Lara George has a voice like an angel. So it’s a good thing that she sings gospel if not someone up there might want their voice back. I was first introduced to Lara’s music by my cousin this summer. She handed me her first two CDs, ‘Forever in my Heart’ and ‘Lara George’, as going away gifts the day I was returning to the US from Lagos, Nigeria. T…

Sade Adeniran is the author of “Imagine This”, a novel, which won the 2008 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book (Africa Region), and was shortlisted for The Book to Talk About 2009. “Imagine This” is the journal of Lola Ogunwole as she charts her survival from childhood to adulthood. Born in London, Lola and her brother Adebola grow up i…

It is amazing how you can have really good conversations and sometimes, it’s not until much later that certain things happen that crystallize those conversations. A dear friend, another film director, had recommended Irapada to me several years ago and I remember we talked about it as we do so many things, he telling me to watch it, I asking why, h…

How did it start? Paul and Lale were neighbors at 25 Branco Street, downtown Lagos, and after school, they would sit on their stoops and discuss ideas. And one day they decided to start their own organization. There were other clubs and organizations at the time but they felt those focused more on dances and fun fair and these two had more lofty go…

This year we celebrated my dad’s 80th birthday and one of my dearest Uncles, Uncle Fola, in his tribute, mentioned the Solidra Circle. I thought it was a nice story at the time but did not think much of it after. Since then I have revived my blog, halftribedotcom, and have been thinking about how best to position it as a serious online magazine foc…

“What we call little things are merely the causes of great things: they are the beginning, the embryo and the point of departure, which generally speaking, decides the whole future of an existence.” This statement by Olu Amoda may in fact describes the very essence and meaning of Olu Amoda the artist and his artwork. His current exhibition, Templat…

Jude Dibia is a Nigerian author, resident in Lagos, Nigeria. He is the author of 2 published novels; Walking with Shadows, his first novel, deals with homosexuality in Nigeria and was published in 2005 and short-listed for the ANA/NDDC Ken Saro-Wiwa Prize for prose in 2006; Unbridled, his second novel, about a woman and the abusive relationships sh…

Sefi Atta is the author of two published books, Everything Good will Come and Swallow, and is currently working on her third a collection of short stories which will be published in the UK. She has written several stage and radio plays, some of which have been broadcast on BBC radio, and several short stories for which she has won awards and been s…

We announced the death of Professor I. Akinjogbin here on halftribe.com on July 26th this year. He died early Sunday July 27th 2008 at age 78. Professor I. A Akinjogbin, BA, PhD, Emeritus Professor of History, was the first Professor and Head of Department of History, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. About a year before he died, we wer…