The Christian hymn book sings of achievements as the landmark of immortality. Longevity may be a blessing but achievement is revered in this matter. But the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) last month celebrated both longevity and immortality of some of its members, including the Austrian pioneer cultural exponent, Ulli Beier who recently joined the ancestors in New Zealand.

Though Beier, who helped, through his Mbari Club to give focus to what has become known as modern Nigerian arts and writing, is late, he died in his 80s. Okara and Ike, clocked 90 and 80 respectively.

Chukwuemeka Ike, Ullie Beier, Gabriel Okara

In such celebrations, of course, the works of other old writers such as the late Cyprian Ekwensi, Amos Tutola and T. M. Aluko were not forgotten. But most importantly, distinction was made between the celebrated writers and others like Ekwensi, Achebe, Soyinka and Okigbo. Uduma Kalu, one of the panellists made of Anthony Ebika and Odili Ujubuonu, called the former gentlemen and the later pioneers in his discourse entitled; Nigerian writing: Longevity and immortality, which urged writers to be bold and daring as they discover new ways of telling their stories, and that longevity may be important but immortality which the works can ensure is not measured by age.

The explosive literary session featuring readings, debates, criticisms was Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) programme in collaboration with the Lagos chapter. The members looked at the achievements of the honoured figures vis-a-vis their writing, use of mythology and literary relevance.

On their influence on young writers, Ujubuonu, one of the panellists, was examined through his new novel. There were debates on how to look at the past with the eyes of the present.

The event was witnessed by the National General Secretary, Hyacinth Obunseh who introduced his wife, Ann, to the gathering, and the National Publicity Secretary, Ebika Anthony. ANA president, Dr. Jerry Agada pulled a call through to the writers from Abuja to show his solidarity with the programme. Ex ANA Lagos Chair Folu Agui, was there with the current Chairman, Dagga Tolar. Some students of the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ogun State, among others were also there.

Emphasising the importance of the past in our writing, Ujubuonu said  in his research for his recent book, he found that  the Ijaw nation has lots of cultural heritage unknown to many of the present generation. Such cultural wealth could be exposed by writers through their works.

“Writers need to go back and research into their roots; they would find lots of wonderful cultural values and myths that they can explore in their writings.” But Kalu said there was nothing new to write about the African past but that the new writing must use new forms of expression to mirror the past. He named such movies as Merlin as good old stories of the West but told from a modern eye. Tolar noted that X-Men, Merlin and the Legend of the Seeker, among others, are based on European mythologies and that Nigerian writers should borrow a leaf from European and America writers and filmmakers who are able to recreate mythological works that contemporary audience can identify with.

Tolar said: “Works by people like Ulli Beier, who left Europe to research into the African culture, Christopher Okigbo, who wrote a poem, Idoto, and Chukwuemeka Ike challenge today’s writers. There is no difference between Ike’s Bottled Leopard and the X-Men; they are both talking about a spirit possessing man. In both works, we see that it is not necessarily where you are from but the depth of a writer’s creativity. When it comes to Merlin, it is an epic, while Idoto is seen as fetish because it was written by a Nigerian. This is the ‘crisis of the pagan’ and the colonialisation of the African mind that is playing out. Ujubuonu’s being here today as a discussant is no mistake. It goes to show that there are still some who are still doing same as the scholars that we are examining today.”

And there were other side attractions such as Johnson Obasi a.k.a. MC Moskito who drew laughter from the audience with his satirical piece called Armed Robbers’ Strike. A young lady, Rachael Obodo read from her new novel, The Victim, an affective book about incest and insanity. The reaction to her work centred on a teenager who was raped by her father but the stories were said to lack details and did not convince based on what it takes to deflower a woman.