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Goodrich Professor Pamela Smith Publicly Presents Her New Book

Professor Pamela Olubunmi Smith recently publicly presented her new book, “Treasury of Childhood Memories”, an English translation of “Ogun Omode,” by Alagba Professor Akinwumi Isola.

Nigeria – Professor Pamela Olubunmi Smith recently publicly presented her new book, Treasury of Childhood Memories, an English translation of Ogun Omode, by Alagba Professor Akinwumi Isola. The presentation event was planned as a surprise for Professor Isola to honor him. It was organized by the honoree’s wife, Iyaafin Ádebola, Professor Smith and others, and held in the honoree’s house in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria.

This was the fourth book by Isola that Professor Smith has translated from Yoruba into English. The previous books are Efunsetan Aniwura, Iyalode Ibadan and Tinubu, Iyalode Egba: Two Yoruba Historical Dramas.

The chairman of the occasion, Professor Solomon Olukayode Fagade said, “Our gathering is a celebration of the excellent contributions of two children of the Yoruba race to fostering the advancement of the spoken language of the Yoruba and spreading it to the nooks and crannies of the world. Fittingly, this exercise involves a son, Professor Isola Akinwumi and a daughter, Professor Pamela Smith.”

According to him, Professor Smith's ability to translate four Yoruba books to English was not a mere achievement but outstanding which has demonstrated her devotion, commitment, perseverance and unflinching search for excellence. “We cannot thank Pamela enough for her wonderful courage and her brilliant work of translation, in bringing these stories to readers in the English speaking world.”

Professor Adeleke Adeeko, University of Ohio, explained that the original book, Ogun Omode taught the importance of Yoruba language and names. Adeeko describes the book’s plot as, “Every child in the world of Akinwumi Isola’s Ogun Omode learns very early the unlikelihood of a cohort of 20 kids playing together for 20 years! They know that adulthood will creep on everyone and that moving away will happen. Yet that knowledge never deterred any kid from enjoying the assuring drills of family, neighborhood, village, school, church, farm, and playground, etc., Pamela O. Smith’s masterful translation of Isola’s childhood memoirs reveals how life unfolds for the young child between the antithetic desire to remain in the cohort permanently and the necessity of moving along on the path of life. If the loving parents, quirky teachers, peculiar school inspectors, cranky older neighbors play their part well, traveling into future decades is less fearsome.”

Professor Smith said she did the translation of Ogun Omode to say thank you to Akinwumi Isola, stressing that Isola deserved all the accolades showered on him, considering how well he had lived his life and contributed his quota to humanity.

Pamela is a professor with the UNO Goodrich Scholarship Program. Her other English translations from Yoruba include Adebayo Faleti’s Omo Olokun Esin (The Freedom Fight, 2010).

Source: Gbenro Adesina, Akinwumi Isola celebrated with a new book, The News, July 16, 2016, http://thenewsnigeria.com.ng/2016/07/akinwumi-isola-celebrated-with-a-new-book/.