Tongjal WN - LetterMan

Dear Fellow,

This year has to be the most challenging for me as a creator. It is a mixture of hope and despair.

Let me begin with the positives.

During my NYSC year, I met with Sir Lirwanu I. Sheegay. He was the head of Community Development Service (CDS) in NYSC Adamawa State at the time. Somehow he figured that I am a book designer, acting as a publisher most times.

That conversation led us into the project that has become the book ECHOES OF THE HEART: A Poetry Collection. Although it came at a cloudy season for me, I am glad to announce that the electronic copy is now ready for distribution.

Then, there's Sharon Byencit Nandang's IT IS FINISHED: A Love Story. This one came as a referral via Nenkinan Nehemiah Deshi, author of a book I worked on last year: BENDED BUT NOT BROKEN ( ). I almost said no to Sharon's proposal to work on the book because I was in a very uncertain season.

I had two major losses before she reached out to me—two projects I was entrusted with, with so much confidence in my abilities, and I couldn't see them through to the end. Those failures started to define the way I thought about myself. I questioned my skills and training, my self-esteem was in shambles. Who could do good work in such a state of mind?

But Sharon wouldn't settle for a no. She gave me a week's gap before we resumed the conversation: she prayed for me in-between. With trembling, I said yes to the project. We delivered a total of 100 paperback and hardback copies of the book to her.

With these two works closing the year for me, I am inspired to explore further this path of being a book designer, and publishing. Thank God for my teammates on both projects: Cinplang, Samuel, Zipporah, Voma, and Achile (the first three being ). Thank God for Nenkinan. Thank God for my clients: Sir Sheegay, and Sharon.

Untill I write to you again, good Fellow, may you never lose your wonder!

Dear Fellow,

I couldn't have asked for a better Place of Primary Assignment (PPA) than the American University of Nigeria (AUN) Yola during the past year as a corps member. I still remember my placement when I was being registered as a member of the university.

The university library (Robert A. Pastor Library & Digital Services) was my target upon arrival. But there was a fellow corps member who studied library and information science (LIS): we were both given fair hearing at the library before placements were done. Not because I performed below average, but she had to be taken into the library because she was trained in school for the job. My placement then resided with the HR department.

I was assigned to the Office of Institutional Research and Effectiveness (OIRE). Turned out that I couldn't have asked for any better. I made the most of the university library during my time as a corps member at AUN, but I would have missed out on the treasures in OIRE.

At AUN’s OIRE, I served under a very excellent boss and a remarkable colleague (a fellow corps member). Both of them influenced the happy expectations I had every workday morning. There was always something new to learn during work hours. Work stress felt less than it would had they not been in the story.

The AUN community as a whole then made for a richer experience. I am talking about a community of diverse people, of different nationalities, of several and unique histories, of several and unique endowments, of several and unique dreams. The environment tells on you in subtle ways, you reckon with time.

I am grateful for my time as a corps member at AUN Yola. I appreciate the university for a decent, regular allowance and accomodation. I appreciate the president, Sir , and every other member of the AUN community whose presence and impact I felt during my time as a corps member there.

Until I write to you again, good Fellow, may you never lose your wonder!



PS: The signage you see in the photo was erected during my time as a corps member at AUN. The area is called the AUN Alumni Park. I am glad to have witnessed the building and commissioning of the site.

_______________
Photographer: Aye Asibong

Dear Fellow,

At 11.37 a.m. on Thursday, 17th April 2025, I sent this message to Wazani Ijarafu: "Please what genre does Eric Limani belong? Agbutun? Afan Kazé? Yours? ForTune Anjugu?"

I was in a season at the time where I just wanted soothing music. I just wanted music that would help me be calm, have good reflection, and be still. And the names I mentioned above all gave me that.

Wazani's status then became my go-to for more of their kind of music. He has this practice of sharing short video clips of songs and artists he enjoyed listening to. I realised that I enjoyed listening to them as well. We got talking again, and he goes on tell me this:

"I mostly listen to soul, folk, and soft rock. Occasionally, I listen to hip hop, highlife, sometimes a little rap and also reggae. Then jazz in a very blue moon."

I sent this reply: "Let me have a list of your #1 artist in each of these categories."

And he was gracious to share with me. That was how I found Josh Garrels:

Born in South Bend, Indiana in 1980, "singer/songwriter Josh Garrels has built his career on deeply personal, introspective lyrics and exploratory sounds that range from pastoral indie folk to hip-hop" (quoted from his website).

Everything about Garrels's songs glued me to his catalogue. I wanted to know more about him and his craft. I was awake when his latest album Peace To All Who Enter Here, Vol. 2 (2025) dropped on Spotify at 12.00 on Friday, 7th November 2025. Although drowsy at the time, I stayed up to listen to the 48 minutes long piece of 11 tracks.

Listening to the album again the next morning, I searched for his Wikipedia biography. There I was introduced to the music-documentary film The Sea In Between (2013). Intrigued, I searched for the complete documentary, and thankfully, it is offered for free-viewing on his YouTube channel. That was my foremost entertainment piece after church yesterday.

Until I watched the documentary, I had to listen to the album that established him as a musician: Love & War & The Sea In Between (2011). Turns out this album was a major item in the documentary.

A few things fascinate me about the documentary:

✍🏽The Johnsons, a nuclear family of five, living in Vancouver BC in Canada, a real fan of Garrels's music, were the initiators of the one-week vacation on Mayne Island which became the documentary.

✍🏽According to Blayne Johnson, father of the Johnsons, his family had downloaded all of Garrels's albums from his website, and were so drawn into his art that they could not look away when they saw his call for donations on the website, realising he was an independent artist all along.

✍🏽Garrels's introduced Mason Jar Music (an art collective and production house in Brooklyn, NY) to Blayne Johnson after they established contact, the latter got the other's contact on his website.

✍🏽According to Blayne Johnson, "I had this idea in my head: Mason Jar Music will come up to Mayne Island, Josh Garrels will come up to Mayne Island, and have a restful week, and maybe make a video." This idea became the documentary.

✍🏽The documentary was the most immersive and extensive introduction for me into the process and life of an independent artist.

For musicians, especially independent musicians, I think this documentary holds so much for you to learn from and be inspired by. For fans like myself, I have been inspired by the Johnsons and shown how I can be a blessing to an artist who has in turn been a blessing to me. If anything, it shows you how music is expensive—art is expensive to make: and you cannot but wonder how independent artists carry on.

You should check out all the names mentioned in this piece. You should check out Wazani, For Tune, Eric Limani, Agbutun, Afan Kazé on Spotify to begin your quest into knowing their genre.

Until I write to you again, good Fellow, may you never lose your wonder!



_________________
Image source: IMDb

Dear Fellow,

Today at the YolaReads Reading Club, we read the report from the Panel of Judges of the 2025 NLNG Nigeria Prize for Literature and the Nigeria Prize for Literary Criticism. The document explains the selection process of the prize winners in both categories—from submissions, through shortlisting, to announcing the winners.

The following items in the report caught my attention:

Among the eight selection criteria for literature, these items were kind of a surprise to me:

“No. 3: Language: (i) Should be English language (American or British - spelling consistency) (ii) Clarity and consistency of style (iii) Free of grammatical error. [15%]”

“No. 6: Quality of Production: Quality of print, binding, flushing, pagination, graphics, and general book production. [10%]”

My creator friends and I hold each other accountable to the standards in #3 in our personal works—even in our private chats. However, when I uphold other creators outside my circle to these standards, their attitude suggests they are for school only. Therefore, to see it in the report for Nigeria's highest literary award is no mean reaffirmation that my friends and I are excellent craftsmen.

As a book designer, #6 is dear to my heart. Navigating a culture where the people have turned the axiom to not judge a book by its cover as an excuse for mediocre design, it can be demanding to insist on excellent outcomes. Item #6 shows that production quality influences the chances of a book winning the award.

I think English language teachers should reference the report from the judges to tell their students the significance of heeding the rules in criterion #3. I think publishing houses should reference the report from the judges, especially criterion #6, in their briefings, meetings, and workshops. Doing so is creating a culture that celebrates, promotes, and upholds excellent craftsmanship in book authorship and production.



PS: I was stunned to find Sir Olakunle Kasumu, host of Channels Television's Channels Book Club, on the list of judges for the prize. Reflecting on this detail, I think the Nigerian literary ecosystem is—becoming or already is?—inclusive.
________________
Image source: Afrocritik

Dear Fellow,

I watched the movie The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (2023) last night. How I came about the movie is the message of this piece.

I got to the movie via Passenger's latest album: One for the Road (Songs from the Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry the Musical). Released on Wednesday, 10th September 2025, the album had my attention for a while. The album’s title length was a puzzle to me, especially the portion in parentheses. So, I queried.

Three weeks ago, I saw Passenger’s YouTube livestream labelled “Passenger - One For the Road - Live Stream”. In the 57 minutes and 45 seconds session, he played through the album from the musical and explained the origins. In the middle of the show, he announced that the movie is an adaptation of the novel by Rachel Joyce.

Here’s the timeline of the content:

✍🏽2012: The novel by Rachel Joyce was published.

✍🏽2023: The novel was adapted into a movie of the same title, directed by Hettie Macdonald.

✍🏽2025: A musical adaptation of the novel had a successful run at Chichester Festival Theatre, directed by Kate Rudd.

Passenger’s album aforementioned is the full collection of songs for the musical, all written by Passenger. Quite a significant piece of work! It evokes the sort of admiration Howard (Leslie) Shore’s work for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film trilogies.

My point of emphasis here is the connection between the three art forms—a novel turned into a movie, then into a music album, then into a musical adaptation. In addition to having Joyce’s book on their shelves, libraries in the UK can add to their programmes a screening of Macdonald’s movie, and maybe serve as distribution points for tickets to the event scheduled to be held at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, London from Thursday, 29th January 2026 to Saturday, 18th April 2026.

So many insights can be obtained here for the creative industry in Nigeria, I think. I’d love to see the books to movies to music albums to musical flow—vice versa, and however else the flow could be. Possibilities abound, they can be ensured when there’s collaborations across the fields.



___________________
Image source: John Atkinson Books

"I often meet people in the West who insist that the Holocaust was the worst atrocity in human history, without question. Yes, it was horrific. But I often wonder, with African atrocities like in the Congo, how horrific were they? The thing Africans don’t have that Jewish people do have is documentation. The N***s kept meticulous records, took pictures, made films. And that’s really what it comes down to. Holocaust victims count because Hi**er counted them. Six million people killed. We can all look at that number and rightly be horrified. But when you read through the history of atrocities against Africans, there are no numbers, only guesses. It’s harder to be horrified by a guess."

—Trevor Noah, in : Stories from a South African Childhood

Dear Fellow,

She didn't know she gave me more than a pen.

The day before I stopped by at Ma'am Stephanie's office at work, I was lamenting my unproductivity of the previous month and further back. I couldn't handle the situation procrastination had put me in—and social media, while being a distraction from the reality before me, it started to feel laborious to be online.

The lament before the day I visited Ma'am Stephanie kicked in when it was too few hours to the deadline to send in an application—too few hours to keep pressing forward to submission, or so I thought. I had to give up the submission. That decision gave me trauma: I started to relive the hurts of previous losses in my mind.

On the day I visited Ma'am Stephanie, I was awake from midnight. I whispered a prayer to the LORD upon waking that day, then I wrote into my journal all that I felt and could name. While doing that, a thought hit me to write down a list of all the pending projects and unfulfilled commitments I've made that scare me whenever I remember them. I turned to a new page and did that. Next thought was to pick, based on urgency, one task to focus on each day from that day forward.

Except for errands and short breaks, I didn't leave my desk and I was focused on the single task I had picked for that day. Then I had the liberty to do anything else of my own. I was heading to meet someone for a meeting, when I decided to stop by at Ma'am Stephanie's office to greet her.

We talked for a moment. Somehow we delved into conversations about goals, dreams, and aspirations. Told her that her order and workflow looks so impressive, I desire to be productive as she is at work. Then she started to tell me of her unfinished projects, unrealised dreams, and unreached goals. She said she still battles with being focused and productive at work. I told her that what she was saying doesn't fit a description of her to me. “You look like you have it all figured out,” I told her.

I took the cue from her story to forgive myself and be graceful to myself. Just when I was about to leave her office, I saw the pen in the attached photo. I read the note before telling her that the pen is beautiful. “Do you like it?” She asked. “Yes,” I said. “You can have it,” she said.

It is this pen I used to tick “Done” for day's task. It is reserved for ticking items on my daily planner or to-do list. I still feel joy whenever I use this pen to tick the list. Ma'am Stephanie doesn't know she gave me more than just a pen and a message. She gave me hope.

Stationeries and music has this reputation of being therapeutic for me. I used to wonder why people still purchase stationeries like pens and notebooks given the technological era we're in. Or why huge amounts of money goes round the production and consumption of music.

I am knowing better: I could sacrifice an internet subscription to renew my music player app subscription. I could pay five times the cost for the pen Ma'am Stephanie gave me, if I had to pay for it and have the means.

Ticking my list each day, I also take solace in this statement inscribed on my newest pen: “May you be proud of the work you do, the person you are, and the difference you make.”

Until I write to you again, good Fellow, may you never lose your wonder!

Dear Fellow,

I attended my third lecture in the Project Management Professionals (PMP) course on Saturday, 30th August 2025. We were given an assignment: Design a Project Action Plan.

Now, I think this has become a habit for me: to seek for templates or guidelines before commencing any project, including assignments like the one above. As soon as the assignment was given, I started to think about where I can get the current edition (7th edition, to be precise) of the Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK®) Guide. I wish I had a copy.

My friend who is considering enrolling for the PMP course asked if I checked how much the PMBOK® Guide is selling online. Then I checked:

$69.27 = ₦106,311.34 (Amazon paperback)

Phew! That is about 138% of my monthly allowance as an NYSC corps member. If I save towards buying a copy from my allowance, it will take a long time to own a copy of the guide. Maybe the eighth edition will be out by the time I am done saving up, and you bet the price will be significantly higher than what I saved up in the end.

This is exactly where a library comes in as great help. I have not asked at the National Library of Nigeria (NLN) Adamawa State Branch, but I am close to certainty that I will not find the current edition of the PMBOK Guide in their collection—I have surveyed the collection several times, at least. Karatu Library Foundation Yola may not either. Maybe Robert A. Pastor Library, the central library at American University of Nigeria (AUN) Yola, may have a copy.

I have stayed longer in Jos of Plateau State and Yola of Adamawa State than anywhere else in Nigeria. I have observed the literary ecosystem in both of these places. We need a highly networked literary ecosystem: maybe I am speaking for Nigeria as a whole. In such an ecosystem, it wouldn't be difficult to lay my hands on a PMBOK Guide a few days before the eve of my next lecture which is scheduled to be held on Saturday, 6th September 2025.

Until I write to you again, good Fellow, may you never lose your wonder!



___________________
Image source: Project Management Institute

Dear Fellow,

Besides my birthday, this has to be the major highlight of this week for me: discovering the PMBOK® Guide. I'll show you why.

Before the details, a relevant note: the Schedule Officer (S.O.) for the Community Development Service (CDS) Group I am part of in NYSC Adamawa State presented a template and a guide to documenting one of our group projects yesterday. I told him how excited I was about the documents. My reaction spoke even before I opened my mouth. Templates make your work easy.

In my first year at the university, while reading the Use of English handbook, I discovered writing style guides. Including the APA Style, Modern Language Association, and are the documents that set the standards for how to cross your Ts and dot your i(s) based on the field of endeavour you are writing in and writing for. Since first year, I sought to know better about these guides and it paid off during my final year project, which I designed, researched, and wrote from ideation to submission for approval.

And now, I stumbled on the Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK®) Guide at the start of my professional journey towards being a certified Project Management Professional. Thanks to ChatGPT, my efficient private interactive study tool, I stumbled on the guide while working out an activity from my PMP Course facilitator.

Currently in its 7th edition, the PMBOK Guide is the standard reference material for project managers worldwide. It was developed and is run by the Project Management Institute, world’s leading project management professional body. The guide is like the global constitution of Project Management, as described by ChatGPT.

Upon discovering the PMBOK Guide, I felt just as excited as I was when I first discovered writing style guides. While I appreciate boundless creative expression, I think it is excellent to practise with a solid grasp of the rudiments of your craft. Bear in mind also that these guides were originally developed and are still managed by people who have practised the skills and craft for years: we need the shoulders of giants to see further.

Do you know the ultimate authority—professional association and its publication—in your field of work? You should know from the beginning of your training or career. I pray you excitement as you go into the research.

Until I write to you again, good Fellow, may you never lose your wonder!



___________________
Image source: "Generate a Facebook size photograph showing a 25-year old Nigerian project manager at work. He should have fine beards running on both sides of his face. And he should be wearing a dad hat." This was the prompt I gave ChatGPT.