AS WORLD BOOK CAPITAL, PORT HARCOURT, BOWS OUT
Port Harcourt’s Hotel Presidential was on the international spotlight on Friday, May 8. The local literati and school children thronged to its Atlantic Hall for the official closing ceremony of the Port Harcourt World Book Capital. In April last year, Port Harcourt was crowned UNESCO’s new“World Book Capital City”.The oil-rich city became first sub-Saharan African city to be so honoured.While it sunned itself in this flattering glare of publicity, the local literati did not forget that the credit for this feat goes to one woman: Mrs Odo Claire “Koko”Kalango.
Arguably one of Africa’s leading literary activist, Kalango was hitherto acknowledged for her efforts at getting young Nigerians reading again.Thanks to these efforts the city of Port Harcourt was acknowledged“for the quality of its proposed programme, which provides for extensive public participation and aims to develop reading for all…”by the UNESCO Director-General, Irina Bokova.
One of such programmes is the annual Port Harcourt Book and Arts Festival (formerly known as Garden City Literary Festival).The event, which is the flagship programme of the Rainbow Book Club founded and run by Mrs Kalango, has attracted such eminent personalities as Professor Wole Soyinka, Rev Jesse Jackson and the late Kofi Awoonor, among a host of others. It is complemented by others like the Book of the Month and the Get Nigeria Reading Again! Passionate about instilling a vibrant literary culture, Mrs Kalango believes reading not only broadens a person’s intellectual horizon but improves the reader’s grasp of the language.
At the penultimate Friday’s closing ceremony, much of the discussions swirled around the reading culture.A rundown of the literary activities between April 2014 and April this year suggests that the city had reaped dividends during its tenure as a book capital. The closing ceremony was also an occasion for recognitions, which featured a long list of awardees segmented under eight different categories. Besides the OutstandingVolunteers and GeneralVolunteers Certificate, there are other notable ones, which include the Outstanding Contribution Award.
Also at that Friday’s event, there were book presentations, a dance drama by the Beeta Universal Arts Foundation and recognition of the dozen writers who participated in a writers-in-residence programme at the Songhai Farms.