ktravula – a travelogue!

“We Trust That We’re Investing in a Good Cause” | Kudo Eresia-Eke of the NLNG

The General Manager External Relations for the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG), Dr. Kudo Eresia-Eke, is a regular face at the annual announcement of the Science and Literature Prizes endowed by NLNG. He, naturally, has a number of strong opinions on the prize, as well as deep knowledge on the breadth of NLNG’s commitment to the Nigerian project via its Corporate Social Responsibility.

He told me, in this interview, that the NLNG has sponsored numerous scholarships across Nigeria and has also built world-class laboratories in six universities across Nigeria, including a vocational centre in Bonny. He also mentioned the commitment of NLNG to build a “Mini Dubai” in the city of Bonny in the Niger Delta, among others. These are things I didn’t know before.

There were a number of other things I wanted to know, including whether the NLNG is committed to retaining the Science and Literature Prizes at $100,000 (it used to be $20,000, $30,000 and $50,000), and whether the Science Prize is a reward or an incentive.

His responses were frank and incisive. Watch.

I also found out on this day that Dr. Eresia-Eke himself is a creative writer. I asked him about this in the video below.

Watch the previous interviews here. 

“We Trust That We’re Investing in a Good Cause” | Kudo Eresia-Eke of the NLNG was published on October 8th, 2017, with the tags , , , under the Interview, Literature, Poetry category. There are currently 1 comment on this article so far.

“Every New Environment Has Its Own Inspiration” | Interview with Tanure Ojaide (video)

Professor Tanure Ojaide, author of Songs of Myself (review here) is an accomplished and prolific writer with 20 collections of poetry and countless awards to his name. He has been at The University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC) since July 1990 where he is the Frank Porter Graham Distinguished Professor of Africana Studies, but he has lived in Ilorin, Kwara State, now for a couple of years – a fact I didn’t know until I got to speak to him for this series.

In this conversation, I ask him about a number of things including the transition from living, working, and publishing around the world to settling back into the Nigerian environment in a deliberate attempt to capture a new home audience. I was also very interested in his use of Urhobo language and poetic style in his work.

The interview was the longest of the three writers, but it has been edited here for brevity.


Read the previous reviews, and watch previous interviews, here.

 

“Every New Environment Has Its Own Inspiration” | Interview with Tanure Ojaide (video) was published on October 4th, 2017, with the tags , , , , , , , under the Interview, Literature, Poetry category. There are currently 3 comments on this article so far.

Interview With Professor Ben Elugbe (video)

Professor Ben Elugbe is on the Advisory Board of the NLNG-sponsored Nigeria Prize for Literature and has been for many years.

He is a Professor of Linguistics and a former Head of Department of the Department of Linguistics and African Languages, University of Ìbàdàn where I was once a student. He taught me phonology. He is one of the most important authorities in African linguistics. (I co-edited a book of language essays on his honour in 2011). He is also a former President of the Nigerian Academy of Letters, and President of the West-African Linguistic Society (2004-2013).

In this interview, I interrogate him about the Nigeria Prize, his role as a member of the advisory board, his opinion on the prize itself and the entries this year. I also ask him about the controversy surrounding this year’s longlist and shortlist, particularly of the accusation that one of the judges ran a publishing house in which one of the longlisted books was published. He had some interesting responses.

Watch his response and the full interview below.


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This is the continuation of a series of interviews about the 2017 Nigeria Prize for Literature. Read more about it here, and read a review of each of the books on the shortlist (as well as the schedule of the release of future interviews) here. The prizewinner will be announced on October 9, 2017.

Interview With Professor Ben Elugbe (video) was published on October 2nd, 2017, with the tags , , , , , , under the Interview, Linguistics, Literature, Poetry category. There are currently 1 comment on this article so far.

NLNG 2017 Literature Prize Interviews and Reviews

As promised, over the last week, this blog has featured reviews of the shortlisted work on the 2017 NLNG Nigeria Prize for Literature (Poetry), as well as interviews with the shortlisted writers, and the prize coordinators. You can now read and watch them here, below:

Monday, September 25, 2017: A Review of A Good Mourning” by Ogaga Ifowodo

Thursday, September 28, 2017: A Review of Songs of Myself by Tanure Ojaide

Sunday, October 1, 2017: A Review of The Heresiad by Ikeogu Oke

Monday, October 2, 2017: Conversation with Professor Ben Elugbe, member of the advisory board of the Nigeria Prize (video)

Tuesday, October 3, 2017: Conversation with Ogaga Ifowodo, author of A Good Mourning (video)

Wednesday, October 4, 2017: Conversation with Tanure Ojaide, author of Songs of Myself (video)

Thursday, October 5, 2017: Conversation with Ikeogu Oke, author of The Heresiad (video)

Friday, October 6, 2017: Excerpts from each of the collections (video)

Sunday, October 8, 2017: Conversation with Kudo Eresia-Eke, General Manager, External Relations for NLNG (video)

Monday, October 9, 2017: Prize Announcement/World Press Conference.

Update: October 9, 2017: Ikeogu Oke’s The Heresiad is the winner of the 2017 Nigeria Prize for Literature. 

The intention behind this effort was to help engage the community of writers and give visibility to each year’s shortlist as a way to better improve the prize through conversations and constructive criticism. The end game, of course, is the hope to stimulate an improved culture of reading and appreciation of literature around the country.

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NLNG 2017 Literature Prize Interviews and Reviews was published on September 27th, 2017, with the tags , , , , , , , , , , under the Interview, Literature, News, Poetry, Poetry, Review category. There are currently 6 comments on this article so far.