The organisers of the Lagos Book and Art Festival have called
for entries for reviews of any one of five works of Ken Saro Wiwa's fiction and
drama.
The best review of either Sozaboy, A Forest
of Flowers, Adaku and Other Stories, Prisoners of
Jebs, or a joint review of Basi and Company and
Transistor Radio will receive a humble 100,000Naira prize money at the
opening day of the Festival, at Freedom Park, on November 13, 2015.
The competition is open to Nigerians aged between 18 and 41, that
is, those who were either not born, or were just teenagers or at most aged 21,
at the time of the death of this Nigerian Literary icon.
The entries are to be submitted to Mr. Toni Kan, chairman of the
panel of judges, on or before 5pm on November 6, 2015. Mr. Kan is the author of
Nights of The Creaking Bed and brand ambassador for the Samsung
Galaxy Note 5. Each review should be no more than 1,000 words and typewritten
and sent via email to tonikan11@gmail.com.
"The competition does three things", according to
Jahman Anikulapo, programme chairman of the Committee For Relevant Art(CORA),
organisers of LABAF, it serves to improve on the human infrastructure of
reading; there cannot be a robust literary/literacy subculture, or a book
market, without a vibrant review culture. The grounds on which conversations of
culture stands, in the Nigerian arts landscape today, is shaky.
“It also helps to memorialise Mr Saro Wiwa, to whom the theme of
this year's edition of the Festival is dedicated.
“And Finally, it is the foundation of CORA/LABAF Annual
Literature Review contest.”
Anikulapo added: “So much effort has been paid, by sundry
sponsors, to writers of books and less to the infrastructure of reading. CORA
fancies itself as a landscapist and as we have pioneered the idea of Book
Festivals with programme content, as opposed to book fairs in the country, we
also want to sow seeds in the area of getting whole communities, as opposed to
writers alone, to share in the joy of reading”.
No comments:
Post a Comment