By Eromo Egbejule
Published April 7, 2013
British actor and model Dudley O’Shaughnessy (popular for his role in Rihanna’s We Found Love video) and Nigerian-British actor Chris Obi (the voice from Snow White and the Huntsman), are expected at the Bayelsa Book & Craft Fair (April 18-19, 2013) and the 9th Africa Movie Academy Awards (April 20, 2013) in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, Nigeria.
Director of the Fair, Onyeka Nwelue, says, “The Bayelsa Book & Craft Fair will be a feast of literature and music and will be a departure from the regular monotonous nature of literary events. Craft-makers and booksellers will exhibit their works too” and that “Dudley O’Shaughnessy and Chris Obi will tour a number of schools in the state and give books and writing material to several children during their stay in the state and have a heart-to-heart chat with participating children.”
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The Bayelsa Book & Craft Fair is expected to bring several personalities, including Indian writer and supermodel Shobhaa De and her business tycoon husband Dilip De, former FCT minister Nasir El-Rufai, entertainment personalities Denrele Edun, Uti Nwachukwu, Bryan Okwara, O.C. Ukeje, Jeremiah Gyang, Kemi Lala Akindoju, Asa Asika, Akin Alabi and Beverly Naya, writers Gabriel Okara, Professors Chukwuemeka Ike, Olu Obafemi and Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo, among many others to the Niger Delta state.
Afrobeat star Seun Kuti will perform at the fair, together with Haitian artist Jay-B Special, Syndik8 Records’ Black Magic Aduke and Glo Naija Sings 2010 winner Casey Ed to raise funds for books to be distributed to schools in Bayelsa.
Some of the sessions at the Fair will be coordinated by CNN Multichoice Africa Journalists of the Year Pelu Awofeso and Tolu Ogunlesi, editor of FAB Magazine Sinem Bilen-Onabanjo, ex-Big Brother Africa housemate MalVina Longpet, DADA Books publisher Ayodele Arigbabu and West Indian writer and poet Debbie Edwards.
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Onyeka Nwelue, a student at Prague Film School in Czech Republic, is the writer of the novel, The Abyssinian Boy (2009), CEO/founder of Blues & Hills Consultancy and editor filmafrique.com
Bayelsa Book & Craft Fair is the initiative of the Africa Film Academy that presents AMA Awards. It is organised by Blues & Hills Consultancy with support from Bayelsa Tourism Development Board and Century Energy Services Limited (CESL).
