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The winner for April 2022's Giveaway is Edith Sani.  This giveaway is in courtesy of SprinNG and Roving Heights Bookstore.
How to win? Read the current publications on the SprinNG website for April 2022. Write a comment on 2 or more of the publications posted on the website for April 2022. Please add your name and email address when filling the comment box. Note: Email address will not be made public. See the guide to providing good feedback below. TIPS FOR WRITING GOOD FEEDBACK The goal of providing feedback is: 1. to invite another reader into the world of beauty you have seen in a work 2. to provide a very brief summary of what you read 3. to give your interpretation/perspective of what has been written 4. to provide suggestions for improvement We encourage that your comment meets at least 2 of these goals. The SprinNG team will evaluate the comments and select the winner of the bookstore giftcard at the end of the month. Note: Comment on the poems, book reviews, articles, interviews, and guest posts.
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- Author of Beyond My Dreams (BMYD)  (Feature Introduction) Deciding the most striking aspect of Beyond My Dreams is one tough call because Mrs. Olajumoke Adenowo delivers on all fronts. Hailed by CNN as Africa’s 'starchitect,' her masterful touch as a polymath comes to bear in her first fictional work, Beyond My Dreams (2019). From the compelling visual imagery to well-rounded character development in the novel, the reader is in for an exciting experience. Add a steady pacing of the story to the mix and a rich thematic preoccupation that touches on faith, family, love, betrayal, governance, and nation-building—and you have a masterpiece. In this interview, Mrs. Adenowo opens up on the inspiration behind her debut novel, the journey to creating, and the message she hopes to amplify in the hearts of everyone who encounters BMYD. The InterviewBy Adedayo Onabade  You're a widely acclaimed architect by profession, and you've written in other genres. When and how did the journey to creative writing begin?
I started writing at the age of 16. I was in Part 2 at the university during that time, and I enjoyed the creative process. It wasn’t about publishing the book. I was just telling a story. I started giving my older friend chapters to read as I wrote, and she loved it. I was so surprised! She would ask for the next instalments with genuine interest, and as I had more chapters, I gave another friend who also really loved the story. So, I thought, 'There must be something to the story.' Then, things began to happen at the national level that I had already written about in the book. Uncanny events that had never happened before in the nation, as I had described them in BMYD. These were the days in which, when those sorts of things I described in the book happened, and you simply knew about the imminent events and didn’t report it, it was decreed a crime, and you could be executed or thrown in jail to rot away there (along with your family). So, I stopped writing the book. Once in a while, I would tell the story, which changed a bit over the years, and the listener would always love it. So, I decided at the age of 49 that I would write the book by the time I turned 50, and I did. The story changed slightly but not in spirit, and even the names of some of the characters changed, but Rola’s name endured for 34 years, so did Olaotan’s and Isa’s. By Ilerioluwa Olatunde  “You better learn how to drive before you get married.” These words resounded with shock in my ears as I wondered how my conversation with an older man diverted to this. Ever since I graduated, the next expectation almost everyone has had for me is marriage, and everything seems tied to this phase of life. Even within the four walls of my house, I must perform roles in preparation for marriage. I constantly hear, “You need to learn how to cook. No man will help you in the kitchen.”
I keep wondering why everything I do or not do must be related to this marital status. As a young woman with aspirations, I wonder why no one has ever spoken about my ambition. Why I haven’t heard, “You need to learn how to cook in preparation for living independently or when you leave this country and you’re far from home.” Why can't I have a conversation with an older person without the mention of marriage? What broke the camel’s back for me was the follow-up comment, “You are getting old.” Seriously, I am in my early 20s, and that is “old.” This is one of many unfair societal expectations women have faced in the past, and books like Ogadinma remind us that there is a long way to go. Set in the 1980s in Nigeria, Ogadinma tells the story of a 17-year-old journey to freedom, battling everything the patriarchal society in that era threw her way. Throughout the book, the author paints a vivid picture of the different shades of patriarchy. Right from the first scene, we see the protagonist, Ogadinma, under the heel of someone ready to take advantage and an unjust circumstance. Ogadinma, in need of admission, went to Barrister Chima in the hopes that with his status and influence, he would be of great assistance. But, unknown to her, this will lead to a sequence of events characterised by manipulation, abuse, exploitation, and betrayal. Smitten by her desire for admission, the barrister took advantage of her desperation and coerced her into having sex with him. By Faniyi Oluwatomiwa Elijah  Some days come with so much trouble
That all you can do is sit Listen to the wind as it hums Drink the wine of hope Empty the pains of your thought And sleep your sorrow away. Some days arrive heavy and overweight You'll wish you could register it at the local gym With the hope that it might just work out And get in shape and be able to On its own walk out of your calendar Without staining you with rancid memory. By Olivia Onyekwena  an old soul in celestial transit
do you watch me from the sky? I stare long at these photo frames of me and you from times before your aura lingers on in the passenger seat with no one singing along to our favourite song |