Cadbury Fellows Conference 22-5-09

22-5-09

First things first! Went to Marks and Spencers to queue up for the 5 items at a penny each giveaway. One lady felt dizzy while waiting but rather than go home, she rested on a wall. (Get cheap bargains or die trying! Apologies 50p..em..50 cent).
Got to the first session late (travails of a bargain hunter).
The Internet and new writers from Africa. Chaired by Shola Adenekan (Who actually invited me for this conference) it had the following panellists- Tolu Ogunlesi, Muthoni Garland, Uchenna Izundu and Anietie Isong. In summary, all agreed that the internet is God’s gift to Africa.
Someone in the audience spoke about underground cables bringing broad band internet access to the East and West coasts of Africa which I thought was interesting.
Had to make my exist at this point. I had a date with my patients.
Must say well done to Stewart Brown, David Kerr, Shola Adenekan and the staff at CWAS

Cadbury Fellows Conference 21-5-09

I attended the 2009 Cadbury Fellows Conference on Thursday May 21st & 22nd. The theme for event was OHUN TITUN: New Directions in African and Caribbean Writing and the event was hosted by the Centre of West African Studies, University of Birmingham.

Cadbury fellows – Christian Campbell, Tolu Ogunlesi and Oumar Farouk Sesay.

21-5-09
I found the session on Post-war Sierra Leonean Literature particularly moving. It was chaired by Jo Skelt and had as panellists Oumar F Sesay, Delia Jarret-Macauly and Prof. Syl Cheney-Coker.
The ‘long day’ ended with the Publishers panel (Publishers present Bibi-Bakare-Yusuf, Cassava Republic Press/ Becky Ayebia Clarke, Ayebia Clarke Publishing Ltd/ Jeremy Poynting, Peepal Tree Press), where we learnt about the challenges facing publishers of Afro-caribbean writing.
Well, that wasn’t where the day ended. We moved en-mass to end the evening at the Syriana Restaurant. Nice food and nice conversation.
Meet Mr Chuma Nwokolo, Jr. who is the publisher of African-writing.com and Prof Femi Oyebode, ( a poet and Psychiatrist based in Birmingham). Also had the pleasure of meeting Jeremy Weate and Bibi- Bakare of Cassava Republic press and many other wonderful people.