On June 4th 2012, Naijastories.com called on its members and the general public to contribute to an anthology to commemorate the death, Sunday 3rd of June, of 153 passengers and crew of Dana Airlines Flight 9J-992 from Abuja to Lagos and about 10 residents of the houses the plane crashed into.
We wanted to see the writers among us take this tragedy and turn it into something that we could all connect with. Our writing would be a healing outlet as we attempted as a community to make sense of the trauma and the disaster. We would deal with our emotions through poetry, report on how we could do better next time in non-fiction, or even give life back to those who were lost by recreating their lives and stories through fiction.
This is called memorialization. To commemorate, To be mindful of, To remind, To honor or keep alive the memory of.
And from the same day the call was made, the entries began to trickle and then flood in. Fiction, non-fiction, and poetry submissions were received at admin@naijastories.com till the end of June. The writers who were already members of naijastories.com submitted directly to the site.
All entries were published on the website and beginning in July, we began to compile the submissions that would be published in the anthology. There are 43 submissions that made it into this collection with about forty writers represented in all the various genres mentioned.
Our hope is that the submissions collected in this anthology will help us as people and a community to deal with the disaster of the Dana airline disaster of June 3rd 2012. It is not a collection of despondence. Yes, there are sad reports, poetry and stories that might make you cry, but in the end, this is a celebration of life. Life is precious. Stories are forever.
May the souls of those who lost their lives in the Dana Crash and in other violence and tragedies in Nigeria continue to rest in peace.
Let us not forget.
Download the PDF and remember to share - Open and Right-Click, then select Save-As
Thank you to everyone who sent in a contribution, we really appreciate it.
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Admin @ogaoga
Naijastories.com was created to connect readers to Nigerian writers online, providing an avenue for networking and critique. We really hope you enjoy reading their stories and are inspired to be more creative and productive. You can register to be part of this site and our community. The administrators will be regularly sharing stories, writing news and opportunities, contests and announcements.Go to Admin's profile, and read more of his/her posts.
And the healing collage of literature finally comes out. May we all find a common point of hope, comfort and healing.
Kudos to admin and all the writers who made this happen.
Thumb up to NS @admin… You guys have done great; and I can only hope the departed souls find peace and their relatives find solace. We Will Never Forget.
Waoh!!!!! Meji fun emi nikan!!!… I must be a luck guy (or a brilliant poet**winkly blushing**)
This is really nice. Keep riding NS.
Help! Help oh!! I cannot download oh….I have tried it thrice and it says ‘failed to download. Contact the Administrator…’ something like that..@admin
@enoquin, the download is working from this end. What device are you using?
@admin a universal modem with airtel’s line (it’s the fastest here in uyo, so it can’t be network). Can it be sent as an attachment to my e-mail? please…..please….pretty please? *bats eyelash*
Please check your email.
@Enoquin: Just like you to use the cute eyes!! Now, that picture gives a true representation
Maybe we would compare notes on the anthology, yes?
@sueddie: Girls have an unfair advantage over men: if they can’t get what they want by being smart, they can get it by being dumb…….no be me talk am oh, na Yul Brynner…now take from that what you will… I think I will have time to go through it during the weekend…perhaps we will compare notes after ey? @admin Thanks a bunch muuuahhhhhhh, I got it…it’s now in my flash drive…
@enoquin: Hey! Yeah, they have that advantage even the fair ones
Bottom power works too! Ask Fela!
Well, let’s see about that. We have to do some inboxing abi? Hmm. Collecting the sent muah
Forget the flash. Save it on your system.
Save on @enoquin‘s system?
Seriously, @Sueddie?
You must not have seen this.
@TolaO, there’s some reason I can’t get that page…network or something but…ouch if it is what I think. @Enoquin: Pele…
@suddie: You had to bring Fela’s utterances here ehn? I can’t save it on my system as I no longer have a hard disk….remember? Kindly return the muaaaahhhh…it was for admin and not for you okay?
Awesome!
Congrats to the writers who made it! I hope it will help.
I pray it helps us all find comfort and make sense of this tragedy. God bless u, Myne and the NS TEAM.
THE EQUALIZER by howudey made my day!
This is a touching effort. I really hope that we all get to reflect on this.
They live with us. I pray we never have to make such a compilation again.
May Aondo help us. Amen.
Amen @sueddie. After all said and done, may we never have to make such a compilation again…paradoxically.
Wow, Very inspiring and positive work by NS @admin, Nigeria needs more people like youable to bring something soothing and good out of such devastation. Well done . I am so proud of you and of the anthology.
@admin Thanks for having my piece in the Anth…. I hope it helps us all not to forget, but to keep this people in and also to keep in mind that we are no better, it could have been any of us..
I saw my piece but that was not as important as seeing how @admin harvested creativity and made it a balm to heal the wounded hearts. I only wish there was a way to get it to the grieving families.
Please @admin, kindly let’s meet via email. This effort deserves a review on my website http://www.envisionnigeria.com
Kudos to the NS family!!!
Thank you @xikay, we will contact you.
what a motivation this is!
Thumbs up Admin. Keep the flag flying.
@Admin,you got my back.
Good move NS
Good move NS
admin first of all congratulations for this wonderful piece in memory of the departed and also bringing the creative abilities in Nigerian writers. this is awesome but please pardon my inability to write something. well done and continue with the great work.
So we will not forget. Until the next cenotaph.
Doom prophet! @kaycee.
Hahahaha @kaycee @layrite
This is a nice move. I will this with my friends asap.
So we do not forget… Sooner or later, we surely would forget. It’s the way of man. But still, may we never forget.