Welcome to the Things Fall Apart Festival

By James Eze

“I’m the chair of the festival. My job is to set the agenda and distil the vision of the centre on this project in a manner that brings dramatic clarity to the place of Things Fall Apart in the matrix of the constantly evolving Igbo worldview, Igbo culture being the historical milieu that sired the book. In doing this, I’m personally inspired by the Irish poet, Oscar Wilde’s famous quote that “life imitates art far more than art imitates life.” I’m just as fascinated by the prospects of discovering how much Things Fall Apart has influenced contemporary Igbo culture and worldview, as how much of this same culture must have inspired the birth of Things Fall Apart.

The question is: are there discernible threads spawned by the book that can be seen and felt in Igboland today? I think the answer is ‘yes’. One startling example is the Ajofia Masquerade from Nnewi, which has become a cultural icon in Igboland today. The custodian of the masquerade told me that he got the idea from Things Fall Apart. In my view, that firmly establishes the continuing relevance of that book and how often the contemporary Igbo world has borrowed from it. The custodian of Ajofia also confirmed that he had duly informed Achebe that the concept of his masquerade came from the book during his several meetings with the great writer.

That said, I consider it an honour to lead a team of exceedingly creative youngsters at the centre who are bending over backwards to curate memorable globules of events that will usher in a new movement in literature, culture and the arts in South East Nigeria. And I am grateful to the centre for finding me worthy of its trust on this project.”