Soyinka to launch “Memoirs for Our Future”

In a rare London appearance, internationally renowned playwright and Africa’s first Nobel Laureate for Literature Professor Wole Soyinka will launch the publication of the Anthology “Memoirs for Our Future” to an audience comprising of mainly young people ages 12-21 and their families - all designed to herald the 2014 Open Door Series edition that would mark Soyinka’s 80th anniversary under the banner WS80.

The WS brand was inspired by the essence and ideals of the Nobel laureate in literature. These ideals sum up the artiste's humanism as reflected in his various and globally acclaimed roles as a cultural, civil rights and political activist.

The Open Door Series, an initiative of Zmirage Multimedia Ltd is primarily aimed at using art, culture and literature as tools for the fostering of youthful minds towards national development and improved leadership for the future.

In 2011 Project WS77 dawned with the theme ‘I Love My Country’. 77 students from Nigeria and the Diaspora assembled in Lagos to compete in an essay competition based on the theme. 15 year old  Aaliyah Ibrahim of Zamani College, Kaduna, Nigeria emerged winner of the competition. The UK students qualified to participate in WS77 in Nigeria were Olumayokun Ogunde from Palmers Green High School, Chibueze Ukachi from Notre Dame Sixth form Catholic College and Precious Popoola.

Project WS78, the 2012 version of the project with the theme ‘The Mind of a Patriot’ rocked the cities of Lagos, Abeokuta, Akure and London as 78 Senior Secondary School students converged once again in Lagos to compete in an even fiercer challenge in an essay competition based on the same topic as the theme. Soporuchi Mgbeahurike, a 15 years old student of Graceland International School, Port Harcourt, Nigeria emerged winner.

In 2013, WS79 will focus on the theme “Memoirs for Our Future”. Apart from being the theme for this year’s project it is also the title of the new book- A compilation of the winning essays from WS76 to WS78 as well as other selected essays from submissions for all the years.

The Nobel Laureate himself has written the Foreword to the book and will present it at the event.

Akinwande Oluwole "Wole" Șoyinka (surname pronounced "Shoyinka") was born in Nigeria on 13 July 1934 is a Nigerian writer, notable especially as a playwright and poet; he was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature, the first person in Africa and the Diaspora to be so honoured.

Soyinka was born into a Yoruba family in Abeokuta. After study in Nigeria and the UK, he worked with the Royal Court Theatre in London. He went on to write plays that were produced in both countries, in theatres and on radio. He took an active role in Nigeria's political history and its struggle for independence from Great Britain. In 1965, he seized the Western Nigeria Broadcasting Service studio and broadcast a demand for the cancellation of the Western Nigeria Regional Elections.

As a dramatist, Soyinka has been influenced by, among others, the Irish writer, J.M. Synge, but links up with the traditional popular African theatre with its combination of dance, music, and action. He bases his writing on the mythology of his own tribe - the Yoruba - with Ogun, the god of iron and war, at the centre. He wrote his first plays during his time in London, The Swamp Dwellers and The Lion and the Jewel (a light comedy), which were performed at Ibadan in 1958 and 1959 and were published in 1963.  

He has periodically been Visiting Professor at the Universities of Cambridge, Sheffield, and Yale.

Venue:    The Africa Centre

Date:     Saturday 20th July 2013

Time:     3pm

Address:     38 King Street, London WC2E 8JT

Admission: Young people and Families.

Free tickets must be booked in advance – www.ws79memoirsforourfuture.eventbrite.com