(Being excerpt from the Committee for Relevant Art, CORA’s statement at the Book Party for the 11 laureates on the longlist of the 2023 Nigeria Literature Prize, NPL, held Sunday, August 7, at the Shell Hall, MUSON Centre in Lagos).
‘Drama is perhaps the least fashionable writing genre in Nigeria.The Nigerian writer is firstly a poet, then a novelist or short story writer, meaning a prose stylist.Then he is grudgingly a dramatist and also grudgingly children story writer, either’
A WARM welcome to our guests of honour; the distinguished shortlisted authors for the prestigious Nigeria Literature Prize and their families
I crave the indulgence of the Chairman Board of Trustees CORA, Chief Kayode Aderinokun and members of the CORA Board of Trustees, the CORA Governing Board as well as the leadership of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited.
Welcome our friends, book lovers, book readers, literary enthusiasts, plain well-wishers and everyone here present, to the 14th edition of the Book Party organized by the partnership of CORA-The Nigeria Prize for Literature
The last time we got together was August 6, 2022 at Eko Hotel; it was a celebration of the shortlisted writers for Poetry.
We are here because a profitable Nigerian gas company decided that a way to spend some share of its profit is to enable the Nigerian reading space.
I want to congratulate NLNG Ltd who are currently expanding their factory by 35% for the opportunity that the global market for gas continues to provide them, so that they have the incentive to continue to sponsor the Prize.
The NLNG runs the largest midstream hydrocarbon plant in Subsaharan Africa and it is a dutiful payee of taxes into the Nigerian treasury.
As you all know, the Nigerian writer is firstly a poet, secondly a prose fiction stylist, thirdly a dramatist and fourthly, sometimes a children literature writer.
The first Book Party, which took place in the scenic seaside premises of the Goethe Instititut on Victoria Island in 2010, was organized after a review of the first five years of the Prize (2004-2009), in response to calls that the prize should do more than a glamourous Gala night in which one author got rich, but the Nigerian book trade and literary scene as a whole didn’t seem elevated. Sympathizers of the award argued that the NLNG Ltd, through NPL, could not alone wipe out the entrenched challenges of the Nigerian literary landscape.
CORA decided to help out. We asked the question: Why don’t we organize book readings, in which the top laureates come out to engage with audiences?
For what is the worth of the riches when you don’t have an audience?
Nothing beats a Book Reading; an event at which an author sits and discusses his work with readers in the room.
The Book Party is one of the series of events in our Calendar that preface our Annual Lagos Book and Art Festival (LABAF). The theme, this year, is The RESET: History and a Darkling Plain
This year, CORA has determined three initiatives that extend this book reading to more than today
- CORA has returned to regularly featuring the BOOKTrek, a periodic Book Reading programme at Book stores and culture spaces. It’s a periodic author-audience interface, featuring readings, reviews and discussions of select books of searching historical and contemporary insight. We have had six Book Treks this year and trust me; the texts are all significant. We have hosted Vincent Maduka to readings from his REEL LIFE: My Years Managing Public Service Television; Simon Kolawole’s Fellow Nigerians: It’s All Politics; Ben Egbuna’s Destiny Fulfilled (Posthumous); Musikilu Mojeed’s The Letterman: Inside the ‘Secret’ Letters of former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and Uche Nwokedi’s A Shred of Fear and Wole Soyinka: Selected Poems. The BookTrek It is part of CORA’s extension services, aimed at deepening Literary Appreciation and Audience Engagement with the published text.
- Regardless of who wins the NPL this year, this afternoon’s laureates are invited to the BOOK TREK segment of this year’s LABAF, to share their work with Festival attendees. They will also be hosted to readings in the week after LABAF.
Permit me to repeat our invitation to you all to participate in the Lagos Book and Art Festival, from November 14-20, 2022, at the Freedom Park in Lags Island. The theme again: Pathways to the Future.
Whoever wins the NPL is the most literate Nigerian in the year of his winning.
The Nigeria Prize for Literature is the biggest cash prize award for a literary competition on the continent. On the street, today, $100,000 will deliver N86Million.
The prize money makes the competition to be as keen as some of the most prestigious lit prizes on the planet, but what writers want, primarily, is to distinguish themselves with magical writing and gain a wide audience in the event.
Simply put: the recognition is important.
We are going to have an exciting time this afternoon, engaging with this star-studded cast of writers. Let us enjoy the moment.
Again, let me crave the indulgence of the CORA Board of Trustees to invite all the laureates here, regardless of whoever wins the prize, to the 25th Lagos Book and Art Festival in November.
Toyin Akinosho, Secretary General
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