ANA to mark tenth year of Achebe’s death

Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) is set to mark the 10th anniversary of Chinua Achebe’s death .

The two-day event is scheduled to take place from 19th to 21st May 2023 at the Mamman Vatsa Writers’ Village, Abuja.

Highlights of the activities lined up for the memorial include tributes and reminiscences on the legend, open conversation between the old and the young writers on the immortality of creativity, and the ten years after Achebe’s transition.

The event will be rounded off with a grand dinner.

According to a press statement by ANA on Saturday, the initiative which is by Camillus Chima Ukah-led administration is another milestone in the annals of ANA.

The creation of ANA was mooted by Achebe about 42 years ago, precisely on 27th June 1981, in a conference of Nigerian writers he convened at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

Soon after the convention, which was attended by notable writers from within and outside Nigeria, including Ngugi Wa Thiong’o and Gacheche Wauringi, the association was registered as a corporate body/professional association with the Corporate Affairs Commission.

And since then it has, in line with its mission of building a vibrant and responsive body of creative writers based on the foundation of freedom of expression and high ethical standards, engaged in various programmes and activities designed to actualise the noble goal.

Over the years notable attainments by the association through collaboration with individuals is the Annual ANA/Yusuf Ali Literary Awareness Campaign sponsored by Mallam Yusuf Olaolu Ali, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria based in Ilorin, Kwara State.

Since the grant was instituted in 2012, state chapters of the association have at different times received generous funds for the annual campaign involving literary activities like quiz and writing competitions among secondary schools.

The commemoration of the 10th Anniversary of Achebe’s death, with the theme; “The Immortality of Creativity: Ten Years After Achebe’s Transition,” according to the statement is an effort at recognising the monumental roles of the father of African literature and the founder of ANA– an honour duly deserved.

The anniversary will also offer sober reflection on Achebe’s legacies and fruitful discussions on how to sustain and promote them for the development of African literature to which he dedicated his entire life.

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