. Ironically, I have also read writers whose extensive examinations become the very undoing of their craft. At most times, one can hardly come across a well researched book whose writer doesn't convulse with what he wants the reader to know rather than what they should personally observe. For this, Chika Unigwe should be commended for how she unfurls her story without blurring the narrating view with unnecessary journalese and academic inclination. The contents and style of this book is not short of my recommendation. Chika, in On Black Sisters' Street, really does write well with the beauty of a first-hand witness.