8 poets from 5 countries in poetic dialogue with Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka
TUESDAY, March 21 is World Poetry Day. The Day “celebrates one of humanity’s most treasured forms of cultural and linguistic expression and identity,” according to UNESCO, which adopted the date during its 30th General Conference in Paris in 1999, with the aim of supporting linguistic diversity through poetic expression and increasing the opportunity for endangered languages to be heard.
As has become a tradition since 2019, the Providus Bank will be staging its 3rd ProvidusBank Poetry Café on Tuesday, March 21 at the Grand Ballroom Eko Hotel & Suites Victoria Island, Lagos.
Titled World Poetry Day with Wole Soyinka, the event is designed as an evening of engagement in poetry rendition and performances between the grand poet and Nobel laureate, Soyinka, who is the inspiration behind the project, and a coterie of established, mid-career and young poets, including students of varied persuasions and styles.
With the theme, Restating Humanity With The Woman, the edition is wholly dedicated to celebrating WOMANHOOD. Thus, the evening will have on call eight poets from five countries – Nigeria, UAE, South Africa, Canada and Ghana.
Five of the poets are Nigerians, while three are other nationals. The Nigerians are Wana Udobang; Amrah Aliyu; Achalugo Ilozumba; Kemi Bakare and Jumoke Verissimo (based in Canada). The non-Nigerians are Nathalie Handal (French-American based in Abu Dhabi, UAE); Vuyokazi Ngemntu ( Cape Town, South Africa), and Emma Ofosua (Accra, Ghana) NB: Please, see the profiles below.
A statement from the producers, Culture Advocate Caucus, CAC, says, “The overall idea of the theme is to explore poetry works that pay close critical attention to the various modes of reduction and exclusion that the female gender faces in many parts of the world, notably Iran, Afghanistan, Nigeria, and other countries in Asia and, some other parts of the world.
The patron saint of the project, Soyinka in his introduction to the edition, reiterates the strength of poetry to triumph over odds placed on its path by state authorities and people of extremist persuasions. The poet-dramatist and essayist, states: “Poetry has survived millennia of corruption, hate and destruction. It will outlive all enemies of the freedom of thought and imagination. Even in the dankness and despair of torture chambers and dens of the hangmen, the ember lives, straining to burst into purifying flames in the least expected places.”
Providus Bank, which has remained consistent to the idea of promoting the World Poetry Day project since 2019, says its engagement with the Nigerian literary community is “designed to be a cross-generational endeavour, one where established, mid-level and budding writers could share one big stage.
“We could not think of any other iconic and preeminently qualified persona than the legend, Prof Wole Soyinka, to be the grand patron and in some sense, the ‘patron saint’ for the project, and for the many young people who have graced the stage since the inception of the World Poetry Day series in 2019.
“It is important to underscore the fact that Prof Soyinka has been fully involved in the different themes and the artistic direction of the various events yearly. We are honoured, grateful and appreciative of his leadership and for being personally invested in this project.”
The bank restates the objectives of the World Poetry Day as outlined by UNESCO, as “the occasion to honour poets, revive oral traditions of poetry recitals, promote the reading, writing and teaching of poetry, foster the convergence between poetry and other arts such as theatre, dance, music and painting, and raise the visibility of poetry in the media.”
The Thematic Choice
There has been a gale of political and cultural assaults on the person of the Woman in recent time around the world. Though appearing as isolated cases in the different countries, or parts of the world, it is beginning to look like the rise of an orchestrated misogyny against the female gender.
In Iran, the feudal regime imposed stringent rules on women dressing, insisting they must compulsorily wear the hijab, and cover their heads with scarf. The situation was triggered by the arrest of Amini, a 22-year-old ethnic Kurd, for an alleged breach of strict dress rules for women. Amini later died on September 16, 2022 in custody. The funeral procession in Amini’s hometown of Saqez in Kurdistan province turned into one of the first protest actions, followed by more than four months of unrests. Hundreds of people, including dozens of security personnel, have been killed during protests. Thousands of Iranians, including public figures, journalists and lawyers have been arrested. Tens of the journalists arrested over the protests are still in custody, Tehran Journalists Association said. The state would seem to have won temporary victory with its violent actions against the citizenry but it has only repressed a growing discontent, that could lead to further threat to the peace of the society. Essentially, this draconian rule could destroy the mental being, and endanger the comportment of the girl child in that society.
In Afghanistan, the extremist regime of the Talibans has banned the admission into, and attendance of women in its universities. The action has also led to widespread violent protests, which expectedly have resulted in repressions and arrests of countless protesters and activists. The consequence of this assault on womanhood can only be imagined for the future of the female persona in the Afghan society.
In India, Pakistan and some East Asian nations, incidences of Honour Killings targeted at the female gender have been on the rise, leading to frequent protests and clashes between activists and the law enforcement agencies. Rape impunity has escalated to the extent that public figures openly accord a “hero’s welcome” to those convicted of rape. This further damages the psyche and personality of the victim and shreds the fabric of the full society.
Specifically for the Nigerian society, the Female personality suffers multidimensional oppression in political, cultural and economic spheres.
Aside from the lopsided economic opportunities which aspects of national economic policies instigated at workplaces and in some public engagements, women in Nigeria continue to suffer serial repression in the national scheme.
In representation in national and sub-national governments, women occupy paltry numbers of seats, some of which are even threatened by corruption that defines the Nigeria democratic systems.
Six times the Women Bill of Rights has been presented before the National Assembly, and six times, the dominant male members with largely extremist and misogynist persuasions have ensured that the bill is stopped from progressing through parliamentary deliberations. Needless to add, the targeting of the girl pupils of Chibok and Dapchi for mass abduction remains a gaping wound in the nation’s psyche, a wound that is constantly distended by mimic violations across the nation.
The 2023 ProvidusBank World Poetry Day is dedicated to reinstating the female gender by paying close critical attention to these various modes of reduction and exclusion of a vital segment of humanity.
