French Support for Coal City Book Convention

The sixth edition of the COAL CITY BOOK CONVENTION, which annually celebrates the rich culture of story-telling among the Igbos of Nigeria, holds from Tuesday, November 25 to Thursday, November 27 in Enugu.

The opening ceremony will take place at the Family Support Programme Centre, Enugu, under the chairmanship of Professor Dozie Ikedife, former President-General of the apex socio-cultural Igbo association Ohanaeze Ndigbo. Eminent Professor of English, Dr. Festus Eze, will deliver the keynote address themed The Fast Lane: Outpacing the Growth of the Reading Culture, while noted gynaecologist Professor Bede Ibeh will on Day 2 deliver a lecture on the challenges of The Widow, The Child and Igbo Society.

A lead performance of readings will be presented by famed Igbo linguist Professor Innocent Nwadike, who will stage a poetic rendition both in verse and in prose, in Igbo and in English, on the illustrious career of the legendary 18thCentury Igbo slave-turned-author Olaudah Equiano. The annual endowment, The Olaudah Equiano Life-Award, will be conferred this year on the Enugu Royal Fathers, Igwe Chris Ogakwu and Igwe Julius Nnaji, for their outstanding works for charity in their respective rural communities, and also on the heroic crusader for the rights of widows, Dame Gozie Udemezue, whose first book Miracles on the Hudson will be a focus of celebration at the literary extravaganza.

This year’s convention is being enriched by the foreign patronage of the Alliance Francaise, whose headquarters at Ogui New Layout will host book exhibitions and a series of performances styled Readings in Literature by such popular local authors as octogenarian Professor Anezi Okoro, educationist and poet Professor Mike Iloeje, Professor Richard Okafor, executive artistes from the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Amarachi Calista Attamah and Tochukwu Ipere, and Dillibe Onyeama, President of The Delta Book Club, who organize the annual book fiesta.