Professor Ernest Nneji Emenyonu: The Voice That Traced Igbo Literature Back to 1857

Professor Ernest N. Emenyonu at a library. Source: Igbostudies.org. “Okwu bụ ndụ.” (Words are life). The old proverb could well summarise Emenyonu’s life's work. To him, literature was not simply art; it was history, language, and identity woven together like the intricate threads of akwete cloth. From Umuahia to the World Born…

ByChinemerem Okwuchukwu1 day ago0Comments

Cyprian Ekwensi and the Cinema World: The Igbo Novelist as Actor, Scriptwriter, and Film Critic

Portrait Photo of Cyprian Ekwensi. credit:Writer Pictures. Long before Nollywood’s floodlights and rolling cameras, there was a man whose stories flickered like film reels in the minds of his readers, Cyprian Odiatu Duaka Ekwensi, the Igbo novelist who blurred the lines between literature and cinema. Born in 1921 in Minna, Niger State, to Igbo parents from…

ByChinemerem Okwuchukwu1 day ago0Comments

Biography

The Igbo Pen: The Life and Legacy of Albert Chinụalụmọgụ Achebe

Chinua Achebe in Lagos, Nigeria in the year 1966. Credit: New York Times Albert Chinụalụmọgụ Achebe was born on November 16, 1930, in Ogidi, Anambra State, a town alive with tradition and folklore. His name, Chinụalụmọgụ , means “May God fight on my behalf” , a prophetic prayer that foreshadowed the literary battles he…

ByChinemerem Okwuchukwu1 day ago0Comments

Cultural Heritage Historical Studies

Mazi F. C. Ogbalu and the Birth of Modern Igbo Language and Literature

F.C. Ogbalu. Source: Sun News Nigeria Asụsụ bụ mkpụrụ obi nke mmadụ ( Language is the soul of a people). In the decades after World War II, Nigeria was alive with political awakening. Yet among the Igbo, another revolution was quietly taking place, not on the battlefield or in parliament, but in the classroom and on…

ByChinemerem OkwuchukwuOctober 19, 20250Comments

Group of African writers and scholars at Makerere University, 1962 Writers’ Conference.

Cultural Heritage Historical Studies

Okigbo at Makerere: Poetry, Power, and the CIA’s Cultural Cold War

A na-agba ọsọ ndụ, ma onye na-agba ọsọ n’ezie, bụ onye maara ebe ọ na-aga(In the race of life, only he who knows his destination truly runs). Writers and intellectuals from across Africa gather on the steps of Makerere University during the 1962 Writers’ Conference. Image courtesy of Makerere University Archives, 1962 Writers’ Conference. Photographer unknown…

ByChinemerem OkwuchukwuOctober 19, 20250Comments