Secretary General of the Pan African Writers Association (PAWA), Dr Wale Okediran, has been admitted into the Fellowship of the Nigerian Academy Of Letters (NAL).
In a congratulatory letter to him, the President of NAL, Professor Sola Akinrinade, emphasised that the Honorary Fellowship is the highest honour that the academy bestows on deserving non-members who have made significant contributions to the development of the arts and humanities generally in the country.
According to him, some of the past and present Honorary Fellows of the academy include the late Mr. Gamaliel Onosode, HRH Alhaji Umaru Sanda Ndayako, the late Etsu Nupe, Emir of Bida; HRM Omo n’Oba n’Edo Erediauwa, late Oba of Benin; the late Malam Adamu Ciroma, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, former Commonwealth Secretary-General, and Most Rev. Bishop Dr. Matthew Hassan Kukah.
The NAL president considered it a thing of honour that Okediran will be joining ”this company of great Nigerians”.
The investiture for the conferment of the Fellowship will hold on Thursday, August 8, 2024, at the University of Lagos, Lagos.
Okediran is a published author of 14 novels, many of which are currently on the reading list of some Nigerian universities, while the film adaptation of one of Okediran’s award winning novels, Tenants of the House, recently completed a successful run on the Netflix global streaming platform.
A medical doctor by training, he is a former president of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), a former member of the House of Representatives and currently an adjunct lecturer at the University of Medical Sciences, Ondo.
In 2010, Okediran established the Ebedi International Writers Residency in Iseyin, You State, for the free use of writers in need of a conducive environment to complete their ongoing works.
Since its inception, the residency has hosted 300 writers from 12 African countries.
Okediran’s literary works have been severally cited by African scholars, especially in the academic discipline of ”Literature and Medicine”.
