Saraba Magazine’s First Shot
It was not difficult to locate Zaccheus Onumba Dibiaezue Memorial Libraries ( ZODML) on Awolowo Road, Ikoyi which was the venue of the first in the series of Saraba Literary Talk, which was held in Lagos recently. For many Lagosians who ply the axis in moving traffic, the library seems like a whole new idea but it had existed for decades. A staff member of the library, Lordson Daki was kind enough to tell the audience a little about the library. Asides the preservation of books, the library has sought to enrich people with knowledge. For instance, they have several projects that help in propagating the reading culture. One of these is the establishment of prison libraries. These are furnished with internet facilities and each inmate can use the internet for one hour. That is not all. They offer financial grants to inmates who have shown interest in formal and higher education. Currently, the library operates 15 of its kind on the Lagos Island while planning to have at least five libraries in the Yaba Mainland.
Out of the benevolence of the library authorities, the space inside the white building in Ikoyi was given out free for Saraba’s first reading. The idea was to bring all contributing writers in The Displacement Issue and Survival Issue of the magazine to the fore and to project a new poetry chapbook by Jumoke Verissimo. The magazine is currently gathering momentum for its Crime Issue.
At the reading, the contributors favoured brevity. For the poets, their messages were lucid and their lines, sharp- witted. Yinka Elujoba’s “Death Is Not the End” served as a reminder of mankind’s eventual mortality as well as a positive outlook on that gloomy subject matter. Short and concise, the pieces from Tonye WilliePepple and Salamatu Okorejior added colour to the reading. But, no one can contest the beauty in the blend of photography and wordplay in Logor Muyiwa Adeyemi’s “Monochrome Lagos’’. In it, Lagos was a muse and canvas which the writer described as a personal experience of the city and its influences. Another accomplished writer- photographer, Victor Ehikhamenor, read his fictional prose, “Madam”, which had light- hearted issues that elicited smiles and chuckles from the literati. Jumoke Verissimo, in her reading of her piece titled, “Dreaming Journeys”, aroused the imagination of the audience while treating a grave topic of a lost dream in dedication to the poet who lost her life in a road accident.
Dami Ajayi, the co- founder, Saraba Magazine, was glad that the gathering also attracted persons who are not literary- minded. Since the magazine was launched seven years ago, it has been in the virtual space but there are indications that the dynamics will change.
“We want to find a middle ground between the virtual and the physical,” said the medical practitioner and poet who is renowned for his anthology, Clinical Blues. “We would have loved to do a monthly reading but we have financial constraints. We will likely do one or two more readings before the end of the year. We have a paint and poetry prize coming up. Right now, we publish Saraba Magazine twice a year. It was initially four times a year.”