Olele Unveils Her Autobiographical, ‘Coral of Youths’

Dike Onwuamaeze

A debut author, Ms. Margaret Obiageli Olele, has unveiled her memoir ‘Corals of Youth’ at Landmark Centre, Lagos.
Olele told journalists during the unveiling of the memoir that the book took her seven years to write.
She added: The ‘Corals of Youth’ is what I call a communal memoir.  It is not about Margret per say. It is about a girl living in Nigeria between the 1970s and early 1990s in a middle class family and experiencing all the cultural and economic changes and everything you can think about the environment within that period.

‘Corals of Youth’ is a witty and informative literary work that transport its readers to a vibrant and culturally rich Lagos, Nigeria, in the 1970s-90s through the eyes of a young girl growing up in a middle-class family in Lagos but hailed from Ibusa, the Enuani region of Delta State.

The book was also described as a collective memoir that masterfully strung together the author’s experiences and those of her peers, creating a stunning literal mosaic of school life, escapades, relationships, and cultural influences.
It captured the essence of a bygone era, exploring the intersections of cultures, traditions and identities that were woven around the strong theme of family life.

Olele said: “When you think about today and all the things technology has done, you will find out that the values of family life is not the way that it used to be.  Extended families were not a burden in those days but an added value and advantage.
“The book is almost a nostalgic journey but a learning that can help us to understand the past and perhaps help change the present.

“I think that it is important to write this book because we are beginning to see a declining middle-class. We had a lot of people in that category at the time I was growing up.
“We have also begun to see a decline in family values, history, and cultures and being able to apply them in a way that will help us to get better. So, the book has relevance for the present and future.”

Olele, who holds Masters Art degree in Literature and an M.SC in Mass Communication, brought a fresh voice to the literary world with the publication of her memoir. The book was published by Xlibris.