TWO BOOKS ON JOURNALISM

TWO BOOKS ON JOURNALISM

By Pule Lebuso

Book: Fillets of Plaice
Author: Omoseye Bolaji
Publisher: Leballo Literary Services (2000)

Book: Adventures in Journalism
Author: Flaxman Qoopane
Publisher: Drufoma (2001)

These two books are essentially about the world of journalism, both written by black writers/journalists based in the Free State. Their books are quite different though, as this brief essay will show.

One gets the impression that Flaxman Qoopane is often frustrated with editors, and he goes into some detail on this. Omoseye Bolaji (pictured) however just tells us very briefly in one sentence in his book (page 10): “Editors have broken my heart – many times”

The conclusion of both books are not so different from each other, highlighting how frustrating journalism can be. Bolaji’s book was published at least a year before that of Qoopane’s, hence it is possible it might have influenced the subsequent book a little.

The approach of both authors is very different. As we are used to by now, Qoopane’s book is more of autobiography. Bolaji’s is more technical, and his Chapters reflect this: The Writer, Making money from writing, Fiction, Editors, Photo journalism etc

Qoopane has a habit of detailing many names in his books, which can be tedious; he does this in his book. Bolaji often cuts out excess information, making his books easier to read as he gives interesting examples, jokes etc.

Again, Bolaji often brings in national, international analogies and examples, and in his book we are introduced to the likes of Jeffrey Archer, Wole Soyinka, Enid Blyton, William Barrett, even Glenn Hoddle, among others.

Qoopane often goes into particulars quite chronologically, of his progress as a journalist, writing for newspapers and magazines in different countries; but Bolaji’s book is more general, incorporating experiences briefly rather than giving many specific details.

Hence Qoopane for example in his Chapter about Next magazine goes into great detail about his and Bolaji’s “great days” in the magazine; how they enjoyed wine, women, music! But Bolaji quite incredibly hardly mentions Next magazine; we are restricted mainly to a few lines in the appendix of the book.

Another feature of Qoopane’s book on Journalism is the liberal use of letters, especially in the second part of the book. This of course reminds us of his book, Letters to a Poet. Although at least one of the longest letters published in Qoopane’s book was written by Bolaji, in his (Bolaji’s) own book on Journalism, there is nothing like this.

Often we hear that black writers (including journalists) hardly write books based on their experiences for others to learn from. It is pleasing that both Flaxman Qoopane and Omoseye Bolaji have written books about journalism.
* Originally written/published in 2003

The Crest - Omoseye Bolaji honoured in Nigeria

BOOK REVIEW

Book: THE CREST – Omoseye Bolaji honoured in Nigeria (2008)
Author: Flaxman Qoopane
Reviewer: Peter Moroe

This book details the events of a special week in the life of writer Omoseye Bolaji whilst he was honoured in Nigeria for his contributions to African black literature. After a special Book Presentation (of two of his literary works), the events culminated in the conferment of a Chieftaincy title on Bolaji. Flaxman Qoopane, a key writer himself, was invited to Nigeria to witness the events.

The author of this book, Mr Qoopane has done a good job in putting together salient pieces from the special week. He starts with a fine Introduction, and reproduces his formal Invitation to the events. He sets the stage for the Book Presentation which took place at the revered University of Ibadan . He also adds other snippets.

Also included are presentations (critiques etc) on Omoseye Bolaji’s literary work generally, and pertinently on the two books focused on: People of the Townships, and The subtle transgressor. The inclusion of these speeches and essays make this book a valuable addition to the corpus of critical work on Bolaji already available.

Also included is Bolaji’s Vote of thanks at the Book presentation itself – titled THE CREST (from which the title of this book is taken). Once again we have some insights into the shaping of Omoseye Bolaji the writer from a very young age. It is often remarked that since Bolaji is a notoriously private person, it is only once in a blue moon (mainly through interviews) that one gets glimpses into what makes him tick.

And by interviewing the man behind the company that printed the west African books of Bolaji (Kunle Bamidele) Qoopane adds a human face to what many regard as a rather amorphous and soulless business – printing and publishing. Mr. Bamidele in his own way makes literature alive and relevant by talking about books and writing generally in that region.

There is also an account of the “Chieftaincy Day” itself, intriguingly through the eyes of the protagonist himself - Omoseye Boalji. His account is brief and interesting – and personal. But despite this, it is clear that both the author of this work, Flaxman Qoopane, and Bolaji placed much more emphasis on the Book Presentation itself. This fact is important when one considers that in places like west Africa a major Chieftaincy title being conferred on an individual is the ultimate in achievement. Yet Qoopane and Bolaji stay true to their innate instinctive beliefs that the show must revolve around the books, literature itself. After all, without his contributions to African writing Omoseye Bolaji would not have garnered so many awards, or plaudits.

On the whole, Flaxman Qoopane does a good job in this new work (book) of his. Earlier in his writing career, Qoopane published books like A poet abroad (2000), Memoirs of A Cultural Activist (2001), Reneiloe-Mpho’s Story (2002), The Conference (2003) among others. His last book was City of Roses and Literary icons (2007). We welcome THE CREST, his latest book (2008)

Omoseye Bolaji: Protecting the rights of women

OMOSEYE BOLAJI: Protecting the rights of women

By Marika du Plessis

Omoseye Bolaji, we ladies who love creative writing in the Free State salute you; congrats on your latest award. Of all the comments we have been reading about you, it is hardly highlighted that you have always fought for the rights of women in your fiction; that we ladies should be respected and certainly not abused.

I remember the first time I read your book, Impossible Love. I burst into tears and quickly read it again. I loved the young female protagonist, Betty too much. She was still a teenager in the story, but she was so intelligent and focused. There was no looking down on this character who hailed from the townships.

In Bolaji’s novel, The ghostly adversary, a woman who was violated whilst still quite young exacted physical revenge on her male attackers many years later. As Charmaine Kolwane, who has produced a book on Bolaji’s writings puts it “one small tiny woman shakes up three men!”, but the woman in question has every right to do so after the hell they put her through in the past.

Another critic, the late Pule Lebuso writes about another Bolaji book (from the Tebogo series) “Women are treated with such fulsome respect in Bolaji’s fiction to the extent that it can even lead to absurd, dangerous situations, as we see at the end of Tebogo’s spot of bother” . He did not specify in his review, but the incident referred to is when the ever humane, gentlemanly sleuth, Tebogo is ruthlessly attacked by the guilty lady at the end of the book. She hits him with a gun, the blood flows, but yet Tebogo risks his life by refusing to hit a woman. What a lesson to all men out there! Even a bad woman should be treated well.

In another of the “Tebogo series” - Tebogo Fails, here the whole work is about a man who kills another man who had not only raped, but murdered his kid sister. The investigator, Tebogo, lets the murderer go free because he is fully against the violation of young women. It is an act the author himself (Omoseye Bolaji) obviously agrees with. Critic Petro Schonfeld (a woman) is not sure in her book whether Tebogo should have let the killer escape, but rest assured that most women would agree with the sleuth here. You cannot just violate young women and get away with it if the law might let you off!

Omoseye Bolaji’s play, The subtle transgressor, is also about the violation of a young lady, in particular; incest actually. At the end of the play the violator is completely humiliated. There are some readers who believe that the culprit should have been punished heavily by the law for what he did, but this is rather unrealistic considering the peculiar case that unravels here. Indeed Bolaji has his ear very much to the ground as usual, and does not overdo what would have been an overly contrived conclusion.

In his novel, People of the Townships, Bolaji uncharacteristically allows the protagonist to kill a woman (his ex) who has questionable morals. In this work where the author rather unsucessfully tries to portray protagonist John Lefuo as “a mad man’, the praise for “good women” is legion. It is clear that on the whole, Lefuo himself is against violating women, and was rather provoked to do what he did (and pays for it). Some women were not slow to tell the author, Bolaji that we would have preferred the mother of the child to live if only so that she can take care of her child. maybe we should write our own books!

On the whole however, Omoseye Bolaji has always been on the side of women, castigating abuse of the same. Perhaps the best illustration is in his short story “The jack in the box” published in Drum magazine (in April 2006) where a man who attacked his girlfriend gets his just desserts in the end - he is extraordinarily and mercilessly beaten up in the end, by ironically a lady skilled in the martial arts. This story is Bolaji in microcosm, as it has elements of suspense, wry humour, and an unexpected ending.

Throughout his creative works Omoseye Bolaji has shown demonstrably that violation of women is something to be frowned at unequivocally, and those who do so should be punished. In real life Bolaji might come across as shy towards women, occasionally teasing, even childish, but he has a core of steel, incorporating certain principles that run the gamut of his works where women are concerned.
* Marika writes poems and short stories

The poetry of Omoseye Bolaji

THE POETRY OF OMOSEYE BOLAJI
By Peter Moroe

Omoseye Bolaji has contributed a lot to African black writing. For many of us we associate him with superhuman contributions to journalism; but then again there is his nigh phenomenal contributions to literature.

This is understandable. It is baffling that any writer we know so well could have published so many stunning fictional books: Impossible Love, The Ghostly Adversary. The Guillotine, people of the Townships, and the “Tebogo mystery” series: Tebogo Investigates, Tebogo’s Spot of bother, and Tebogo Fails.

In the process Bolaji’s contributions to poetry become very much undermined. An occasional poet, as he calls himself, he has nevertheless published a fair amount of poetry in magazines and in anthologies (books). Here I shall briefly look at his published book of poems, Snippets.

Bolaji’s poems are not of the quick fame, easily understood variety; they are often condensed, distilled from African proverbs and a profound philosophical mind remarkably expressive in English. Take the beginning of THE VILLAGE for example:

The pastoral rustic ambience
Fauna serenely traipsing around
The inimitable sheep dog on the qui vive
Orchestrating the peregrinations of its wards

Or the beginning of IN EXILE:

Shards of loneliness pierce the exotic glasshouse
A wandering musky essence wrapped in cogitation
A withering cold exacerbated by the perforation
Of my ramshackle matchbox house
What to ameliorate the sequestered existence?

The comprehension of the poems become even more difficult when Bolaji dips into African aphorisms; in DERAILMENT for example:

In dire frustration and stymied futility…
The needle is malleable to the entreaties of the cloth…

The poetic devices are heightened and impressive, even in his more simple poems like TEMPTATION. “Titillating. Husky penumbral tendrils again” And the very last line of the poem: “Wan yes, but one that won me a laurel!” Note the poetic use of “wan” “one” and “won” in just one line, all with different meanings.

Poems such as THE VILLE and ODIOUS SIGHT are sonnets, with all the lines rhyming. In ODIOUS SIGHT it is interesting that Bolaji borrows from languages with his end rhymes, e.g mukhukhus rhyme with goose (lines 9 and 10); and system rhymes with skelm (lines 14 and 14)

THE ROAD is a triumph. The foot notes to the poem tell us that it is one based on true life when as a very young man, Bolaji was driving a car which suddenly “knocked” See how the poet describes it:

A heart rending noise
Reminiscent of grating ululations
Redolent of abrasions. Lesions.
Banshee screechings and screams
Interspersed with persistent metallic shrieking
Involuntarily jerking the car to a halt

We can imagine the engine of the car in great pain!

The simplest poem in the book is certainly BETRAYAL which ends in both pathos and bathos:

When you were in my arms
And you said you were for me
I thought something great was developing
Now I’m shocked to learn
That my own senior at workkeeps you warm in bed!”

The unexpected ending, the climax, reminds us of most of Bolaji’s fiction anyway. Which I suppose is a familiar place to end my piece.
First published in 2004

Introduction

Omoseye Bolaji is a writer. He has published many books ranging from fiction to literary criticism. This blog will essentially focus on perspectives on his literary work