The Writer’s Conference is an annual CSR initiative organised by Connect Nigeria with the aim of providing young writers with the skills they need to excel in the business of writing. The conference holds on the 21st of May at The Sleek Centre, 141 Ahmadu Bello Way Victoria Island opposite Silverbird Galleria, Victoria Island, Lagos.
This year, we are honoured to have the following speakers come to share their knowledge in various fields of writing.
EGHOSA IMASUEN is a writer and medical doctor. He is the author of To Saint Patrick and Fine Boys, both published by Farafina. His short stories have also been published in online platforms like African Writing, Black Biro and The New Gong. He was also the Chief Operating Officer at Kachifo Limited (publishers of Farafina Books) and was the chief editor and publisher of former president, Olusegun Obasanjo’s book, My Watch.
He is passionate about African writing, has been a member in book tours and festivals and was named ‘writer of the festival’ at the 2009 Lagos Books and Art Festival.
Eghosa will be speaking on What You Should Know About Publishing Your First Novel.
ADEBOLA RAYO is a full-time writer and editor with years of experience in print and online media and publishing. Her works have been published in newspapers and magazines including 234NEXT, Saraba Literary Magazine and Sentinel Nigeria. Up until 2015, she worked as a Junior Speech Writer in the Office of the Governor of Lagos State.
EFE PAUL AZINO is one of Nigeria’s leading performance poets whose works centre on socio-economic and political themes. He has performed at many of Nigeria’s foremost performance poetry venues, including Ake Arts and Book Festival, Anthill 2.0, British Council Lagos, Taruwa Festival of Performing Arts, Lagos Book and Arts Festival, Johannesburg Arts Alive Festival, and several others, as well as community development fora.
He is the director of the Lagos International Poetry Festival, director of poetry at the annual Lagos Book and Art Festival, and coordinator of spoken word poetry at the Open Door Series’ International Cultural Exchange and the Lagos Black Heritage Festival.
His production, Finding Home, is the first spoken word poetry theatre production in Nigeria. Mr Azino is an Osiwa Poetry Residency Fellow, and For Broken Men Who Cross Often is his first poetry collection.
Come listen as Efe Paul speaks on Writing and Performing Poetry That Pays.
IKE NNAEBUE is a renowned Nigerian Movie Director/Screenwriter. He was trained by the renowned Sani Muazu and Yakubu Lamai in the cool city of Jos Nigeria at Lenscope Media/Academy. Ike Nnaebue fondly referred to – by most African film industry stakeholders – as one of the champions of the emerging new African Cinema, has been working in the Film industry as a post-production expert for over a decade. His second movie, ‘False’, generated a lot of buzzes within the film community and among African movie fans. False which Ike wrote and directed was released in October 2013 and won a Golden Icon Academy Award (GIAMA) out of the 3 nominations received by the movie.
Another movie, ‘The Other Side’ premiered on 26th October 2014 in Houston and hit cinemas in Nigeria on 13th March 2015. The thriller was produced by Dtymi Ngozi and directed by Ike Nnaebue. ‘The Other Side’ stars: Uche Jombo Rodriguez, Chet Anekwe, Joe Grisaffi, Mia Ruiz, Dytmi Ngozi Ibe and others.
In addition to screenwriting and production, Mr Nnaebue is the host of a series of workshops at TreasureWells Academy where he creates opportunities for individuals and brands who want to course the path of film-making through training, exposure and experience.
Do not miss this chance with Ike as he speaks on How To Write Films That People Will Pay For.
Though trained and working as an engineer on a full-time basis, OKECHUKWU OFILI is best known for his writings, witty sketches, motivational speaking, a blog and an online book-reading app. He is the author of How Stupidity Changed My Life, How Laziness Changed My Life, and How Intelligence Kills; books that challenge conventional ideas and manner of doing things.
Ofili is the founder of okadabooks.com, a mobile book-reading app with a publishing system that makes it easy to for writers to create, publish and distribute their ebooks. This app won the MTN App of the Year in 2013, and has published over 8000 titles.
He blogs about writing, education, business, entrepreneurship and politics at ofilispeaks.com inspire readers to think and act differently and speaks to young people across the globe on maximising their talents and refusing to accept the negative remarks of people about them.
Mr Ofili is one speaker you would love to listen to over and over again. He will be speaking on How To Succeed As A Writer Without Ditching Your 9 to 5.
Attendance is free. To register, log on to connectnigeria.com/writers/2016/
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I’m at home with the activities of Connect Nigeria. It is very certain the Writers’ Conference would be profitable to many young writers.