‘Writers should be conscience of
society’
Writers have been urged to play more
active role in nation-building. To critics, authors are not doing enough in the
discharge of their duty to the society. They called for a more proactive
participation by them in nation-building, urging the writers to take a cue from
the likes of the late Ken Saro-Wiwa and the late Christopher Okigbo.
This plea was made at the Authors’
Groove during this year’s edition of the Nigeria International Book Fair (NIBF)
held in the University of Lagos (UNILAG). With the theme: Emergence of e-book
and the survival of physical book in Africa, the yearly fair featured sale and
various display of books spanning different disciplines of human endeavour,
exhibition, seminars and workshops.
According to the organisers, NIBF
seeks to promote reading culture and education and is a hub for bringing
together book companies, publishers, authors, literary enthusiasts and
booklovers under one platform. The Authors’ Groove organised by the Association
of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Lagos State Chapter, was one of the highlights of
the yearly fair.
ANA Lagos Chair, Mr Femi Onileagbon
said it is aimed at sensitising authors across the country while creating an
avenue where literary minds come together to devise a way of solving the
nation’s many problems from the literary point of view.
The event featured ace poet Odia Ofeimun;
an environmentalist and human rights activist, Adesola Alamutu; a teacher of
African Literature at the University of Lagos, Dr Chris Anyokwu; a writer and
medical doctor, Dr Eghosa Imasuen, Austin Njokwu (poet) and Dr Tola Ajayi.
Being a writer, Onileagbon said, is
more than a hobby, “but a profession”. He said: “It is high time, writers
started being more forthcoming about the discharge of their duty in the
society. Authors are not doing enough.”
Ofeimun urged the writers to defend
nobody, saying: “Anything you don’t like about the society or whatever change
you want to make, write about it. Writers should learn more on how to defend
their art and defend the society we write in. We should also learn to match
truth and duty, as these are the basics needed for effective
writing.”
Dr Chris Anyokwu noted that writers have the power to change the world through
their works. He, therefore, enjoined writers to borrow a leaf from the examples
of the late renowned writer and poet, Okigbo, who fought in the Nigerian civil
war, by being more active in nation-building.
“A writer is the imaginative
consciousness of the society and possesses greater intellectual power than the
common folks. And as such, the ruler and the ruled look up to him as a form of
moral barometer in the society. Hence, the role of the writer places him on a
high pedestal because it makes him a sort of a secular clergyman that can
be looked upon as a morally upright person,” he said.
While Njokwu observed that some
writers lead a completely different lives from what they profess, urging that
“writers should live what they write”, Alamutu said writers do more to document
historical events for future generation.
A mobile application named
Worldreader was another at the groove According to a team member of
Worldreader, Alexander Polzin, it seeks to bring the book closer to the people
by ensuring that regardless of their financial status, everyone gets access to
books. He spoke on the package’s usefulness, adding that it enables authors to
relate with other authors.
He said: “Worldreader is an
application which can work on any phone, but currently available on Java and
Android phones. It is currently in use in San Francisco, Barcelona, Accra,
Nairobi and just partnered with the ANA in making sure that Nigeria is not left
out in the digital publishing venture.”
