Music, poetry, wine tasting for Wole Soyinka at 90

• 80 schools hold exhibition to celebrate icon

The Africa Centre, London, in partnership with Wole Soyinka International Cultural Exchange (WSICE), Nigeria, has lined up series of events to celebrate the Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, as he joins the nonagenarians’ club on July 13, 2024.
   
Also, the Initiative for Information, Arts and Culture Development (IACD) is gathering over 80 secondary and primary schools in a month-long exhibition depicting the impactful life of the playwright.
   
The centre’s nine-day programme, from July 19 to July 27, to honour Kongi’s immense contributions to literature, culture and human/civil rights advocacy will feature exhibitions, roundtables, film screenings, live music performances and poetry recitals.
 
Visitors will be able to explore Soyinka’s literary journey with ‘WS: A Life in Full’ – a comprehensive display of his published works and photographs from his personal archive; Nine Seasons of Kongi – a collection of paintings by youth members of the Vision of The Child mentored by Soyinka; and incorporating the Africa I-D-E-N-T-I-T-Y, a touring showcase based on public reading of his poems realised in nine European cities; ORI Series II (For WS), a collection of conceptual water colour drawings by United Kingdom-based artist, Abolore Shobayo.
   
Another highlight of the programme will be the London premiere of a new feature film inspired by Soyinka’s seminal prison memoirs, The Man Died to be accompanied by a question and answer session with the director, Awam Amkpa, and producer, Femi Odugbemi.   
 
Also premiering in London, is Ebrohimie Road, a documentary based on Soyinka’s former residence on the University of Ibadan campus, where he was arrested in 1967. It features revealing interviews with some of his children, siblings and associates. The director, Kola Tubosun, will also engage with the public.
 
Chief Executive Officer of the centre, Olu Alake, said, “This year holds dual cause for celebration: The Africa Centre’s 60th anniversary and the 90th birthday of Soyinka. We are incredibly honoured to partner WSICE in celebrating Soyinka’s remarkable life and his long-standing association with the centre, dating back to 1969.”

PRESIDENT of IACD, Dr Kolade Mosuro, spoke on the exhibition, yesterday, while briefing journalists at IACD Library and Resource Centre, Ibadan, Oyo State.
 
Mosuro said the intellectual enclave would be celebrating the icon uniquely, pointing out that it was a special grace to clock 90.

Soyinka was born in 1934.
 
The IACD boss said programmes lined up for the exhibition include performances, stage plays and reading.

Students, according to him, will know more about Soyinka, whom he described as a patriot, advocate of fair play, dramatist, artist, guitarist, music lover and Nobel laureate.