Funke Treasure Durodola, the General Manager of Radio One FM (103.5), on Friday January 30, presented her debut book titled, Memories of Grandma, to the public, at Freedom Park, Hospital Road, Lagos.
The event was anchored by Adeniyi Kunnu, head literary, Arts & Culture at Radio One FM while the book was reviewed by Aderemi Raji, Dean, Faculty of Arts, University of Ibadan.
“Memories of Grandma is basically a treasure and an introduction of a very matured work. The book is the author’s recollection of her memorable experience when she was 10 years old with her Grandma,” Raji said.
He explained that the book, which is in narrative structure, is a source of information to researchers and a good reader’s companion.
The book is the author’s recollections of a noteworthy childhood lived with her parents in Ijebu Ode and vacations spent in Ode Omu, her maternal grandparents’ rural homestead.
Written from the point of view of a curious teenager, the book shows Durodola’s journey of cultural immersion in a world far removed from the westernized settings of a conventional school and one in which her grandma is the ever-willing tutor and coach.
One of Nigeria’s accomplished broadcast journalists, Durodola has had a consistently shining career in Nigeria’s media terrain. Over the years, she has worked extensively on health, women, children and youth-related projects.
She has also worked with UNICEF and other NGOs in Nigeria advocating for children and better participation of women in politics amongst other interests.
Durodola is one of the fortunate few who enjoyed that rare privilege of meeting all their four grandparents alive and subsequently bonded with them. But of the quartet, it is Durodola’s maternal grandma who helped to nurture the middle-class town girl into a culturally aware adolescent.
According to the writer, “Memories of Grandma will make you long ever more passionately for the good old days, when a stern look from a parent was all a child needed to stop any wrongdoing; and that, it saddens to admit, is a world today’s kids are likely never going to experience.”
Present at the event were dignitaries, including Bolajoko Doherty, Proprietress Bola Immaculate Schools, Ibadan; Samuel Uche, Prelate, Methodist Church of Nigeria; and Eddie Iroh, Former Director General, Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria.
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