Port Harcourt, capital city of Rivers state has remained the hub of literary activities in the country since it emerged UNESCO World Book capital for the year 2014. The last Sunday of every month literary minds gather at the Presidential hotel, Port Harcourt to discuss a literary piece, a development that has continued to stimulate reading culture among the young and old.

Executive Director, Rainbow Book Club, Mrs. Koko Kalango, said the monthly literary reviews were part of events lined up for Port Harcourt as UNESCO world book capital for the year.

The gathering was for “Tomorrow Died Yesterday”, written by Chimeka Garrick, a lawyer. The book is a gripping narrative on the Niger Delta as it captures what many styled the dark age of the region – the era of militancy.

This time discussants were drawn from the media, largely because they captured every moment of the dark age in their news stories, analyses, features and documentaries.

The Assistant News Editor/Bureau Chief, Port Harcourt office, Vanguard newspaper, Mr. Jimitota Onoyume and Ms Karina Igoniko of the Nigeria Television Authority, NTA were the discussants. The author of the book, Garrick, was also on ground to share some of his deep thoughts that gave birth to the narrative.

Eminent Professor of History, E.J. Alagoa was among the audience during the discussion. Professor Alagoa who has written so many celebrated academic works on the region said he had to come when he heard that “Tomorrow Died Yesterday”was the book for discussion.

He said because of his works on the Niger Delta, the publisher of the book brought the manuscript to him for assessment. Alagoa who hailed the author for the piece said he was “struck by the force of the narrative”.

According to him, after reading the manuscript he advised the Publisher to also get across to some friends in the literary circle with it since he is a historian.

One of the discussants, Igoniko, said the work was a documentation of the travails of the region, while Jimitota described the piece as a classical account of the issues that gave rise to the resistant movement code named militancy in the Niger Delta.

The author pleaded with youths to shun crime as a path to survival.

In the narrative, Garrick tells the story of underdevelopment amidst oil wealth in the Niger delta region with the plight of people of Asiama, an oil rich area as the setting.

He captures the helplessness of the people in the face of the naked exploitation driven by their own son in connivance with the state. A young graduate, frustrated by the forces at play in the area had no option but to turn to kidnapping for ransom as a carrier. Security operatives also share in the proceeds of his crime. Though he died but he was celebrated by some because of the circumstance that forced him into crime.

The University of Port Harcourt Institute of Arts and Culture also did a stage performance of Wole Soyinka’s “Child Internationale” after the discussion.