On the morning of June 15, a remarkable event took place in the main hall of the Iseyin District Grammar School, IDGS Iseyin, Oyo State. The trio of writers at the May/June 2013 edition of Ebedi International Writers' Residency had barely five days to stay in the ancient town. The event was not just to bid them farewell, but also to showcase the creativity they had imbued in the eager students.
Since August 31, 2010, when the Ebedi International Writers' Residency opened its doors to writers across Africa for a six-week residency in the serene ancient town of Iseyin, Oyo State, there has been a stampede to go there.
The result is that many writers from countries such as Uganda, Ghana, South Africa, Sierra Leone and Nigeria have been within the walls provided by the medical doctor, politician and awardwinning writer, Wale Okediran.
The former national president of the Association of Nigerian Authors, ANA, has said he was inspired to begin the residency when his wife prodded him after a visit to his country home; so far, the writer foots the bill for keeping Ebedi Residency going. "We started asking around for those who had one or two experiences in having attended residencies in the past…
We brought them together to form the board; somebody like Alkasim Abdulkadir, Uche Umez", Okediran said. The board has since expanded just like the residency, which started with two Nigerian female writers now drawing applications and participation all over Africa from writers of both sexes.
The last set of residents, whose six weeks ended on June 20, were the Ghanaian poet, Macdell Joshua Kofi Sackey (who is attending for the second time); Enugu-based Children's Literature Writer, Chiaka Ukachukwu Obasi and Taofeek Ademola Olayiwola, a renowned Nigeria author who writes in English as well as Yoruba.
It was clear to everyone who attended the June 15 event that the time residents spent in Iseyin was not only fruitful for the students of Iseyin District Grammar School, IDGS and those of surrounding schools, but will remain memorable for the young aspiring writers. Not only were their academics improved upon, their social skills also got a fillip. In fact, the idea of the farewell gathering did not just come from the students, they also organised it.
They were in their elements reciting poetry, presenting a drama sketch, singing and dancing to the delight of their classmates and guests from in and outside Iseyin. Blessing Adewale recited a poem titled: Aiye Omuti.
For Deborah Rowland it was the poem titled: Ma fi epe s'ere, then there was the drama presentation before the students took the stage to sing and dance. But it was not just the students that benefited the residents, too had come, seen and completed many works as well as bask in the sights and sounds of the new environment.
In the case of Olayiwola and Obasi, the stay afforded them the opportunity of a business deal, the latter will translate the former's book, Clash of Wheels, into the Igbo language. The Ghanaian poet said he completed work on four books, Obasi and Olayiwola, finished work on a number of plays and short stories. This must be what Professor Femi Osofisan had referred to in his speech at the opening ceremony for the residency about all human endeavour beginning from a spark.
"As history teaches us, the movements which eventually shake the human race, the actions which become so momentous that they re-map and redefine the destiny of a whole community, or a nation, or even of an individual life, all commence from the spark, at first so little, of one person's dream.
Then the dream grows and expands, and transforms into a consuming conflagration", he had said. It is for this coming conflagration and many other pleasant reasons that the residency has never been in want of writers.
The only thing it lacks is sponsorship. And for the laudable initiative that has not only kept Iseyin on the world map, but has also been productive for those who come from there, it is time for corporate Nigeria to come in, as it can no longer be left to one man. In this most of the residents that have passed through Ebedi speak in one voice.
Sackey, Olayiwola and Obasi, who just left the house called on not just corporations but also government to come in and expand the scope of the residency. Indeed, the Ebedi Residency is not a novel idea in the country as the late Bode Osanyin's Writers' Resort at Ijoko-Ota, popular at a time, closed with his passing, which makes it pertinent for corporate funding to come in quickly.
Writers are too important to a society like Nigeria for the governments both at the national and state level to leave what will enhance their creative process to individual effort as it is the case in Iseyin.
The guest of honour at the reception, Prince Femi Olalere, commended Dr. Okediran for his support for literature in the country. "Students in Iseyin are also benefiting from the knowledge of the writers who come from different parts of the country and the continent. We want to thank Dr. Okediran for this opportunity given to Iseyin school children," Olalere said.
Okediran, who was not at the event, also donated 10 copies each of eight books required for study in the current secondary school curriculum at the event. Some students who had excelled in a quiz competition organised by the departing residents got copies, while the rest were to be shared to discerning students in the school.
Some of the residents that have been at Ebedi since inception of the initiative include: Abiodun Adebiyi and Lola Okusami (September/October 2010), Kenechukwu Obi and Charles Oluyori Ack (November/ December 2010), Igoni Barrett and Emmanuel Ugokwe (January/February 2011), Spencer Okoroafor and Anaele Ihuoma (August/September 2011), Tosin Otitoju and Ladi Opaluwa (October/November 2011), Nehru Odey, Dul Johnson and the Ugandan, Doreen Baingana (January/February 2012).
Others are: Richard Ali, Niyi Fasanmi and Awwal Sakiwa (June/July 2012); Temitayo Olofinlua and the Uganda, Barbara Oketta (March/April 2012); Others are Nigerian-Barbadian, naturalised South African, Yewande Omotoso, author of BomBoy (2011); Ayodele Olofintuade, author of Eno's Story (Cassava Republic, 2010); Ugandan Public Health Specialist, Agiresaasi Apophia from Makerere, author of a children's book, Victor (Macmillan Publishers)and Rukayat Olaleye, author of Yoruba novel, Abamo for the March/April 2013. Writers who intend to be part of the fellowship need only to get online and apply.
They need not pay any amount either for application or during the duration of the six weeks. Okediran had worked in government and private hospitals for several years before he went into private practice in 1987 and active politics in 1999 when he was appointed chairman, Oyo State Hospitals Management Board.
He later contested for a seat in the Federal House of Representatives, where he represented his constituency from 2003 to 2007. Okediran's interest in writing dates back to his secondary school days where he was a member of the school's Literary and Debating Society.
He has written 10 books including: The Boys at the Border (Spectrum Books, 1991); The Rescue of Uncle Babs (Macmillian Plc, 1999); Dreams Die at Twilight (Malthouse Books, 2004) and Strange Encounters (HEBN Publishers, 2004).
