The director of the stage adaptation of the Lọlá Shónẹ́yìn’s The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives, Mr. Fẹmi Elúfowójù Jr., sent me these pictures from Workshop Production last month in London. The Elufowoju jr Ensemble will be meeting with the Theatre Royal in a couple of weeks with a view to discussing securing a firm and positive decision re a full co-production for later this year.
The adaptation was written by Rótìmí Babátúndé.
Ibadan, November 3, 2012, at the event to honour the winner of the 2012 Caine Prize.
Photos from the event.
As a symposium participant in an event at the Draper’s Hall, University of Ibadan, at the weekend to celebrate the work of Rotimi Babatunde, winner of the 2012 Caine Prize for African Writing, I made a few points regarding the distinguishing features of Rotimi’s work, and the opportunity it offers for emerging writing. More importantly, the way it conforms to the already established trends in great storytelling.
In craft, Bombay’s Republic distinguishes itself by being able to re-tell a story already told in a longer form in Biyi Bandele’s Burma Boy in a different form, and from a different angle. This is not an easy feat. As a contribution to history, the work also moves between fiction and real life in a way that is not only authentic, but also affecting. Like Eleshin Oba in Wole Soyinka’s famous Death and the King’s Horsemen, and Okonkwo in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, the main character in Bombay’s Republic lived at a crossroads of a certain time in history and automatically assumed the perils and rewards of such serendipitous existence.
As a contribution to language, I made note of my most fascinating discovery, made close to the end of the story, that the author had not used quotation marks at all throughout the text of the short story. That I discovered this towards the end of the piece only added to the interesting point that unlike what prescriptive grammarians would have us believe, our brains usually process text in chunks rather than as individual pieces of written information. Quote marks, as good as they are, and as aesthetically pleasing their presence on the page might me, fade in significance if a story can still be told, brilliantly as was in this case, without any use for their now rather annoying presence.
The event was hosted by a Committee of Friends, including Yomi Ogunsanya, Ropo Ewenla, Benson Eluma, Iwalewa Olorunyomi, et al. Other participants included Sola Olorunyomi (Author of Fela: Afrobeat and the Imagined Continent), Benson Eluma, Tade Ipadeola, Niran Okewole, Jumoke Verissimo (Author of I Am Memory), Biyi Olasope, Remi Raji (President of the Association of Nigerian Authors, and poet), Ayodele Olofintuade, and Olisakwe Ukamaka Evelyn.
EMERGING AESTHETICS IN NIGERIAN LITERATURE –
A CELEBRATION OF ROTIMI BABATUNDE WINNER OF THE CAINE LITERATURE PRIZE 2012.
Dear All,
This is to draw you into the circle of friends who are planning an event in honour of our dear friend ROTIMI BABATUNDE for his success in winning the Caine prize for African Literature 2012. Our intention is to use this forum to not only celebrate one of our own, who has been acknowledged as one of the best by others, we also feel strongly that this forum would provide an avenue for us to widen and further our discussion on the passion we share as writers, performers and as literary and culture advocates with Babatunde’s Bombay’s Republic as pointer.
1. Emmanuel Iduma, author of Farad
2. Ayodele Olofintuade, author of Eno’s Story
3. Olisakwe Ukamaka Evelyne, author of The Eye of the Goddess
4. Funmi Aluko
5. Imasuen Eghosa, author of Fine Boys
Date: Saturday, November 3, 2012
Venue: Drapper’s Hall, Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan, Ibadan
For further information/
Yomi Ogunsanya
08023904112/
Organizing Secretary
Ibadan has a special quality which makes it conducive to intellectual and artistic production. It is a big city like Lagos but, unlike Lagos which is chaos running on crack, it is sufficiently laid-back. Consequently, the city’s rhythm is amenable to reflective activity. And don’t forget that the city began as a war camp so Ibadan has always been a city of immigrants, a legacy which makes it welcoming to newcomers till date. It also has a vibrant, affordable and unpretentious social life; the history of highlife, fuji, juju, gospel and many other genres of music in Nigeria cannot be written without highlighting the importance of Ibadan’s bars, clubs and open-air joints to the artistic development of their major acts. And the city has long hosted the headquarters of most of Nigeria’s major publishing houses.
Add to this mix the city’s juxtaposition of age-long cultural traditions and contemporary urban culture, its easy accommodation of the significant percentage of Nigeria’s academic elite based in the University of Ibadan, University College Hospital (UCH) and the Bodija area alongside the artisans and petty traders living in the city’s interior quarters, not to talk of the colourful and controversial characters who have illuminated the city’s fascinating and occasional combustible political history, and one begins to understand why the city has been so prominent in Nigeria’s literary history. The prestigious line of writers with significant connections to Ibadan stretches from illustrious names like Amos Tutuola, Wole Soyinka, Christopher Okigbo, Chinua Achebe and J.P. Clark Bekederomo in the 1950s and 60s to vibrant voices of the present like Kunle Okesipe, Niran Okewole, Benson Eluma, Ayo Olofintuade, Tade Ipadeola and Ify Omalicha of blessed memory.
From my recent interview with Rotimi Babatunde, winner of the 2012 Caine Prize for African Writing. Full interview here.