RAN 2017 showcases Hafsat Abdulwaheed

AFTER last year’s successful debut featuring a former national president of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), Dr. Wale Okediran, all is set for the 2017 Read Across Nigeria (RAN) event.

An initiative aimed at promoting reading in the country by showcasing eminent writers as models to the young, the honouree this year is Hajiya Hafsat Abdulwaheed, the first published female Hausa novelist.

A statement from the National Coordinator of RAN, Wole Adedoyin, disclosed that the event will happen in May in venues across the 36 states but that the Ibadan, Oyo State affair will feature 20 public and private secondary schools.

He said that the students and other lovers of literature will read from the works of Abdulwaheed on the occasion.

Adedoyin added that organisers hope that showcasing the Kano-based author will encourage more female writers to write in Nigerian languages.

Abdulwaheed, who uses her works to highlight the plight of women in Northern Nigeria, was born in Kano and had her primary education in the city. She has written over 30 books since her first novel published in the 1970s.