National Daily

Writers meet on Chinua Achebe and Aime Caesair

AS June 17 marks the exact 50th anniversary celebration of Africa's novel book of pride by Prof. Chinua Achebe, the founding father of the Association of Nigerian Authors, and the acclaimed “Father of African Literature, its Centre of Excellence chapter in Lagos sees a connection in the artistic vision of Chinua Achebe and the earlier artistic and cultural ambition of Aime Caesaire as conceived in Negritude in the defence of Africa; at its Saturday June 14 reading:

Theme: Continuities in African defence: From Aime Caesaire to Chinua Achebe. Aime Caesaire was the first to invent the word: Negritude as a student in the university and was to pursue it as a concept capable of confronting and shielding the African culture and personality from the cultural assimilation and erosion of racism and colonialism.

In April this year, Aime Caesaire, the Martinique but France based poet, writer and Pan Africanist culture activist passed on at the good old age of 91. “Between what the older African worker, poet and statesman Aime Caesaire did side-by-side with the late Senegalese poet-president, Seder Senghor on the African sense of self”, says Mr. Chike Ofili, the Chairman of the Association of Nigerian Authors, Lagos,” and what novelist Chinua Achebe relay raced on another track, bears a long line of continuity in redeeming the African self and pride from continuous erosion of self worth and place on this shared earth.”

For the author of Our Unspoken Ties, Ofili says “this link should never be severed by writers and artists for personal indulgences or the newly invading and erasing power of globalization, they should continue to have them cultural mediated by local content.”

ANA Lagos is therefore resurrecting the essence and place of Negritude and how Chinua Achebe's balancing act in empathetic and sincere moderation and projection of the African worldview meet at the 50th anniversary celebration of the classic: Things Fall Apart on Saturday June 14 at the National Gallery of Arts-wing of the National Theatre at 2pm, where the association meets every second Saturday of the month.

There, Mr. Chinweizu the profound and world acclaimed writer and Pan Africanist, and the Director of the French Cultural the Director of the French cultural Centre Nigeria, Mr. Joel BERTRAND, will be drawing the connections under the moderating supervision of Dr. Reuben Abati, Journalist and Chairman, Editorial Board of the Guardian.

Other exciting segments of the special event, is the eminent presences of Mr. Pete Edochie who played the demanding character of Okonkwo, and Mr. Justus Esiri (OON) who played Obierika in Things Fall Apart adapted into film. They shall be regaling the invited public with re-enactments of their roles and shedding some light on the concept of characterization from the actor's eyeballs.

The guest writer for the day is the ANA-Jarcaranda prize winner,Odili Ujubuonu whose novels, Pregnancy of the gods and his latest, Treasures in the Wind bring back to us the celebration of all things bright and beautiful in Africa .

Writers and readers who have letters of appreciation for Chinua Achebe for giving Africa and the world a book that delivered and showed the way as earlier made public, are invited to come and read them. The “Thank you Chinua Achebe Letters are to be sent to chikeofili@yahoo. com, or P.O.Box1565, Shomolu, Lagos , against the end of June deadline as they are billed for presentation in November when Achebe shall be 78.