The 2024 edition of the Chinua Achebe Literary Festival and Memorial Lecture, was held in Awka, the capital city of Anambra State on 16th November, with many dignitaries. PREPARATIONS Izunna Okafor, is the State Coordinator of the Society of Young Nigerian Writers (Anambra State Chapter) —the literary body that organizes the event — . According to him, Chinua Achebe Literary Festival and Memorial Lecture, initiated in 2016 and currently in its 9th edition, is a literary event the association annually organizes in honour and memory of Nigerian literary icon, Late Prof. Chinua Achebe, in celebration of his life, works and legacies. He added that this year’s event (as usual) held on Achebe’s birthday, November 16, 2024, at the Anambra State Central E-Library (also known as the Prof. Kenneth Dike State Central E-Library Library) in Awka.starting at 9AM prompt; with many dignitaries and participants in attendance. While revealing this year’s theme of the event as “Remembering Achebe… In a T...

GUEST WRITER-BENEDICTO WOKOMAATANI MALUNGA (Malawian author, Poet and Lecturer)  A gentle Igbo giant Bedecked with impeccable Literary credentials and accolades When you humbly walked this earth You rest quietly  In the belly of Africa You loved and defended When Joseph Conrad And Joyce Cary Dismembered its personality With intellectual jaundice Born of racial bias Stinking with distortions Springing from cultural And historical ignorance Only bigots weave into Their stories of denigration Tales calculated at putting down People whose past was no nightmare Whose history was no night of  darkness To be dreaded by its modern children To be despised by the present generation Chinua Achebe the father of African literature You are to be saluted in death Just as you were praised in life For retrieving our lost glory Through Things Fall Apart The reservoir of culture and history We can happily cherish as our own Enriched by recreation provided By a memorable wrestling match Pair...