The Written Room: OGUWRITES Creates Space for Literary Conversations in Port Harcourt and Yenagoa

Presented by OGUWRITES and hosted by Nigerian author Juliet O. Ogu, The Written Room brings people together through literature, conversation, reflection, connection and the stories that shape who we become.

Literature is often imagined as something that happens quietly between a reader and a book. But for OGUWRITES, literature can also be a reason to bring people into the same room — to share, listen, reflect, connect and experience life through the stories of others.

This idea gave birth to The Written Room, a literary gathering presented by OGUWRITES and hosted by Nigerian author Juliet O. Ogu.

The Written Room was created as a space for conversations around books, writing, identity, experiences and the different ways stories shape how people understand themselves and one another.

The first edition took place in Port Harcourt, establishing the foundation for a gathering that would extend beyond the traditional book event. Its second edition was subsequently held in Yenagoa, bringing the conversation into another Niger Delta community.

For OGUWRITES, The Written Room is deliberately more than books and more than a gathering.

It is a space designed to open itself up to connections and conversations that allow people to see beyond themselves, their own experiences and the things they have always believed to be true.

There is a sincerity in the room that is difficult to find elsewhere. And somehow, everyone leaves with something — a lesson, an experience, a question, a new thought or a shift in perspective.

Whether attending as a reader, writer, team member, organiser, host or simply as a spectator of life, each person becomes part of the conversation.

At the heart of The Written Room is its theme, “Stories That Shape Us.”

It speaks to the understanding that we are all shaped by stories — the stories we inherit, the stories we read, the stories we tell, the stories we experience and sometimes the stories we are still trying to make sense of.

These stories influence how we see ourselves, how we understand other people, the choices we make and, ultimately, the people we become.

For OGUWRITES, this makes storytelling much bigger than the act of putting words on a page. Stories become a way of examining the experiences that have made us, questioning what we believe, and understanding the people and worlds around us.

Hosting the conversations is Juliet O. Ogu, whose literary work explores identity, relationships, adulthood, self-awareness and becoming.

However, The Written Room extends beyond her individual books. It is a platform created by OGUWRITES to encourage people to engage with literature and with one another in more meaningful ways.

The room is also a safe place to speak about one’s before, one’s now, and where that now might eventually take them.

It gives grace to thoughts, decisions and mistakes. It creates room for people to reconsider what they think they know, to question conclusions they may have held for years, and to recognise that there is always room to learn, unlearn, change and become.

A Room for People Who Love Life

But The Written Room is not only interested in the serious or difficult parts of being human.

It is also a room for people who are enthusiastic about life and about living it.

People who enjoy conversations, books, friendship, laughter, creativity, new experiences and simply being present in the world.

It recognises that there is as much value in celebrating life and the people we are becoming as there is in examining the things that have shaped us.

The Written Room therefore creates space for both reflection and enjoyment — for the person who wants to discuss a book deeply and the person who simply wants to meet people, have a meaningful conversation, laugh, listen and experience something different.

At its centre is the belief that everyone who enters the room should be able to leave with something.

A reader can enter with an idea and leave questioning it. A writer can arrive with a story and leave with a new perspective. Someone who comes simply to listen can still find something to carry home.

From Port Harcourt and Yenagoa to the World

The vision for The Written Room does not end in Port Harcourt or Yenagoa.

Following its first two editions, OGUWRITES plans to take The Written Room to different cities and states across Nigeria, and eventually to different countries, creating opportunities for people in different communities and cultures to gather around stories, exchange perspectives and discover the experiences that connect them.

The movement from one location to another is not simply about hosting events in different places. It is about allowing the room to evolve with every community it enters.

Each city brings its own stories, people, histories, questions and experiences, adding something new to the larger conversation.

In this way, The Written Room hopes to become a growing community — one that travels, listens and makes room for different voices while remaining anchored in its central idea: that our stories matter, and that the stories we encounter can change the way we see ourselves and the world.

The significance of taking the event from Port Harcourt to Yenagoa is also important to the vision behind The Written Room.

Both cities sit within the Niger Delta, a region that has deeply influenced Ogu’s literary imagination and relationship with storytelling. Her debut novel, The Art of De-centring: A Woman in Progress, draws from environments, experiences and realities that shape people and families in the Niger Delta, while her poetry collection, The Realization, explores themes of adulthood, motherhood, pressure and self-return.

Yet The Written Room is not simply an extension of Ogu’s books.

It is a platform created by OGUWRITES for people to encounter literature — and one another — differently.

The conversations are ultimately about what happens when books become a starting point rather than an ending.

Literature does not end when a book is closed. Sometimes, the most meaningful part of a story begins when people start talking about it.

And sometimes, in the process of listening to someone else’s story, we recognise something about our own.

As OGUWRITES continues to develop The Written Room, its movement from Port Harcourt to Yenagoa marks the beginning of a literary platform built around connection, conversation, enjoyment, perspective, identity and becoming.

The Written Room — presented by OGUWRITES.
Hosted by Juliet O. Ogu.

Theme: Stories That Shape Us.