The spotlight of the July Guest Writer Session will focus on Umari Ayim and Wole Coker on the 29th by 4pm, at Aso Hall, Nanet Suites, Abuja.
Ms Ayim was born in Ogoja, Cross River State and three years later, her family moved to Minna and then Lagos. She attended Federal Government College New Bussa and studied Law at the University of Lagos.
A prolific writer, she has five ebooks – Apartment 7, Born Again, Just Friends, Ila’s Burden and Moshe. Her three print books are Twilight at Terracotta Indigo (winner of the 2011 ANA Flora Nwapa prize for women writing), Inside My Head (ANA Poetry Prize winner 2012) and the latest work, Guardian of the Fall.
In her words:“ I practice fully but in my spare time, I like to write. I also write social and political commentaries. I am passionate about reviving the reading culture and currently organize a meetup for book lovers in Abuja called ‘word and wine book club.”
Ms Ayim’s influences include Maya Angelou Toni Morrison, Peter Abraham, Wole Soyinka, Okot p’Bitek, JP Clark, Chinua Achebe, Elechi Amadi, Mariama Ba, Ngugi Wa Thiong’o and Ayi Kwei Amah.
A chartered arbitrator and lawyer, she started her law firm Godel Aten Consultants and Solicitors two years ago in Abuja .
Wole Coker , who will give a talk on scripting and production for television, is currently the Executive Director Programmes of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA).
An indigene of Lagos, he holds a Bachelor Degree in Fine Arts from the San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco in the United States of America where he majored in Film Production. He also has a Masters Degree in Business Administration from the Golden Gate University still in San Francisco, CA where he majored in Telecoms Management.
He began his creative journey into TV Production in April, 1982 during the National Service year where he was assigned to the Defense and Foreign Desk in NTA, Lagos and has never looked back, rising through the ranks and building an intimidating portfolio of achievements.
Coker was appointed the General Manager of NTA Plus, Abuja in 2003-2009 and later appointed the Director/General Manager of NTA Educational Television (ETV) , Tejuosho, Lagos in 2009 where he undertook some outstanding initiatives and programmes like – Fun Bus, Take a Step, Work it Out, How Much Do You Know, Young Inventors etc. He also organized three annual National Children’s Exhibition of Arts, Science & Technology projects at the NTA Headquarters, Abuja in 2009,2010 and 2011.
In 2012, he was appointed the Director Multi- Channels, NTA Headquarters, Abuja and eventually became the Zonal Director of NTA Lagos Network Centre in Victoria Island from 2014- 2016.
As usual, the Guest Writer Session will have live music interludes and this month two singer/songwriters and guitarists, Blessing Tangban and Aishida Dele will feature.
The Guest Writer Session which runs from 4-7pm is open to the public, and holds at the Aso Hall of Nanet Suites, Central Business District, Abuja, also features a raffle-draw for books.
The Abuja Writer’s Forum also runs a weekly Critique Session and a Creative Writing Workshop series.
