A ONCE IN A YEAR OPPORTUNITY FOR AUTHORS

From ANA Lagos:


Dear writers, authors and readers,

There's some good, and maybe exciting news for ALL of you.

There's going to be a Book Rave in Lagos this May (from 9th to 14th) during the Nigerian International Book Fair.

It's exciting because it's going to be an opportunity for authors to sell off copies of their books AND readers to buy as many "autographed" books as possible for fixed and affordable prices.

Authors, if you are interested in this opportunity, send an email to laybels@gmail.com or call 09094568139 for more information on registration and participation. Unfortunately this is not open to publishers, agents, bookshop owners, but the authors themselves :)

For readers, there will be a list of all books and prices soon, so that you can prepare for the rave.

Tell someone to tell someone to tell someone of this event.

Literary yours.

Special Announcement

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Thanks.
STB.

SOPHISTS AND SOPHISTRY-AN OVERVIEW

The historical and philological difficulties confronting an interpretation of the sophists are significant. Only a handful of sophistic texts have survived and most of what we know of the sophists is drawn from second-hand testimony, fragments and the generally hostile depiction of them in Plato’s dialogues.

The philosophical problem of the nature of sophistry is arguably even more formidable. Due in large part to the influence of Plato and Aristotle, the term sophistry has come to signify the deliberate use of fallacious reasoning, intellectual charlatanism and moral unscrupulousness. It is, as the article explains, an oversimplification to think of the historical sophists in these terms because they made genuine and original contributions to Western thought. Plato and Aristotle nonetheless established their view of what constitutes legitimate philosophy in part by distinguishing their own activity – and that of Socrates – from the sophists. If one is so inclined, sophistry can thus be regarded, in a conceptual as well as historical sense, as the ‘other’ of philosophy.

Perhaps because of the interpretative difficulties mentioned above, the sophists have been many things to many people. For Hegel (1995/1840) the sophists were subjectivists whose sceptical reaction to the objective dogmatism of the presocratics was synthesised in the work of Plato and Aristotle. For the utilitarian English classicist George Grote (1904), the sophists were progressive thinkers who placed in question the prevailing morality of their time. More recent work by French theorists such as Jacques Derrida (1981) and Jean Francois-Lyotard (1985) suggests affinities between the sophists and postmodernism.

This article provides a broad overview of the sophists, and indicates some of the central philosophical issues raised by their work. Section 1 discusses the meaning of the term sophist. Section 2 surveys the individual contributions of the most famous sophists. Section 3 examines three themes that have often been taken as characteristic of sophistic thought: the distinction between nature and convention, relativism about knowledge and truth and the power of speech. Finally, section 4 analyses attempts by Plato and others to establish a clear demarcation between philosophy and sophistry.

Source: University of Tennessee

Floods And Fools by Terseer Sam-Baki

Floods and fools Terseer Sam Baki
___________________________
No matter how warned and alarmed
no matter how forewarned and forearmed
off-guard are we still caught
the tale of our continuous rot
where we find ourselves in pools...
like ill-fated fools

As it was in the time of Noah
so it is in the time of NOA
deaf, we are subject to the grimness of the Reaper
as we are no longer anything’s keeper
time turning our laughter to whips
that flog us to disastrous slips


 
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National Orientation Agency: An information dissemination and cultural reorientation agency in Nigeria.

POETRY: PROSTITUTE, NUN ANALOGY

Many people complain that poetry to them is the most difficult of the three basic genres of literature.

In attempt to help understand or appreciate poetry better, I feel the prostitute, nun analogy will be of assistance.

When we read or recite a poem, we are expected to think along, make analysis and interpretations of images/imageries, symbols and other devices employed by the poet. In view of this, the poet does not need to conceal or hide everything from the reader,neither is the poet expected to lay bare every single thing.

This means that a poem is neither covered up from head to toe like a nun nor is it exposed, laid bare (scantily dressed) like a roadside prostitute. In achieving or balancing things up however, while a poet covers certain things up, he leaves some clues open for readers to use and unlock those hidden portions or aspects.

Terseer Sam Baki.
CEO Pen & Pad Africa.

The Nigeria Prize for Literature 2016

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1078382598850310&substory_index=0&id=242786232409955https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1078382598850310&substory_index=0&id=242786232409955

The Nigeria Prize for Literature 2016

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1078382598850310&substory_index=0&id=242786232409955

INTERPRETATION OF EUPHORIA OF SOPHISTRY ARTWORK

Cover page of the much awaited Terseer Sam Baki's Euphoria which came second runner up in the 2015 Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Poetry Prize.

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	INTERPRETATION OF EUPHORIA OF SOPHISTRY

	By Debbie Iorliam

It is an abstract painting that depicts the celebration of humanity in its various facets of nature, creation and deception. There are different motifs and they connote different things. These motifs include animals, trees, food, beauty, direction( represented in feet), hypnosis circle, play and so on.

These are all aspects of our humanity and existence which people bring different philosophies to shape, for whatever agenda they hope to achieve. These agendas might be religious, political or social. The proponent in each  speak in convincing ways to try and win the hearts of everyone to follow their thought pattern and path even when they are wrong.

The man in the portrait represents us and the efforts we make to control the forces around us which sometimes pushes us to the various motifs we embrace as especially encapsulated in the philosophy of the sophist who propounded them. 

INTRODUCING TERSEER SAMUEL BAKI

Hi,

I am happy to meet you my friends, readers and colleagues. I believe we will all enjoy this literary experience.

Welcome. 

Terseer