Soul and Spirit Poetry of the Heart Unveiled.
3 min read
On January 8, 2025, the launching and unveiling of the book titled Soul and Spirit Poetry of the Heart written by Joe Blaze Nnaemeka Akanazu, an Amiyi Akah born sound intellectual and international development expert based in Germany was held at the Jubilee Hall of Asumpta Cathedral Owerri. The event which kicked off by 2 pm had a lot of dignitaries both from the organized private sector and the public quarters in attendance.
First the royal father of Amiyi Akah Autonomous Community HRH Eze Francis Okechukwu Ahanotu was one of the dignitaries to arrive at the venue on record time. Upon his arrival, he and other top personalities and invitees started going through the art exhibition displayed outside the Jubilee Hall. The artist behind the arts Ndaa Paddy Obinna was busy explaining to the royal father and other dignitaries the meaning of each painting.
After the art exhibition segment, a photo session followed immediately. The photo session was like the red carpet segment of the book launch.
Everyone was ushered inside the hall and the main event officially started. Opening prayer was taken and the only royal father in attendance HRH Eze Francis Ahanotu was greeted by everyone and recognized according to Igbo tradition.
A US based businessman and pharmacist Dr Perry Ekwunazu who was the chairman of the event had already seated among the audience and the MC of the event announced his name as the chairman of the event; Perry as he is fondly addressed by close friends stood up from where he was sitting and went straight to the high table.
The first item from the program of the day was the reciting of some of the poems from the book by some secondary school students. About 6 secondary schools from the state including Sancta Maria and St Saviour’s secondary schools Umuaka were in attendance and they participated in the poetry recitation contest.
After that came the book review. This segment indeed caught the attention of the guests as the book reviewer, Ndaa Paddy Obinna used the opportunity to lament the already fallen reading culture among students. He talked about some of the poems from the book and explained their deep meanings and recommended the book for anybody interested to know more about poetry and reading.
After the book review, the Honourable Commissioner for Education in the state Professor John Cliff Nwadike who was the guest of honour during the occasion took the microphone and spoke in favour of the lamentations from the book reviewer. The professor seriously decried not only the fallen standard of education but also the poor reading culture of the people.
The unveiling of the book was the next thing and the commissioner was the person who did the unveiling. Immediately the commissioner took a copy of the book, raised it up and declared. “This is a book of life.”
Dr Perry Ekwunazu, the chairman of the occasion took the microphone and tasked the people to do all their best to change the narrative of poor reading culture of the people. He appealed to the state Commissioner of Education to make sure the book was adopted into the academic curriculum in the state. At the end of his speech, he picked a copy of the book with the sum of N2.5 million.
The moment he announced his donation, others also started to announce theirs.
The unveiling of the book Soul and Spirit Poetry of the Heart written by Joe Blaze Nnaemeka Akanazu was a huge success as many people, stakeholders, family and friends rallied around the author and made the unveiling a memorable one indeed.
