By Emiola Olushola
The three day 12th Lagos Book and Art Festival (LABAF), ends today with the Art Stampede, which will feature writers and public intellectuals addressing the theme, Folklore in Literature, Drama and Film.
The Stampede is a quarterly gathering of artistes, culture workers, art patrons and enthusiasts to discuss matters of common interest, especially as it concerns state and fortune of the arts and culture sector. It began in June 1991 and has continued to hold every quarter since then.
According to the organisers, today’s edition, which wraps up the three-day yearly festival, will feature a panel talking on “the presence or absence of folklore influences in the literature and film of our time.”
Among the books to be discussed are The Adventures of Sugarcane Man, Femi Osofisan’s adaptation of D.O Fagunwa’s Ireke Onibudo; Praying Mantis by Andre Brink; The Hidden Star by Kabelo Sello Duiker and Allah Must be obliged by Ahmadou Korouma.
Aside the Stampede however, the general programme of the festival continues including musical and theatrical performances, readings by authors, book presentations as well as the Green Festival, which is the children segment coordinated by CATE (Children and The Environment) and supported by the Committee for Relevant Art (CORA), CAFÉ Scientifique Nigerian Chapter and a group of artists and cultural workers.
Yesterday was indeed a load of fun for the children drawn from both high-brow private schools and public educational institutions. The environment was painted in green being the thematic colour of the Green Festival, which is to get the children interested in matter of caring for the environment.
A live band serenaded the audience, including the children, with rock and soul music even as the little ones, mostly students, were busy with their various workshops.
Parents who have the reading future of their kids at heart also brought them to witness and participate in such events as readings, conversation around books, art and craft and kiddies workshop. It was books, music, theatre, Art and drama, and fun galore for the kids.
The occasion was graced by such eminent workers in the writing vocation such as Dr. Tony Marinho, a poet and medical doctor ; the publisher of Evans, Dr. Gbenro Adegbola, Mr. Laurent Vanden elst and Mr. Benoit Fricaud.
Gbenga Adewole of Nelson Publishers Ltd, one of the exhibitors and participants, lauded the programme, saying it was organised to bring excitement into publishing and also to showcase the talent of authors, especially creative writers.
Adewole, also spoke on the new initiative of the Nelson Publishers called ‘Nelson Fiction series’, which, he said would be of immense advantage to young and unsung writers. Fiction writers can now write and be sure of their works being published with quality publicity to back its promotion, promised Nelson Publishers.
This initiative, Adewole stressed, is to encourage writers to keep writing and also have the support of publishers.
Through the initiative, writers have been given the green light to forward their fiction to Nelson publishers Ltd, where every year, six of the creative works will be published and publicised regardless “of who you know in-house”, says Adewole.
Back to the children segment, a challenge was thrown to the kids with the session ‘Talking books’, which brought two authors to speak on their books. The first author, Ruby Igwe , daughter of popular filmmaker, Amaka Igwe, was a challenge to the children to take matter of book seriously. Ruby wrote her first book titled ‘The Land of Kalamandahoo’ at the age of 12. Now 15 years old and in her final year in Green springs school, Ruby advised the children to cultivate the habit of reading as it would help them a lot in future.
The second author, an adult, Sola Alamutu, who co-wrote the book ‘ The African gray parrot’ advised the children that “it is possible to read without writing but not possible to write without reading.” She said if the kids want to be good writers they should read and also write.
The festival ends today at the Terra Kulture, Victoria Island, with the performance of Dr Onukaba Adinoyi Ojo’s The Killing Swamp, which he wrote in honour of the late Ken Saro-Wiwa, who was killed in 1995 by General Sani Abacha’s government. The play is directed by Woe Oguntokun and features the cast and crew of Renegade Theatre, the regular performers at the Theatre @ Terra. The play holds at 3 and 6pm, every Sunday in November.
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