 |
| Mrs Kalango, CEO with Chinedu Amah, Head of Communication PHWBC |
Few days to the commencement of Port
Harcourt’s tenure as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) World Book Capital 2014, its hosts have been working
tirelessly and have completed pilot programmes.
At an interactive session with the media at
Freedom Park in Lagos recently, the President of the Rainbow Book Club, Mrs.
Koko Kalango revealed that the Port Harcourt World Book Capital 2014 year-long
programme would kick off with a week-long of activities lasting from Tuesday,
April 22 to Saturday 26 April 2014, but the main opening ceremony would take
place on Wednesday, April 23, 2014, which is the United Nations (UN) World Book
and Copyright Day.
Similarly, a statement made available to
Daily Newswatch, hinted that all hands are on deck to deliver the programmes in
the bid that was submitted to UNESCO.
The pilot phase of the programme, according
to the statement, included the test run of book clubs and reading tree as well
as the Walking Book in Rivers State. “A book donation drive and participation
in CARNIVRIV (the annual Rivers State Carnival) were part of the effort to
sensitize resident of the city to the World Book Capital project.”
The statement further stated that on the
day of opening ceremony, when Bangkok hands over to Port Harcourt, the keynote
address would be delivered by Nobel Laureate Professor Wole Soyinka.
“The opening ceremonies would include
celebrities reading to children, interactive sessions with some of Nigeria’s
most important author, a dance-drama directed by award winning playright Bikiya
Graham-Douglas. Bikiya, a Port Harcourt girl, is currently in the city scouting
local talent to participate in this drama titled “Along Came the Book,” which
traces the role of information sharing from our oral tradition to the written
word, culminating in the Port Harcourt World Book Capital. There would also be
the public presentation of “The Walking Book,” a communal story on the Sights
and Sounds of Rivers State written by children from across the 23 Local Government
Areas of the state. Finally, visitors to Port Harcourt would be treated to the
warm Rivers hospitality which includes the display of a boat regatta and
excursion to Songhai Farms,” the statement revealed.
The statement also highlighted key
components of the opening ceremonies, such as international literature
exhibition from Tuesday, April 22 to
Thursday, April 24, 2014. “Embassies and foreign missions in Nigeria, local and
international book festivals, literary awards bodies, as well as key partners
and stakeholders in the book chain industry have been invited to participate in
this three- day exhibition which will showcase literature and literary efforts
from around the world. Visitors would enrich their global perspective by a visit
to this exhibition tagged “It’s a Small World After all”.”
In
the same vein, a Hay Festival initiative which it carries out with World Book
Capitals - with Bogota in 2007 and Beirut in 2010, titled: “Africa 39,” features writers from Africa,
South of the Sahara. “This project comprises the selection and celebration of
39 writers under the age of 40 who have the potential to define the literature
of an area or language. The research to arrive at the names of the authors was
carried out by Kenyan author Binyavanga Wainana. A long list of about 100 names
emerged from screening of the over 200 entries from Africa and the diaspora
responded to a call that drew participation from authors, publishers,
academics, libraries, readers and so on, around Africa and the diaspora. The
panel of judges, who selected the final 39 where Elechi Amadi, Margaret Busby
and Tess Onwueme.
“The 39 writers would be commissioned to
write for an anthology to be published by Bloomsbury with foreword by Nobel
Laureate Wole Soyinka. Ellah Allfree will edit the Africa 39 anthology. The
list of the 39 would be unveiled on the first day of the London Book Fair on
April 8, 2014 and announced at during the opening ceremonies of the Port
Harcourt World Book Capital programme.
“The 39 authors have been invited to the
Port Harcourt Book Festival 2014 which would be mainly dedicated to the ‘Africa
39’ project. At this year’s festival the authors would converge in PH for a
week of reading, debates and discourse around the city. Thereafter, they would
participate in Hay festivals around the World.”
About 12 books have been carefully selected
to feature in each of the months of the year. “Based on our general theme of possibilities,
these books will be the subject of discussions on partner electronic and print
platforms. A play based on each book would be staged through the year. Books
for the first six months are: Arrow of God by Chinua Achebe in April, The Great
Ponds by Elechi Amadi in May, This Child Shall be Great by Ellen Shirleaf
Johnson in June, Ake by Wole Soyinka in
July, Tomorrow
Died Yesterday by Chimeka Garricks in August and Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Adichie
in September.
In continuation, the statement revealed
that 300 teachers have been trained to run book clubs and reading tree
programme. “In preparation for the PH WBC programme, over 300 teachers from
public and private primary and secondary schools around Port Harcourt are
attending training sessions to equip them to run Reading Tree and book clubs
over the WBC year. The Reading Tree is a graded reading scheme that requires
participants (senior secondary school students) to read a book a week. Weekly
book clubs are held where the children, with the guidance of a facilitator,
discuss the book they have read and fill it in work books that have been
prepared for this purpose.
“Having successfully completed the pilot
Walking Book, in Rivers State, the National Walking book programme has kicked
off. The Walking book involves writing on the Sights and Sounds of a particular
region by children who live there. The World Book Capital is working with Unity
Colleges around Nigeria on this project. 10 students from the Junior Secondary
School section of each of the participating schools would work with their
teachers to write about their states. The stories would be collated, published
and presented at the annual Port Harcourt Book Festival in October. The
national Walking Book began its journey from Port Harcourt, the UNESCO World
Book Capital 2014 around the South South States (February, 17-21), then the
South East States (February, 24-28) followed by the South West States (March,
3-7). Also, the Walking Book has toured the North West (March, 10-14), the
North East (March, 17-21), then the North Central States (24-28 March) and
finally it would journey back to Port Harcourt, World Book Capital, at the end
of March.”
Port Harcourt was announced as the World
Book capital by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) last year after it defeated Oxford in the United Kingdom
and Moscow in Russia amongst others.
According to the UNESCO panel that made the
final decision, "The City of Port Harcourt was nominated World Book
Capital 2014 on account of the quality of its programme, in particular its
focus on youth and the impact it would have on improving Nigeria's culture of
books, reading, writing and publishing to improve literacy rates" says the
panel of judges who reviewed all the nominations.”
No comments:
Post a Comment