|
Books by Cyprian
Ekwensi
Lokotown And Other Stories /
People of the City /
Iska /
Motherless Baby /
Jagua Nana's Daughter /
Burning Grass /
Masquerade Time
King for Ever! /
Gone to Mecca /
Survive the Peace /
Jagua Nana /
Restless
City and Christmas Gold /
Drummer Boy
Samankwe and the Highway Robbers /
An African Night's Entertainment /
Divided We Stand
/
Beautiful Feathers
*
* * * *
The Passing of Popular
Fiction Writer Cyprian Ekwensi
By Arthur Edgar
E Smith
Cyprian Ekwensi
(September 26, 1921 – November 4, 2007),
one of the grand old men of African fiction—and one of
the few who made the transition from Onitsha-market-pamphlet-fiction
authors to one with at least something of an
international reputation—has passed away. So The
Literary Saloon announced the death of this African
literary icon who died Sunday 4th November in Enugu at
the age of 86.
For Ekwensi’s widow,
Chinwe, the death of her husband is a shock she may have to live with the rest of her life.
Wearing dark glasses and sitting at a corner in the
spacious sitting room, she narrated how she had driven
her late husband the previous week to the Niger
Foundation Hospital for a check up, but adding however,
that he went up being admitted. Although she could not
confirm, whether her husband underwent a surgery at the
hospital, she stated however that, his health
deteriorated by the day, leading to the action.
Mrs. Ekwensi, who
is at her late 60's added that she cut short her visit
overseas after spending two weeks to fly him from Lagos
back to Enugu, adding that in the last one month, they
had regularly visited the hospital. "Since we left
Lagos, we have not rested. It is from one thing to
another and being an old man, one should expect changes
in his condition", she said.
Mrs. Ekwensi, who
reeled in waist pain as she told her story, disclosed
that the pains increased during their long days at the
hospital, while attending to her husband. "The hospital
bench became my bed,” she grimaced. She added that her
husband's condition remained critical till his death
Sunday morning. The deceased’s eldest son, George who
flew in from the U.S. when he learnt about his father’s
ailment last week, has begun consultations with
relations and notable indigenes of Anambra State on
burial plans.
Speaking with the
Daily Sun, the novelist’s son, Ike, confirmed the
family meeting, but noted that his father’s burial would
not be determined by family members only, considering
his outstanding contributions to national development.
It was learnt that Ekwensi was due for an award in
Lagos, on November 16. He had left Lagos in good spirit
a month ago with the hope of picking the award later. He
never knew he would not make it, a relation, said at the
Ekwensi’s home on 141, Ojuelegba Road, Lagos on Monday.
Following the death of this renowned novelist and public
commentator, the Anambra State Governor, Mr. Peter Obi,
apex Igbo socio-cultural organisation, past and present
governors, ministers of government, writers and All
Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) have expressed shock
over his demise.
They described
Ekwensi's death as a great loss to Nigeria and the
entire literary world.
Factional
President-General of Ohanaeze, Dozie Ikedife, said a
great Igbo son had departed, stressing that he left
enviable legacies that would last for generations to
come. "It is a pity. He is one of the greatest authors
of our time. . . . He has been around for
sometime….Nigerians and the entire literary world will
definitely miss him. . . ." he said. Ikedife urged the
family to bear the loss with fortitude, trusting in God
and believing that he had contributed his best to
writing and social engineering.
The governor, said
Ekwensi's death has created a gap in the state and in
the literary world and assured that the state government
would fully participate in the burial arrangements.
Being a traditional chief and title holder, Ekwensi’s
family will first meet before officially communicating
the news of his passing to the government.
In his tribute, the
National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance
(APGA) Chief Victor Umeh said Ekwensi's death has robbed
Nigeria, of one of the greatest literary minds to have
passed through the land. He observed that his works had
contributed immensely to the development of literature
in Nigeria, adding that he would be greatly missed by
all Nigerians.
Former Health
Minister, Professor A.B.C Nwosu recalling that the late
literary icon who had started life as a pharmacist,
played a crucial role in the eradication of the then
dreaded guinea worm disease in old Anambra state as
chairman of the state Health Management Board at the
time when he (Nwosu) was Commissioner for Health said he
would find it difficult to refer to Ekwensi in the past
tense, having become used to his resourcefulness as both
a writer and administrator.
"It is a terrible
blow. . . . He gave me the slogan 'Get rid of guinea
worm' when he was chairman Anambra State Health
Management Board and I was Commissioner for Health under
the late Emeka Omeruah. We traversed the whole of
Abakaliki area in the quest to kick out guinea worm. He
helped me get funds from Japan to finance the project.
We both received former American President Jimmy Carter.
A fine man with a fine mind. . . ." Nwosu added.
Former Governor of
Old Anambra State, Chief Christian Onoh in mourning
Ekwensi’s demise also described it as a big blow to
the literary world. Onoh, among the first set of people
that paid a sympathy visit to the Hill view Crescent,
Independence layout, Enugu residence of the late
prolific writer, said that, the news came to him with
rude shock, expressing dismay that Ekwensi could die at
a time when according to him, " we need him around to
reform our education".
Clad in white lace,
the elder statesman, said he was however consoled by the
fact that the late Ekwensi never wasted his time on
earth, adding that his contributions to the literary
world would live forever. He said that, Ekwensi who
authored many literary books, lived and died for writing
and extended his sympathies to the Nigerian literary
world as well as the entire south East.
The Minister of
Information, Mr John Odey described the late "Ekwensi as
a great contributor to the unity of Nigeria and the
development of literary education in the country".
The message reads:
"the Federal Government received the news of the sudden
death of a prominent citizen of your state and a
reputable literary icon of this country, Chief Cyprian
Ekwensi, with sadness. "I am particularly touched by his
death because of his having served as a staff of my
ministry where he rose to become a Director"..
Reacting to the
death of the novelist, National President, Association
of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Dr. Wale Okediran, said, “his
death, though at a ripe age, marked the end of a
tradition of story telling. As a writer of popular
fiction, COD was a natural storyteller whose works were
both accessible and entertaining.”
Okediran, who said
the late Ekwensi was his teacher in the popular
literature genre, said a structure in the proposed ANA
village in Abuja would be named after Ekwensi as part of
ANA’s plan to immortalise him, adding that ANA would
collaborate with the Nigerian arm of PEN, a global
association of writers, to make available, a documentary
made on Ekwensi to all Nigerians.
A former ANA
President Professor Obafemi, on his part, said
“Ekwensi’s loss is the loss of a key architect of modern
Nigerian literature and the first to carve a national
character for Nigerian fiction. He was one of those who
erected the canon and pillars of popular fiction in
Nigeria. His death has taken away an ancestral voice in
the Nigerian creative cosmos.”
Professor Olu
Obafemi, A renowned scholar, writer and immediate past
president of ANA, described the late writer as a key
figure in the establishment of what is now known as
Nigerian literature.According to Obafemi, Ekwensi would
forever be remembered as one of the oldest writers of
the English expression who kept and gave national
character to Nigerian literature. "Ekwensi’s death” he
said “ is a major deprivation to Nigerian literature. He
was one of the major architects of modern Nigerian
literature, who, as early as in the 1950s and 1960s,
began to write about issues and events beyond his ethnic
background. He was one of the proponents of popular
fiction in Nigeria.
Cyprian Ekwensi who hailed from Nkwerre Izukalla in Oyi
local government area of Anambra state is survived by a
wife and nine children.
Speaking on the death of the novelist in Lagos, the
assistant General Secretary of ANA, Mr Hyacinth Obunseh,
described Ekwensi’s death as unfortunate. Obunseh said
that the literary community and indeed the world would
miss him especially, his peculiar style of writing.
"Ekwensi’s imaginative and descriptive power will be
greatly missed," Obunseh said.He, however, regretted
that the late literary giant did not live long enough to
complete his autobiography.
A writer, Fred Uzo,
expressed the hope that Nigeria would “give him the
honour that is due to a scholar, a writer and a humanist
of his stature.".
Earlier this year,
Ekwensi released Cash on Delivery, a collection of short
stories, which turned out to be his last book. When he
turned 86 last year, the Association of Nigerian Authors
(ANA), Lagos State chapter and the Committee for
Relevant Arts (CORA), feted him.
Ekwensi was
celebrated as the forefather of the city novel. He is
believed to be the author of the earliest published
fiction on social life in the Lagos Metropolis. The
accomplished novelist is remarkable for his
down-to-earth style of writing and his prolific output,
with over 20 novels to his credit.
One of his books,
Divided We Stand, a lampoon on the Nigerian
Civil War, is slated for discussion by experts in a
conference on 40 years after the civil war.
Told of
the passing on of Ekwensi, poet and past president of
ANA, Odia Ofeimu, was "shocked beyond words" to comment
immediately.To the newly elected Lagos State ANA
chairman, Mr. Chike Ofili, it was an unnerving piece of
information. He too withheld his comments till
later.News of the death broke as Nigerian authors were
rounding off their yearly convention held over the
weekend in Owerri, Imo State.He was a Nigerian writer
who stressed description of the locale and whose
episodic style was particularly well suited to the short
story.
* *
* * *
Cyprian Odiatu
Duaka Ekwensi—Nigerian short-story writer and author of
children's books—was born at Minna in Northern Nigeria.
He later lived in Onitsha in the Eastern area. He was
educated at Achimota College in the Gold Coast, and at
the Chelsea School of Pharmacy of London University. He
lectured in pharmacy at Lagos and was employed as a
pharmacist by the Nigerian Medical Corporation. He
married Eunice Anyiwo, and they had five children.
* * *
* *
* *
* * *
 |
Sex at the Margins
Migration, Labour Markets and the Rescue Industry
By Laura María Agustín
This book explodes several myths: that selling sex is completely different from any other kind of work, that migrants who sell sex are passive victims and that the multitude of people out to save them are without self-interest. Laura Agustín makes a passionate case against these stereotypes, arguing that the label 'trafficked' does not accurately describe migrants' lives and that the 'rescue industry' serves to disempower them. Based on extensive research amongst both migrants who sell sex and social helpers, Sex at the Margins provides a radically different analysis. Frequently, says Agustin, migrants make rational choices to travel and work in the sex industry, and although they are treated like a marginalised group they form part of the dynamic global economy. Both powerful and controversial, this book is essential reading for all those who want to understand the increasingly important relationship between sex markets, migration and the desire for social justice. "Sex at the Margins rips apart distinctions between migrants, service work and sexual labour and reveals the utter complexity of the contemporary sex industry. This book is set to be a trailblazer in the study of sexuality."—Lisa Adkins, University of London |
* * * * *
|
The New Jim Crow
Mass Incarceration in the Age of
Colorblindness
By Michele Alexander
Contrary to the
rosy picture of race embodied in Barack
Obama's political success and Oprah
Winfrey's financial success, legal
scholar Alexander argues vigorously and
persuasively that [w]e have not ended
racial caste in America; we have merely
redesigned it. Jim Crow and legal racial
segregation has been replaced by mass
incarceration as a system of social
control (More African Americans are
under correctional control today... than
were enslaved in 1850). Alexander
reviews American racial history from the
colonies to the Clinton administration,
delineating its transformation into the
war on drugs. She offers an acute
analysis of the effect of this mass
incarceration upon former inmates who
will be discriminated against, legally,
for the rest of their lives, denied
employment, housing, education, and
public benefits. Most provocatively, she
reveals how both the move toward
colorblindness and affirmative action
may blur our vision of injustice: most
Americans know and don't know the truth
about mass incarceration—but her
carefully researched, deeply engaging,
and thoroughly readable book should
change that.—Publishers
Weekly |
 |
* * * * *
The White Masters of the
World
From
The World and Africa, 1965
By W. E. B. Du Bois
W. E. B. Du Bois’
Arraignment and Indictment of White Civilization
(Fletcher)
* *
* * *
Ancient African Nations
* * * * *
If you like this page consider making a donation
* * * * *
Negro Digest /
Black World
Browse all issues
1950
1960
1965
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
____ 2005
Enjoy!
* * * * *
The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
/
The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
/
Only a Pawn in Their Game
Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson Thanks America for
Slavery /
George Jackson /
Hurricane Carter
* *
* * *
The Journal of Negro History issues at Project Gutenberg
The
Haitian Declaration of Independence 1804
/
January 1, 1804 -- The Founding of
Haiti
* * * * *
* *
* * *
posted 12 November 2007
|
