ZODML Honours Ace Writer, Mabel Segun

By Nnachetam Calista Chinonye

Zaccheaus Onumba Dibiaezue Library recently honoured ace Nigerian writer, Mrs Mabel Segun for her immense contributions to the field of literature in Nigeria.
While Mabel Segun writes for both children and adults, she is prominently known for her contributions to children’s literature. She has also been a poet, teacher, sportswoman and broadcaster.

The Author was born in1930, in Ondo State and had her Secondary School at CMS Girls’ School Lagos. She graduated from the University of Ibadan in 1953 with a BA degree in English, Latin, and History and taught these languages in Nigerian Schools. Later, she became Head of the Department of English and Social Studies, and the Vice-Principal at the National Technical Teachers’ College, Yaba (Now Federal College of Education).

As a sportsperson, she played table tennis at School and national levels, winning a gold medal in 1954, and played badminton at the Nigerian Regional Championship and won bronze.

Her first short story, ‘The Surrender,’ which she wrote in the year of her graduation, won the maiden edition of the Nigerian Festival of the Arts Literature Prize. ‘My Father’s Daughter’ (1965) and ‘My Mother’s Daughter’ (1986), her autobiographies, became popular in homes and in different schools, both in Nigeria and abroad. Many of her books have been translated into Danish, German, Greek, Serbo Croat and Norwegian. Her work is incorporated in the anthology Daughters of Africa (1992). 

Segun won the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation 1977 Artiste of the Year award as a broadcaster. 
Furthermore, she has also contributed entries to world encyclopedias, bibliographies and surveys and had championed children’s literature in Nigeria through the Children’s Literature Association of Nigeria, which she founded in 1978.

In 1989, she retired from public service and devoted her time to the Children’s Documentation and Research Centre (CLIDORC) at the University of Ibadan. For a decade, her name appeared on the children’s books review panel for African Book Publishing Record (ABPR), published in Oxford, England. Additionally, Mrs Segun’s book ‘Readers’ Theatre,’ won the LNG Nigeria Prize for Literature and received honourable mention from NOMA Award for Publishing in Africa in 2007. In 2015, the Society of Young Nigerian Writers under the leadership of Wole Adedoyin founded the Mabel Segun Literary Society aimed at promoting and reading the works of Mabel Segun. 

The late 𝐁𝐨𝐥𝐚 Ige named her the Matriarch of Literature as she has outlived a great number of her contemporaries and laid the path for others to tread on. 

Some of her works include: My Father’s Daughter (1965), Youth Day Parade (1984), Conflict and Other Poems (1986), The Twins and the Tree Spirits (1990), Rhapsody: A Celebration of Nigerian Cooking and Food Culture (2007).

Receiving the gifts and plaque on behalf of Mrs Segun was her daughter Omowumi Segun who expressed immense gratitude to the library for the recognition. As a further show of gratitude and in true Mrs Segun spirit, she donated some books to the library encouraging the profound work being done by the library.

Mrs Mabel Segun is a recipient of the Nigerian National Order of Merit Award (NNOM) for lifetime achievements. The nonagenarian currently lives in Lagos, and forever remains an inspiration to all writers.