Ifedigbo, Olisakwe, Fasua pen the prosaic grim image of todays reality as they feature in ALS October BookJam

Chikelu Chinelo and Zubairu Jide Atta Abuja Literary Society features Sylva Ife Nzedigbo and Ukamaka Olisakwe on the O ctober 26, BookJam at Lifestyle Bookstore, Silverbird Galleria. Nzedigbo known for his love of social commentary, following his Sunday columns i n Daily Times, blog sites and Twitter, he recently channeled his passion to the creation of a short story collection, The Funeral Did Not End, a collection of 2 0 short stories ranging from current and persisting issues of politics, religion , social injustice, culture and tradition. He has won several awards as a writer and an essayist. The most recent, 2012 Gra nd Prize winner, National Youth Essay Contest. He won the second prize at the Ke n Saro Wiwa, Candle Light Vigil Poetry and Writing Competition 2010, an Honorabl e mention, 2010 UNESCO/GIO Peace Foundation Essay Contest for Young People, by M icrosoft Internet Safety, Security and Privacy Initiative for Nigeria (MISSPIN) and YGC, Africa, National Essay Competition on Cybercrime Competition and the Ab uja Writers Forum, Short Stories Contest. His first published work a novella, Wh ispering Aloud was published in 2008. Several of his works are published in loc al and international Literary Journals including MTLS, StoryLine, Swale Life, Li fe As a Human and Sentinel, Nigeria. His stories in the text though of the ordinary are well delivered indeed with an understanding of where the ordinary blends with the profound. Perhaps, a better description is Australian writer and literary critics insightful view, The storie s in The Funeral Did Not End are varied in scope and theme, but all show the res tless energy of a young author struggling and succeeding at encapsulating the tu multuous awakening of a nation convinced it is mighty and willing to show the wo rld exactly what it can achieve. Nzedigbo hails from Agulu, Anambra State, the south eastern part of the country which its landscape richly featured in the stories. He also employs a thin line between fiction and realism in his characterization of places, people and scener y. His first story Tunjis Proposal, set in Enugu State, represents the trends in the civil service where the nave and creative minds are duped of opportunities to be tter serve their society. It shows the bribery and corruption, bootlicking, and bureaucratic red-tape explicit in the Nigerias civil service. Sound Proof gives a new and different twist to the theme of Blackmail when two c haracters try to beat each other at its own game. It employs a soliloquizing sta te of mind of characters making dialogue unsuspectingly irrelevant. Meanwhile Nwokebuike learnt that one cannot bite the fingers that feed it in The Second Invitation. A bet gone wrong among friends leads to tragedy and Insanity in the story Guilty Trip, while the title story The Funeral Did Not End is a ty pical traditional practice which impugns the very nature of community and commun alism. Nzedigbo wields successfully, the narrative voice, symbolism, simple diction, Ir ony, Imagery and allusions in telling reality with a dollop of the hyperbolic to deliver in a fresh light the mundane and an open-end technique bound to excite or irritate readers. Born in November, 11, 1984, Nzedigbo attended the School for the Gifted, Gwagwal ada, and obtained a degree in Veterinary Medicine, in 2007, at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He presently works in the corporate communications industry, i s single and likes tweeting with like minds, when he is not writing or reading. Eyes of a Goddess, is Ukamaka Olisakwes premier novel and also throws light on th e imperfections of a democratic system that emasculates the people. It is the st ory of a fifteen year old girl, Njideka, whose family gets mired in political in trigue when her father, broken and disillusioned after a peaceful protest, under went drastic changes. For Ukamaka, it is the story of hardship, abuse and most importantly the resilie nt spirit of those gasping for freedom. A mother of three, Olisakwe began writing after much encouragement from her frie

nds, and finds writing an escapist means to create, and direct the world to the benefit and empowerment of females and the voiceless in society. She started out with flash fictions published in NaijaStories an online based blog site for bud ding writers. Girl to Woman ignited the unsuspected interest of Sentinel Nigeria , which later published her short story, Running. It was re-published by a South African Magazine, Short Story Day Africa. She has come some ways and waxing stronger. She is the moderator, AfricaReadsWri tesTheVision, an online book club initiated by Dr. Claudette Carr of the Jethro Institute, London. The Book Club aims to encourage reading and thinking in Afric ans and successfully runs monthly book reading for its writers and readers the w orld over. She was born and raised in Kano State where she had her primary and secondary ed ucation, then moving to the south east for a higher education. She currently res ides in Aba, Abia State. After a hard days work at the bank, Ukamaka spends time with her family and rela xes with a book or pen and paper. Tope Fasuas non-fiction, Crushed is a introspective book on the issues debilitati ng economic and social development, with Nigeria as a case study. Its hard-hittin g and emphasizes pragmatism, selflessness, the need for knowledge as well as vis ion relevant to create better and more developed African nations. An African con tinent which would be better off developed (if the western world will let it do so) for the necessary good of all. Fasua has been writing for the past six years in the Sunday Trust, newspaper whe re he has a weekly column. He is also published by other weeklies across the con tinent like Modern Times, Ghanaian Magazine, Africa Development Magazine, Inside Watch, This Day, Champion , The Sun Newspaper among others. A graduate of Economics from the University of Ondo State, now Ekiti State Unive rsity, in the year 1991, he became a member of the prestigious Institute of Char tered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) in 1996. After a-thirteen-years experience i n the banking sector, in 2005, he gained a Masters Degree in Financial Markets a nd Derivatives at London Metropolitan University.