Introducing young people to an author can be a wonderful experience. Ifeoma Theodore E., author of ‘Trapped in Oblivion’, made a special Author Visit to Surulere Girls Senior Secondary school, Mushin, one of the Ignite Africa school-based-book-clubs in Lagos state.
Ignite Africa Leadership Foundation is a non-for-profit organization with a great passion to build the reading culture especially among young people through their Reading projects in schools, annual Readers Are Leaders Walk which features A-list celebrities and the free online library (igniteafricalibrary.org).
Ignite Africa has impacted hundreds of school children across the nation and have established over 50 book clubs and Book-To-Child connection groups across Lagos State, and Rivers State. The Ignite Africa Book Clubs encourage and effectively engage student members to actually read specific relevant books within a timeframe (two weeks), and reviewed regularly by well-trained and experienced reading partners. Interestingly, Ignite Africa hosts local and international authors to meet with the members of the book clubs. The students would have read an author’s book prior to the visitation day and they have the great platform to intellectually engage the author on her book and things they are curious to know.
Ifeoma Theodore E, the young-adult fiction author, gave dynamic presentations of her book, ‘Trapped In Oblivion’, to the Ignite Africa Book Club members and non-member students of the school, detailing her thoughts, her experiences, her life work, her passion in writing the book, and how it all lead to becoming the ‘Writer’ she is today. The Author Visit presented a platform for exchange of ideas between the author and the students. The readers were opportune to see through the eyes of the author, tap from her wealth of knowledge and understand her inspiration for writing such a book. Ignite Africa Project Director, Winnie Aduayi and the Reading Partners, Success Frank, Dare Oladipupo, and Kunle Smith made the session quite interesting and conversational by asking practical questions, helping the students settle comfortably into the discussion and open up on the issues being raised and discussed in the author’s work.
Her book, ‘Trapped In Oblivion’, a story set in Africa, is intensely moving, message-rich and interactive; told in real time with all the changes in perspective that teenagers and parents must deal with. This book is Trapped a valuable lens onto how we make life-altering decisions, especially where it concerns the younger generation in the fast-paced, technological world we live in today.
Suffice it to say that the Author Visit was a combination of expository, interesting, educative, and exciting. “Ifeoma Theodore E’s visit was a huge success for the entire student body,” said the school Librarian, Mrs. Wowha. “Discussing Trapped In Oblivion with the author herself inspired many of us here; and we are looking forward to more of these author visits” she added.
