6th CORA Publishers’ Forum holds on Nov 12, focuses on fiction

 Information reaching us stated that all is set for the 6th Committee for Relevant Art Publishers’ Forum.

Slated to hold on Thursday, November 12, 2015 from 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM (WAT), the 6th 

At Goethe-Institut Nigeria, Catholic Mission Street, Lagos, Nigeria, the forum. According to its organisers, is aimed at publishers only and it is for those who want to understand new trends in their industry.

“Trade publishing in Nigeria tends to over-emphasis literary fiction to the neglect of genre fiction such as romance, crime, sci-fi and young adult (YA) fiction.  We know that genre fiction is the economic backbone of the publishing industry the world over and the groundswell upon which most readers cut their teeth. This year’s forum will look at how publishers can explore genre fiction as a way to diversify their list as well as the opportunities afforded by digital technology in contributing to the success of genre fiction.  Our expert speakers will explore some of the following issues: the importance of genre fiction to building a good publishing list; why genre fiction continues to determine the success of ebook; how to build a new audience for digital editions; how to use Twitter to build a community and drive book sales; gaming as a vehicle for storytelling; and subscription as new form of selling books and reaching a wider audience,” they said.

 Speakers include: Managing Director and Publisher at Cassava Republic Press, Bibi Bakare-Yusuf ; Game Developer at Genii Games, Adebayo Adegbembo; Okechukwu Ofili, Okada books; Gersy    Digitalbackbooks; and Elnathan John.

 “The Publishers’ Forum was conceived in 2010 to provide a space for publishers in Nigeria to gain critical insight into their current operations within the context of the challenges facing their industry, brainstorm on their findings and identify key steps that can be taken as individual businesses or as a collective to improve their bottom line. At CORA, one of our goals is to build capacity and knowledge in the Nigerian creative industry space.  By helping to build publishers’ skills, we hope to support the development of the nation’s publishing industry. Financial support and partnership is from the Goethe Institut. This event is free with limited space available.”

Quramo Publishers interrogates African Protest Writing at LABAF

Event: Authors’ Convention

 Theme: Writing Protest Literature

Reviewing, discussing and interrogating texts dealing with the theme

(Followed by a ‘Drinks Reception’)

Date: Saturday November 14, 2015

Time: 6pm

Venue: Esther’s Revenge lounge, Freedom Park, Lagos

(Sponsored Panel by Quramo Publishing Ltd)

Synopsis:

Protest Writing is narrowly defined to mean writing that takes a direct radical position on social issues, the texts selected for this discussion embrace work that conducts an objective examination of social issues. 

Post-independence writing in Africa is largely characterised by writing that sought to examine the African condition and covered themes including slavery, negritude, colonialism, apartheid and the liberation struggle and the place of the African in that time as in Chinua Achebe's Arrow of God. Since the first flurry of such writing in the 1960s and 1970s, much of that work has petered out due, ironically to the challenges of nationhood the newly independent countries faced - corruption, a corruption of ideologies or the caught in the crosshairs of the Cold War.

It appears a new form of protest writing is emerging - one that provides a clinical post-mortem of colonisation and its role in African history as in Olasupo Shasore's Possessed or provides a commentary on the state of African governance as in Okey Ndibe's Arrows of Rain.

This panel will review The Beautyful Ones Are not Yet Born (Ayi Kwei Armah), Arrow of God (Chinua Achebe), Arrows of Rain (Okey Ndibe) and Possessed (Olasupo Shasore, SAN).

Quramo Publishing is an independent media company committed to producing the highest quality content for our various audiences. Our company’s portfolio includes the following imprints: Q Books, The Kuramo Report, and CLRN Direct.

Four writers selected for Lagos Theatre Festival 2016

As part of UK/Nigeria 2015–16, Lagos Theatre Festival 2016 will take place at several venues on Lagos Island and the mainland. This was revealed in a press statement made available to Newswatch Times by the British Council.

According to the statement, the Festival, with a curated programme running alongside a fringe strand of affiliated performances allowing a greater than ever number of artists and audiences to take part in August, to support emerging playwrights, it sought submissions of scripts for the Festival, asking for plays that reflect the experiences of young people living in Lagos today.

“In addition, in September, renowned British practitioners Angela Davis, David Evans, Martin Hunt and Auriel Martin delivered a series of workshops in Lagos around production design, stage management, front of house and fringe participation. All were geared towards capacity building for the Lagos Theatre Festival 2016. At the same time creative writing workshops led by Dr Tunde Awosanmi, Ita Hozaife, Wole Oguntokun, Tunji Sotimirin , Wana Udobang and Ahmed Yerima worked to develop the shortlisted plays.

“We are now happy to announce the names of selected writers whose plays will be performed as part of Lagos Theatre Festival: Bode Asiyanbi, Atinuke Aweda ,Paul Ugbede and Olubunmi Familoni. They will have their manuscripts transformed into productions to be performed on stage during Lagos Theatre Festival in 2016 from 23–28 February.”

Director Arts, British Council Nigeria, Ojoma Ochai, said: “We are thrilled to be able to create opportunities for young, talented playwrights in Nigeria. They should all feel really proud that their work was outstanding amongst the competition. I can’t wait to see how they are brought to life as part of Lagos Theatre Festival 2016.”

UK/Nigeria 2015–16 is a major season of arts in Nigeria aimed at building new audiences, creating new collaborations and strengthening relationships between the UK and Nigeria.

GCUE Promotions announces the arrival of her new event series

 GCUE Promotions has announced the schedule of events concerning its programmes. This is coming up after the successful Media launch and private showing, which held at the events hall, Niger Palace Hotel, 1, Thorburn Avenue, on October 10, 2015.

Tales from the days of Old: A folktale evening, according to them, is an evening of theatre, music, drama, social interaction and personal expression. It is a family friendly themed event with special emphasis on live acoustic expressions alongside natural instruments.

 The launch was well attended by private guests, members of the media and saw a series of interactive performances by the audience, a story-telling session by Femi Famutimi, a story teller and script developer.

 “Tales from the days of Old: a folktale evening, is scheduled to have a series of performances by the production team and a wide range of performers. The tale of Agbalujala, which was performed by our 10 man production team, will be run on two weekends in November; the 14^th and 28^th for a varied audience selection with tickets available for early purchase. Showing dates and schedules for further productions, can be seen via our website, which is currently under development: Tickets can be bought in groups. Information will be readily available on our website, social media platforms and information channels.”

“World Press Photo inspires understanding of the world through photojournalism”

Refugee crowd

Paul Ruseler

BY ADA DIKE

There are a group of people working in the media all over the world that their job is tell stories and disseminate information with pictures. They are the photojournalists.

In a bid to encourage photojournalists and celebrate them, with around 100 local exhibitions produced every year, the World Press Photo exhibition tour of prize-winning photographs, the most popular traveling photo event in the world, every year, holds a competition for them and celebrate the winners.

We learnt that thousands of entries are entered by photojournalists yearly. During the 58th World Press Photo contest, 97,912 photos made by 5,692 photographers from 131 different countries were selected. 

WHY I VISITED BUHARI -JONATHAN

Former President Goodluck Jonathan’s Monday visit to President Muhammadu Buhari was to brief the later on the just-concluded general elections in Tanzania, his aide has said.
The aide said that having being flown to and from Tanzania by an aircraft from the presidential fleet, Jonathan was at the Presidential Villa to thank Buhari for the gesture and also brief him on his trip.

“There was nothing unusual in what he (Jonathan) did. It is customary for aircraft from the presidential fleet to fly former president’s embarking on such international assignments. The visit was a gesture of courtesy,” he stated.
The visit, the second since he conceded defeat and handed over to Buhari on May 29, 2015, had caused a stir as reporters at Aso Rock Villa scrambled to interpret the move.
http://therecorderng.com/why-i-visited-buhari-jonathan/

EBOLA SURVIVOR, DR ADA IGONOH GIVES BIRTH TO BABY GIRL

World Health Organization, Centre of Disease Control, LA County  present at the birth   View this email in your browser

First Consultant Medical Centre officially announces that resident staff and Ebola Survivor, Dr. Ada Igonoh gave birth to a baby girl a few hours ago.The baby girl weighing 9 pounds 1 ounce was born at the Greater El-Monte Community Hospital, California. Dr. Igonoh is the only female medical doctor to have survived the deadly disease. Since her conception, Dr. Ada has been placed under medical surveillance to ensure that her child is Ebola-Free. The baby, upon birth, has been certified Ebola-free. To mark this wonderful news, the staff and friends of First Consultants Medical Centre are jubilant in celebration as they welcome a new lease of life to the institution and in memory of fallen colleagues and Survivors of Ebola. The World Health Organization, in concert with the Centre for Disease Control, formally declared Nigeria Ebola-Free on October 20, 2014.

Osinbajo Attends Wedding Ceremony Of His "Son" In Enugu State

Photos!!Osinbajo Attends Wedding Ceremony Of His "Son" In Enugu State http://goo.gl/bM9pIz

AMBODE INAUGURATES CHAIRMEN, MEMBERS OF COMMISSIONS, BOARD IN THE STATE

AMBODE APPOINTS EX-AIG AS NEW LASTMA CEO

In a bid to revamp the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) for improved performance and better relations with the public, the State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode on Monday approved the appointment of retired Inspector General of Police, Mr. Christian Akioja Olakpe as the new Chief Executive Officer of the agency.
The Appointment of Olakpe, according to a statement signed by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Habib Aruna, is in strong response to the consistent complaints by the public on the situation of traffic on the streets of Lagos.

Olakpe’s wealth of experience was said to have situated him for the new appointment.
Governor Ambode, it would be recalled, had approved the appointment of a new General Manager for the Authority, but the decision to appoint a seasoned former AIG as the CEO of LASTMA was further said to have been necessitated owing to the fact that the impetus expected with the previous appointment was not fully actualized due to the docile nature of the headship of the Authority.
Olakpe is a graduate of Sociology and Anthropology from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, Jos.
Retired AIG Olakpe joined the Nigeria Police Force in 1982 and traversed various commands including Bayelsa and Plateau where he served as Commissioner of Police.
He was also the Deputy Commandant of the Police Academy, Kano and Commissioner of Police of the Explosive Ordinance Disposal Unit, Lagos.
A Member of the International Association of Bomb Technicians (IABT) and the International Association of Chiefs of Police (ICAP), Olakpe rose to become Assistant Inspector General of Police before his retirement in 2014.

BUHARI, JONATHAN IN A MINUTE MEETING IN ASO ROCK

Former President Ebele Goodluck Jonathan on Monday visited President Muhammadu Buhari at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Buhari and Jonathan met behind closed doors at the New Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa for just five minutes.

The former president arrived the State House at exactly 2.00pm in a black Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV).
On his arrival, Jonathan headed straight for the New Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa.
The former president was seen off the venue of the meeting by President Buhari at 2.07pm.
Jonathan left the Presidential Villa without talking to journalists.
This was the second time Jonathan would be visiting Buhari since the latter assumed office on May 29.
The former president had paid a private visit to President Buhari at his official residence on August 6.