Today my blog turns 5, and as it has been every 12th of December since I first started bookshy, I am extremely excited. I started blogging as a way to highlight some of the books I was either reading or discovering while I was back in Lagos for my PhD fieldwork. With time, it became more than that - it was something that brought me joy and excitement.
Sydney Harbour. 01.12.16. Photo by me.
After a long day of conducting interviews and then transcribing those interviews, or trying to make sense of my research and what I was trying to do - I would sign in to my blog. While nothing (and I mean nothing) made sense in the world of my PhD - everything was crystal clear in the world of my blog. So I would blog and write about things I had discovered, or things that excited me, or things I had read, or things that I wanted to read. For that period I would be the happiest I could imagine. Five years later, I still get that joy every time I open my browser, go to blogger and start a new post.
Today is made even more special, because later today I will be graduating. I rarely talked about my PhD, but over the years on this blog I have shared some aspects (usually of the 'it's-so-hard' variety) of it. And it brings me great joy that today of all days when my blog turns 5, is when I will also don my cap and gown and officially celebrate the end of a ridiculously long and extremely difficult journey for me - as my blog was one of the things that gave me life and happiness during my PhD.
While I have loved every second of my personal journey discovering and celebrating African literature. At the same time, I continue to be shocked and overwhelmed by the love this blog gets. Every view, every new facebook like, every new twitter follower, every retweet, every share ... every single one of it - I genuinely appreciate from the bottom of my heart. Through blogging, I've also been able to connect with (and overtime meet in person) some truly amazing writers, publishers, illustrators, bloggers and African literature lovers in many parts of the world. I have also been invited to African literary festivals and events in Nigeria, Uganda and Nigeria and written for a number of websites and magazines. As a fan girl of of books, of reading, of literature, of African literature, I cannot explain how truly blessed I feel about that.
In the last 5 years this love for African literature and blogging hasn't waned - in fact, I think it has grown. While I have no idea what the next year has in store for me or my blog, I do know that for as long as I am able to do this I won't stop. So here's to 5 absolutely amazing years, and to everyone that reads the blog. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! It truly has been a wonderful 5 years of blogging and I want to say thank you again from the bottom of my heart for the love and support.