By Henry Akubuiro
For two days — May 19-21, 2023 — the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) will roll out drums for its founding president, Prof. Chinua Achebe, who died ten years ago, aged 82, on March 21, 2013, and was buried on May 23, in Ogidi, Anambra State.
The 10-year memorial event, which will be held at the Chinua Achebe International Conference Centre (CAICC), Mamman Vatsa Writers’ Village, Mpampe, Abuja, aims at celebrating the man regarded as the father of African literature. The event, which will have a virtual component to enable those from far and wide to participate, is themed “The Immortality of Creativity: Ten Years After Achebe’s Transition”.
Day one of the event, on Friday Evening, May 19, 2023, will feature Tributes and Reminiscences on the legend, while the second day, on Saturday, May 20, will be celebrated with an Mbari Series, where writers brainstorm.
The morning session will be an Open Conversation between the old and the young writers on the immortality of creativity from 10 am – 2 pm.
The evening session will be an open conversation between the old and the young writers on Ten Years After Achebe’s Transition from 5 pm – 7 pm, while dinner will be held between 7:30 – 8pm, as Sunday, May 21, 2023, will be the departure.
ANA was founded on June 27, 1981, at the University town of Nsukka during a well-attended conference convened by the late Professor Chinua Achebe. Two Kenyans —Ngugi Wa Thiong’o and Gacheche Wauringi —were on hand to witness the epoch-making event.
Registered as a corporate body/professional association with the Corporate Affairs Commission, Abuja, ANA board of trustees included Professors Ernest Emenyonu (the most active member), Kole Omotoso, Mabel Segun, Labo Yari, Chinua Achebe (late) and T.M Aluko (late).
In 2021, ANA celebrated its 40th anniversary in a lavish programme attended by Nigerian and international writers at the Mamman Vatsa Writers’ Village, which was hosting its first major event following its completion, bringing to consummation the noble dreams of its founding fathers.
Since inception, each ANA leadership has, in keeping with its aims, strived to encourage and promote Nigerian literature, encourage the collection, recording and transcription of all oral literature, promote the interest of authors in all that concerns their profession and well-being and to protect their rights as authors.
The current ANA administration, under the leadership of Camillus Ukah and Farida Mohammed, has taken a step further by adding innovations to the rituals. Since its reintroduction of the Mbari Series, the series has centred around readings and literary and national discussions.
Speaking to Daily Sun on why the association is celebrating Chinua Achebe ten years after he died, the incumbent president of the association, Camillus Ukah, said: “The history of African literature will be incomplete without Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, Arrow of God, A Man of the People, Chike and the River, and others.
“Also, the history of ANA won’t be complete without the foresight and pioneering role of Professor Achebe, gathering everybody at Nsukka. Today, ANA has become the biggest umbrella body of Nigerian writers.
“So, we are gathering at the Writers’ Village to honour Achebe ten years after his transition. Through the gathering, we also remind ourselves as writers how far we have gone and how far we are going in moving the association and Nigerian literature forward.”