Awka Literary Society has concluded plans to mark this year’s
St Valentine Season with an Open Microphone session that will fling the doors
of artistic and musical expression open in the South East of Nigeria.
The event which holds on February 13 in Havila Suites, Awka,
Anambra State capital is the first Open Mic session in the smithy city and
promises to draw an eclectic crowd of singers, poets, painters, storytellers, minstrels,
griots, flutists, dramatists and comedians under one roof.
The event essentially signals an auspicious start to the year
by the literary group whose debute outing last year represents a rupture in the
nation’s artistic landscape, leading to Nigeria’s first poetry festival (The
Return to Idoto) held in honour of the brilliant modernist poet, Christopher
Okigbo who died in the Biafran War.
Speaking on the coming Valentine Eve Open Mic session, one of
the co-founders of the group, novelist Odili Ujubuonu described it as a “creative
explosion to mark the feast of love and renew our humanity.”
According to him, Awka Literary Society wants to tap onto the
symbolism of the St Valentine Day to reawaken the age-old themes of love and
the pursuit of happiness which have remained eternal in spite of the ceaseless
onslaught of bitterness, hate and bigotry that plague our world.
“In addition to spreading love, we also want to fan the
embers of artistic enterprise in South East Nigeria. We started last August
with The Return to Idoto. It was a hugely successful outing for the Society. Now,
we are opening the year with an Open Mic session to celebrate our humanity and
open doors for a flowing of talents. In fact, if you are not at the Havila
Suites in Awka on Saturday evening, then you are on the wrong side of history”
Ujubonu declared.
Speaking further, the Ujubuonu revealed that the Society had
also made arrangements to ensure that established writers who are expected at
the event would look into the works of young storytellers, poets and dramatists
with a view to making critical interventions that would nudge them to the path
of growth.
The Open Microphone session which is expected to kick off in
the late afternoon promises to usher in a new phase of cultural awakening in
the South East as prominent novelists, poets and singers in the region have
already indicated their readiness to grace the event.
The event is a product of creative collaborations between the
Awka Literary Society and Anambra Broadcasting Service, Havila Suites, National
Light, Ifeadinmesi blog, Little Drops Media and Brand Aristotle.
No comments:
Post a Comment