We are moving

Dear friends

I have good news. We are moving! Yes! To our new home next week. Our new home is www.blackandoutspoken.com.

You know I am Outspoken because since I found my voice, I have had no choice but to be Outspoken right? Silence is not an option. So my new home would be a unifying place for outspoken people just like me. Hopefully.

We are moving also because it has become important to streamline my activities online. I am on different platforms, it has become hard to keep up with myself online. So, this is the way forward. The new website will feature my columns, poetry, interviews with authors and everything else.

I want to thank you for your support here. I hope you will like my new website and you will keep supporting all that I do.

Find me at http://blackandoutspoken.com 

Love you loads.

Tundun
PS: We should be moved by Wednesday morning, no point visiting our new home now.. we are not there yet:)

African Literary Evening

Outpspoken: the Book!

To Pre-order click here

Outspoken! The Radio Show is back on the 17th of September from 6pm GMT

After a short hiatus,

We are back on AUK radio championing the cause of African literature. As far as I know, Outspoken! the Radio show is the only programme online dedicated to promoting African authors, bloggers, writers, poets and spoken word. When it comes to African  literature, Outspoken! will shine the light and lead the way. The importance of this cause cannot be over emphasized.

 The show will run over the course of the school year, breaking only during the school holidays. I am introducing a new segment where you can request for songs to be played for you or a loved one. You will also have the opportunity to share your poetry on  radio.

We have now made it possible for you to be able to listen again to the show every Friday from this blog. So don't worry if you are unable to join us. It would be nice though to know that you are listening. Just to me. Us. The Team that brings you Outspoken!

The beautiful Lady Anita Duckworth-Bradshaw is my first guest. She is the founder of La Proverbs Ltd. She is an accredited coach from The Coaching Academy UK and the best selling author of three books.  Her books include:  The Giant Within Us,  The Road to Discovery, Woman-The-Powerhouse.

Lady Anita would be travelling all the way from Croydon where she is based to our studio in Luton. It is a show not to be missed.  So pencil in the time 6-730pm GMT and the station is AUK.

Exciting times ahead! Stay tuned to Outspoken! Only on AUK Radio.








 

African Literary Evening

Hello everyone

The African Literary Evening is an evening put together by Tolulope Popoola, Publisher and Chief Executive Officer, Accomplish Press and my self. Need less to say, it is our first event together and I urge you to get your Tickets here whilst they are only £5.

Why are doing this? Primarily because there is a  need to bring together African authors to celebrate our successes and to talk about our challenges. This is how Tolu puts it.

"Dedicated to showcasing the best of established and emerging talented African writers in the UK"

Accomplish Press in conjunction with Femy and Remy Ltd and Nigerian Writers, presents an evening of reading, conversation and inspiration with the best of new generation African Writers. Please join us as we enjoy an interesting mixture of literature, poetry and spoken word performances, as well as a panel to discuss issues relevant to writers in the UK.

Featuring: Guest Speakers on the Panel (African writers both published and unpublished, reviewers, journalists and book bloggers).

Abidemi Sanusi
Anita Duckworth-Bradshaw
Tundun Adeyemo
 Bola Agbaje
Nuzo Onoh
Sade Adeniran
Ola Nubi
Kemi Ogunniyi
Irenosen Okojie
Kiru Taye
Bimbola Dare
And many more.

Topics

Is it possible to make a living as a full-time writer?
The future of publishing in the UK: is it traditional publishing, self-publishing and collaborative publishing or hybrid publishing?
Beyond print; moving with the digital revolution: ebooks, podcasts, audio books and short films
Who is our audience? Our community or beyond?
Genres: moving beyond expectations placed on African writing


Hosted by: David G. Balogun

With readings and spoken word performances from: Ola Nubi, Adura Ojo, etc. There will be a variety of books for sale, and an opportunity to network and chat with the panel and other guests informally over drinks in the bar afterwards.

Date: Saturday, 8 November 2014

Time: 5pm to 8pm

Venue: The Proud Archivist, 2 - 10 Hertford Road, London N1 5SH

Tickets: Early Bird £5, General £9, Last Minute £12

Order tickets via Eventbrite:
http://www.eventbrite.com/e/african-literary-evening-tickets-12822098241?aff=efbevent

African Comedy Show embraces the African theme.

 The common adjective many used to describe the June event of the African Comedy show was ‘very funny’. Undeniably, many people laughed till they could literally laugh no more. The show was that good. What was funny? The comedians were. They were top class, their jokes were every day, ordinary jokes with twists and turns that brought the giggles from everybody- even those who at first who kept a blank face cracked up eventually.  When the MC is Okey Bakassi, laughter is the order of the day, misery stands no chance. The event was put on by business man David Balogun, a man who rigidly ensures that the jokes are clean. I dare say, that the monthly event is a must attend for socialites around the  London and out side London areas. If you are a wannabe, come too. The more the merrier. It is the perfect place to let your hair down and be '21' again, or if you prefer to be '18' all over again, you can. Just saying. Laughter makes you young at heart again, you know?

It was not all about jokes though, it was more like a variety show with comedy taking about three quarters of the event. The sidelines were juicy as well.  There was a raffle draw which resulted in a man winning return tickets from the United Kingdom to Nigeria. Imagine that!  There were traditional and modern dance troupes and different flavors of singing and rap. It didnt seem out of place to get up and dance.....well, you can if you want to. Hot meals and drinks were sold on site which means you can come from work and have your dinner at the Hippodrum in Goldersgreen (venue of event).  On the whole, it is fair to say that the organizers of the show left no stones unturned with the star cast of entertainers and their organisation. At the end of the evening and even for a whole week more, I would remember some of the jokes and smile.

What is even more important is that the comedians were from a variety of African countries like South Africa, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Nigeria, Somalia only to name a few. It is not Nigerian comedy, it is African comedy. The show is also educational as the entertainers whilst talking about their countries, inform, educate and entertain at the same time. A definite plus for pan Africanism.  This is why the African Comedy Show is different. It embraces the African theme as a simple show off of everything that is beautiful, funny and perfect about Africa and her people in the diaspora. If you like, you can call it our own version of 'Live at the Appolo'.

The African Comedy Show starts promptly at 730pm every second Friday of the month and carries on with an interval till 2230pm. It is an event to which you can invite your friends, lovers, colleagues at work and indeed, the entire family. They will love it. If you cannot decide where to take her too, try this one. There is an event later today at 1930pm. It is a case of be there or be square......just joking. But please do come, if you are in the North London area or around the M1 or M25. The best bit is parking is free at that time.

The next show is  today which is the 11^th of July, 2014 at the London Hippodrum in Goldersgreen.  Nigerian comedian Gordon, South Africa’s Barry Hilton, Zambia’s Kasenge and many more will be there. The question is are you? For tickets call: 07404115228. Pictures below are some from June event. Watch this space for 'gist' about tonight's show.

 

#Bring Back Our Girls

The #Bringbackourgirls has become the new battlefront for war on Twitter as the hashtag has generated an international outcry; one that possibly jolted Nigeria’s political leadership into action. The twitter hashtag cannot be undermined as the story it symbolises make it impossible to stay indifferent.  234 (or whatever the number) girls in the hands of wicked, blood sucking, demented men who have no regard for life or limb. Their ordeal, unimaginable at the hands of these horrible men.  These girls are future mothers, future scientists, future leaders an entire generation of young ladies held against their will in a forest makes us all uncomfortable.  The kidnapping of these girls is not an issue for feminists only as well. It concerns everybody in our Nigerian community, for what if those girls were your sisters or daughters?

Unfortunately, hashtag or not, the situation remains the same. A little back ground here for anyone who is oblivious to the story: 200 or so girls were abducted from their school dormitory in Chibok community in Borno State on April 14th as they were about to write their General Certificate of Education exams.  Borno State has been under a state of emergency for about a year now.  It is home to the notorious Sambisa forest where Boko Haram terrorists have their headquarters.                                

Here in England, like it is across the world, #Bringbackourgirls has generated quite a furore at the work place of the writer. A non-Nigerian colleague had made pasted posters on the Chibok girls around the work community.  They- most workers- found it hard to believe that the Presidential position on the kidnap was that the kidnap was a stunt engineered to cause maximum embarrassment to the Peoples’ Democratic Party.  Likewise, Mrs Patience Jonathan’s high profile involvement was hard to explain away. A video showing the Mrs Jonathan crying as she held a stake holders meeting with mothers and parties involved in Borno State was unfortunately ridiculed  and viewed in bad taste. But, it is Patience Jonathan: a market woman who is also the President’s wife. We can pardon her ignorance whilst we wonder why her husband allowed her to turn such a sensitive issue into a circus. The concurring view was that she was a distraction and a poor surrogate for the missing girls. The situation at hand is frankly not about the PDP neither is it about the APC, it is about the safety and security of all Nigerians, especially vulnerable ones like the soft targets taken.

Many international figures like Tinie Tempah, Chris Brown, Mary J. Blige, Dr Mike Murdoch and numerous others supported the noble cause, even more actively than the Nigerian government.  The American government has since offered to help with the intelligence side of things. We hope they would not be too disgusted with the Nigerians by the time all is said and done. The British government has a team on standby ready to help sort out the Boko Haram terrorists.

Frankly, one cannot say the Nigerian government has satisfied its duties on this matter. The lukewarm ness of Aso Rock until a couple of days ago has been most disconcerting. It is unthinkable what the Boko Haram terrorists would be doing or have done to those girls. In a country where education is the way out of generational poverty, those girls were not caught in their boyfriends’ houses or in a night club. They were kidnapped in school. It is curious why parents would let their daughters sleep vulnerable in an area known for the activities of the Boko Haram terrorists. The school should have been closed. Period. Having said that, apportioning blame is not the way forward. The best thing to do at this time is hope that under the leadership of the Nigerian government, the girls would be released. But, the recent Presidential chat revealed that even the President  was clueless as to the whereabouts of the girls.. His best shot was inaugurating a committee to help secure their release and ordering security chiefs to do all that is possible is to release those girls. We all know that command like others before it,  is a Presidential rubber stamp stand on absolutely nothing. Also, committees are usually a clear sign that the situation is hopeless.

Nigeria is in a cycle of self-destruction, this year has been an exceptionally bad year . Two bomb blasts in Nyanya, chronic unemployment, lack of adequate health care and myriad of other problems. Nigeria is struggling to keep it all together. Whilst the Nigerian government battle to make sense of Boko Haram and the country’s numerous problems, Boko Haram always seem a step ahead. Recently, it took responsibility for the kidnap threatening to  sell the girls. As if that was not enough, 8 more girls have been kidnapped from the nation’s capital.

The answers to our national problems lies not in the Presidency nor his team but in the power of ordinary Nigerians who are able to galvanise talking points from their Twitter handle and new media fronts.  Every angle you look in Nigeria, there is a moral deficit and a widening gap in equality. The Vice President’s loss was more important at a stage than the missing girls, retaining the Minister of Immigration’s portfolio has been more important than the death of the Nigerians who died during the Immigration recruitment fiasco, the Nigerians who died at Nyanja was not an excuse for the twerking dance of the President in Kano the day after the blasts.  The seeming inequality between Federal workers and ordinary Nigerians is a new low this government has taken. The truth is no longer spoken as it is sacrificed for the pay packet. Most people associated with the administration have to tow the official lines: ‘all is well with the country’.

Hopefully, the girls will be returned eventually and life hopefully will return to normal. Our prayers remain with the families of the girls and with the entire Chibok community. Hopefully, we can learn lessons from this saga in our collective journey as Nigerians with a voice.  The level of participation given to #bringbackourgirls should develop around the moribund areas of our social polity.



 Tundun Adeyemo

Published in TELL, this week(I think)

  

#Bringbackourgirls: A Poem

It cannot be business as usual
Perhaps it is                                                                        
We have been gone for over 21 days
And 21 nights
Unspeakable
Nasty
Frightening
Uncomfortable                                              
Terrifying
We cannot describe the nightmare that
has refused to end
Dont forget us
We are your sisters, daughters, nieces
and mothers of tomorrow
#bringusback

We know for some it is business as usual
You will read this and resume your dinner
Or move on to happier news

But we are still here                      
Enslaved
Kidnapped                                                                    
Against our will
We know the sun will soon rise
It will be morning soon
This will be over
#bringusbackhome
                                                                                                       
For us, our lives have been changed forever
Our voices will be heard in Chibok
And around the world
We are the girls
Who dream of a better Nigeria
Where students can write their exams in peace
Where girls and boys are safe to be they want to be
and more
Where our communities are safe from violence and attacks
Where our lives are regarded as precious
Thats the Nigeria we Believe in
That is the Nigeria fighting for our release
This is not propaganda
We just want to come home                                                                    
#bringusback