Tade Ipadeola is keen on Makoma Wa Ngugi’s We, the Scarred. He is intrigued about Antjie Krog’s A Change of Tongue.
The poet of the Sahara Testaments will be moderating a conversation around these two texts at the forthcoming Lagos Book and Art Festival (LABAF), scheduled for November 11-17 at the Freedom Park in Lagos.
Sparring with Ipadeola are two accomplished writers, in their own right. Toni Kan, poet, publicist, publisher (Radi8 Lagos) novelist (The Carnivorous City), biographer and acclaimed short story writer (Nights of the Creaking Bed), will be discussing We, the Scarred.
Dagga Tolar, revolutionary poet (This Country is Not a Poem), convener and artistic director of A. J House of Poetry will be explaining A Change of Tongue.
That conversation comes up at 1.30pm, on Saturday November 16, 2024, the sixth day of LABAF 2024.
While the theme of the Festival is Breakout: Hope is a Stubborn Thing, the subtheme of Ipadeola’s panel is The Redress?
“We, the Scarred is about the historical tensions in the quadrant of 1. Plundering 2. Resistance 3. Reparations & 4. Redress,” Ipadeola summarises.
Here’s a direct quote from the book:
“Let me put it this way: returning what was stolen makes everyone see once again. The aggressor is no longer blinded by the guilt of theft and fear of revenge; and the aggrieved is no longer blinded by the constant need for revenge.”
It ends on a happy note, after decades of despair.
In Krog’s A Change of Tongue, there is considerable degree of anxiety expressed by white South Africans about the direction the ruling black elite is taking the country. But the book’s opening offers a ray of hope for consensus.
Below is an excerpt:
“THE GUNSHOT CRACKS. They lean into the curve. Out from among the white boys shifts the figure of a black child, upright, his fingertips effortlessly upwards at every stride. Down the straight he is way ahead, running with the compelling grace of a top athlete. The pavilion crowd is on its feet. The back schools yelling wildly and pressing up against the railings in front. The white parents cheering, one tossing a hat into the air, and at the finish line a white track official bent almost double by her encouraging screeches.
‘Why is everybody happy?’ I ask a man in tracksuit next to me”
Expected to contribute to the panel’s conversation is the winner of the competition for the review of We, The Scarred, who receives the prize money just before the panel sits.
Every year, LABAF uses the Book as instrument, to discourse the burning issues around, specifically: National Development and generally: Global challenges and concerns.
The event is a 25-year parley; a comprehensive, week-long culture picnic that has run annually since September 1999. It features reading sessions, conversations around ‘content and context of books’, art and craft displays, kiddies’ art workshops, Publisher’s Forum, Writers’ Workshops and Book Trek, Book exhibitions, Drama skits, Live music and dance. It is an art festival with high book content.
Messrs Ipadeola, Kan and Tolar have been pillars of LABAF; supportive parts of the party since inception.
