Our club engagements for the year 2023 started with the January reading session held on 28th January 2022 at our usual spot, Shakespeare Hall in Watbridge hotel, 11b Ibb Avenue Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.
Our guest reader was a veteran Journalist, Essayist, Editor and author, Mr Dominc Kidzu. The Founder of Uyo book club Dr Udeme Nana welcomed everyone to a new year and urged members to be committed to the activities of the club in 2023 in line with the shared vision of refining our society through reading and the promotion of high culture.
The stage was then set for the book chat and Mr Dominic Kidzu took the club members on a journey through his life and career and delved into the plot of his novel, The Rage of Rajuno, a riveting narrative of love, heartbreak and self-realization.
He expressed his delight in being part of the Uyo book club. According to him, “It’s my first time ever in a Book club! Whenever I write my memoir, I will devote a chapter to this visit to Uyo Book Club”
He told his listeners, “I grew up on reading. I had a teacher who used to loan me the novels of James Hadley Chase. There was an assignment in my secondary school to write an essay about an airport and here was I, a village boy in a remote area who didn’t even see a tarred road ever but I wrote about an airport excellently because I had visited several airports through reading. My writing is tied to my reading”.
During the book chat, Mr Dominic Kidzu also said it was wrong for women to live with the mindset that men were only the ladders they can use to climb towards success. He observed that from the example of Rajuno in his book, “The Rage of Rajuno”, women can pursue and achieve sustainable success without men.
It was quite an interactive session as members discussed the themes in the book, raised questions about the plot and characters and shared thoughts and opinions with the author.
Dr Ekong Sampson, the patron of the book club in his remarks reminded Members of their civic duty of voting in the forthcoming general elections in the country. He stated that writers and intellectuals have a responsibility of doing soul searching and leading from the front in decongesting the ”power traffic”.
Dr Martins Akpan, another patron and in-house orator of Uyo Book Club praised the novel and the author and stated in his words, “If I had missed this session, I would have missed a lot”.
The reading session in customary manner was concluded with light refreshments and a toast to the New Year.
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