The Abyssinian Boy

On sale at the Lagos Book Festival, The Abyssinian Boy by award winning writer Onyeka Nwelue is one of the books I'd like to read. Even though I have a feeling I don't like the author because of some things I have heard, I will give it a shot one of these days as soon as I've cleared up the backlog on my reading list.

Lagos Book Festival

The Lagos Book and Arts Festival (LABAF) was held last weekend at the National Theatre. I was there on the second day where I shot this image of my friend buying a book.

The LABAF is in its 12th edition. It has served as an avenue for book lovers and culture enthusiasts to exchange ideas.

Chimamanda, the Beautyful

Nigeria's most celebrated young writer Chimamanda Ngozi-Adichie was in town last Saturday to read from her new book of short stories titled The Thing Around Your Neck. It was at the noisy Silverbird Galleria that she read to a teeming audience some like me who were seeing her for the first time.

Not many writers get to be celebrated like she has been, deservedly so. Hence, my title for this post which is taken from Ghanaian author Ayi Kwei Armah's novel The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born. Certainly, Nigeria has a beauty-ful one in Chima. She's inspiring a new generation of young Nigerians to aim for the sky in whatever they find their hands to do.

I certainly do love the thing around her neck.

Nights of the creaking bed

Author Toni Kan held a public presentation and reading of his new books, a collection of short stories Nights of the creaking bed, and poetry Songs of absence and despair at the Terra Kulture, Victoria Island on Saturday.

The title story Nights of the creaking bed is a noirish story of how a boy discovers his widowed mother's lover dead on her bed with his naked erect manhood. The first line of the story: "My mother was a kept woman."

It's mostly dark tales about city life in Lagos.

It makes good, easy reading. Toni describes himself as a happy writer who creates sad stories. He has a refreshing take on the Nigerian experience. Here's a link to his publisher's website to learn more about him and order a copy, perhaps.


Here he autographs a copy of the book for me with the inscription, "From one artist to another".

Used book market

There's a thriving used book market on Lagos Island, at CMS Bus stop close to Broad Street. Been there for many years, at least the man in the shot, Christian, has been trading there for almost 15 years.

I once bought a copy of George Orwell's 1984 from him. It came in handy as I was writing about Nigeria's version of Big Brother back in 2006.

There's threat to their continued stay there though with the recent efforts of the Lagos government to remove all selling and trading activities that have given a bad image to the city over the years.

So the book sellers have had to retreat into a built up motor park where city dwellers hardly get to see them because Lagosians are always in a hurry.

Ironically, newspaper vendors are still allowed to trade along the street. Which is better, newspapers or books?

I still have my 1984 from 2006 but cannot locate the papers I bought on Sunday!

Books

One of the more popular books in Lagos these days is Barack Obama's The Audacity of Hope. I got my hardback a couple of months ago and only feel it necessary to flaunt it here on a book-themed day like this.