TLDS Holds Second Edition of Ibadan Literary Festival

Oluwatosin Adeoye

The Literary and Debating Society, University of Ibadan, the second largest student society in the institution, held the second edition of the Ibadan Literary Festival on Friday, 3rd of May, 2024 at the Faculty of Arts Quadrangle with the theme, An Aesthete’s Fete.

The event featured the launching of the TLDS magazine, awards and prize giving ceremony, music performances, spoken words, poetry, open-mic session, art exhibition and face painting.

There were also various categories of Awards/Prizes which includes, the Contributors to the TLDS Magazine, which was in three award categories, first is the Poetry, which the recipient of is Balogun Abdulmheed and was presented the award by Mr. Pamilerin Jacobs, the Poetry column curator of NND, a poetry column in Nigeria NewsDirect, a national newspaper. The award of N50,000 cash prize tagged “The Dr. Samuel Folorunsho Ibiyemi Poetry Prize”came to Abdulmheed included in the award.

Speaking to AFAS Press, Abdulmheed appreciated the organizers of the awards, “first of all, I would like to thank God, and the organizers of the event, winning this Poetry Prize is a thing for me, I am very very happy”. He also affirmed that writing for him is a therapy, “that is my therapy session that I go through everyday”, 

The second Award Category goes to Relevant Arts Fiction contributor and the recipient is Idowu Obaloluwa. Speaking of his excitement at winning the awards, Obaloluwa narrated that he never knew about the publication until a friend hinted him about it “…and to be called out now as a winner, I feel very special” he said. Reflecting on his writing career, “I write but this is the first work I’m actually pushing out, I have a lot in my note, I just leave them there”.On his future in the writing space, he mentioned that he is currently planning to take concrete steps.

The third Award Category was given to Non-Fiction contributor Odukoya Grace. In her words “Out of several entries in UI, I won, I thank God for the success and achievement”. Responding to if she has been into writing before the publication, she asserted that “I’ve been doing lots of writing, I am a writer”. Adding that she is definitely going to continue her writing career as this is like a validation of the proficiency of her writing skill.

The Editor in Chief of the magazine, Muiz Opeyemi Ajayi at the event, appreciated his wonderful editorial team which included Sadiq Oyekanmi, Poetry Editor, Arasi Kamolideen, non-fiction editor, Opeyemi Abdulroqeeb, Fiction editor, Mahbubat Salahudeen, Assistant Fiction Editor, AbdulRasheed Oladipupo, Assistant Poetry Editor.

Other awards of recognition and service were given to TLDS volunteers, who volunteered at events like the JAW WAR and other activities of the Literary and Debating Society.

The anchor of the event raised a conversation on “Commercialisation can kill Creative Freedom” which participants of the Literary Festival reacted to. Commercialisation  was discussed as being linked to reproduction of trends and not original pieces, Paul Jude advised that a creative with emphasis on a writer, “to everything there is a good side and a bad side, the positive side of commercialization is, it increases your exposure while the bad side is the place of compromise, when you jump on trend, you can lose yourself in the process, hence, find balance”.

Another respondent, Samuel Omofala, campus journalist from the faculty of law , affirmed that “you need to compromise, if you want to make money but ensure your compromise doesn’t alter your creativity”.

Participating student creatives also displayed their creativity in the course of the event, Enyinda Galoti, a student of Communication and Language Arts, presented a Poem titled “What is Love?” Bayo Salaudeen presented a spoken word piece titled “What do I want to be in 10 years?”Amakason also presented a spoken word piece on Ibadan another on the female gender amongst others.

When asked about the handover ceremony of the TLDS UI, the VP, Olabisi Owadayo, disclosed that the handover of the TLDS has not been scheduled.