Nigeria is Literary heaven

In my short 2-week stay, I just got a small/small taste of Nigeria’s deep and rich literary history.

• During the second day there, I learned that I had just missed Wole Soyinka by hours during our visit to Freedom Park on Lagos Island.
• Tunde Odunlade, multidisciplinary artist, and our gracious host introduced me to the journalist, poet Jare Ajaye who turned me on to the work of the prolific poet Niyi Osundare (I’m devouring his City Without Walls: the Katrina Poems.) Jare supported my wife's (Caryl Henry Alexander) show during her first trip to Nigeria.
• If you’re ever in Ibadan, do yourself a favor and stop by Dr. Kolonde Mosuro’s Booksellers Bookshop
• I had a chance to read my poem hunger #1 at the Alliance Française Ibadan open mike where I met the photographer/activist Nseabasi Akpan
• I also met the actor Kunle Famoriyo who recited a piece from Soyinka’s The Trials of Brother Jero at a gathering in Tunde’s studio

I was only able to get two names of women poets to explore: Ijeoma Umebinyu, Lola Shoneyin

I’ll have to return for a more in-depth “literary tour” sometime.