the sun rose over a smoggy port harcourt this morning as i packed to catch a bus back to uyo. i was invigorated, inspired, enlightened by the garden city lit fest. felt as though someone laid out a banquet table of my favorite foods and invited me to eat my fill.

so grateful to the organizers, writers and participants for co-creating an enriching and fulfilling program that far exceeded my expectations. i don't believe i would ever have had the opportunity to rub elbows with such a talented group of people had i been anywhere else in the world.

here's to naija hospitality. --AL.

caine prize-winning author helon habila
i have long been a fan of helon habila's work; having now had the privilege of being in his presence over the course of several days, i have a full on writer-crush.

his creative writing workshop--which spanned two, 2-hour sessions during the festival--was a crash course geared toward the vast majority of participants with no previous writing experience at all. about five minutes in to the first hour, i realized that i had likely been in too many workshops and classes that rendered the information he imparted largely repetitive. but i fought the urge to leave and stayed for the nuggets of enlightenment that punctuated habila's lecture.

"writing is like building a table," he said. "if the leg is too long, get another one. work at it. that's why it's called craft."

given his experience as a writer and professor, habila answered so many questions about the craft and creative process that i'd never even managed to put into words. and taking a creative writing course in nigeria was a novel experience for me. it filled in all the blanks that had always been missing in courses i've taken in the states, making references to african literature that de-marginalized my perspective and experiences in a way that was deeply edifying.

after the second session, i took a picture with helon and got his autograph. then the most remarkable thing happened: we sat down for a one-on-one chat about writing. he was warm and open, giving of information and advice. just why he chose me in particular i'll never know, but it was surreal and lasted over an hour, at the end of which i felt we were practically friends.

suffice it to say that i really needed helon's advice at this particular point in my process. needed the validation that i am not completely irrelevant and invisible, laboring in my room alone for hours on end. needed someone whom i respect and admire to say--i see you, i hear you, i encourage you to keep doing what you're doing.

i'm certain that several of the festival organizers introduced themselves to me specifically because they saw me chatting with him and wondered who the hell i was to get his ear for so long (especially since i later crashed the awards gala at the governor's mansion, and was sitting at the same table with helon, adaobi nwuaubani and zainab jallo!). but i'd like to think that someday soon all this elbow-rubbing with greatness will be well earned.

you can check out helon habila's creative writing tips from the gclf workshop here. and find out more info about his fidelity bank writers' workshop in abuja here. --AL.

myne whitman and AL @ the garden city literary festival
met the world famous myne whitman, blogger and author, at the GCLF this week. she moderated two panel discussions, one on the impact of social media on the publishing industry, and a "meet the author" session with acclaimed writers helon habila, zainab jallo and adaobi tricia nwaubani.

throughout the festival, myne showed herself to be a smart, savvy and outspoken writer/blogger. i admired the tenacity with which she utilized the web to market her self-published work, a heart to mend. she read books, articles, and blogs on social media, and grew her audience of subscribers from 1 to 400.

a handful of folks have asked why i don't publicize this blog more than i do. i certainly have read tons about how to do that, but i suppose a part of me has never fully embraced the online sphere, will always see it as a somewhat fickle enterprise. but if it were a dollars and cents matter, ie, publicizing my blog was equivalent to selling books, i'm sure i could muster the motivation.

at any rate, bought a copy of her book and can't wait to dig in. naija bloggers unite! --AL.

A conversation with Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka was the highlight of the Garden City Literary Festival this year. He was billed in conversation with Nobel laureate J.M.G. Le Clezio, but the latter took ill and was unable to attend as planned, delivering a videotaped message that was broadcast at a press conference early yesterday.

Because the conversation was geared toward children, Soyinka began by reading a passage from Ake, a memoir of his early childhood, and taking questions from the reluctant, though very bright, group of children in attendance. He is a man fully self actualized, able to articulate his peculiar life as a boy reared in the village who went on to dominate the world literary stage. He talked about a range of things: the Yoruba books he read as a child; the games he played; how he wanted to be a pilot until he realized how much math was involved; his love of new media/technology, and how it can enhance and extend a love of literature/old media; and how he celebrated his last birthday in a zero-gravity chamber.

I am in awe of Prof Soyinka mostly for his enlightenment. There were a couple of perplexing questions from audience members who sought to confirm or deny his Christianity/belief in one Supreme God, as if to validate their appreciation for his work or find a reason to jettison him to the legion of gentiles polluting the world. Though Prof Soyinka could have dismissed them, he took the time to educate them on the multiple paths (Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam) to Godhead (as he called it), in a response that traversed Allah to Ogun, the Vedas to the Quran, and culminated in a stern rebuke of all those who kill and divide in the name of religion.

I appreciate not only the vastness of his spiritual universe, but also his patience and benevolence to share that universe with less enlightened others, encouraging them to critically analyze religious texts, their faith and motivation. I wasn't expecting him to cover that much ground, but it was a deep, rich, and fulfilling experience.

Looking forward to seeing Chinua Achebe at next year's festival. --AL.

i'll be settling in for another bumpy ride on public transport in the wee hours of the morning tomorrow. the garden city literary festival jumps off in port harcourt with a book fair, writing workshops, discussions, and a conversation between nobel laureates to mark the united nations world book day. some notables among others in attendance will be: myne whitman, bibi bakare-yusuf, adaobi tricia nwaubani, helon habila, reuben abati, wole soyinka, and j.m.g. le clezio.

i have been invited to participate in helon habila's prose workshop. i am beyond thrilled about it--ecstatic, overwhelmed, and a little bit anxious. once upon a time i reviewed one of his novels for a magazine. wish i had re-read it recently, retained so little in my memory apart from a healthy respect for the man as a writer. damned if i could find a single book of his in the best bookshop in uyo (of novelists, all i found was a pirated copy of chichi's purple hibiscus--for shame!--beside every imaginable book by danielle steele and john grisham).

i am in a good place with my writing, so the fest couldn't have come at a better time. things seem to finally be moving again. i am going with the flow, will let the universe carry me wherever it may. --AL.