Events
Atoke presents Friday Night Banter! An Evening of Canapés, Connections & Conversations
For three years, I wrote a weekly column called Atoke’s Monday Morning Banter. I didn’t really expect it to have any kind of traction; I just wrote for fun, and because writing gives me a lot of joy. Then, the column took on a life of its own and it became so much bigger than me. Yay! Banter…
Along with the thrill of writing, came the growth of the community of readers and the fantastic network in the comments section. Atoke’s Monday Morning became OUR thing on BellaNaija. I loved it, and even more fantastic for me was the fact that I was faceless. 🙂 I enjoyed the anonymity of it for two reasons: I could write and hide behind my computer, and secondly because I wanted my work to do talking – without any distractions.
However, a life without innovation and evolution is kinda boring you know? So, I’m going to bring Banter to life by hosting an evening with you guys in Lagos. We’re going to pick some of our favourite Banter pieces, talk about the issues raised and we’ll have a chance to network and generally have fun.
You get to choose which of the pieces I wrote in the course of three years. It seems like such a tedious task eh? I mean, this is not counting the things I wrote before October 2012, and then BN Hot Topic days. (Nobody should remind Uche that I dropped the ball on this!) Anyway, I’ve tried to choose a few that I think you guys might like to choose from, but you can always click on my profile to see old pieces.
So here’s some of the topic suggestions:
The one about the appropriate nomenclature for newly married friends/ new parents
The one about being a part of someone else’s wedding
The one about responsibility for your child’s upbringing
The one about your gender preference for you doctors
The one about the nuances of illegitimacy of children
The one about consciously being in a relationship with a fraudster
The one about overly exposing children (yours & other people’s) on social media
The one about what YOU would do if you had a chance to rule Nigeria
The one about the freedom to come out of the closet
So, I’ve tried to narrow down 10 topics to choose from. Of course you can always tell me any one not on this list which you think will make for more interesting discourse.
I’ve shared this idea with a few people and they’ve graciously agreed to come on as partners for the evening. Special shout out to the BellaNaija Team. My amazing friends and colleagues who helped me beat this project into place.
Moremi Amuta of Euphorique PR who has done all the hard work and I’m just basically stepping in to take the shine of her hard work.
Gbubemi Fregene of Chef Fregz catering whose love and support for me is always unwavering.
Shola Aromokun of Konverge Media who offered us his services without flinching.
And of course my beloved cousin & his wife Goke and ‘Bimbo Balogun, the awesome duo behind SoFresh. Family is everything!
I look forward to having a fun evening with you lovely people who read my work. However, we only have room for 20 people so you have to RSVP before the 10th of October.
If you wanna come and spend the evening with us, please send an email to atokeofficial(at)gmail(dot)com with ‘Canapés. Connections. Conversations’ in the subject bar. In the body of the email, tell us three of your favourite articles, why you liked them and a confirmation that you’ll be available in Lagos on Friday the 14th of October, 2016.
You’ll be mailed an invite with details of the venue of the event.
Peace, Love & Celery sticks.
