tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-322756502024-03-14T07:09:32.778+00:00wordsbodyWritings of the general word's bodyWordsbodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17965726929008839788noreply@blogger.comBlogger658125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32275650.post-89585483646145515122012-03-18T20:36:00.002+00:002012-03-18T20:40:23.435+00:00Adichie: Commonwealth Lecture 2012Wordsbodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17965726929008839788noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32275650.post-77071839506858814792012-03-18T19:50:00.009+00:002012-03-18T20:20:18.687+00:00Ify OmalichaFrom a Harmattan of many discontents, Wordsbody attempts to spring back into blogging, and sadly it's a post about the tragic death of poet Ify Omalicha, who was in an accident along the Lokoja-Abuja highway. The terrible news was confirmed by PEN Nigeria yesterday.Wasn't she lovely? From the many tributes pouring in from writers who've encountered and collaborated with her over many years, it Wordsbodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17965726929008839788noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32275650.post-19190934219206647142011-12-21T04:49:00.008+00:002011-12-21T05:20:56.578+00:00Bola Ige remembered, 10 years onLast night at the Muson Centre, Lagos - children and grandchildren of the late Bola Ige - slain Attorney General and Minister of Justice who justice has so far eluded - on stage with the cast of Odia Ofeimun's dance-drama 'Nigeria the Beautiful' after a performance to mark the 10th anniversary of Ige's death. With them onstage are some of Ige's loyalists: Segun Osoba, Chief Bisi Akande and Prof Wordsbodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17965726929008839788noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32275650.post-38651923804592263302011-12-21T03:59:00.004+00:002011-12-26T08:02:33.279+00:00Writers choose their books of 2011 Igoni Barrett's compilation of writers' books of the year, published in the Lagos Guardian, here. And here.Wordsbodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17965726929008839788noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32275650.post-47430343442725473052011-12-19T13:24:00.008+00:002011-12-19T14:16:46.390+00:00Life House Fundraiser & BenefitThis is Ugoma Adegoke of The Life House culture hub in Lagos, photographed while engrossed in Lola Shoneyin's reading last Saturday. She's also one of the few thoroughly modern women with whom I share an everyday iro-and-buba aesthetic. Run by Ugoma with her husband Dayo, The Life House has provided sanctuary for many a culture vulture since its inception. The place is just lovely, and everythingWordsbodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17965726929008839788noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32275650.post-60010302039005370342011-12-19T12:53:00.008+00:002011-12-19T13:18:10.868+00:00Lola Shoneyin returns to The Life HouseAfter the Unoma Azuah book launch on Saturday, it was a mad dash across Lagos to The Life House on Victoria Island for a set of readings by Lola Shoneyin. One session could be no more different from the one that followed, as the author engaged young ones first with her children's book, 'Mayowa and the Masquerades'. There were lots of whoops, dances and all sorts that kept the children interested Wordsbodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17965726929008839788noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32275650.post-42829452803520691082011-12-19T12:06:00.015+00:002011-12-19T12:47:19.602+00:00From the launch of 'Edible Bones'Writer Unoma Azuah launched her second novel, 'Edible Bones' at the National Library, Yaba, Lagos on Saturday Decemer 17. The author of 'Sky High Flames' a novel, 'The Length of Light', a short story collection and earlier poetry collection 'Night Songs' - is over from the US for the publication of her latest book, published by Ogochukwu Promise's Oracle Books. In attendance were Azuah's fellow Wordsbodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17965726929008839788noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32275650.post-22139054174390300062011-12-18T18:38:00.016+00:002011-12-18T20:07:03.648+00:00'World Of Our Own' There's a new short story anthology out by FEMRITE the Uganda Women Writers' Association. Hilda Twongyeirwe, coordinator of Femrite, is the editor of the new book, titled 'World Of Our Own' afte:r one of the stories therein.The editor's intro to the anthology begins: "FEMRITE presents herein African Women's voices, resulting from the second African Regional Women Writers' Residency held in Wordsbodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17965726929008839788noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32275650.post-84212388959679205692011-12-17T11:38:00.004+00:002011-12-17T11:57:52.668+00:00Unoma Azuah launches 'Edible Bones' todayYaba is staking its claim as another hub of literary activity in Lagos, on the Mainland as opposed to the island arts-monopoly to boot. There's the monthly Book N Gauge for a start. There are 2 events in Yaba this after and here's the one I will be attending. One has to attend of course, it's Unoma Azuah's launch event for her second novel, 'Edible Bones'. The launch is many months in the Wordsbodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17965726929008839788noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32275650.post-86112453689468804402011-12-17T10:40:00.013+00:002011-12-17T11:35:36.219+00:00Chistopher Hitchens 1949-2011Above, the Christopher Hitchens memorial page by Vanity Fair, which announced his death from oesophegeal cancer yesterday. British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg was quoted by the BBC as saying, "Christopher Hitchens was everything a great essayist should be: infuriating, brilliant, highly provocative and yet intensely serious." My longish tweet, posted yesterdayYes, Christopher Hitchens could Wordsbodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17965726929008839788noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32275650.post-87675733464147974092011-11-19T05:50:00.003+00:002011-11-19T06:04:09.485+00:002nd AWW Symposium continuesThe 2nd African Women Writers' Symposium continues today and tomorrow. Programme for the 2 days, below.The Second African Women Writers’ Symposium 20119am -5pmVenue: Windybrow Theatre , Cnr Nugget and Pietersen Street, Hillbrow, JoburgDAY 2: Saturday 19th November 2011 9 – 10.30amOPENING PANEL: Women writing and the women’s movement: “Speaking out, Sisterhood, solidarity and the worldliness of Wordsbodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17965726929008839788noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32275650.post-5121194716240774512011-11-18T22:45:00.028+00:002011-11-19T01:33:19.293+00:002nd African Women Writers' Forum The 2nd African Women Writers' Symposium kicked off today in Johannesburg. The theme of the symposium is 'Dream, Speak, Read, Reclaim - Being African in the World'.South Africa's Mail & Guardian newspaper marked the 3-day event with an 8-page special supplement on the symposium. At the opening event today, M&G's Arts Editor said the newspaper sees as part of its role "some sort of Wordsbodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17965726929008839788noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32275650.post-6758377162074324932011-11-18T11:39:00.012+00:002011-11-18T12:05:56.361+00:00LABAF Programme13 Lagos Book and Art Festival Programme DATE: FRIDAY 18 - 20VENUE: FREEDOM PARKTIME: 9am - 6pm dailyDAY 1: FRIDAY (November 18)(9 am, Hall 2) My Encounter with the Book (Kiddies’ Segment) by Tunde Babawale, Director General CBAAC) -- a motivational talk to kids kicks open the kiddies’ segment of the festival.Opening Glee -- Yoruba Ronu, by Crown Troupe(11am-1pm, Hall 1)The Festival Colloquium (IWordsbodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17965726929008839788noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32275650.post-63120031286639798282011-11-18T11:22:00.005+00:002011-11-18T11:39:11.624+00:0013th Lagos Book & Art Festival opens today The 13th annual Lagos Book and Art Festival (LABAF) opened today at Freedom Park, Broad Street, Lagos. There was a Publisher's Forum, Publishing In The Age Of Microchip, yesterday at the Goethe Insitutute, Lagos, by way of a preamble. LABAF 2011 is on from today to Sunday 20th November. Futher info below:Babawale To Open The Lagos Book FestivalTunde Babawale, the professor of political economy Wordsbodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17965726929008839788noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32275650.post-38872882815833727522011-10-10T22:11:00.016+01:002011-10-10T23:20:01.571+01:00Relive Fela at Glastonbury 1984Joy on YouTube. Over an hour of vintage Fela at Glastonbury in 1984. Lots of hypnotic Afrobeat classics to nod and sing along religiously to as though no greater truth was ever told in the lines of a song. No greater truth, period. 'Teacher Don't Teach Me Nonsense' 'Confusion'... I have a strong feeling I saw this film on Betamax in the 80s (only it wasn't titled 'Fela at Glastonbury' then), and Wordsbodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17965726929008839788noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32275650.post-65660502775194147872011-10-09T22:42:00.015+01:002011-10-10T21:12:09.445+01:00Joyce Carol Vincent - a life in fragments Nothing I've read recently has moved me more than this story of a woman who died in her bedsit in London, undiscovered for three years. The window remained open, plates sat in the sink, mail piled up at the door, Chritsmas presents unopened and the TV on - while she faded into skeletal remains on the sofa.What is more desperately sad, that someone could die this kind of lonely death in the Wordsbodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17965726929008839788noreply@blogger.com29tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32275650.post-76958193668348451912011-09-19T19:22:00.022+01:002011-10-09T22:42:33.130+01:00Rushdie's got us all a-twitterOK. What could be more amazing than finding Ben Okri on Twitter and learning that "Ben will be here from time to time to share his poetry and writing, but otherwise this page is maintained by Rider Books"?It's finding Salman Rushdie. The author of 'Midnight's Children' is on Twitter and rearing to go.It began when @SalmanRushdie1 wrote on his twitter account, "With some trepidation, I am Wordsbodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17965726929008839788noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32275650.post-14371208110334033322011-09-19T15:39:00.058+01:002011-09-19T20:53:38.657+01:00Teju Cole on twitter"Of what import are brief, nameless lives to Galactus?" Teju Cole has the answer. The author of Open City, currently working on a non-fiction book on Lagos, has been reading Nigerian newspapers and found himself drawn to the little stories, the big and small tragedies of ordinary people. So, he started recasting the stories on twitter in the tradition of the fait divers, a project he has Wordsbodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17965726929008839788noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32275650.post-40371365665423558642011-09-16T22:53:00.005+01:002011-09-17T00:21:07.079+01:00Viva Riva! in Lagos tomorrowVIVA RIVA! the stylish Congolese film that scooped 6 AMAA statuettes earlier this year, kicks off a new monthly screening collaborative project between iREP Film Forum and the Goethe Institut Lagos. Set in Kinshasa, Viva Riva! was directed by Djo Tunda Wa Munga and stars Patsha Bay Mukuna, Manie Malone and award winning Marlene Longage. Violent and explicit, the film tells the story of Viva, a Wordsbodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17965726929008839788noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32275650.post-64828509639521512092011-09-16T21:07:00.044+01:002011-09-16T22:22:47.383+01:00Christy Essien-Igbokwe goes homeTony Okoroji holds a burial programme with the late Christy Essien-Igbokwe's image at the singer's funeral on Saturday September 10. Next to him is talk show host Bisi Olatilo.Nigeria's 'First Lady of songs was buried with much pomp on Saturday September 10, after a week of commemorative activities including celebrity football match, a divas concert and a lying-in-state at the National Theatre. AWordsbodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17965726929008839788noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32275650.post-81553425485637384022011-09-16T07:46:00.022+01:002011-09-16T08:26:31.053+01:00Achebe floors 50 CentThe literary world has been abuzz over news that novelist Chinua Achebe forced rapper 50 Cent to change the title of his new movie, Things Fall Apart – because it’s the same as that of Achebe’s celebrated novel.
On the inside, Nigerian writers argued over what many suspected to be a hoax. After all, you cannot copyright a title, or can you? Plenty of songs, short stories, books and yes films – Wordsbodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17965726929008839788noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32275650.post-47254590632540849112011-07-27T23:09:00.079+01:002011-07-28T02:26:59.335+01:00Readings, writing and 'African Writers'The Life House on the night of E.C Osondu's reading. Photo by Olushola Aromokun. More images here.Was at E.C Osondu's reading at The Life House last Friday. It was a mostly inner-core writers' audience, which made for a somewhat sharp edged spiritedness sometimes. Artsville columnist and all-round arts-man-about-town Toyin Akinosho came in at some point and straightaway fired a volley of Wordsbodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17965726929008839788noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32275650.post-16936797428117059082011-07-23T17:55:00.012+01:002011-07-23T22:05:09.193+01:00They tried to make her go to rehab - she said No, No, No Amy Winehouse, troubled singer of the great 'Back to Black' album and the now eerily prescient hit single Rehab, found dead in her London flat today at 4pm local time.It's been years in the making. We kind of saw it coming, and one should grieve at the loss of a unique talent. But Winehouse didn't love herself it seemed, didn't pity herself, didn't feel any gratitude for the immense gift God in Wordsbodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17965726929008839788noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32275650.post-10894810026908869932011-07-20T22:59:00.015+01:002011-07-20T23:35:41.257+01:00The E.C has landed 2009 Caine Prize winner E.C Osondu is in Lagos for a series of readings for his book, Voice of America, a collection of short stories published locally by Farafina. Here he is photographed earlier today by Femi Adebesin-Kuti. Artist/writer Victor Ehikhamenor and I were on hand to join in series of fun photographs with E.C and his friend, Emeka. The real business starts Friday when Osondu kicks Wordsbodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17965726929008839788noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32275650.post-18032047525226341332011-07-19T00:19:00.012+01:002011-07-19T00:49:08.089+01:00Soyinka Child of the ForestAkin Omotoso's 2008 documentary film, Soyinka, Child of the Forest, once shown on DSTV as part of the Great Africans Series, is showing at The Life House, Lagos, this Thursday. I'm actually in this film... Details of Thursday's screening, below. EVENT- Screening of The Great African Series - Wole SoyinkaDATE - 21 July 2011 ThursdayTIME- 7.30pmVENUE - The Life House, 33 Sinari Daranijo Street, offWordsbodyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17965726929008839788noreply@blogger.com3