The Enugu State Government on Friday unveiled “Harmattan on Rolling Hills”, a literary anthology inspired by the history, culture and people of the state.
The Executive Secretary of the Enugu State Council for Arts and Culture, Mr Lawrence Ani, stated this during the public presentation of the 100-page anthology in Enugu on Friday.
Ani said the project was conceived to revive Enugu’s rich literary tradition and provide a publishing platform for emerging writers whose works often remain unpublished.
According to him, the anthology aligns with Gov. Peter Mbah’s vision of making Enugu a destination for culture, tourism, investment and the creative arts.
“We are trying to make Enugu the literary capital of not just Nigeria, but one of the most remarkable literary capitals, like it used to be during the era of Chinua Achebe, Cyprian Ekwensi and other literary giants,” he said.
He explained that the council invited submissions from young writers across the country last year and received more than 70 entries, from which 15 stories were selected for publication.
Ani said the anthology would become an annual publication to encourage creativity and preserve Enugu’s history and identity through fiction.
He stressed that the book was not intended as government public relations but as a literary work that celebrated the city’s history, culture and collective memory.
“Books have the power to imprint cities in people’s minds. They preserve memories and introduce readers to places they may never have visited,” he said.
Unveiling the book, the State Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Dame Ugochi Madueke, said the anthology captured Enugu’s unique experiences, landmarks and heritage.
She said the stories explored iconic places such as the Iva Valley, Coal Camp and other historical locations associated with the Coal City.
Reviewing the anthology, author and journalist, Mr James Eze described Harmattan on Rolling Hills as a significant contribution to Nigerian literature and a worthy addition to the global tradition of city-based anthologies.
He said the collection of 15 short stories presented Enugu not merely as a setting but as a central character whose history, resilience and cultural identity were vividly portrayed.
According to Eze, the anthology introduces a new generation of literary voices while preserving important historical events, including the 1949 Iva Valley coal miners’ massacre and the city’s coal mining heritage.
He noted that the book’s five thematic sections – Foundations, Rupture and Resilience, Arrivals, Reckoning with the Real and The Landscape Speaks – offer readers an immersive literary journey through Enugu’s evolution.
Eze commended the Council’s Executive Secretary, Lawrence Ani and the Editor, Mrs Adachukwu Onwudiwe for producing what he described as a historic literary offering.
The Editor of the Anthology, Mrs Adachukwu Onwudiwe, said the project received more than 72 submissions from writers in Enugu, Abuja, Lagos, Owerri, Awka and the United States, with only 15 stories eventually selected.
She said contributors were chosen based on their lived experiences and personal connections with Enugu, ensuring authentic portrayals of the city.
According to her, the decision to present the stories as fiction allows writers to creatively reimagine Enugu while making the city the central character of every narrative.
Onwudiwe expressed the hope that the anthology would become an annual publication and contribute to Enugu’s aspiration of becoming a UNESCO City of Literature.
She urged writers to participate in future editions, saying sustained literary engagement would strengthen the state’s cultural identity and international recognition.
