Photos From The 2014 Literary Evening In Lagos

This year’s 2014 literary evening was event held at the Lagos Oriental on Friday August 22.. See pictures from the event which was attended by people from all works of life..

Speech By The Managing Director Of Nigerian Breweries

It is always a great pleasure for me join this annual gathering of distinguished men and women of letters. Tonight’s ceremony brings to an end the sixth edition of the Creative Writing Workshop organized by Farafina Trust with sponsorship support from Nigerian Breweries.

Six years ago, Nigerian Breweries began a partnership with Farafina Trust to sponsor the Creative Writers Workshop. This partnership was founded on our company’s desire to encourage the development of literary writing skills in Nigeria, as part of our strategic corporate initiatives for talent development and youth empowerment in Nigeria.

Since then, the Creative Writing Workshop has become a major chapter in our Corporate Social Responsibility calendar. Through this platform, driven by Chimamanda Adichie, Nigeria’s award winning writer and Director of Farafina Trust, Nigerian Breweries and Farafina Trust has helped to discover and sharpen literary skills in Nigeria.

Since 1946 when our company started business as the first brewer in Nigeria, we have been supporting a number of laudable community investment programmes as well as youth empowerment and talent development projects through our robust CSR policy.

As a socially responsible company, Nigerian Breweries remains committed to championing causes that add value to the society because of our belief that businesses should operate as an integral part of the community where it exists and not in a vacuum.

I have no doubt that the Creative Writing Workshop has helped to fine-tune the skills of Nigerian writers as well as encourage both published and unpublished writers to fulfill their desire for self-expression. I thank Chimamanda and her Farafina Trust teams, for their contributions to make many writers dreams come true.

As in previous years, our gratitude goes to the facilitators for this year; Chimamanda, Eghosa Imasuen, Aslak Sira Myhre and not forgetting, Binyavanga Wainaina who has been a part of the literary workshop since inception in 2009.

We hope that the impressive parade of facilitators for this edition would help give birth to a new generation of writers….the new Wole Soyinkas and Chimamandas.

I also believe that our mutual objective is being realized as the creative writers’ workshop continues to attract huge interest within and outside Nigeria. It is our collective hope that the writers chosen for the workshop this year will have the potential to become best sellers in literature.

I urge all the participants in this year’s workshop to make a commitment to the lessons learnt to ensure the realization of their literary future.

Finally, let me use this opportunity to thank all our guests and the media for finding time to join us tonight. I wish you all a pleasurable evening.

Thank you.

Nicolaas Vervelde
Managing Director/CEO
Nigerian Breweries