ReadingCafe @10: A decade of empowering voices, celebrating stories
* We are telling the truth in art, says Familoni
By Godwin Okondo
IN a spirited celebration of its 10th anniversary, ReadingCafé, in partnership with the National Association of Students of English and Literary Studies (NASELS), hosted an event that had as theme ‘New Voices, New Stories.’ The gathering not only marked this significant milestone but also aimed to inspire young people to cultivate reading and writing skills.
The event brought together notable figures from the literary world, including the winner of The Nigeria Prize for Literature 2024, Olubunmi Familoni, a literary critic and lecturer at the University of Lagos, Dr. Nurayn Alimi and Principal Librarian at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Dr. Favour Okafor. Throughout the programme, guests participated in discussions about literary works and strategies for developing writing skills, with a special focus on Familoni’s The Road Does Not End.
The event also featured spoken word and poetry performances that created an atmosphere of creativity and inspiration.
In her welcome address, the founder of ReadingCafé, Mrs. Lechi Eke, reflected on the timeless nature of storytelling, saying, “As long as the earth remains, kingdoms will rise and fall, and new stories will emerge to capture the human experience.” She spoke passionately about the power of writing to share personal stories, connect people, and offer hope. Eke also shared the journey that led to the founding of ReadingCafé, from a vision sparked in 2012 to a thriving platform that has empowered countless students over the past decade.
“Stories engage, stories grant readers windows into other people’s lives. They encourage, they give hope showing you you’re not alone in your complex struggles. There’s nothing new under the sun, so don’t kill yourself. Stories entertain and comfort, they warn and teach, they help.”
“In June 2012 while observing some religious retreat, the Lord laid upon my heart to start what He called a Reading in UNILAG,” she continued. “I had no idea what it was, a forum where people will gather together and read their books and discuss it. Also, I didn’t know how that would help me in life.
“Honestly, I didn’t do anything about it except whenever I remembered it, I’d surf the internet to look for what it could mean. Such times, I’d come across words like Read-out Loud and stuff. One day, I came across Charles Dickens readings in America. That gave me some idea of what I was being asked to do. However, I had no idea how to proceed.
“A month later, the Lord said to me, how would you reach someone you cannot easily meet on the road? I said, I’ll write the person. He told me to write the then vice chancellor about the reading project. Well, I did. When I dropped off the letter in his office, the 10th Floor, not the 11th at the Senate Building, they told me to check back in two weeks’ time. Lo and behold, the VC replied me in three days! He loved the idea and referred me to Prof. Duro Oni, the immediate past Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Deputy Vice Chancellor (Admin, I think,) at that time (2012).”
The Nigeria Prize for Literature 2024 winner, Mr. Olubunmi Familoni (left); founder of ReadingCafé, Mrs. Lechi Eke; lecturer and literary critic, Dr. Nurayn Alimi; Principal Librarian, Nigerian Institute of Information Affairs, Dr. Favour Okafor and Henrietta Otong-Abasi
However, it wasn’t until 2015 she reach out to the literary students’ body, NASELS, that she got results, with NASELS Exco and FinishedWork convened the first ReadingCafe.
“A literary artist asked me, in 10 years, which edition has been the most memorable? I believe the first one. Prof. Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo was the keynote speaker, Dr Patrick Oloko facilitated too. Novelist Toni Kan was there and Wana Wana, a radio personality and poet. My Children’s principal, Mr Nkono Ogene Nkono of Grange Schools, was the MC. I read from my unpublished novel, ‘Girls Are Not To Blame’. It was magic.”
“As we turn the curve of ReadingCafe’s decade, I see a Creative Writing School emerging from it. So, today, if you’ll love to be a serious writer, pay for a writing workshop and train in a creative writing outfit. Put down your details separately from the register at the entrance where you registered. I truly appreciate NASELS, all the presidents and excos since 2015 and Prof. Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo who encouraged me and is still encouraging me.”
Okafor spoke on drug abuse and it’s negative impact on users, particularly students, saying, “I don’t believe in treatment of drugs, but that doesn’t mean that you should treat it if you have such an issue. In most cases, they fail, because we don’t have the facilities to treat drugs in Nigeria. Secondly, when it is treated, it’s hardly successful because it’s so expensive. It doesn’t cure certain mannerisms.
“You cannot abuse drugs without the scars that go with it. It affects social relationships and people find it difficult to talk to you. It also affects academic performance and logical reasoning and thinking and people who use drugs also have short attention span, and they find it difficult to keep jobs because they can’t relate with their colleagues at work.”
On the reasons why adolescents tend to abuse drugs, she said, “is that the part of the brain meant for decision-making doesn’t develop early until about age 25. That’s why the devil takes advantage of that, and convinces them on why they should abuse drugs. There are social, psychological, and biological factors, and the top of the list is peer pressure. Look out for something that would lure you to do what is not right—that is a negative peer pressure.”
While speaking about the value of ReadingCafe, Dr. Alimi said, “One of the things we have done in ten years is that as a department, we have been able to raise the consciousness of linking town and gown, and students have benefitted and are still benefitting in so many ways. It is one programme that I know that our students look forward to every session. It’s one of our flagship for the students, and we hope that it’s going to be sustained and it’s going to be better than what we have.
“The truth is that no fictional work would make its impact without the contribution of the critic. It’s through our evaluation. If Aristotle had not done what he did, critical evaluation of literary production, maybe there wouldn’t be what we call criticism today.
“So, putting imaginative writing in their proper place when it comes to relevance, can only be done by critics. It is the success of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart that has made it to be translated into over 70 language all over the world. Those who evaluated Mr. Olubunmi Familoni’s work and critics have formed a catalogue of what it takes for any writing to be adjudged good.”
Familoni spoke on a person’s motivation for writing, noting that anyone interested in writing must first be a great reader. According to him, “if you’re writing for a prize, you won’t win. Aside the fact that it’s subjective judging these prizes, these judges can also sense when people write from the heart. I wasn’t thinking about winning any prize. I thought about what was happening in the society and I wrote about it, and writing from the heart is honesty.
“Another thing about writing for a prize is that you are not honest. You are writing because you want to win; you are in competition with another person. Art is not football where you are trying to win the league. Writing is not a competitive sport. We are telling the truth in art. Just write your truth. All the things that you are reading is one person’s truth.
“There is no kind of grief that you’re going through that hasn’t been written about because art imitates life, and everything people write about is what they’ve gone through. We are all connected by literature. I can’t overemphasize the importance of reading. Leave writing first and read. You just don’t wake up and become a writer. Trust me, you would become one of the greatest writers ever (if you read). It’s the only way you can groom your skills as a writer. If you like, go for all the creative writing classes, you cannot become a very good writer without reading.”
