Book O’Clock At Three: Who We Are; What We Do
About Book O’Clock
Book O’Clock is a nonprofit literary organisation that seeks to promote literacy in Africa, as well as use arts & literature as a tool for social advocacy.
Founded in 2020, it has the following main aims:
1. To promote literacy in Africa through the creation of arts & literary clubs and curating projects targeted at reviving the reading culture.
2. To showcase and appreciate African arts and its creators.
3. To use arts & literature in the engagement of contemporary issues through Cultural and social events/projects.
These aims are further achieved through a number of platforms such as:
1. A literary journal: A journal for African literature called Book O’Clock Review where the literary scene in Africa and literature by Africans are covered through news, features, essays and interviews.
2. Book clubs: Book O’Clock intends to host several book clubs across Africa to encourage the reading culture especially the readership of African literature. The organisation currently hosts Book O’Clock UDUS, a book club for students of Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto and beyond and Iman Creative Club, a literary club in Iman International School Sokoto, Nigeria.
Book O’Clock also has a special interest in places that lack artistic visibility. It identifies and investigates literacy gaps and strives for the advancement of arts & literature in these areas by hosting physical/virtual Cultural events, which then spotlights and increases the visibility of budding artists in such places.
One of such events is the Sokoto Book and Arts Festival which Book O’Clock co-curates under the Sokoto Book and Arts Foundation, and has managed to platform local artists and performers in Sokoto, Nigeria.
Meet Our Team
Director: Uchenna Emelife
Uchenna Emelife is a literary curator, an arts administrator, and a bookseller. He is the co-founder and director of Book O’Clock — a literary organisation that hosts a literary blog, book clubs, and a bookstore.
In 2021, he co-curated the first Book and Arts Festival in Sokoto and was nominated as Mediapreneur of the Year in the Founder of the Year Awards. In 2022, he was selected to attend the maiden Sharjah International Booksellers Conference in UAE and was shortlisted for the Ashoka Africa Changemaker Prize.
He has been featured on a number of book and literary festivals including the Kaduna Book and Arts Festival, Kwara Book and Arts Festival, Abuja Literary Festival, among others. He co-curates Sokoto Book and Arts Festival as well as curates conversations and special projects for Africa in Dialogue, Isele Magazine and Book O’Clock Review.
Creative Director: Ude Ugo Anna
Ude Ugo Anna is the founder and Director of Book Drive Bayelsa, which works to provide educational resources and storybooks to vulnerable children across Nigeria.
A champion of African storytelling, she has worked on multiple film productions as a researcher and project manager, and is a highly sought-after beta reader in the publishing industry.
She studies English at the University of Lagos.
IG: @gushing_torrents
Twitter: @gushing_torrents
Communications Director: Precious Obiabunmo
Precious Obiabunmo is a graduate of English and Literature at Nnamdi Azikiwe University. Currently she works as a marketing and communications professional for SaaS, tech brands and non profit organizations.
She contributes her marketing insights on content and planning blog.
Editor, Book O’Clock Review: Ayobami Kayode
Ayobami Kayode is an African literature enthusiast, interested in Academics and Yorùbá translation. His works have been published or forthcoming in konya shamsrumi, echelon, icefloepress, Olongo, Àtẹ́lẹwọ́, New note, isele, fieryscribe, Kalahari, Ake review, South Florida, Panorama and elsewhere.
Programme Manager: Mazeed Mukhtar Oyeleye
Mazeed Mukhtar Oyeleye is a creative writer and journalist who sees writing as a transit to territories too threatening for the tongue to patronize. He is an alum of the SprinNG Writing Fellowship (Class of 2021).
His works have appeared in the World Voices Magazine, Litlight's Road to Success and SprinNG's Come Back Safely anthologies, Allpoetry, Book O'Clock Review, Spare Parts Lit and elsewhere.
Mazeed clinched the second place in both the Civichive Roadto2023 Essay Competition and the 7th El-Critical Writing Contest and emerged second runner-up in the Gamji Prime Writing Contest in 2023, in addition to accolades from previous years.
He tweets @mazeedulkhayr.
Book Clubs Coordinator: Patience Enokela
Patience Enokela is a student of Usmanu Danfodiyo University. She’s also a writer and an avid reader of fiction. In 2022, she was a finalist for the Queen Amina Short Story Prize held in partnership with SOBAFest. She’s the current president of Book O’Clock UDUS.
Administrative & Editorial Assistant: Hussein Nuhu Isa
Hussein Nuhu Isa is a poet, actor, writer and journalist who has the dream of becoming a better creative. He is a lover of nature and peace of mind, and describes self as a multimedia-enthusiast.
If Hussein is not writing or searching for his dreamed/imaginary woman_Dearie Halimah, he engages in volunteer activities.
He can be reached on huzeeal@gmail.com, Facebook via Hussein SonOfNuhu, Instagram via @zealofafrika, twitter using the handle @sonofnuhu and on WhatsApp through +2348104580490.
Special Assistant: Enokela Rosemary
Enokela Rosemary is a medical student with a penchant to get lost in fiction. A founding member of Book O’Clock,she holds a current executive position in the bookclub.
She curated the second and third editions of Literature and Film, an annual event organized by Book O’Clock to appreciate art in cinema and literature.
She loves to read and aspires to one day write a book as well.
Our Projects
- Sokoto Book and Arts Festival ( SOBAFest)
Sokoto Book and Arts Festival is an annual festival co-curated by Book O’clock in liaison with the Sokoto Book & Arts Foundation (SOBAF). Since 2021, it has brought together over 500 art enthusiasts in the state and engaged them in cultural and artistic conversations, activities and performances.
Find out more about SOBAFest here.
2. Literature & Film (L&F)
Literature & Film or simply L&F is an annual reading and film screening event. The aim is to bridge enthusiasts of both art forms and spur a conversation on their areas of convergence and divergence.
Every year, a book is selected and interested participants are asked to purchase and read the book. Then usually at the first weekend of December, participants gather in-person to screen the adaptation of the book then a conversation follows afterward on which was more appealing; the book or the film. Three editions have been held so far.
See photos and reports from past editions, here, here and here.
3. Sembene Across Africa
Ousmane Sembene is regarded as one of Africa’s greatest filmmakers and playwrights. In honour of his legacy, funded by SAMBE, an annual screening of his films are had, and afterwards a conversation on how they are tools for timely social discourses follows. Since 2020, two editions have been held so far.
4. Schools Outreach
Schools Outreach is a literary outreach which we launched in 2021 to mark our first anniversary. In the same year, we took the literary campaign to nine public and private schools in Sokoto. The outreach is aimed at engaging students on practical benefits of reading in order to revive the reading culture among young people.
5. Changemakers Bootcamp
The Changemakers Bootcamp is a special project that is aimed at raising more young culture, social and civic engagers in Africa. In its debut cohort in 2022, on the 16th and 17th December, 30 selected young leaders in Sokoto were trained by various industries’ players in a two-day hybrid boot camp. The boot camp tagged Sokoto Changemakers Bootcamp was organised by Book O’Clock in collaboration with American Space Sokoto. Find a report & more details here.
Prospects
#1000BooksFor1000Students Book Drive
The #1000BooksFor1000Students Book Drive is a book raising campaign targeted at raising 1000 books for 1000 secondary school students in Sokoto before the end of 2023. The aim is to support these budding readers with at least a book to help consolidate the interest borne in them following our outreaches and book club interventions. It was officially announced in September, 2022 at the Kaduna Book & Arts Festival.
Book O’clock Anniversary Writing Prize
Every year for our anniversary, we will have a writing prize to support young and unpublished writers.
The debut Book O’clock Anniversary Writing Prize will be a writing contest for teens and young adults in Sokoto who are in secondary school. Themed If the President Could Read Me, the prize aims at spurring honesty from the students on what they would like to say to the incoming president of Nigeria if he could read them. More details here.
Literacy Walk and Book Swap
The Literacy Walk and Book Swap is a prospective Book O’clock project to be carried out in Sokoto, Nigeria. It will feature a walk around major roads in the city flaunting placards on the need for literacy. The aims are to draw attention on the dwindling reading culture among residents and to as well emphasise the importance of education. The walk will be concluded by a book swap exercise where participants will exchange books, thereby widening the reading cycle. More details to follow.
How Can You Come In
Book O’clock is a nonprofit literary organisation and so the success of our projects largely depends on personal funds, grants and donations. If you wish to support the work we do, please visit our paystack here and make a kind donation.
More than your financial support, helping us achieve visibility would equally go a long way. A way to do that is by engaging and sharing our social media content and telling people of the work we do. Find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
It is three years of Book O’clock and we are excited for the future!
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