Pictures taken during Ibadan Book Club February Reading which featured Diipo Fagunwa as her Guest Writer/Reader

 PICTURES TAKEN DURING IBADAN BOOK CLUB FEBRUARY READING

 

Books are meant to change Lives – Foluke Sijuwola Falayi, IBC Guest Writer/Reader of the month

 

BOOKS ARE MEANT TO CHANGE LIVES – FOLUKE SIJUWOLA FALAYI, IBC GUEST WRITER/READER OF THE MONTH

 

Foluke Sijuwola Falayi has written over twenty (20 books). Some of her titles include: The Slave Girl in the Palace, Flub, Bond, Ugo and Ify at Christmas, The Little Prince and The Sluggish Servant, The Rainy Day, Ada in Port Harcourt, Trouble in the Exam, The Last Penny, The Pride of Parents, A Night at Edet’s House, One Two Three Poetry, Beans for Supper, Akeju’s Turnaround, The Gift from Ibadan and Sam Goes to College. In this interview with Wole Adedoyin, she shares with him brief facts about her life and writing career.

 

 

WA: WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO START WRITING?

FSF: I will just say it is providence, to cut a long story short.

 

WA: HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN WRITING?

FSF: I have been writing since my secondary school days, informally anyway.

 

WA: WHEN DID YOU START WRITING?

FSF: I started writing officially over a decade ago. My debut book was published in 2008. I started writing that particular book in 2004.

 

WA: HAVE YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO BE A WRITER?

FSF: No, initially, I didn’t want to. I was afraid I won’t be able to make a living out of it.

 

WA: WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE A NEW WRITER, SOMEONE JUST STARTING OUT?

FSF: If you desire to be a writer, you must have passion for the art. It is the passion that will propel and keep you going before any proceeds. You must also master the craft, writing is a craft. You must be an avid reader. Know the genre you are writing about.

 

WA: HOW DO YOU HANDLE WRITER’S BLOCK?

FSF: I take time off.

 

WA: HOW MANY BOOKS HAVE YOU WRITTEN?

FSF: I have written over twenty books.

 

WA: WHAT IS THE MOST SURPRISING THING YOU DISCOVERED WHILE WRITING YOUR BOOK(S)?

FSF: The more you work on your manuscript the finer it gets. Never rush your work.

 

WA: WHO IS YOUR FAVOURITE CHARACTER?

FSF: I have favourite characters not just one.

 

WA: DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE CHARACTER THAT YOU HAVE WRITTEN? IF SO, WHO? AND WHAT MAKES THEM SO SPECIAL

FSF: I love Tonye, a female character in Sam Goes to College. I love Atikah, a little female Hausa girl in Repose- they are prototypes of what is right, what every female should be. They stand for equality, they are knowledgeable and frown at any form of relegation.

Reverend Moses/Obinna in the Reverend’s Daughter exemplifies fairness, integrity, reformation and discipline our society needs.

Sanni, in The Headmaster’s Boy, Tomobi in Unbending Steel,Ete in A Night at Edet’s House- they are male architypes of patience, hard work and endurance. Nothing comes cheap in life.

 

WA: WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR INSPIRATION?

FSF: I get inspirations anywhere and everywhere. God, the giver of all gifts lavishes it on me without restrain.

 

WA: WHERE CAN READERS PURCHASE YOUR BOOKS?

FSF: Through me and our marketing team.

 

WA: WHERE CAN READERS FIND OUT MORE ABOUT YOU AND YOUR BOOKS?

FSF: Through our website and email address: jedsweetha@gmail.com. https://jedidiahsweetha.com.ng

 

WA: HAVE ANY OF YOUR BOOKS BEEN MADE INTO AUDIOBOOKS?

FSF: We are yet to make audio books.

 

WA: IF SO, WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES IN PRODUCING AN AUDIO BOOK?

FSF: We have not gone into that, therefore we have not experienced any challenge in that line.

 

WA: WHICH OF YOUR BOOKS WERE THE MOST ENJOYABLE TO WRITE?

FSF: I find all my books pleasurable to write perhaps for the passion I have for it.

 

WA: TELL US ABOUT YOUR FIRST PUBLISHED BOOK?

FSF: My first book was published in 2008. It is entitled Bond. It raises a question of time healing old wounds. It tells a story of love, grief, repentance, restoration and forgiveness. It has many literary elements for a first time author which made reviewers in different states,  ministries of education approved it to be read for years.

 

WA: WHAT WAS THE JOURNEY LIKE?

FSF: The journey has been interesting, exciting and full of encounters just like any other profession.

 

WA: WHAT, IN YOUR OPINION, ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT ELEMENTS OF GOOD WRITING?

FSF: Study the grammar of the language; word classes, figures of speech and the rest. Study your genre and understand the point of views.

 

WA: WHO'S YOUR FAVORITE AUTHOR OF ALL TIME?

FSF: I have favourite authors not just one author possibly because of my first course of study; English and Literature, the themes, imagery and symbols inherent in some of the books I studied in school. The books I read as a university undergraduate was innumerable; Nigerian Literature, African Literature, American Literature, European Literature and other kinds.

I will mention some of my authors and books of all time: Buchi Emecheta’s Second Class Citizen and The Joys of Motherhood, Wole Soyinka’s Kongi’s Harvest, The Lion and the Jewel, A Play of Giants and others. Femi Osofisan’s  Midnight Hotel. I read Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart as a little girl. I remember, I read it over and over and proceeded to read his, No Longer at Ease, A Man of the People and Arrow of God. Amos Tutuola’s The Palmwine Drinkard, Niyi Osundare’s Selected Poems, Festus Iyayi’s Violence, Elechi Amadi’s The Concubine, Zaynab Alkali’s The Still Born, Ayi Kwei Armah’s The Beautyful Ones Are Not yet Born, Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s The Grain of the Wheat, The Trials of Dedan Kimathi,Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus and Americanah, these are some of my favourite works and authors.

Foreign works and authors like- Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, Charles Dickens’ Hard Times, Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness,James Baldwin’sGo Tell It on the Mountain, Jane Austen’s -The Pride and Prejudice and the first English Literature Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe. I celebrate these authors, the dead and those who are still living.

 

WA: ON YOUR LATEST BOOK TITLED “REPOSE”, CAN YOU SHARE WITH US SOMETHING ABOUT THE BOOK.

FSF: My latest work is entitled- Repose. It promotes female education. It talks about gender equality. Female children must be educated. They have right to education.

 

WA: WHAT WAS THE INSPIRATION FOR THE STORY?

FSF: I got inspired while I studied and prepared for my postgraduate exam in Feature Writing. There was an article I read and I couldn’t go on reading until I made a sketch of flashes coming to my mind on a little brilliant Hausa girl. She loves education, doing well in school but her father has another plan; to give her out in marriage due to ignorance and financial gain.

 

WA: WHAT IS THE KEY THEME AND/OR MESSAGE IN THE BOOK?

FSF: Female education and a child’s right to education.

 

WA: WHAT DO YOU HOPE YOUR READERS TAKE AWAY FROM THIS BOOK?

FSF: Shun ignorance and embrace knowledge. Education is light; get it for it is a candle that shines into what you do. Be determined to succeed. Refuse to stay in darkness. Be an agent of positive change in your sphere of life and everywhere you find yourself.

 

WA: WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE TITLE?

FSF: After a man’s desire or goal has been met there comes a rest, repose.

 

WA: HAS A BOOK EVER CHANGED YOUR LIFE?

FSF: Yes, books are meant to change lives.

 

WA: WHAT GENRES DO YOU LOVE?

FSF:  The three genres of Literature, I love them.

 

WA: ARE THERE ANY GENRES YOU DISLIKE?

FSF: No.

 

WA: WHAT AUTHOR (WHO IS STILL LIVING) WOULD YOU DEARLY LOVE TO MEET?

FSF: Any of the authors I mentioned earlier who is still alive.

 

WA: DO YOU LIKE TO DISPLAY YOUR BOOKS ON A BOOKSHELF OR KEEP THEM IN A VIRTUAL LIBRARY?

FSF: Both are okay by me.

 

WA: DO YOU PREFER FLASH FICTION, SHORT STORIES, NOVELLAS, OR NOVELS?

FSF: A writer must be versatile without any preference.

 

WA: WHAT BOOK CAN YOU RECOMMEND TO ME?

FSF: I will recommend Born for the Riverside and other Radio Plays by Ayodele Ojurongbe.

 

WA: WHEN DID YOU LAST VISIT A LIBRARY?

FSF: I was there in year 2020. Every author ought to have library at home.

 

WA: HAVE YOU EVER HAD A CRUSH ON A BOOK CHARACTER?

FSF: Yes.

 

WA: HAS A BOOK EVER MADE YOU LAUGH OUT LOUD?

FSF:  Yes, a couple of times.

 

Ibadan Book Club Set to host Foluke Sijuwola Falayi for her March Book Reading

 

IBADAN BOOK CLUB SET TO HOST FOLUKE SIJUWOLA FALAYI FOR HER MARCH BOOK READING

 

Ibadan Book Club (IBC), has set aside March 27, 2021 to host Foluke Sijuwola Falayi as her Guest Writer/Speaker for the month of March.

A statement from Wole Adedoyin, the founder of the Club, said that the event will take place at the Press Council Hall, Beside Olori Hostel, North Campus of The Polytechnic, Ibadan by 12p.m.

Foluke Sijuwola Falayi’s books have received starred reviews in national dailies. She bagged a BA in English from the University of Ado Ekiti. She also read Mass communication at the National Open University of Nigeria School of Postgraduate Studies. Her books are recommended and approved by ministries of education in some south west states of Nigeria. She is a celebrated author whose books have been greeted with great éclat, read and used as part of curriculum books. She hones her writing skills by attending writer’s conferences, seminars and training globally. She lives with her family in Lagos Nigeria.

Foluke Sijuwola Falayi has written over 20 books. Some of the books written by the author are: The Slave Girl, Flub, Bond, Ugo and Ify at Christmas,The Little Prince and The Sluggish Servant.

Others are The Rainy Day, Ada in Port Harcourt, Trouble in the Exam, The Last Penny, The Pride of Parents, A Night at Edet’s House, One Two Three Poetry, Beans for Supper, Akeju’s Turnaround, The Gift from Ibadan and Sam Goes to College.

The upcoming book reading event promises to be an avenue for reading creative works such as poetry, fiction, book sales and signing, contacts with other readers and book writers in all corners of the state of Oyo, the statement added.

Prospective writers who have works in poetry, short stories and novels can also attend to read their works to other writers and readers. Membership forms and certificate of membership will be available at no charge to first timers.

Ibadan Book Club is an initiative of the Nigerian Young Writers Society. It was founded in 2011 by SYNW in order to contribute its own quota to the growth and development of the Reading Culture in the State of Oyo.

The Ibadan Book Club consists of a group of people who meet, meet periodically to discuss the book they have read and exchange those books. Club members encourage each other and learn to read with a critical mind, articulating their opinions about a particular book with others. Certain types of books not available or read receive attention through the book club.

Some of the publications published by Ibadan Book Club are: Olubadan Centennial Anthology: a collection of essays, articles, poems and works of art in honor of Oba (Dr.) Samuel Odulana, Odugade 1, Voices from Oja Oba Market and Finally, Senator Abiola Ajimobi: Memories, Dreams, Reflections of a Mind Always in Motion.

Ibadan book club holds reading today February 27, releases the review of Diipo Fagunwa’s book “Ifewumi, the travails of Inulayewa”

 

IBADAN BOOK CLUB HOLDS READING TODAY FEBRUARY 27, RELEASES THE REVIEW OF DIIPO FAGUNWA’S BOOK “IFEWUMI, THE TRAVAILS OF INULAYEWA”

 

Ibadan Book Club (IBC) has finished preparations to host the only surviving son of the late Yoruba literary sage, D.O. Fagunwa, Mr. Diipo Fagunwa today February 27, 2021, in Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State.

A statement by Wole Adedoyin, one of the conveners of the reading said the event will take place at the Race Course Amphitheatre, Opposite Recreation Club, inside Adamasingba Stadium by 12PM prompt.

Uncle Diipo, as fondly called by his fans, is a fantasy writer like his late dad. He is the founder and Chief Executive of Elderly Care and Support Services (ELCASUSE). He was formerly a lecturer in the Department of Continuing Education, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.

Diipo Fagunwa is also the author of a book titled, “Ifewumi, the travails of Inulayewa”. He is going to read from the book.

BOOK REVIEW: “IFEWUMI, THE TRAVAILS OF INULAYEWA”

Reviewer: Tunde Fagbenle

The story of Ifewunmi the protagonist of Dipo Fagunwa’s new book, IFEWUNMI, is one long encyclopaedic narrative of life and man’s foils and foibles, dreams and ambitions, successes and failures, love and malevolence; and, at the end, the triumph of goodness and innocence over evil machinations and man’s inhumanity to man.

The story is long and winding because of Dipo’s ambitious attempt to cover almost all imaginable circumstances of life and their contradictions in his biblical preachment of values for the reader to borrow a leaf or two from.

Although written in English but the book is essentially Yoruba folklorist in an unmistakable voice of Dipo’s late father, the iconic pacesetting Yoruba author Chief D. O. Fagunwa of blessed memory.

Early in the book Dipo regales us with a eulogy to palm-wine reminiscent of the late dramatist, Kola Ogunmola’s Palm-wine Drinkard, that ran for 3 pages and ends with this ode:

            “The friend of ages, the balmy drink of time

            The lathery imbibe of generations to come

            You have my respect.

            Non-drinkers are simply suffering.”

Dipo continued: “Palm-wine was my best friend, but meat toasted my throat. Tilapia seduced my spirit but catfish was jealous because mackerel was around so I prostituted with stock-fish who pitched its tent with pepper-soup. If you saw me you would want to be my friend. I was in another world. I was happy, contented and fulfilled.”

Replete with English rendition of Yoruba poetry, proverbs, and parables, Dipo demonstrates his mastery of Yoruba language and competence at their narratives in the English language. Describing the mood on the day Oroowole (Ifewunmi’s father) died:

“It was a day sadness took over our lives and men looked morose

and spent; children cried and their parents wailed; women banged

their heads against walls and men rended their clothes in public.

Pets were sad and refused to eat; dogs could not bark, fish went

down the deep, chickens could not come home to roost and goats

of the neighbourhood walked around with their heads bowed in

sadness. They had lost their stubbornness. Everyone was sad and

it was not difficult to know that a nobleman had gone and a gem

was lost. That was the day the cock crowed after a great man, the

valiant hunter went to the wild but never returned and the elephant

hunter held his gun but could not fire. Oroowole travelled on that

day to the land beyond, a place of no return where elders meet and

mortals are not allowed to engage with them except in dreams.”

Such is the captivating, even if at times salacious, language of IFEWUNMI, story of a lovesick hero that traverses the world (his world) in search of his kidnapped lover who is under the evil spell of his deranged friend turned foresworn enemy who is on perpetual run with his captive in an unending chase full of breath taken misses and maddening ironies.

Dipo has showed himself a master of improvising names that depicts the character:

“I am Inulayewa, a native of Ilakose. My father, Olowo Igbo…

My mother was Itunu Okan. She was from the home of Inurere.

My mother’s elder sister was Itelorun the wife of Igbadun from

the homestead of Suuru…My grandfather was Ifoya, the husband

ofIfedaru from the home of Aibale Okan where Inunibini is the

head of the family. Ifedaru had two children for Ifoya. The first

was Olowo Ibinu who was the husband of Idamu Aye and the

second was Olowo Igbo who was my father…”

 

Such apronym technique dominates the story such that almost no single character bears a name that does not take from his or her personality. And so you have such names as Kogberegbe, Ilenikuwa, Idamuaye, Folafoko, Inudidun, Ajedubule, Inulayewa, Mojereife, Ahonnirowa, Ajokomande, Agabagebe-obirin, Oyeparapo, Imodotun, Ogbonsayeko, Ikaseyi, Esandetan, and so on and so forth. The names are deep Yoruba contrivances that thankfully for non-Yoruba speaking readers are translated (explained) in the glossary at the end of the book.

The story is an epic of the proportion of the Greek classic Hercules or D. O. Fagunwa’sIrinkerindoNinu Igbo Elegbeje. Indeed it is tempting to conclude that D.O is speaking from the grave through his son, Dipo, but in the English language.

Today’s book reading event promises to be an avenue of book and poetry reading, Spoken words, book sales and signing, networking with fellow book readers and writers across the nooks and crannies of Oyo State, the statement added.

Upcoming writers who have works in poetry, short stories and novels can also attend to read their works to fellow writers and readers. Membership forms and Certificate of Membership will be made available free of charge to the first timers.

Ibadan Book Club is an initiative of Society of Young Nigerian Writers. It was founded in 2011 by SYNW in order to contribute its own quota towards the growth and development of Reading Culture in Oyo State. Ibadan Book Club consists of group of people who get together, periodically meet to discuss the book they have read, and to exchange such books. The members of the club encourage each other, and learn to read with a critical awareness, articulating their opinions on a particular book with the others. Certain types of books not available or read receive attention through the book club.

Few of the publications published by Ibadan Book Club are: Olubadan Centenary Anthology: A Collection of Essays, Articles, Poems and Artworks in honour of Oba (Dr.) Samuel Odulana, Odugade 1, Voices from Oja Oba Market and lastly Senator Abiola Ajimobi: Memories, Dreams, Reflections of A Mind Always in Motion.