So the 27th of September, 2015, came around soon enough. I had just spent the 1st week of a grueling 11 in Lagos and was going for my first social event, a meet up with the members of the Mainland Book Cafe. You could have called me a fringe member, since I was told about it by the one and only modern day Ojuju, Beeordun . I had even given them a blog post, so I felt like I was not too much of an outsider (in my mind). More importantly, I was going to see the popular "Bar Enclave" and it's twitter renowned TURKEY. So yeah, I was excited.
I had no idea what to expect. I only knew one person of all the people (so I thought): plus, am pretty much as unconventional as they come and was a tad worried. In my head, "writers" are the knowledgeable ones; are supposed to be stuffy and all that (yeah I know, we all judge people on some level. we all stereotype, so let me have my two minutes please....) Never mind myself, I just rant and have never really considered myself a writer.
Anyway, I got there a tad late and met the mini community. Guess what Ekene? They were all cool people; not fuddy duddy at all like my imaginary TV screen projected. The conversations were all inclusive and every one's opinions were listened to, even in the selection of the next book to be read. The informal atmosphere of The Enclave helped me settle right in as well. And the turkey? Please, that's subject for another blog series in fact.
So for sure I knew I was going to come back for as long as I remained in Lagos. And I did go back twice. Made a new set of friends, met some people I had only known online, saw some old friends again and discussed books in a setting as different, yet as similar as my literature class for the first time in ages. I also attended my first book reading, got an autographed copy of Sector IV and generally had a nice time. For the rest of my stay in Lagos, my last Sundays of every month were booked.
Sadly, am back to base now and miss the MBC meetups. Hopefully, I'll visit soon enough and they will not forget about me; as I sure will not forget them!