Maduako Igbokwe l Monday, Nov. 13, 2023
AWKA, Anambra – Presidential Candidate of Labour Party, Mr. Peter Obi and Anambra State Governor, Prof. Charles Soludo are expected to grace the Society of Young Nigerian Writers, Anambra State Chapter’s annual Chinua Achebe Literary Festival and Memorial Lecture.
Mr. Peter Obi is expected to deliver the 2023 annual lecture titled Ten Years After… Remembering Achebe’s Legacies in Today’s Nigeria” while Governor, Soludo would will be the Special Guest of Honour.
The event would be Chaired by Traditional Ruler of Obosi, H.R.H. Igwe Chidubem Iweka; the Traditional Ruler of Achebe’s hometown, Ogidi, H.R.H. Igwe Alex Uzo Onyido .
He will also grace the occasion as the Royal Father of the Day, among others.
The event will be graced by arrays of literary icons from within and outside the country, who will be storming Awka to honour the legendary Achebe.
The annual event is billed to hold on Thursday at Anambra State Central E-Library and who is who in the state and beyond are expected .
The Coordinator, Society of Young Nigerian Writers (Anambra State Chapter), Izunna Okafor, made this known in a statement on Monday in Awka Anambra state .
According to him, Chinua Achebe Literary Festival and Memorial Lecture, initiated in 2016 is on its 8th edition.
The literary annual event is designed to honour Nigerian literary icon, Late Prof. Chinua Achebe, and celebrate his life, works and legacies.
He stated that this year’s event will hold on Achebe’s birthday, November 16, 2023, at the Anambra State Central E-Library (also known as the Prof. Kenneth Dike State Library), Awka.
The programme starts at 10.am prompt; with many dignitaries and participants in attendance.
According to Okafor,the event will feature the 2023 Achebe Lecture, drama, spoken word poetry, announcement of the winners of the 2023 Chinua Achebe Essay Writing Competition (for secondary schools), special reading, award presentation, among other literary packages slated for the day.
He also stated that the occasion would feature the unveiling and presentation of the 8th Chinua Achebe Poetry/Essay Anthology, entitled “Anthills of Words (In Memory of Achebe)”, which is the association’s newest international anthology of poems and essays, published in honour of Achebe.
The annual international anthology, he explained, is one of the writers’ way of immortalizing Achebe, and contains poems, essays, and reviews written and submitted by writers from different countries of the world.
Okafor said the open-to-all event, event will be used to mark Achebe’s 93 posthumous birthday and ten years of his death.
Prof Achebe was born in November 16, 1930, hailed from Ogidi in Anambra State, and was a foremost Nigerian writer, critic, and author of Things Fall Apart. He died on March 21, 2013, at the age of 82.
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