Five writers give hope

DENJA ABDULLAHI: Poet, National Vice President ANA, literary essayist and Culture technocrat.

Weep not Child by Ngugi Wa Thiongo. It narrates the activities of the Mau Mau insurgency against British Colonialism. The story is of deaths, destabilisation of families, loss of innocence and betrayal. But at the end there is a glimmer of hope hung around the child Njoroge, who survived it all and became a man for his widowed mothers. The book has a message of hope that the ravenous clouds will not for long possess the sky.

My second book in this season of anomie is Casualties, a collection of poems about the civil war by JP Clark. In several poems, the poet talks about the horrors of war and its futility. The overriding message is that we are all casualties in a situation and should do nothing to encourage any kind of war. Nigerians should read these poems and act against all purveyors of social discontent.

This week I am bringing readers hope through our selection of books. Writers feel things more keenly, more intensely. This is why I have gone to five incredible Nigerian writers to give us a feel of what books they go to when they are overwhelmed with near hopelessness or turmoil. I am not disappointed by their selection. I asked each one to name two books for this purpose. Here are the books they go to for hope. I am certain that their choice of books will touch, inspire and encourage us all.