Arts & Books

The rafters are afire and the roof is aglow. Good sound burns with sweetness as Gerald Eze, the master performer of Oja, the air-blown instrument of the Igbo, releases his…

The Christmas season in Awka, the capital city of Anambra State, is being kicked into focus by a momentous art exhibition tagged “Clean Slate”. The ever-innovative Awka Museum Foundation situated…

Dear Teacher & Pagan (To Wole Soyinka) Dear teacher and pagan, With prim fronds I thee wed. Is there palmwine in Paradise? The homy spirit unbinds, And the grotto of…

The Nigerian Revolution and the Biafran War…The Aftermath by Alexander A. Madiebo; ArtRelated Limited, Lagos; 2022; 495pp When this book, The Nigerian Revolution and the Biafra War, was first published…

The celebrated season of the Nigeria Prize for Literature always ends on the note of winner-takes-all. It is incumbent on me to plead now that the longlisted and shortlisted authors…

Nigeria is celebrated in the world because Nollywood ranks as the third largest moviemaking enterprise after America’s Hollywood and India’s Bollywood. It’s indeed remarkable that one of the elite movies…

It Is A Goal! No! – The Necessity of Biafra by Hanum Mary Chioke; ISBN: 978-978-977-670-2; 2018; 259pp   Man’s existence on earth can be understood like a football match…

Bandits and Beggars by Kunle Adebajo; Lantern Books – Literamed Publications Ltd, Lagos; 2008; 111pp It is an everlasting truism that when brothers and sisters fight to the death, strangers…

A Lifetime of Friendships: And a Career in Television and Nollywood by Muritala Sule; MS Global Productions Limited; 2019; 242 A Lifetime of Friendships is the enthralling memoir of Muritala Sule,…

(Excerpt from the Prologue of the novel The Missing Link by Uzor Maxim Uzoatu, published by Abibiman Publishing, UK)   I am the missing link between ape and man. I…

A Destiny Fulfilled by Ben Egbuna; Diamond Publications Ltd, Lagos; 2021; 387pp It reads stranger than fiction that Ben Egbuna visited a prophet of what he called one of the…

Big Brother Naija is back in town, and you do not need any prophet to predict that raunchy sex will soon be coming live and direct on live TV. It’s…

I played the oja to the intro of Prof Laz Ekwueme’s “Obi Dimkpa”. This music urges one to “move about with a brave heart”. There is no Western musical instrument…

On July 3, the award-winning poet, Amu Nnadi, was hosted in Awka to a literary evening of poetry reading, drama and musical performances that also featured James Eze and Greg…

50 Years Of Solo Performing Art In Nigerian Theatre: 1966-2016 edited by Greg Mbajiorgu and Amanze Akpuda; Kraft Books Limited; Ibadan, Nigeria; 2018; 614pp The commonplace belief is that drama…

The House My Father Built by Adewale Maja-Pearce; Kachifo Limited (Farafina Kamsi), Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria; 2014; 175pp The essayist and critic, Adewale Maja-Pearce, writes in the recently released reprint of…