ANA Edo Election in Pictures

 

Confidant Edward Oviawe Emerges New ANA Edo Chairman

 

 CONFIDANT EDWARD OVIAWE EMERGES NEW ANA EDO CHAIRMAN

 

The Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Edo State chapter on Saturday, 31^st October, 2020, held an election which ushered in Mr. Confidant Edward Oviawe, as Chairman. He will stir the affairs of the Association for the next two years.

The election which held yesterday saw delegates electing their choice candidates among those who presented themselves for positions in the executive committee of ANA Edo.

 

Announcing the election results, the representative of the National President of ANA who was at the venue of the event to monitor and coordinate the election, Mr Joseph Asuen Peter declared Mr. Confidant Edward Oviawe as the newly elected Chairman of ANA Edo State Chapter.

 

Other members of the ANA Edo State chapter executive elected on Saturday include:

Mr Robinson Lawami as Vice chairman, Mr. George as Secretary, Pastor Okorie Chibuze as PRO, Isaiah Ebhodaghe as Financial Secretary and finally, Osahon Agbai as Treasurer.

In his acceptance speech, Mr. Confidant Edward Oviawe promised to run an open door and inclusive administration. He further solicited the unflinching support of ANA Edo members to enable the new EXCO to succeed.

ANA 39th International Convention Schedule, 2020

 

ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIAN AUTHORS 39^TH INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION SCHEDULE, 2020

Date:                             Thursday 3^rd December – 6^th December, 2020

Place:                            Ilorin, Kwara State

Theme:                         IN SEARCH OF A BETTER WORLD: Literature as Catalyst for National Development

Venue:                          African People’s Hall, Mustapha Akanbi Foundation (MAF), GRA, Onikanga Ilorin, Kwara State

Keynote Speaker:        Professor Adebayo Lawal, Former Deputy Vice Chancellor, University Of Ilorin

Note:                            Registration remains N10,000 and begins from the date of publication of this notice, and ends 30^th November, 2020

Account Details : Zenith Bank of Nigeria PLC

Account Number : 1014606745

 

Special Feature: a session on J P Clark

 

Maik Ortserga

General Secretary, Association of Nigerian Authors

Between the bark and the bite of ENDSARS Protest: ANA condemns military shootings

  BETWEEN THE BARK AND THE BITE OF ENDSARS PROTEST: ANA CONDEMNS MILITARY SHOOTINGS

The Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) has roundly condemned the Shooting of unarmed protesters in Lagos by the Military. With massive protests that have moved swiftly across the land for many days bewailing the brutality of the police and calling for reforms in the sector with a frenzy surpassing any in recent years, it was expected that the leadership of the country would handle the situation with utmost care, cautioning against the use of force, knowing that such approach may inflame the already volatile situation. ANA regrets that over the years there have been so many contradictions within the polity, which great writers such as Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Ken SaroWiwaand others have always decried.

Indeed the story of contemporary Nigeria, which has always had an angle of violence and threat to human life, has been the worry of all Nigerian writersand many books of prose, poetry, drama and even prison memoirs have been written on that. Unfortunately, every stratum of our lopsided demography shares part of the culpability in this depressing story until this uplifting moment when a semblance of purpose is seen among our peacefully protesting youths. 

Under such circumstances as the terrifying numbers of unemployed youths that have been produced in this country, it is not too difficult to turn dissatisfaction and restlessness away from other causes and focus it squally on leadership supposedly elected to provide solutions to a myriad of degenerate human conditions. While we feel that our protesting youths, in expressing their right to speak out against injustice, should always do so strictly within the letter and spirit of the law, ANA maintains that the dastardly act of use of brute force on unarmed, national flag flying youths by the soldiers should be condemned by all well- meaning Nigerians.

All the same, we call on both our aggrieved youths and the security forces to sheath their swords and urge the government to honestly address both the kernel of the protests and the cause of the escalation of peaceful protests into violence. In so doing the authorities must bear in mind that another name for a lasting peace is crystal clear justice.We therefore insist that those who shot mindlessly at defenceless youths exercising their fundamental human rights to peaceful protest and assembly must be brought to swift justice by the government and the victims identified and duly compensated.

Government at all levels must at this point realize that the ENDSARS protest is only a manifestation of the deep disenchantment of the teeming youths of Nigeria and the silent elders on the general situation of hopelessness in the land even as the nation recently marked its 60^th year of  political independence from Great Britain. Progressive and people-driven governance in a democratic setting should be concerned with building the confidence of the citizenry and unleashing their innate potentials through well-thought out implementable policies; rather than muzzling justifiable voices with strong-arm tactics of the State.

It is important to note that the universal root of unconscionable brutality and other acts of gross human right abuse that have sadly become commonplace in our experience is traceable to bankruptcy in individual and collective moral capital due to sickness and barrenness of personal and societal consciences. Creative literature as a humanizing medicine among others, which have for long been neglected, is hereby recommended for the healing of our consciences and cultivation of the much needed moral resources; even as we all play our roles in the various sectors of life we find ourselves, to reclaim this country from its unending history of underachievement and serial political, social and economic disappointments.

Finally, our prayers and thoughts are, to say but the least, with the families of the bereaved and wounded and we wish all the wounded speedy recovery.

Signed

                                                           

Camillus Ukah

President                                                                                   

MaikOrtserga

General Secretary

 

 

 

 

 

2020 ANA Literary Prizes: ANA extends deadline for submissions of entries to October 22

 

2020 ANA LITERARY PRIZES: ANA EXTENDS DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS OF ENTRIES TO OCTOBER 22

 

The Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) has extended its deadline for submissions of entries to Thursday, 22^nd of October 2020. This is to allow intending entrants who are yet to enter their works for the prize(s) to submit their entries or those having issues of channeling their entries to the national headquarters of the Association in Abuja. Nigerian writers, at home and abroad, desirous of entering their works for the yearly literary prizes can submit their works as the deadline for submissions of entries has been extended. Works entered should have been published between 2018 and 2020.

INTRODUCTION

The Association of Nigerian Authors [ANA] hereby announces the prizes for its 2020 literary competitions.

The prizes are:

ANA Prize for Poetry (published & unpublished) – N 100,000

ANA Prize for Prose Fiction (published & unpublished) – N 100,000

ANA Prize for Drama (published & unpublished) – N 100,000

ANA Prize for Children's Literature- 7-13 years age range (Published works only and open to all categories of authors) - N100, 0000

REQUIREMENTS

An entry fee of N3, 000 (per entry) is required for all the prizes. The fee is to be paid by the author or the publisher in favour of the:

ACCOUNT NAME: Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA)

BANK: Zenith Bank of Nigeria Plc

ACCOUNT NO: 1014606745

Please, note:

[a] Due to the contradictions brought by the global pandemic (COVID-19), causing delays in all spheres of human life, this year’s prizes have been trimmed down to four as listed above.

[b]The entry fee is for the purpose of prize administration only.

[c] A photocopy of the appropriate Deposit Slip[s] MUST accompany Requirement #2 below.

Six copies (6) of the book or manuscript to be entered, specifying the Prize being entered for, alongside a covering letter and the photocopy of the Deposit Slip used in Requirement 1 above, should be sent by post to:

The General Secretary, Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), KM 2, Mamman Vatsa Writers’ Village, Mpape, Abuja or PMB 518, Garki, Abuja.

The covering letter should contain accurate contact details of the writer or/and publisher of the work, including email and surface mail addresses and telephone numbers.

Please, note also that:

[a] The Association will NOT take responsibility for the delay in the postal service nor claim registered parcels in cases where it has to pay for such entries or parcels.

[b] Multiple entries, where applicable, are allowed but a work must not have been entered for the same prize prior to the present entry and it must have been published between 2018 and 2020.

GENERAL INSTRUCTION

The works that are to be submitted in all categories should be original and not recast(s) of already existing works. All submissions are subjected to copyright laws of Nigeria as authors should note that they retain full responsibility for any sort of infringement. Works entered into for ANA prizes are expected to be of the highest language and literary quality.

DEADLINE

Deadline for the receipt of ALL entries is October 22, 2020 (there will be no extension of this deadline). A shortlist will be announced by the first week of November, 2020. Winners of the prizes will be announced by the judges at the Awards Dinner during the International Annual Convention of the Association of Nigerian Authors in November, 2020.

Maik Ortserga

General Secretary.

ANA Mourns the passing of JP Clark

 

ANA MOURNS THE PASSING OF J P CLARK

 

The Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) is deeply saddened by the news of the departure of one of her preeminent writers, Emeritus Professor John Pepper Clark-Bekederemo, who passed away on Tuesday, October 13, 2020.
The passing of the 85-year-old internationally acclaimed poet and playwright is, no doubt, an immeasurable loss to the Nigerian literati and the country at large; and that has once again sadly depleted the irokos in the Nigerian literary space.

Nigeria more than ever needed the sharp and abundantly inventive mind of one of her finest writers, which conveyed such eloquent and powerful thoughts through his solid poetry and plays. Among the profoundly deep things the literary guru represented is the rare ethos of an elevated elite group that has successfully set a pattern for interrogating the excesses of oppressive systems and by so doing, accentuating the importance of literature in the rehabilitation of decadent societies.  

The Association of Nigerian Authors will forever remember J.P Clark’s deeply humanistic initiative and comradely thrust when he rallied the two other legs to the Nigerian literary tripod (Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka) to save (though eventual unsuccessful) the soldier-poet and foremost benefactor to ANA, Mamman Vatsa, from the clutch of death in the hands of the then General Ibrahim Babangida’s military regime.

Particularly, the ace writer will be remembered for his evocative and incandescent lyricism. Nigerians everywhere should therefore arise and celebrate literature and its incarnation in the form of the late inimitable and evergreen African writer given that Nigeria stands tall today in the eyes of the international community because of the collective endeavours of path-finding literary craftsmen like J P Clark.

May the Almighty God grant the departed literary forebear eternal rest and solace to his immediate family and the larger Nigerian literary community.

Camillus Ukah

President, Association of Nigerian Authors.