The Enugu based Centre for Memories, Ncheta Ndigbo, has named Nigerian poet, writer, journalist and singer, James Eze, as the chair of the Planning Committee for the 2025 Things Fall Apart Day.
In a letter dated February 12, 2025, the Centre praised Eze’s commitment to its mission and dedication to the promotion of Igbo heritage.
“Your dedication to the promotion of Igbo heritage, literature, and cultural discourse has been invaluable in shaping our initiatives. It is this passion and insight that make you the ideal person to lead one of our most significant annual events,” the Centre revealed.
Currently in its third season, the Things Fall Apart Day is a day set aside to celebrate the anniversary of the publication of Chinua Achebe’s 1958 classic which among other things has successfully set the tone for post-colonial dialogue between all colonized people across the world and their painful colonial heritage.
The Centre says in a statement: “Things Fall Apart is more than just a novel—it is a cultural landmark. It gave voice to the Igbo worldview, challenged colonial narratives, and provided a literary foundation for postcolonial African storytelling. For the Igbo people, it is a reflection of our traditions, complexities, and resilience. For minority groups around the world, it stands as a symbol of the struggle to assert identity in the face of external forces. Each year, Things Fall Apart Day serves as a moment to revisit these themes and examine how they continue to resonate in today’s world.”
It therefore expressed confidence that under Eze’s guidance, the 2025 edition of the celebration would continue to inspire and deepen the appreciation of Achebe’s literary legacy, saying “we are confident in your ability to curate a fitting and insightful programme that will honour Achebe’s work and its lasting impact on literature and culture.”
To many observers of Nigeria’s literary and cultural sector, Eze is on a familiar turf with the new appointment. In the past 18 years, James Eze has invested his passion in Nigeria’s evolving literary culture beginning with the now rested Fidelity International Creative Writing Workshop which he co-curated with famous novelist Chimamanda Adichie down to the poetry festival in honour of Christopher Okigbo known as Return 2 Idoto which he co-founded with the novelist Odili Ujubuonu. He has also curated “A Flutter in the Woods,” a yearly evening of poetry and songs which took place in Awka, the Anambra State capital.
Eze is also a poet of note. His debut poetry collection “dispossessed” won the Association of Nigerian Authors Poetry Prize 2020 and made the long list of the Nigeria Prize for Literature in 2022. His second collection, “goosebumps” also left a deep impression on the literary scene.
He has also served as a judge of many writing contests, the most prominent of which was his appointment as one of the seven judges that decided the winner of the $10,000 dollars writing competition organized by the Nigerian-American Multi-service Association (NAMSA) for students of Nigerian origin who reside in the New England area in the US. Eze was the only member of the panel drawn from Nigeria. The rest were mostly American professors teaching in different universities and colleges in the US.
