Minna writers expect huge 2017 literary season

THE Hill-top Art foundation, Minna, Niger State kicked off 2017 with a maiden edition of ‘The Book-Maker on the Road,’ and this is coming prior to the big event coming up later in March, the Nigeria Festival of Teen Authors (NIFESTEENA). The Book-Maker on the Road event will be a quarterly guest writer series that will feature prolific and award-winning writers across the country. In this maiden edition, Su’Eddie Vershima Agema, a former chairman of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Benue State chapter, and 2014 ANA poetry prize winner, was featured.

The event started with a mentoring session, where established writers encouraged the upcoming ones.

The founder, BM Dzukogi, a former national secretary general of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), took the younger writers on the essence of penning their ‘opinions.’

In the end, the young writers were able to understand that writing basically has to do with sharing ideas, and it can come in form of prose, drama or poetry.

While speaking, the guest writer on the occasion, Su’Eddie, submitted that every writer’s assignment is to produce art that is significant, communicates and changes at least a soul.

He, thereafter, gave tips on how younger writers can improve their art.

According to the guest writer, the best way to improve one’s writing is to read a lot and learn how each writer constructs his sentences and weaves his plots.

Other prolific writers at the event also shared their ideas with the younger writers.

An established writer, Muhib Aslu, charged people just developing their skills as writers to allow literary lovers critique their works.

“This will help you know where you stand as a writer.

“We should not be ashamed when critics tell us the plain truth about our works; rather, we should do more towards developing our art,” Aslu said, while charging participants not to be discouraged by the opinions of literary critics.

When the event finally kicked off, an award-winning poet, Saddiq Dzukogi, took it upon himself to interview the guest writer, asking him how he balances his life and writing, to which Su’Eddie answered, “I really love telling stories, and I want something to be learnt from my stories; it is because of this that I prefer short stories.

“Also, I don’t just pen my stories; some things fire me up. I might just discover something in the course of my day to day activities and feel it will be better if I shared it with the world.

“With this, I can write a short story out of that situation; so I allow my emotion to fire me up, as that will make me come up with something special.

However, the founder of the centre, Dzukogi, explained that it is high time writers began using their art to change the world.

“We shouldn’t write just for the sake of writing.

“We should know that writing carries a lot of power, and we should use it to influence our country and change the world.

“A writer who has not influenced anybody is really not a writer, so we must begin to look at the ills in our society and country and expose such through our writings.”