The Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Kashere, Gombe State, Professor Umaru Pate, will chair the 2024 Wole Soyinka Centre Media Lecture Series to commemorate the 90th birthday of Professor Wole Soyinka.
Organised by the Wole Soyinka Center for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ), the one-day lecture to celebrate the 90th birthday of the Nobel Laureate has as speakers, Prefessor Biodun Jeyifo, Professor Chidi Odinkalu and Mr Odia Ofeimun.
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The lecture series, titled ‘The Death of Truth?’ Realism, Literature and Journalism in an Age of Disinformation’, is scheduled to take place on July 13 at the Muson Centre in Onikan, Lagos State.
In a statement, the Executive Director of WSCIJ, Motunrayo Alaka, said this year’s lecture series is designed to help writers, artists and journalists reflect on their responsibilities of preserving and promoting the truth at all times.
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“The theme emerged from a pressing need to examine how different forms of storytelling, be it realistic art, literary fiction, or journalistic reporting contend with the complexities of truth in today’s world, which is increasingly saturated with disinformation,” Alaka said.
Biodun Jeyifo, a Professor of Comparative Literature and African-American Studies at Harvard University, will deliver the keynote address at the 16th edition of the series.
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Also billed to deliver speeches at the event are Chidi Odinkalu, a Professor of Practice in International Human Rights Law at The Fletcher School, Tufts University; Odia Ofeimun, poet, author and political scientist; Kadaria Ahmed, the Chief Executive Officer of RadioNow 95.3 FM; Chiamaka Okafor, a co-founder of Media and Information Literacy and Intercultural Dialogue Foundation (MILAD); Ohi Alegbe, a media practitioner; and Tolulope Adeleru-Balogun, the head of programmes at News Central Television, Lagos.
Daily Telescope reports that the event was first hosted on March 27, 2008, and the annual lecture was subsequently held annually on July 13 to commemorate Prof. Wole Soyinka’s birthday.
