Pictures taken during the official launch of Labake Isale Eko and other plays written by Dr. Usman Oladipo Akanbi

Pictures taken during the official launch of Labake Isale Eko and other plays written by Dr. Usman Oladipo Akanbi

2018 ANA Yusuf Ali Literary Awareness capacity building Workshop holds on Friday 20th of April, 2018.

2018 ANA Yusuf Ali Literary Awareness capacity building Workshop holds on Friday 20th of April, 2018.

ANA’s Meeting of Chapters’ Chairmen and Secretaries holds next day

The Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) will on Friday, 20th of April 2018 holds her first ever literary awareness capacity building workshop in Ilorin the capital of Kwara State.

ANA in a memo signed by its National President, Mallam Denja Abdulahi , the said workshop and other events lined up for the day are designed for 15 selected chairmen of ANA chapters and national executive council members focusing on ‘innovations in contemporary literary awareness campaigns’ which will be conducted in order to deepen the execution of the project in the coming years. The workshop which will also have as participants four journalists will be facilitated by Dr. Wale Okediran, Izuchukwu Okeke and Mrs Funmi Ilori. Special Guest of Honour to the workshop will be Prof AbdulRasheed NA"Allah, the VC of KWARA State University, Malete and Yusuf Ali(SAN).

It would be recalled that ANA secured the 2018 ANA/Yusuf Ali nationwide literary awareness campaign grant of N3,000,000 in early February of this year, which was donated by Yusuf Ali (SAN), an Ilorin-based legal practitioner, author and philanthropist.
Though the first phase of the grant has been deployed to facilitate a comprehensive media supplement on the projects executed over the years since 2012 to date.

The memo hinted further that since the inception of the grant in 2012, it had been variously channelled towards the promotion of literature across the state chapters of the association. Of note is the last year’s grant which was used to publish three children’s literature titles under the Nigerian Writers Series (NWS).

Mallam Denja Abdulahi further disclosed in the memo that these books have since been distributed across the chapters of the association to power ANA‘s ‘A-Book-A-Child’ nationwide project, flagged off last year at the 36th International Convention of the association in Makurdi, Benue state.

Speaking on the donor, Mallam Denja said, “Since Yusuf Ali in 2015 promised to sustain the annual grant to ANA for life, it is incumbent on ANA to continue to innovate to make the project impactful from year to year."

ANA Mourns the demise of Chief Elizabeth Fagunwa

ANA Mourns the demise of Chief Elizabeth Fagunwa

The National President of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Mallam Denja Abdulahi has commiserated with the Fagunwa family over the passing on of the matriarch of the family, Chief (Mrs.) Elizabeth Fagunwa at the age of 85, saying she deserved to be celebrated in all ways possible for promoting and keeping the literary legacy of his late husband alive until her death.

Denja Abdulahi stated this in a press release signed and issued in Abuja yesterday stressing that he was glad that the Late Chief (Mrs.) Elizabeth Fagunwa died upholding and supporting the cause of her late husband, Chief D.O. Fagunwa.

Before her death, Chief (Mrs) Elizabeth Fagunwa was an active stakeholder in Fagunwa Foundation, a foundation founded to promote the literary works of the Late Chief D.O. Fagunwa.

The concluding part of the release reads “My heart goes to the immediate and extended family of the Late D.O Fagunwa, I equally pray the Almighty God grant them all the fortitude to bear the irreplaceable loss.”

Download the electronic Poster of 2018 ANA-FUNAI International Conference & Creative Workshop

Download the electronic Poster of 2018 ANA-FUNAI International Conference & Creative Workshop

                                                                                                                                                   

Calabar Study Group to celebrate Prof Joe Ushie with a Conference

Calabar Study Group to celebrate Prof Joe Ushie with a Conference

Joseph Akawu Ushie, a renowned Nigerian poet of the third generation and a leading scholar of African literature at the University of Uyo, is set to be celebrated by the Calabar Study Group with a conference billed for the25th – 28^th April,2018 at the University of Calabar, Cross River, State. The conference that was advertised earlier in the year is themed Joe Ushie @60:Otherness, Marginality and Social Justice.

Joe Ushie is one of the strong voices that have, by their consistency and creative industry, established their identities in the canon of Nigerian poetry  in the millennium. Along with other poets in his generation, Joe Ushie has provided the creative trough that defines contemporary Nigerian and recent African literature at large. Characterised by a peculiar lachrymal tone, definitive of the poetics of his generation, Joe Ushie poetry is unique for its compelling eco-consciousness and intemperateness with the social injustice of the present day Nigeria. That eco-concentricity is, In turn, steep in the idiom  and cultural mores of his Bendi people of South-South Nigeria.Beyond his poetry ,Joe Ushie has committed himself  to the creative revival of  his people’s folk performance and systemitazing them for a new world. 

This can be seen in his patronage and investment in creating two different Bette-Bendi women and men performance troupes- “Litong” and Bendi Traditional Marriage Theatre.

Joe Ushie has been a long –standing member of the Association of Nigerian Authors(ANA) where he had used his experience and expertise to mentor a lot of young and upcoming writers to become compelling writers and scholars. He was one-time chairman of the Association of Nigerian Authors’ chapter in Akwa-Ibom when the chapter hosted its 31^st International Convention in 2012. He has served the Association most diligently in several capacities and the apogee being his co-editing two(2) land marking commemorative books on Chinua Achebe’s works with the current President of ANA, Mallam Denja Abdullahi in 2009 and 2017 respectively. The said books are Themes Fall Apart and the Centre Holds(2009),commemorating the celebration of the 50^th Anniversary of the publication of Things Fall Apart and Arrows or Gods ? Essays on the Leadership Question in Chinua Achebe’s Arrow of God (2017) which also marked the 50^th Anniversary of the publication of the Achebe book in 2014.

The Proposed conference has as confirmed Keynote Speakers and Lead paper presenters,  Prof Obododimma Oha(University of Ibadan),Prof Oyeniyi Okunoye (Obafemi Awolowo University,Ife) and Prof. A.S Adagboyin (Ambrose Ali University).

The Association of Nigerian Authors(ANA) hereby identifies with this milestone celebrative conference in honour of one of its brilliantly dedicated member and enjoins members of the Association in the South –South axis and beyond to find time to attend this important conference to honour one of our own.

Denja Abdullahi

President,ANA