24
Arts
THE NATION ON SUNDAY JULY 31, 2011
‘We want young Nigerians to engage books’ Like the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Dotun Eyinade looks forward to a time in Nigeria when every house will have a book club and truly encourage reading. He is very passionate about promoting arts. It is this passion that leads the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) graduate of Microbiology to establish an online book club called Pulpfaction Book Club. The management consultant who works for a professional services firm shares his vision with Ademola Adesola
W
HAT is Pulpfaction all about? Pulpfaction club is at once an online book club and a virtual hub for all things literary. It is a platform for book lovers across several genres to converge and discuss books that excite them and the themes that their favourite authors are engaging. We fancy the club as a haunt where its denizens meet to rant and rave about the books they love. Being a reader is an identity that people should be proud to flaunt, being a member of a book club should inspire pride like football fans are wont to identify with their favourite clubs. We anticipate that pulpfactioners (members in the club parlance) will be able to engage with one another and their authors on our online forums, on our Facebook group and on our numerous blackberry groups, have meaningful, no-holds-barred discussions about books that excite them and just generally network and have fun. A time was in Nigeria when reading was once mainstream but as a pastime it took some serious hits and we are of the opinion that young people can utilize the instrumentality of social media to engage with books once again. Our website address is www.pulpfaction.org.ng What informed its establishment and how many people are involved in its establishment? I have always believed that that at the heart of the popular apathy to literary activities and matters of the minds is the “overarching” need to get by. It is a moot point to start to espouse the myriad benefits of reading to a population and by reading I do not mean the mindless rote learning that masquerades for serious reading which is so rife these days. I mean leisurely reading and reading for pleasure that continues post-graduation till the grave. The need to make that part of our usual pastime partly informed Pulpfaction Book Club. Furthermore, the imperative of a vir-
ile community of readers and the rewarding conversations that will issue from such platform underpin this club. I found that prospect irresistible at a period when I thought I had my youthfulness to myself with nothing to think about aside my 9-5 job. So, I shared the idea of a book club with a friend, Deji Oyelami. He was sold on the idea and was willing to commit himself to sharing the start up cost with me. I am in the debt of Kunle Ige who came up with the name Pulpfaction. He is one of the most creative folks I have met. He actually designed the logo and got me the first web designer who built us a website. How would you describe the participation of people since the debut of the site? I won’t limit my assessment to the website alone which was only recently overhauled. We have had robust conversation on our Facebook page and on our BB groups. Sometimes I wish that the BB groups can be extended beyond the 30- member group capacity. We have tried to circumvent this by ensuring that we create multiple groups and get our members to invite kindred spirits. Conversations are ongoing on various subjects on Facebook as well as our online forum. We invited the author of one of the books selected for the month to join our group and he was able to have worthwhile discussions with members of the group. We hope that someday we will be able to have authors on our online forum for designated periods so they can interact and have intense discourse around thematic subject of their writings. We expect that our events and other marketing efforts will drive these activities and draw attention to the site, our other platforms and our event. Are there major challenges that you are contending with? The challenges have been in the areas of funding. We are trying in our own little way to fund what we do and for a project this ambitious, one needs a steady stream
•Eyinade
of funds to walk the talk. We pay our contributors, w e host events and we want to be able to do fun- filled event that will make books appealing to young people. At the moment, we thrive on the goodwill of friends and artistes. That can only carry us for the short term. It is not sustainable. We just need to surmount this challenge. There is no alternative to it. It grieves my heart when I see corporate organizations spend-
ing hundreds of million on bringing American thugs to come sing to us in Nigeria. They have profiled we young people as dumb hedonistic folks who can only respond to bland, misogynistic music. I hope that someday big corporates will look in the direction of things of engaging programmes that develop the mind when they are conceiving their CSR and sponsorship strategies; I dream of a time when arts events that engage the minds of young people will be the focus of organisations and they will think up programmes that will meet the real needs of their consumer. Is the site something that can be regarded as one that is here to stay? I have never been passionate about anything in my life. The taste of the pudding is in the eating. You just watch out for our exploits in the days to come. It is a rise and rise tale that is being written. We are here for good. As a graduate of Microbiology, many would expect that you should build a career along that line of training. But here you are with such incurable interest in the promotion of arts. What informed this choice? Interest in the arts has little or nothing to do with one’s formal training. Some of the folks I know driving the revival of interest in the literary and cultural activities in Nigeria have no formal training in the arts or the humanities. It is akin to saying that the best writers are those with a background in the English or literary arts. Medicine gave us Anton Chekov. Interest in the arts is cultivated and people take up interest in activities or pastimes because they are disposed to them. By some quirk of fate, I studied Microbiology. I had wanted to train as a medical doctor but I ended up with a degree in Microbiology. I have benefited a great deal from a lifetime of reading and it is one pastime I would like to promote and commend to others. Francis Bacon said “reading maketh the full man.”
Candid Lens
•Hello Nigeria! I am the next kid on the block for your drumming pleasure
• A workshop can turn to a bedroom when nature is at work.
PHOTOS: BADE DARAMOLA