How literary events are shaping the cultural identity of Abuja

It has often been said that Abuja does not have a cultural soul. As a relatively new city, only decades old, some are impressed at how far the city has come. But others coming from cities with histories and unique identities scoff at Abuja’s “poshness” and the way its dwellers live. One thing that can […]

It has often been said that Abuja does not have a cultural soul. As a relatively new city, only decades old, some are impressed at how far the city has come. But others coming from cities with histories and unique identities scoff at Abuja’s “poshness” and the way its dwellers live.
One thing that can be said in defence of the city of Abuja is that contrary to assumptions, there is a lot happening, one only needs to where to look. Over the years, Abuja has quietly become a cultural hub, a city where one can go out every week to enjoy some cultural event, be it dance performances, film shows or literature events.
The proliferation of literary groups in the capital has ensured that there is a constant conveyor belt delivering literary events almost every week.
This development has given options to many residents of the capital, who are looking for intellectually stimulating ways to unwind after work.
“I think it is good,” Dr. Emman Shehu, the founder of the Abuja Writers Forum (AWF) said. “The impression has been created that Abuja has no soul. But these groups have helped immensely in gradually challenging this notion.”
Variety, they say, is the spice of life and that is what Dike Chukwumerije, who coordinates the activities of the Abuja Literary Society (ALS) thinks.
“It is hard to find all you need in one group and each group has its own flavour,” he said. “It gives people diversity and options.”
Most of these groups emerged as a result of the need to find new ways of experiencing literature, some splintering from the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA). Before then, ANA has had the monopoly of organizing literary events in most cities of the country, and the case was no different in Abuja.
First out of the block was the Abuja Literary Society founded in 1998 by the likes of Ken Ike and Victor Anoliefo, who were disenchanted by what ANA had to offer in terms of providing platform for writers to express themselves.
Ten years later, Dr Emman Shehu felt his dreams for the advancement of literature and writers were being stifled by ANA, which he had attempted to lead on several occasions unsuccessfully so he decided to set up the Abuja Writers Forum.
“What I wanted to do was not given the platform to grow within the framework of ANA, so I moved elsewhere to set up a platform that will project these goals,” Dr Shehu said.
What the ALS and AWF did was to focus more on organising literary events in new and trendier ways, seeing their membership growing exponentially as result, while ANA Abuja languished in the doldrums. It took years, almost a decade, for the premiere writers’ in body in the capital to recover and compete favourable with the others.
The competition is good, for the neutrals at least. It means there is no shortage of events to choose from and the fact that the timing of these events vary ensures that various needs are catered for. The ALS has events almost every Friday at 7 pm. AWF has its events mostly on Sunday evenings starting from 4pm. While ANA has chosen Thursdays at 4pm for its own events.
The various groups coexist, and sometimes officials attend others’ events to enjoy readings and discussions but beneath the surface, there are hints of rivalry and competition. This is not unconnected to the fact that some of the groups broke away from others.
“It is difficult to coordinate with others given the circumstances under which we were born,” Dr. Shehu said. “Previous attempts to coordinate, we later discovered, were only ploys to find who our funders are and to take away these funders.”
Dr. Shehu’s long-standing feud with ANA has been well documented in interviews he has given before and he still believes there are attempt to blacklist him and the AWF.
“People are told not to come to our events, not to associate with us. But our focus has always been on creating platforms for the growth and development of literature.”
Whereas Dike thinks the proliferation is good, he also sees some negatives. “There are pros and cons. And one of the cons is that people break out of one group to go and set up another because they want to lead or be the head and they end up doing the same thing. Why not stick with the existing group and make it work.
“Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying it is bad to have several groups. I don’t have a problem with people wanting to extend the spread and reaching new audiences but if you are going to do the same thing, you might as well stay and make it work.”
Even within the different groups, they have different programmes. There are regular critique sessions where works of members are read and critiqued, ensuring the writers benefit from the input of their peers. There are book clubs where a published work is read and discussed and there are guest writer sessions, where published authors are invited to read and discuss their books with the audience. All these ensures a healthy buffet of reading and literature related fun for book lovers in Abuja so whether one is a writer or just a reader, there will always be something to excite you.
There are still new avenues to be explored and recently, another literary platform emerged. Orpheus Literary Foundation debuted in April with former ANA Abuja Secretary Salamatu Sule coordinating its affairs. They hold readings once in a month, during the afternoons.
“The idea is to have books and lunch,” Sule said. “We realised there are people who go out for lunch breaks and want to do something different with their time so we scheduled our events so that people can have lunch and enjoy a good literary discussion.”
Orpheus is set up in a popular bookshop in Abuja and Sule said that has helped in drawing different kinds of audiences. “People who walk in to buy books will meet these discussions and join in. And the next time, they will bring friends along.”
Orpheus doesn’t engage with unpublished works. Their focus, Sule said, is to discuss the narrative structures of published books and engage critically with issues raised in the books, and depending on the book they are focusing on for the month, they go as far as inviting interested people or target groups to attend the discussions.
But having recently served as the secretary of ANA Abuja, why did she see a need to set up a separate platform for this?
“I wanted to do this through ANA but the disagreement on the model and structures were endless, so along with some like-minded people, we decided to create a different platform for this,” she said.
Apart from the regulars, the German and US Embassies have also been organising book reading events in Abuja. Individuals too decide to organise or host book readings in some of Abuja’s cafes, ensuring there is never a dull moment of book lovers.  What good has ever come out of a monopoly anyway?
And for a new city, the impact of this forms of cultural and intellectual expressions may just end up shaping what Abuja will become known for eventually, something Dike Chukwumerije thinks is already happening.
“They are contributing significantly to shaping the cultural identity of Abuja. I have meet people who come to Abuja and are looking for something to do after work and you see how meaningful these events become to their lives,” he said.