Post Book Review
Caroline Omoifo wins IPPY Silver Medal for Saving Bekyah
Oseloka Obaze*
Sunday 31 May 2009
On the evening of Friday 29 May, the cavernous bowel of the Providence NYC, in midtown Manhattan was teeming with authors, guests, press, book agents and literary critics, observers, and friends and family members attending a gala celebration during BookExpo America in New York. The exact occasion was the 13th Annual Independent Publisher Book Awards, conducted to honor the year's best independently published books.
In the crowd was Nigerian-born Ms. Caroline Omoifo, award recipient and the author of Saving Bekyah- Confronting Female circumcision, sexuality, and womanhood, a book first reviewed on the Kwenu.com Book Review Forum (KBRF) [See Saving Bekyah]. KBRF had accorded high marks to Saving Bekyah for being cause worthy, “provocative, educative, and illustrative of the depth of the prevailing debate surrounding one of the key controversial health issue challenges of our time.”
Omoifo’s book won the 2009 Silver Medal under the category, Women’s Issues.
Well ahead of the present international honors for Ms. Omoifo, Kwenu Book Review Forum was the first literary institution to identify Saving Bekyah as a great work, born of skilled creative writing and illuminating storytelling talent. KBRF had surmised its assessment of the book and its author thus: “Saving Bekyah is a compelling, perfectly pitched, albeit, sexually graphic page-turner, that unmasks the blinkered, society-induced indignities, pain, loss, loneliness, trauma, alienation and overall flagellation associated with female genital mutilation. Omoifo writes so exquisitely that the richness, conviction, reality, love, and other emotions of her characters are palpable and livable.”
With the IPPY award, Caroline Omoifo has found herself in good company – the winners’ circle.
The 2009 IPPY Awards attracted 4,090 entries from throughout the U.S. and Canada, plus most English-speaking countries worldwide. Medal-winning books came from 44 U.S. states plus the District of Columbia, eight Canadian provinces, and six countries overseas. Since its launching in 1996, as the first unaffiliated awards program open exclusively to independent, university, and self-published titles, the IPPY Awards has blazed the trail in offering unfettered access and recognition to talented writers who represent alternative viewpoints, but whose works are for economic and profit making reasons, not accorded recognition by mainstream publishers.
As Jim Barnes, Managing Editor & Awards Director of the "IPPY" noted, “Today's readers are seeking diverse perspectives on hot-button issues. This year's list represents a mix of established independents and bold new voices, and their messages echo the call for change and a straightforward approach to dealing with the world's social, political and economic problems."
Annually, the IPPY recognizes the Outstanding Books of the Year, especially, titles that "take chances and break new ground." For 2009, the 20 recipients in 12 categories represent some of the English-speaking world's most daring and distinctive writing and publishing.
Ms. Omoifo was elated not only because of the international recognition her book received, but more importantly, because, as she asserts, “female circumcision is not localized or unique to Africa and certain eastern countries. It is no longer what happens over there, but rather a matter for global consideration.” She considers Saving Bekyah, an advocacy for “ending this dehumanizing act and reconciliation for its victims."
This literary critic felt elated to be among those present at Providence NYC, as Ms. Omoifo stepped up to the rostrum to receive her well-deserved award. When I reviewed Saving Bekyah, before its publication, I concluded my review with these words, which now seems prescient: “Omoifo may have written her magnus opus without knowing it. Saving Bekyah may very well be for Omoifo the rewarding celebrity door opener that every aspiring writer craves for – her launch pad to literary stardom. She can now be counted among the budding and gifted Nigerian authors.”
I am glad that Omoifo did not disappoint and more so, that she proved me right. We at KBRF wish her the best in the years ahead and many more successes that are literary.
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Mr. Oseloka Obaze is a founding member of the Kwenu.com Book Review Forum, which is dedicated to the promotion of books with Igbo and Afrocentric themes. He is also a supporting Member of the African Writers Endowment (AWE). From 1999 to 2005, he served on the editorial board of INYEAKA, the journal of Songhai Charities, Inc., a New Jersey community-based charity founded and run by Nigerians based in New York Tri-state area in the United States, first as its founding Publisher and later as the Editor-At-Large. He is also on the editorial board of The Amaka Gazette, the journal of the Christ the King College, Onitsha Alumni Association in America. His collection of poems, “Regarscent Past: A Collection of Poems” was second among the top three finalists in the poetry category in the African Writers Endowment Publishing Grant Program for 2004. He is working on a novel titled “Happy Eulogy”. He reviews books and arts strictly as a hobby. © Copyright 31 May 2009.