Project Director, Port Harcourt World Book Capital, Mrs Koko Kalango (r) and author of the book, “The Virtuous Woman”, Profeasor Zaynab Alkali, at the presentation of the 12th “Book of the Month” in Port Harcourt.
Photo by Sogbeba Dokubo.

The author of the “Book
of the Month” of March, 2015, Professor Zaynab Alkali, Department of English Nasarawa State University, Keffi, has revealed that memories of her childhood as a teenager inspired her to write the book, “The Virtuous Woman”.
Speaking to The Tide at the weekend in Presidential Hotel, Port Harcourt, venue of the presentation of the book, professor Alkali hinted that the book was a quest to present the life of a typical strong-willed village girl in the northern part of Nigeria.
“I think childhood memories (inspired me) because as you can see, it’s a kind of tracking my journey when I was in my teens from my village to my school, as a typical girl from the northern part of Nigeria who aspires to be educated”, she said.
The book, a narrative of the travails of a strong-willed girl from a humble northern family in her quest to be educated, even with the disadvantage of disfigurement caused by polio attack as a child, the author said, has not had the expected impact on the society of its setting.
“It has not impacted enough, actually, because most of the things in the book are still happening. Though I can say that the book is still relevant to today’s situation, the impact of the book is not much.
“This is because for a book to make an impact, it has to reach the people. But there is a problem in that because people are not reading”, she said.
In spite of this, however, she said the book has a lot to offer to school children morally.
“There are some pieces of moral advice in the book which school children who are able to read the book may gain from what has been written”, she explained.
CommenTing on the “Book of the Month” a former don at the University of Port Harcourt, Professor Ebiegeri J. Alagoa, noted that while the programme will improve the reading culture of Nigerians, its significance is confined in the city.
“It is signifant, but the success has been confined largely to Port Harcourt. I do expect that later, there should be a plan to send it to cover the whole of Rivers State and I hope other parts of the Niger Delta.”
“The virtuous woman”, which was the 12th book to be presented as “Book of the Month” to mark the one year of Port Harcourt being the World Book Capital from April 2014.
Highlight of the occasion was discussion of key elements of the book by students comprising two males and two females picked from four secondary schools in Port Harcourt.
There was also drama presentation on the book.

Stories by Sogbeba Dokubo