Day Ngugi resurrected in intense literary probe by young Nigerians

THE first session of the 2025 edition of #CORALiterarySeason, a month-long literary celebration hosted by the Committee for Relevant Art, CORA, but organised by its students/youth wing, CORA Youth Creative Club (CYCC), held on Saturday, July 5, at the CORA Library & Resource Centre, Freedom Park, Lagos.

Themed #NGUGISeason, the programme holding every Saturday in July, is dedicated to reflecting on the works and career trajectory of renowned Kenyan writer and scholar Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o who died on May 25 in the United states of America after a bout of illness. The event is conceived to probe deeper into the social, political and cultural contexts and ideologies that define Ngugi’s body work.

In the course of the month, and over four sessions, five of Ngugi’s works will be covered by a roomful of students drawn from three Nigerian universities, invited partnering book club, as well as members of the CORA Volunteers Corps, CVC, who are mostly graduates or undergraduates of humanities and related course of studies. The selected texts are: Petals of Blood, novel (July 5); The River Between and I Will Marry When I Want (July 12); Weep Not Child (July 19)’ and Devil on the Cross (July 26).

The #CORALiterarySeason, now an annual programme, was initiated in 2024 on occasion of the 90^th birthday anniversary of Africa’s first Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka. Five of his memoirs were in discourse. The ideal, according to the CORA Programme directorate, is to enable an encounter and engagement of those works by Nigerian youths. This is in line with the role of CORA as an intervention agency: to bridge conversation between older and younger generations. The #Soyinka90Session was informed by “our observed lack of understanding of the role of the Nobel laureate in the socio-political history of Nigeria by younger Nigerians. The lack of understanding became glaring during the public conversations in the run up to the 2023 election, when Soyinka ran into a hailstorm of confrontation by the younger folks over his suspected choice of alignment in the political contestation.”

The July 5 first Session One of the #NGUGISeason, which featured a rich combination of reading, panel discussions, critical engagements, and performance centred around the novel Petals of (1977) brought together over 60 vibrant student voices, cultural enthusiasts, the literary community in the bowel of the Freedom Park Museum; as well as some virtual participants to discuss the complex interplay of literature and social transformation in African narratives. The session recorded a physical attendance of 41 students, drawn from different universities in Nigeria and, a reading club. The participants came from University of Lagos (UNILAG); Federal University of Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE); Lagos State University (LASU), and YZEE Book Club.

The event was structured into two major segments: Reading | Discussion | Performance; and Critiques: Life And Literature. Fadairo Olakunle, Project manager, in welcoming the guests, reiterated the objective of the project, which is to deepen engagement of the works of older writers and intellectuals for greater understanding; and especially to expose them to the historical trajectories of Africa as captured in the works of the older writers, who function primarily as chroniclers of history in their works. Fadairo said the #CORALiterarySeason will henceforth run annually as the curtain opener for CORA’s prime project, the Lagos Book & Art Festival, LABAF, holding in November.

Opeyemi Adesokan, a 2024 First Class graduate of English from the University of Lagos, who was moderator, opened the first session by situating Petals of Blood within Ngũgĩ’s broader ideological position — especially his revolutionary transition from writing in English to his native language, Gikuyu. Adesokan, a former President of the Transcultural Writers Network (TWN) of University of Lagos, emphasised that the novel is not just a story but a call to cultural and political consciousness, drawing attention to the exploitation and disillusionment in post-independence Kenya. He positioned the novel as a prophetic mirror of Nigeria’s own unfulfilled promises of independence. The moderator thereafter introduced the panellists: Hannah Idoko, Lateef Odetunde and Princess Depremoe.

Session Ii: CRITIQUES – LIFE AND LITERATURE

Olutosin Mazidah, who moderated the second segment, began by framing the novel within the global postcolonial literary canon. She posed the critical question: “How does literature shape consciousness?” Her moderation drew connections between art and activism, and between critique and conscience. Three discussants were with the moderator on the stage: Habeeb Abidemi, Lambo Hamdallah and Adjaho Evidence

 

Habeeb Abidemi interrogated the politics of betrayal. She noted how the novel deconstructs the nationalistic promises of freedom and exposes how the African elite replaced colonial oppressors. Lambo Hamdallah explored the religious disillusionment in the novel, particularly through Munira’s character. She examined how Ngũgĩ critiques the church’s complicity in the subjugation of the masses. Lambo argued that religious institutions are portrayed as part of the state apparatus that silences protest, thereby reinforcing the status quo. Adjaho Evidence took a more philosophical stance, arguing that Petals of Blood should be seen not only as a political novel but as an educational manifesto. She explored Ngũgĩ’s belief in decolonising the mind through literature and stressed the role of education in building revolutionary thought.

Succinctly, participants praised the choice of text and the balance between academic discourse and creative interpretation adopted by the #CORALiterarySeason. Some attendees expressed appreciation for the inclusion of performance art in a literary gathering, calling it a “refreshing infusion.”

The next session of the #NgugiSeason, scheduled for Saturday, July 12, 2025, promises to continue the exploration of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s works, expanding into other texts and perhaps multimedia interpretations. The texts that will be discussed are The River Between and I Will Marry When I Want.

The interior ambiance and welfare logistics, including seating, refreshments, and attendee hospitality, were efficiently managed by CORA Volunteers. Their meticulous attention to aesthetics and comfort enhanced the participants’ experience.

The event was also effectively captured in photography format by Segun Olayeye (aka Lasgidifest), and on video/social media platforms by the combo of Sandra Alabi and Cynthia Williams  all of the CORA Volunteers Corps, while Agnes Olayemi (Ola Black), Sacred Alabi, Ige Folashade, Eniola Boluwatife Demehin, Kachi Mbanuzue, and other members covered the protocols and other logistics. The event was also broadcast on Zoom and YouTube livestream coordinated by Mercy Timilehin Kelani, and on Instagram by Chinelo Nwora, ensuring seamless access to virtual attendees and creating a digital archive for post-event referencing.

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SYNOPSIS

FIRST published in 1977, the novel Petals of Blood, set in Kenya just after independence, follows four characters – Munira, Abdulla, Wanja, and Karega – whose lives are intertwined due to the Mau Mau rebellion. In order to escape city life, each retreats to the small, pastoral village of Ilmorog. As the novel progresses, the characters deal with the repercussions of the Mau Mau rebellion as well as with a new, rapidly westernizing Kenya.The novel largely deals with the scepticism of change after Kenya’s independence from colonial rule, questioning to what extent free Kenya merely emulates, and subsequently perpetuates, the oppression found during its time as a colony.

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FIRST published in1965, the novel, The River Between, is set during the colonial period, when white settlers arrived in Kenya’s “White Highlands“, and has a mountain setting. It tells the story of the separation of two neighbouring villages of Kenya caused by differences in faith set in the decades of roughly the early 20th century. The bitterness between them caused much hatred between the adults of each side. The story tells about the struggle of a young leader, Waiyaki, to unite the two villages of Kameno and Makuyu through sacrifice and pain.

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FIRST produced in Kenya in 1977 in Gikuyu as Ngaahika Ndeenda, the play depicts a farmer who is tricked into risking his land due to social and religious pressures. The prominent themes reflect a commentary on the hypocrisy and corruption of religion and capitalism, and the politics explored in the play were controversial in post-colonial Kenya. The production of the play is widely believed to be the root of Mirii and Thiong’o’s arrests and detentions without charges that same year. The writers were released in 1978, along with other detainees, once Daniel Toroitich arap Moi succeeded tyrannical President Kenyatta after his death.

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FIRST published in 1964, the novel Weep Not, Child, was Ngugi’s first novel, published in the African Writers Series of the Heinemann publishing company. It was the first English-language novel by an East African to be published.  Ngũgĩ wrote the novel while he was a student at Makerere University. Like most of his early works, it deals with the relationship between Africans and white settlers in colonial Kenya, and is heavily critical of colonial rule. Specifically, Weep Not, Child deals with the Mau Mau Uprising, and “the bewildering dispossession of an entire people from their ancestral land.” It is divided into two parts and eighteen chapters. Part one deals mostly with the education of Njoroge, while part two deals with the rising Mau Mau movement.

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