Hi There,
This is a recap of what went down on Saturday February 3rd at the JP & JM Apartments at Barnawa, here in the Center of Learning, Kaduna. The Book Land hosted its first author, Brainbox to a book signing/reading but in this case lyrical performing event because this book is a collection of intentional pieces written with the writers 'conscience' I'm just going to be giving a quick run down on what happened that day and for the spoken word pieces, look out for subsequent posts, you'd see the pieces by each of the artist. 


It began at about 5:00pm and it was anchored by Jason, a spoken word artist and Tamar of The Book Land.

After the acquaintances were made and the guests began arriving, the beautiful poet came up on stage with a beautiful performance, (i will post her poem subsequently). She had us enthralled from hello, needless to say, she was shy but was encouraged by the audience with claps and smiles.

Next was Konquer, A Spoken Word artist who's piece was titled 'Education And Schooling'. this Piece discussed Education and Schooling in ways we had not thought of (thats what poets do right? use their gifts as tools of information) and i am proud to say i got new info from that piece. Konquer, conquered us all.

at Intervals, Our anchors kept us entertained, at least i thought so😀😀, and after that, one of the Anchors, Jason of course came up to perform his piece. i only had one thing in my head mid his performance, Rap and Poetry works together. Watching and listening to artist performing their pieces has an even better way of passing the message they intend most times other than just reading it and i confirmed it when Brainbox said artist/poets write from their conscience.

It got even better when James Apeh of Victory Camp International, came up to talk to us, He is a Motivational Speaker, A Mentor and many things. and so he spoke about The Youth and His Dreams. And although he had limited time, we or I learnt quite a lot, especially from his explanations on Goal Setting and Mentor ship.

You thinking of what you missed right? That's why I'm here😁😁

Next was the screening of #IAmNotAFailedDream Documentary by the Author, Valentine Onyeka  Ogunaka Known better as Brainbox. It was a a documentary that highlighted the effects and rewards of pulling through with our dreams and passions as youths. short but mind broadening video.
You know what they say about Reading; it widens your imaginations. Listening and Watching to that Documentary evoked thoughtful Questions.

Wondering where  thAuthor was? He was next, for the Q&A session.

On his art, he told the attentive audience on how he began, and even though, it wasn't yet welcome in the streets, he persisted because he said 'Look at the Comedy Industry today, If people like Ali Baba decided to call it quits just because years back, comedy was not paying, would he be here today'? he doesn't want to call himself one of the Pioneers of Spoken Word in Nigeria but he believes he has payed his dues and is still and he hopes that we do the same, because he says if the zeal and passion is not there, there will be days when you would not want to go on, and what happens next? he uses his work to speak out on social vices and that is why it comes to him naturally.
He had a word for every young person out here in kaduna, to believe in yourself, in what you do and work on it. 

Well, After that, we all wanted to hear him perform and he did. I'm going to post an excerpt below from one of his performances which happens to be my favorite from the book.

In Every City.

There's a dreamer in every city
There's a dreamer in you.

...
You'd find them in the home next door,
As a young single mother hold back her tears,
Because her son has said he wants to be the next top surgeon,
Even when he hasn't been to school for more than a year.
...
You'd find him in the cyber cafe, the guy surfing Jobberman
And when life says no job for you Mr Man,
He upgrades his CV, and then applies again.

You'd find them in slums, in tattered boots,
Yet with empty stomachs, they play football like professionals,
All for the attention of scouts from their dream clubs!
...

You can call 07036216162  or send a DM to @thebook_land on IG to get your copy of the book in Kaduna.

Books were purchased and signed and conversations were initiated, friends were made and we closed!

Brainbox is a Spoken Word Artist, Writer, a qualified Library and Information professional, Mentor and an Entrepreneur. He  has inspired and instructed at workshops and seminars. Also has teaching sessions with students at schools. You keep up with his work at www.iambrainbox.com


Thanks for reading, Please share your thoughts below.
You can send me emails at thebooklandng@gmail.com

Young Writers Meet

Hi There,

I was at the young Writers Meet on Saturday 10th February, which was hosted by Kaduna Start Up Weekend and Yasmin El-Rufai Foundation at the Creativity Court.

I'm going to be writing about three key things i found very educating and I'd like to share them with you. This Post is for writers, aspiring writers and Creatives who use pen and paper to share thoughts, well, they now have devices, pen and paper now sounds archaic 😀.

The first was the Commentary by Hadiza Aliko, from  House of Recovery.
She spoke extensively within a short time about Mental Illness. there were forms of illnesses she mentioned, Violence, Bullying and others and as much as they sound far fetched especially to us here in Africa, she explained, it was in existence, 7 out of every 10 are usually not stable. Now, she calls on writers, poets and creatives to do something about it. Quoting her 'Mental Illness is real, Use your pens to stimulate conversations and bring it out to the open, the mere fact that we conveniently do not talk about it doesn't mean its not there and it will disappear, use your voice as creatives'.
This means Writers in their own way can speak up against social vices with their art.

Next was Usman Shamaki with the Topic, Passion to Profit: Making A Living From Writing.

He began with a question every writer should be able to answer 'Why should you be paid for writing'?


The question also came with answers.

• As a writer you can shed more meaning on a chosen topic
• You can use words in a way that describes the mood of our generations
• You use words to plant ideas in the mind of your readers in such a way they feel, theyve always has those ideas

These few answers i got to put down, but they were a bit more and so he began the talk about how to make a living from your art. I've also written them in numbers to help make reading them easier.

1. Get over your fear of writing
2. You need to love what you do: writing
3. You need to put your name out in order to be heard: Start a blog, create a profile online (Wattpad, Medium), use your social media accounts effectively to create an online presence, he also suggested you focus on people who have a large following and get them to post your articles.
4. You don't need to publish a book to be a writer. you can edit articles, proof read, write articles, edit biographies and autobiographies. 
5. Understand your audience: in as much as you write from your thoughts. he suggests you know who you are writing for.
6. Be Knowledgeable, if you are diverse in information you can reach a wider audience.  
7. Talent is never enough. Never ever believe you are too talented, work on it, attend seminars, conferences, book clubs and book festivals.
8. Discipline is required.
9. Join a community of writers nearest to you or online.
10. Do not underestimate the power of social media, it has worked for businesses. it will work for you when used effectively.
11. There will be difficulties as a writer. Overcome them.
12. Finally, You need to develop a thick skin as a writer. do not easily get discouraged, it is better to be criticized than not at all, because it means someone is paying attention.

We listened to Zahra Umar of Jaruuma Magazine/Divorce Diaries, who also has a segment for women on BBC. Her topic was Telling Stories For Social Good.
One good thing from this speaker was the fact that she spoke a lot about her personal experiences as well as experiences with others, but she gave guidelines for people writing to address social vices for social good which I'd share below.

• When writing for social good, you should have a purpose.
• You need to have a thick skin because there will be lots of criticisms and bitterness from people who sometimes do not understand or delibrately misunderstand your purpose and choose to antagonize you for that.
• As a writer, you need to have a job that sustains you, until your writing skills pay off.
• Learn, Keep at what you do always. Be consistent. You should go out meet people and share thoughts and experience, and also keep an open mind because personal opinions as a writer for social good must be suppressed.
• You have to be careful because you carry trust. people who come to you with their experiences trust you enough to tell you, you shouldn't betray it.
• Your write ups should make people reflect a lot and be moved to either talk about it or do something to address it.
• Your write up should be entertaining as well as passing a message across.
• Be true to yourself, Be yourself and don't doubt yourself
• And finally, Hone your craft.

While listening to the three speakers, i noticed they repeated some things in different ways though: writers should write to pass messages, they should develop thick skins, they should also work on themselves, and these are things we should focus on wholly.

There was a prose and poetry competition and winners and runner ups were called out to perform.

There was also a discussion on blogging, meet and greet and some more. it was enlightening and the energy was infectious, hopefully we will get to attend more of this.

Thanks for reading. please let me know your thoughts in the comments 
The Book Land is a readers and writers community, Interested in our Book Club?
You can contact us on our email thebooklandng@gmail.com or call us on 07036216162.