It was as though a town crier had gone round a day before to announce a banishment penalty for anyone who failed to attend. Hence, not even the suckling babies were left behind.

When the 2011 edition of the Garden City Literary Festival (GCLF) kicks off in Port Harcourt on September 12th, it will have in attendance very influential personalities. From the United States will come civil rights activist, Reverend Jesse Jackson and from Ghana, renowned writer Ama Atta Aidoo.

Our Nation Our Hope is a 200 page book, written by a retired Senior Broadcast journalist, James Egbuchulam, which documents exhaustively, contemporary Nigerian life beginning from the birth of the Nation in 1914.

A line in the Nigerian national anthem reads:“the labours of our Heroes past shall never be in vain.”As a manifestation of this prayerful wish, the family of one of the first generation and greatest artists of the Nigerian art, late Prof. Ben Chukwukadibia Enwonwu in honour of the indelible archievements left by the accomplished artist of pioneer contemporary art in Nigeria, established the Omenka Gallery as a place of research, exhibition and production of knowledge.

The third annual Achebe Colloquium on Africa will be held at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA from 3-4 December, 2011.