Rainbow Book of the Month: July

The Rainbow Book Club "Book of the Month" for July is The Spider King's Daughter by Chibundu Onuzo. Details here.

Samuel Kolawole: "Let Me Get Home Before It's Dark"

This is the promised excerpt from Samuel Kolawole's work-in-progress. We hope you enjoy reading it, as much as we did. Have a great weekend!

Stalled vehicles honked in the yellow glow of the midday sun. Their drivers, the ones with no air conditioning, stuck their necks out to spew forth words peppered with profanities. Some turned off their engines, quietly seething behind their steering wheels. Exhaust belching okadas tried in vain to wind their way through the confusion. Some drivers, unable to contain their exasperation, spilled out of their heated vehicles and surged towards the source of the gridlock. But then they already knew what the problem was -- motorists had gotten wind of the arrival of a petrol tanker at a nearby filling station, the first to come in three days. So they had been left with no option but to clog up the streets in their search for scarce fuel. The acrid smell of petrol and burning rubber filled the air.

Not too far from the gas station, near a record store with a monstrous speaker blaring afro beats- some Fela wannabe -- a great babel of pedestrians poured in and out of the food market. There were trudging load carriers, groaning under the weight of bags of foodstuff, sweat washing down their bodies, their guttural voices telling people to get out of the way. There were cart pushers carrying piles of farm produce from the market; handicapped beggars on wheel-fastened boards, impostors feigning disability, and hospital reports, speaking of ridiculous afflictions; yellow skinned mendicants from Niger shuffling after their prospective benefactors, stubborn as leeches; truant school boys pooling away their pocket money at gambling points and barefoot hawkers, trays balanced on their heads with high-pitched voices calling out to prospective customers and hard, sun beaten faces. Theses ones milled about, hoping to benefit from the jam, dangling whatever they had to sell. There were traders with makeshift stalls lining the road, measuring out bowls of grains while their grimy tots lapping at their bone-dry breasts.

A dusty path beside the market led to the motor park garage filled with saloon cars and buses with unstable bodywork. One bus bore the inscription “my enemies will live long to see what I will become” while “To be a man is not a day job” was boldly imprinted on the panel of a taxi. The vehicles that ply long distance routes; Mammy wagons, big-nosed trailers, and overloaded lorries were parked side by side. A trailer was embellished with rough paintings and the words, “Beware, many have gone”. Upon another was written “Satan must obey Jesus” and another “Allah is great”

Under a decrepit wooden shed, close to the heavy vehicles, four touts who had nothing to do but wait out the day, chatted while they grabbed lazily at their crotches, and drew on cigarettes. Their conversations were punctuated by raucous laughter. Close to them, five children, lice haired with clothes gray with dust, were flinging stones at a light brown monkey leashed by the waist to one of the trailers from the north- the type used for transporting cattle. The creature squeaked and leapt, an action which seemed to fascinate them. The children talked in tones of hushed excitement periodically breaking into giggles.

“Monkey banana!” one of the boys leered, waving his long skinny arms. They also found that amusing, their faces lighting up. Invigorated by the new name they repeated it again and again. Then they sang and pranced and clapped in a shrill chorus. Their frolics would have been likened to one of those song-singing and hand-clapping activities on the playground if they had been school children. But then this was their school. The world was their playground. The boys screamed “monkey banana” and lobbed stones at the agitated monkey till one of the idle touts broke off from the group, dashed into the zinc-roofed shed and came out flourishing a twig. The children pelted into the street.

The conductors had already begun work. They jostled for passengers, screaming and gesturing. Some employed the bold-faced method of snatching the bags of the prospective passengers and taking them to their buses to secure seats. Motes of dust danced in the sunlight. The conductors were mostly causal workers, pitching their tents with whoever could pay after the day’s job. A driver could do without a conductor but having one was regarded as a more efficient way of making money because of the swiftness of their operation.

Waheed Mudashiru alias Shaina Big Daddy had never felt the need for a conductor. For him paying a conductor was a waste of his hard earned cash. He valued cash as a means to satisfy his cravings and obtain what he desired and cursed whenever the touts demanded money from him. He cursed whenever the police stood at checkpoints for bribes. But he was known for his generosity at flophouses and sometimes whores fought themselves to bed him.

Shaina Big Daddy threw open a greasy metal tool box, and tumbled out some spanners black with oil as he prepared his bus to start the day’s job. His minibus was an old pale white Toyota HIACE bus with badly damaged fenders and a fractured windshield, its edge lined with stickers of his favourite Fuji musician “Pasuma wonder”. Just above the front bumper, in a well-ordered calligraphic rendition, his bus boldly bore the inscription “LET ME GET HOME BEFORE IT’S DARK.”

Mudashiru had bought the bus off a roadside mechanic who was in the business of searching for abandoned vehicles and putting them in working order. So he was unsure who the owner of the bus was. He however imagined him to be a man not given to spending late nights. Maybe he was a devout Muslim with burqa-wearing wives. Maybe he needed to be home early, in time for the evening prayers. Maybe he prayed five times daily according to the tenets of Islam. He must have been everything Mudashiru was not, but then he didn’t really care. He was the man of the moment and the owner of the bus. It was as simple as that. And to prove that, he recently added his own words to the literature of the vehicle, an unashamed declaration of his daily mantra stenciled on the fender in yellow letterings “ENJOY YUR LIFE NOW, NO ONE KNOW TOMMOROW”.

Mudashiru pulled up the driver’s seat to expose the engine and bent over it, poking and screwing and tapping. For an instant, he rubbed his eyes with the crook of his arm then continued his work. His eyes were red, unblinking. Thick, drawn-out veins stuck out at his temples. In the early hours of the morning Shaina Big Daddy had tried to sleep but in vain, now he feared he might doze off. The night before had been filled with spirits, Fuji music and talcum faced girls although he had no precise memory of the details. He had found himself in a shallow gutter, his cheeks submerged in the pool of his own vomit. He demanded from a strung out stranger to be told the time (he was not sure what the stranger told him) and wobbled to his bus where sleep eluded him and his skull thumped till the break of dawn. Before preparing his bus for work in the morning Mudashiru bought sachets of schnapps from a roaming vendor with a big backside to cure his hangover. But even that did not work. 

Mudashiru finished his work, slammed the seat back into position and wiped his greasy hands with a rag. He then used the rag to clean the glittering droplets of sweat on his face. He was ready. He tried to ignore the discomfort in his head. He had to work. He had to earn a living.

Mudashiru swung the door in the passengers section open and began calling out his route, his voice hollow and hoarse-an inevitable consequence of the habitual smoking of marijuana

Ayankunle Ayangalu was the first to arrive. A squat individual with a talking drum clasped to his side, Ayankunle hit the drumhead slightly with his stick-holding hand, creating a gentle rhythm as he approached. He took the seat beside the driver and rested his drum on his lap. He whistled a jubilant tune and bobbed his head.

After Ayankunle, came Rainbow Mama, accompanied by three ala-barus bent by the weight of the sacks and baskets of tomatoes and pepper on their shoulders. She was big, with a wide face blotched with acne, brawny forearms and dark patches of sweat around the armpits of her cheap blue dress. Rainbow Mama wore a flowery patterned scarf around her head and gave off a sooty, firewood smell. The ala-barus quickly relieved themselves of their burdens, dropping on one knee, and heaving their burdens onto the ground with loud thuds. The men, sturdy and strong, crouched on the ground, their hands planted on their knees, their dripping chests heaving hard and fast.

Shaina Big Daddy took a visual inventory of the goods and named his price. Rainbow Mama promptly disagreed, then told him the amount she was willing to part with. The driver talked about how they would have to stretch out the seats at the back to accommodate her things. He emphasized the implications of that; a ten-seater bus would now only allow four passengers. He spoke about the inconveniences of conjoining man and goods. He complained about the fuel scarcity and how the fuel in the bus came from the black market. The conversation went back and forth. After several moments of contemplation by Rainbow Mama, a compromise was reached and the hefty men loaded the foodstuff into the bus.

Rainbow Mama paid the burden bearers and clambered in, heaving her body into one of the window seats. She shifted the angle of her body to make herself comfortable, and fit her bottom into the seat. Once she was seated she removed her slippers, and stretched her dusty legs as long as the bus could accommodate. She let out a violent sneeze, and jabbed her finger into her right ear to scratch something deep inside as she rubbed her tongue against the roof of her mouth. She sneezed again and wiped mucus with the hem of her clothes. For a few moments Ayankunle looked over his shoulders to regard her with mild disgust. She grumbled about how dusty the market was and wondered if the soldiers were doing anything in government apart from distributing money in sacks and organizing campaigns for the president’s self succession plan.

Several moments passed and she began complaining of the heat but there was also the smell of sweat and rotten tomatoes and pepper about which she said nothing about. Shaina Big Daddy pushed down the dust-stained window a little to let fresh air in. One hand tugged at the glass while the other hand supported it to prevent breakage.

“Na wa o, with all the money you people make, common window you cannot repair,” she said. Rather than reply her, he fished out a cigarette from his pocket, lit it and began smoking. He then continued calling out to his prospective passengers, pausing now and then for a puff on his cigarette.

It was not long before a flock of hawkers, merchants and scroungers besieged the bus with their pleas and petty goods, clamoring for the passengers’ attention. Sweets, cigarettes packets, sliced bread, wrist watches and belts with shiny buckles were offered for sale by the hawkers. A beggar squeezed through the swarm and stuck her neck in through the side window.

Her eyes, protuberant, staring, were milky with blindness. One arthritic hand rattled a dry stick at the passengers, while in the other she held a plastic bowl that jingled with coins, the fruit of her begging. She raised her voice in spurious invocations. “May you not be annihilated before your time! “May the road not yawn open to claim your souls!” “May you not sow for another man to reap”. The blessings rolled off her tongue in a singsong moan, her bulbous, glaucoma-eaten eyes staring directly at Rainbow Mama. If Rainbow Mama felt any pity for her at all it was overwhelmed by the feeling of unpleasantness at such a repulsive sight. Rainbow Mama dug frantically into her purse and dropped a folded bill into her bowl. The beggar rolled back her lips and disclosed her terribly decayed teeth. She thanked her profusely and fumbled her way to the next bus.

No sooner had the female beggar gone than a hunchbacked Hausa man emerged. This one again occupied that vantage spot close to Rainbow Mama. He was holding a placard, a harsh gabble spewing from his throat. The placard seemed to accomplish the task his larynx strived so hard to do. It was clear that the dumb fellow’s miserable attempt to speak was simply a ploy to stir up sympathy. On the piece of cardboard was written a poorly spelt message:

HELP ME; I AM A DEAF AND DUMB. I HAVE 2 WIFES AND 13 CHILDRIN

Rainbow Mama turned her face away from the window. The Hausa drifted off then appeared seconds later standing beside the front window where Ayankunle was seated, searching his face for the slightest signs of sympathy. Ayankunle grimaced when he read the inscription on the cardboard. Could it be true that he really had two wives? How did he get them to marry them? How did he win their hearts? How did he manage to produce thirteen children? The idea that the beggar’s message might be true disgusted him to his core. He could not keep his irritation to himself.

“What did you tell them to make those women agree to marry you?” he spewed. He neither expected him to hear nor reply. He just wanted to let out his displeasure. It was not really about the beggar at all. It was something deeper, a pent up bitterness, some suppressed feeling within looking for an opportunity to be expressed.

“I don’t blame you! It is the wives I blame. Serpents, that’s what they are, these women. Wicked, slippery, serpents. If they cannot get all your money till you become wretched they will go after the thing dangling between your legs till you cease becoming a man. Who knows, maybe they are the ones responsible for this your affliction? Who knows what women are capable of these days?”

“Look here, Mr Man! I cannot sit down here and watch while you insult women!” Rainbow Mama lashed out from behind.

“Busybody mind your own business!” he said, looking behind him.

 “See me, see trouble oo... na me you dey follow talk like that? Do you have a mother at all? Don’t you have sisters at home? You this son of a worthless harlot!” her voice rose.

This time Ayankunle whirled around, craning his neck, his eyes blazing with anger, “It is your daughter that is a harlot. God punish you!”

“God punish your father, mother and all your family members. Born fool!”

“Enough! Take your fight outside!” Mudashiru plunged in.

The beggar vanished while insults continued to flip back and forth between the two passengers as they faced one another, their faces twisted with anger.

[The author retains copyright to this excerpt. Do not reproduce without permission]

Iheoma Nwachukwu: On PH World Book Capital Bid

The Adventure of Port Harcourt’s Bid to Become World Book Capital City

By Iheoma Nwachukwu

Peter Pan and Port Harcourt have one thing in common—Lewis Harcourt, for whom the city is named. In 1912, the year the city was christened, Lewis Harcourt, serving in H.H. Asquith’s cabinet, authorized the placement of the Peter Pan statue in London’s Kensington Gardens. He might as well have authorized the placement of the statue in Port Harcourt (or the placement of the Muse in Port Harcourt), because the qualities of adventure, diversity, and eternal youth that Peter Pan personalizes, that the Peter Pan story embodies, are attributes that have drawn migrants, and writers, to Port Harcourt for all of its hundred years.

Peter Pan

Port Harcourt’s bid to become the 2014 World Book Capital City then comes as little surprise for a city that shares a historical bond with probably the most popular, most exciting, most adapted character in children’s literature.

The World Book Capital City title, which began in 2001, is presented by UNESCO to a city with the best programme that promotes books and reading, and shows the most convincing dedication of all players in its local book industry.

The title runs from April 23 (UNESCO’s World Book and Copyright Day) to April 22 of the following year. Madrid won the incipient award; Yerevan in Armenia currently holds the 2012 award. Oxford (United Kingdom) and Pula (Croatia) are just two of the other cities Port Harcourt has to defeat for the 2014 title.

Port Harcourt, capital of Rivers state and Nigeria’s oil capital, seems the obvious choice for the 2014 title given the quality, variety, broad international scope, and commitment of all actors in the local book industry, evident in its World Book Capital City programme. First, the theme for the bid—Books: Window to Our World of Possibilities—evokes a potent image of the book, knowledge, as the lens through which we interpret and influence our world.

The Port Harcourt World Book Capital City programme proposes to begin with the performance of an inspiring theme song, performed by a popular Nigerian artiste, and written by a lucky youth whose work is chosen from a nationwide pool. Another slated activity is a national symposium which will assemble stakeholders in the book chain industry to discuss the future literacy and literary culture in Nigeria, and the importance of literature in unlocking the potentials of the country’s youth. The Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, an avid reader who holds Bachelors and Masters degrees in English Literature, will lead this discussion.

Nigeria’s President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, will also be invited to read an excerpt from a classic Nigerian novel to children. The President recently led a national reading campaign named ‘Bring Back the Book,’ and his involvement will surely encourage more young people to read and write. Also expected to read to children at chosen locations across the city of Port Harcourt are authors, poets, and celebrities from film, music, sports, as well as the business communities.

Perhaps the greatest boon to Port-Harcourt’s bid is the Garden City Literary Festival, held yearly in Port Harcourt since 2008 by the Rainbow Book Club. The festival, which has seen attendance by writers like Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, Ngugi Wa Thiong’O, and Ama Ata Aidoo, holds author readings, fiction and poetry workshops for emerging writers, writing, drama and arts workshops for children, book fairs, and many other activities over a five-day period. Thus, the World Book Capital City programme will gain from the experience of the administrators of the literary festival, since the Rainbow Book Club, which runs the festival, manages Port Harcourt’s bid, too.

Nigeria’s literary heritage is not in doubt; it has gifted the world legendary writers like Wole Soyinka, the first person of African descent to win the Nobel Prize for Literature; Chinua Achebe, author of Things Fall Apart, the most widely read book by an African; and other world-renowned writers such as Ken Saro-Wiwa, J. P. Clarke, Ben Okri, and Elechi Amadi.

Port Harcourt’s win will not only cast a fresh eye on Nigeria’s past achievements, but will also catalyze the intense literary scene (many successful young Nigerian writers like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who runs a yearly workshop, and Port Harcourt-born Igoni Barrett, already inspire lots of Nigerians) and give Nigerian literature a helpful jab in the arm. In its own right, Port Harcourt has a rich literary pedigree, and has provided roof and Muse to writers for decades. For example, it is home to numerous authors, including the iconic novelist Elechi Amadi, the brilliant poet Gabriel Okara, as well as celebrated historians like Robin Horton and E. J. Alagoa. Also, Old Port Harcourt Town was a vibrant cultural centre in the 1970s, and provided entertainment and education through plays directed by the likes of Comish Ekiye with a distinguished cast that included actors Doye Agama, Barbara Soki, and Aso Douglas. Some of the famous early educational institutes in Nigeria such as the Okrika Grammar School, and the Archdeacon Crowther Memorial Girls Secondary School, also actively promoted literature in Port Harcourt.

The promotion of literature among the youth is one obvious impact of any literary programme, especially one overseen by UNESCO. The Garden City literary Festival is proof of this kind of impact. Dana Donubari, who attended one of the festival workshops in 2009, was inspired to publish a collection of poems titled Tears for Ogoni. Port Harcourt, which until recently experienced violent activity from militant youth demanding a fair share of Nigeria’s oil wealth, has the potential to change the lives of even more youth as a World Book Capital City—perhaps reach an ex-militant and inspire this youth to tell his story.

There is so much potential here, and UNESCO must know this, too. Port Harcourt looks ready to become World Book Capital City. This would be something of an adventure, a win that has potential to draw the adventure-boy himself, Peter Pan, to the fascinating coastal city of Port Harcourt. As well as draw the gaze of the entire globe.

The world can hardly wait.

Iheoma Nwachukwu is a creative writer. He has received fellowships from the Chinua Achebe Center for African Writers and Artists, Bard College, New York, and the Michener Center for Writers, University of Texas, Austin.

Sylva Ifedigbo: On the PH World Book Capital Bid

Books Are a Window to Our World of Possibilities: A Look at the Port Harcourt Bid for UNESCO World Book Capital City

By Sylva Nze Ifedigbo

Home to renowned writers such as Elechi Amadi, Gabriel Okara and Kaine Agary, Port Harcourt, Nigeria’s oil-rich city and capital of Rivers State, has announced its bid to be named the UNESCO World Book Capital City in 2014, a bid which will see it emerge as the first city in Sub-Saharan Africa to hold the enviable title.

Every year UNESCO convenes delegates from the International Publishers Association, the International Booksellers Federation, and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions to grant the title of UNESCO World Book Capital to one city. This city holds the title for one designated year, from 23 April (UNESCO World Book Day) until 22 April of the following year and undertakes to organize a series of enriching, educative and entertaining events around books, literature and reading. The title of World Book Capital is given to the city with the best programme dedicated to books and reading.

The Port Harcourt bid for this title—which is spearheaded by the Rainbow Book Club, organizers of the annual Garden City Literary Festival, in conjunction with the Rivers State Government—sees Port Harcourt pitched against cities like Oxford in the United Kingdom, Vilnius in Lithuania, Pula in Croatia and Yaoundé in Cameroon, the only other city from Africa. The title, which was launched in 2001 and is currently held by Ljubljana in Slovenia, has been held at various times in the past by Madrid, Alexandria, New Delhi, Montreal, Antwerp, Turin, Bogotá, Amsterdam, and Beirut, with Bangkok already announced as the chosen city for 2013.

The bid by Port Harcourt comes at a time when Nigeria is experiencing a literary revival with the rise of writers such as Sefi Atta (Winner of the Noma Award, 2009), Kaine Agary (NLNG Nigeria Prize for Literature, 2008) Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (winner of the Orange Prize, 2007), Commonwealth Book Prize winners like Helon Habila, Uwem Akpan and Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani, Caine Prize Winner E.C Osondu, and a host of others who are blazing the trail globally.

Closely related to this is the increased focus on literary activities in the country. This commendable trend is highlighted by programmes such as the President Jonathan-initiated “Bring Back the Book” project, the Farafina annual creative writing workshop, and the Garden City Literary Festival. Also worthy of note is the institution of competitive literary prizes and awards such as the Caine Prize, the Wole Soyinka Prize, and the NLNG Nigeria Prize for Literature which at $100,000 stands as the most lucrative literary award in Africa.

The city of Port Harcourt, significant for its mix of cultures and its status as the hub of the oil-rich Niger Delta region, has come of age as a haven of culture and is fast making a name for itself as a major player on the global literary stage. Port Harcourt is also home to the annual Garden City Literary Festival. This festival is organized by Rainbow Book Club and has been described by Thisday Newspapers as “arguably the biggest event of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa.” The festival in its five years of existence has attracted such literary heavyweights as Kenya’s Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Ghana’s Ama Ata Aidoo and Nigeria’s Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, J. P. Clark and Sefi Atta. Other guests of honour at the GCLF include dignitaries such as former Commonwealth Secretary-General Chief Emeka Anyaoku, as well as revered civil liberties activist Reverend Jesse Jackson.

It is to such earnest efforts in promoting literature that the award of the UNESCO World Book Capital title is sure to make the most impact. The status will contribute in no small way to maintaining the focus on literary activities in Nigeria. Furthermore, should its bid be successful, Port Harcourt will no doubt have a golden opportunity to build on the legacy of its literary history and culture to expand its role and influence on the continent.

One big plus for Port Harcourt’s bid is the endorsement and spirited support it enjoys from the government of Rivers State led by Rt. Honourable Rotimi Amaechi. The governor, a literary enthusiast, has committed to supporting a dynamic team composed of literary figures and leaders from the private sector, coordinated by the Rainbow Book Club, to drive the activities for the 2014 bid. This team includes such names as Noble Pepple, Ndidi Nwuneli, Anthony Epelle and A. Igoni Barrett, and it is chaired by Koko Kalango, founder of the Rainbow Book Club and Director of the Garden City Literary Festival.

As part of the bid process this committee has chosen the theme of “Books: Window to our World of Possibilities” to drive the 2014 activities in Port Harcourt. A rich itinerary of events is also planned to run through the World Book Capital year in Port Harcourt, including the opening of the multi-purpose Garden City Library Complex, drama performances, celebrity book reading sessions, a national symposium, and a host of other projects.

It is interesting to note that the 2014 bid by Port Harcourt coincides with the centenary celebration of Nigeria as we mark 100 years since the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Protectorates by the British colonial government. It will be a befitting gift for the entire country if Port Harcourt were to become the World Book Capital at this time. Besides being a valid acknowledgement of the country’s rich literary heritage, it will also be a worthy template for emulation by other African countries in the promotion of reading, literature and the arts in general.

It is exciting that Port Harcourt is in contention for the World Book Capital and one must applaud the vision and forthrightness of the Rainbow Book Club and the Rivers State Government. As a major city in the literature-rich country of Nigeria, Port Harcourt will present unique opportunities for enhancing the idea of the “book” in the 21st century and its role as a window to a world of opportunities. This is one commendable effort that surely needs all the support it can get.

Sylva Nze Ifedigbo is a creative writer and communications practitioner who lives in Lagos, Nigeria.

Abubakar Adam Ibrahim: On Writing TWT

Abubakar Adam Ibrahim holds a degree in Mass Communication from the University of Jos, Jos, Nigeria. He has written for Vanguard, one of Nigeria’s foremost newspapers, and his short fiction has been published locally and internationally. In 2007 he won the BBC African Performance Playwriting Competition and his first novel, The Quest for Nina, is due out in 2008 in the United States. His latest work, The Whispering Trees was published by Parresia.

You see, I never quite set out deliberately to write my latest book, The Whispering Trees, because it never occurred to me that I would have a short story collection published at any point in my life.

And now, having gone through the process, I realise how completely different the writing process for a novel and a short story collection are. The novel is like childbirth – it begins with conception: the inspiration for the story, then the gestation period, in which you develop the plot and actually do the writing. The editing and revising process is quite akin to labour, I think.

A collection of short stories is quite different, as I discovered when putting together The Whispering Trees. Every single story is different. It has its setting and characters and plot and thematic concerns. You go through multiple miniature labour experiences to birth a single child, a single book, whose head may be of quite a different composition from the legs, but a child you will love all the same.

The twelve stories in The Whispering Trees were written in nearly a decade, during which my writing style evolved and took different forms, came under several influences, but the essence remained the same – the exploration of characters and plot and the philosophy of writing to communicate rather than to impress. I like having strong plots and I love having interesting characters to drive the plot to climax.

But whether writing a short story or a novel, the rudiments are essentially the same. First, the conception; that rousing moment when the inspiration comes, sometimes accompanied by pyrotechnics of iridescent lights floating in your head and making your heart beat faster. Sometimes it happens much in the same way as rainwater percolates into already damp earth.

This moment, for a committed writer, is always followed by the grunt work, the gestation period, if you like, where you crave solitude and exhibit some of those idiosyncrasies creative people are infamous for as you try to put your ideas into words. This is usually when even a lover’s voice sounds like an annoying intrusion into your thought process, the period when most people just don’t understand you.

In writing a novel, you go through this process only once, a long drawn out process that takes years sometimes, but once none the less. For my short story collection, I had to go through the process repeatedly, fortunately, I had about a decade to do so.

It started with the title story sometime in 2003, I think. Second year in the university, taking a borrowed course in creative writing, we were required to submit a short story to make the grade. And when I kept having flashes in my head of Faulata’s face tending to her fiancé, a final year medical student, who had just lost his sight in an accident, I knew I had to write about loss and purpose and finding self.

I didn’t have a PC then; I had no idea how to use a computer, so I wrote out the story in long hand and took it to this business centre where I had it typed. I went to proofread and for whatever reason, the typist forgot to save the changes and printed out an error laden work. I don’t blame her much. She wasn’t well schooled and for some really strange reason, she filled her head with other notions quite unrelated to the short story at hand. I could understand that, of course, so I wasn’t so mad, but it took me quite a while to completely extricate myself from the gooey web she was trying to catch me in.

So, I submitted the story and forgot about it completely and went on to the grander idea of writing a novel, my first. It took me some three years to complete that. But then an old course mate called and in the course of conversation asked me about that story I had written while in school. He said he couldn’t get it off his mind after all those years and urged me to do something about it.

So I did. I had got a laptop then so I retyped the story and sent it to a webzine where it was promptly published. I was elated and encouraged.

Writing short stories need a constant upsurge of motivation, which is quite distinct from inspiration, and I found that in the Jos ANA writing group I joined later. Every fortnight, there would be a reading and critique session and in order not to go there looking stupid, I challenged myself to write more short stories often. I pluck inspiration from the birds twittering in the trees, from the winds whispering in my ears and from the intrinsic flashes of some phrases, bits of dialogues, a scene. This is an anomaly that constantly plagues me and gives me headaches if I am too slow to pen these things down. In such instances, the story continues to flow from that point, like a flower sprouting from an inkwell. I had even had a dream once and woke up to write a short story base on it. That story went on to win a prize.

And because I simply can’t afford rewrites, I’m afraid I do not have the luxury of time and I really have an aversion for rewrites, I am usually painstaking in creating the first draft, crafting every sentence as meticulously as possible, linking them up to reach a climax. The most I would do when revising is to tweak some sentences here and there, perhaps, rearrange a paragraph or two.

Eventually, I had quite a stash of short stories and it took another writer friend to tell me I had more than enough for a short story collection. He strongly urged me to consider putting them together and give it a shot. I reluctantly agreed. So I took on the dreary task of filtering out the dozen stories to go into a collection. And that, more or less, was how The Whispering Trees was born.

Writing is a tough business. To be able to write, one must be able to wear the austere garb of solitude as comfortably as one would a sultan’s robe. One must learn also to be patient and tend to the story as one would a growing child – with much love and affection.

Abubakar Adam Ibrahim

Among the twelve, there was only one I had to rewrite. It took me two years working on that story. I suppose it had to do with the way the inspiration came – in spurts and jerks, paragraph by paragraph. Sometimes a sentence or two. It just refused to flow. In between, I wrote other things, of course. When it all came together eventually, I started rewriting from the beginning.

Sometimes others flow, and within days the story is done and dusted. It is like pregnancy, each one comes with its peculiarities, you see. Not that I’ve been pregnant before, of course.

But I suppose the most important thing when writing is to love what you are creating and to have fun writing it. Craft every phrase and sentence with love. Write to communicate and not to impress, I think it works better.

The chances are that if you put your heart into crafting a story, your readers will feel it and it will resonate with them. So if the story stream isn’t flowing, take a break, read a book, play some games, go out and relate with other people – apart from the ones in your story. If you force the story out, it will be contrived and God knows I don’t like reading such, and I know a lot of people who don’t.

Sometimes, writing pays, in mega bucks, and sometimes it doesn’t. Most times, it doesn't, actually. But nothing, absolutely nothing, compares to the satisfaction one feels of having crafted a wonderful tale that you hope will outlive you and confer on you that rarest of things – immortality.

A Bit of Difference: Sefi Atta's Latest Novel

Sefi Atta is the author of  the novels Swallow and Everything Good Will Come, and a collection of short stories, News from Home. She has been awarded the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature and the NOMA Award. Sefi Atta was a guest author at the Garden City Literary Festival in 2010, and she said the following of her her experience there: "This literary Festival was the best I've ever attended."

On A Bit of Difference
In this interview on Publishers Weekly, she speaks about the opening of the novel: "I begin it with a short description of the poster of an African woman advertising a charity, and the rest of the novel is a profile of Deola, a young Nigerian woman who notices the poster at an airport. Her views are similar to mine: If the occasional stereotype is all she has to deal with as an African woman, then she is fortunate. I don’t set out to challenge Western perceptions of Africa, but I might by writing honestly."

Dialogue Series attempts a synopsis of the novel: At thirty-nine, Deola Bello, a Nigerian expatriate in London, is dissatisfied with being single and working overseas. Deola works as a financial reviewer for an international charity, and when her job takes her back to Nigeria in time for her father's five-year memorial service, she finds herself turning her scrutiny inward. In Nigeria, Deola encounters changes in her family and in the urban landscape of her home, and new acquaintances who offer unexpected possibilities. Deola's journey is as much about evading others' expectations to get to the heart of her frustration as it is about exposing the differences between foreign images of Africa and the realities of contemporary Nigerian life. Deola's urgent, incisive voice captivates and guides us through the intricate layers and vivid scenes of a life lived across continents. With Sefi Atta's characteristic boldness and vision, A Bit of Difference limns the complexities of our contemporary world.

Praise for A Bit of Difference

"Atta's splendid writing sizzles with wit and compassion. This is an immensely absorbing book." —Chika Unigwe, author of On Black Sisters Street

"Like Teju Cole’s Open City, Deola’s story is low on drama but rich in life, though Atta’s third-person voice makes less for a portrait of a mind in transit than a life caught in freeze-frame, pinned between two continents and radiating pathos. Wholly believable, especially in its nuanced approach to racial identity, the story feels extremely modern while excelling at the novelist’s traditional task: finding the common reality between strangers and rendering alien circumstances familiar" —Publisher's Weekly

Port Harcourt: the Future of Books

The Nigerian Presidency, UNESCO, the Rivers State government and literary enthusiasts, have thrown their weight behind the Rainbow Book Club bid for Port Harcourt to be the UNESCO World Book Capital City in 2014. Koko Kalango, chairperson of the Port Harcourt World Book Capital City Preparation Committee and Founder of the Rainbow Book Club formally launched the city’s candidature in a press conference held at the Secretariat of the Ministry of Education, Port Harcourt on Friday 15 June 2012. Mrs. Kalango posited that winning the contest portends a ‘…window to a world of opportunities’, which is incidentally the theme of the bid. Port Harcourt is vying alongside 10 other countries.

In her welcome note, the honorable Commissioner for Education, Dame Lawrence-Nemi, remarked that Governor Amaechi, in his effort to promote a reading culture in the state has made education free and compulsory, she also spoke of the partnership between the state and the Rainbow Book Club to organize the annual Garden City Literary Festival. 

Renowned author, poet and 1979 winner of the Commonwealth Prize for Poetry, Pa. Gabriel Okara, in an emotional appeal called on the UNESCO Director and Country Representative, to insist that Port Harcourt wins the bid as this will result in the harvest of more writers.

UNESCO Director and Country Representative, Dr. Joseph Ngu also commended the exercise. “The commitment on the part of the founder to bring back the book to our own door steps through such laudable projects as this bid is very encouraging” he said. He reiterated that the essence of the contest is the overall benefit of building a lively book culture. 

The Bring Back the Book Campaign was represented by Ms. Molara Wood,  who read a letter of support from, Mr Oronto Douglas, Assistant to the President on Strategy, in which he pointed out ‘...the many laudable activities of the Rainbow Book Club key in very strongly  into the citizen driven nature...’ of the President’s Bring Back the Book campaign.

Secretary General of PEN Nigeria, Oluwafiropo Ewenla captured the general mood of those present when in response to a question asked by a journalist, he asked ‘Why not Port Harcourt? Books have a present, past and future, this (Port Harcourt) is the future of books!’

Oby Ezekwesili Reads to Ajegunle Pupils

Rainbow Book Club, celebrated the International Day of the African Child with a book reading at the Alakoto Senior High School, Ajegunle. Over 150 students from 13 schools participated in the reading. The message of ensuring a good education by developing a reading habit set the tone for the day and the children were thrilled to have one-time Minister for Education and former World Bank Vice-President Dr. (Mrs) Oby Ezekwesili read to them from Mai Nasara's The Missing Clock, the winning book for the NLNG-sponsored Nigeria Prize for Literature, 2011.

The school  principal, Mr. Titoni Ikhigbo said, in his address, that he believed that the mindset:  “can anything good come out of Israel (Ajegunle, the jungle city)? was put to rest with the visit of Ezekwesili, who herself attended a family-owned primary school in Ajegunle. The Ajegunle House of poetry engaged the guests to a soul stirring drama performance of Ajegunle Cannot Cry written by Daggar Tolar, Chairman, Association of Nigerian Authors, Lagos. One of the children also performed a rousing choreography of Infinity's "Olori Oko." 

Pupils relished the moment as they listened with rapt attention to Dr. Ezekwesili share her story, on her rise to fame. Drawing a moral from a line in the story; ‘though you start with little, you end with much,’ she enjoined the students to cultivate a reading habit: ‘‘I went to primary school here in Ajegunle. I really need you to know that you can be anything you aspire to be in this life. I want you to imagine that even though you are here today, you can rule the world. Develop a strong appetite for reading. When you read, you become superior mentally to your old self. When you read, you prepare yourself to become a success. You must plant something by reading."

Ezekwesili emphasised reading as the common denominator for a successful life. She responded heartily to every round of questions. She asked the students to take a cue from Banji the central character in the story who brought wealth and fame to his parents by an idea he got from planting. The students were made to understand that through reading, ideas are planted that would help them contribute towards nation building. She called on everyone to eschew corruption, become diligent and embrace hard work. "The best investment for you is to get the best education possible. Girl-child education is vital to building and development of the society. A literate woman makes the best choices for her children," she said.

Skye bank representative, Mr. Lekan Faleye, donated books to the students on behalf of the bank. Every child at the reading will have a lasting memory of this event as they had photo sessions with Ezekwesili in swift successions. She exited the classroom with a rapturous standing ovation. No doubt Ezekwesili's visit made a big impression on the students and the entire community. 

Report by Joel Cicero

Programme for GCLF 2012 (Tentative)

Download the complete programme HERE.

GCLF 2012 Guest Speaker: LIZZY ATTREE

Lizzy Attree is the Administrator of the Caine Prize for African Writing. She will appear on a panel at GCLF 2012.

GCLF 2012 Guest Artist: DOREEN BAINGANA

Doreen Baingana is the author of the 2006 Commonwealth Writers' Prize-winning collection of stories, Tropical Fish: Stories Out of Entebbe. She will facilitate the fiction workshop at GCLF 2012.

Favourite Five: Samuel Kolawole

Samuel Kolawole, author of a collection of short stories The Book of M, writes about what it means to be a published writer. He was at GCLF for the first time in 2009; since then, it has been an annual pilgrimage for him. He tells us about his Five Favourite books...with some notes. Next week expect an article from him. In two weeks, expect an excerpt from his work-in-progress.

Famished Road by Ben Okri
Famished Road, in my opinion, is one of the best novels to have come out of the Africa. The 1991 Booker winner is the story of Azaro, an abiku who is constantly coming and going between our world and the spirit-world thus returning to the world of the unborn months or years after birth. Azaro struggles against the collective wish of his spirit companions and stay on in the physical form, drawn by the wonders of the earth. He still maintains his connections with the spirit world and oscillates dangerously between the two worlds. His companions try to bring him back to their world. The language in this novel is incredibly rich, the imagery superb and the characters so memorable. I love the fact that the story brings to life the Yoruba mythical tradition in a distinctive brand of magical realism and captures the chaos, poverty and violence of post-colonial Nigeria

Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee
Another Booker Prize winning novel, Disgrace tells a story of Professor's affair with a student and its repercussions. I was drawn by Coetzee’s skillful, highly economical writing style and fluid plot. A melancholic book, Disgrace is full of the moral complexities such as it is found in the real world.

The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
This page-turner is about a young boy's clandestine love affair with an older woman, and what happens to them both when the secrets in her past are revealed. The book is easy to read and deeply moving and I love its connection with the Holocaust.

1984 by George Orwell
George Orwell’s classic 1984 is a very descriptive novel. It conveys horrifying but important truths in a calm voice. It’s about the dangers of creating a utopian society. I totally love this book!

The Beautyful Ones are Not Yet Born by Ayi Kwei Armah
I remember laughing all through! I was amused by the corruption, the poverty, the resilience of the human spirit. It’s the story of a nameless man who struggles to remain clean when everyone else around him has succumbed to 'rot'. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

Words without Borders is Seeking Submissions

Words without Borders, an online magazine of international literature in English translation, seeks submissions of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry for an issue of African women's writing.

Submissions must have been written in a language other than English and may not have already been published in English translation. We will consider up to five poems from a single contributor. Fiction and nonfiction typically run 1500 to 3500 words. We prefer short stories, but will consider novel extracts that stand as independent pieces. Submissions must include a biographical summary of the author and information on the original publication and background of the piece. Translators need not secure rights, but should ascertain that rights are available. Authors may submit untranslated works with summaries.

We offer honoraria to authors and translators. The deadline for submissions is December 31, 2012. Please send queries and submissions to Susan Harris, the editorial director, at harris@wordswithoutborders.org.

Samuel Kolawole: On Being a Writer

Samuel Kolawole, author of a collection of short stories The Book of M, writes about what it means to be a published writer. He was at GCLF for the first time in 2009; since then, it has been an annual pilgrimage for him. We will publish an excerpt of his work-in-progress next week.

I am an enthusiast of the written word. I do not really enjoy giving readings, though flattered at the requests to do so. It’s one thing to write, it’s another thing to perform what you have written. That's what I think readings are, performances of the written word. Writing provides for me a way of hiding while concocting tales that will hopefully travel beyond my personal space; readings, on the other hand, take me out of that space.

I try to find the clearest, most engaging way of telling stories. I conjure up things and discard them. I toil. I fine-tune my sentences. I look for that missing thread, that magical connection that transforms a narrative into a delight. I am wary of giving too much credence to my work, but I can't but be fascinated by the idea that I have created a fantasy someone can live in, even for just a moment.

I am happy when things turn out well and my work makes it through the valley of rejection. When it doesn’t, I immediately begin making plans of a comeback. My goal as a craftsman is to develop a stronger and more confident voice. My better work is always the one I am going to do next.

It is said that writing is a solitary occupation but not really a lonely one. Truth be told, writing can be grueling. The writer's imagination is mobbed with characters, imagery, and language fighting for expression, waiting to be inked in the correct manner.

It is so easy to completely immerse yourself in the creative process that you forget there are other elements apart from the craft of writing responsible for a successful writerly vocation like embedding yourself within a writing community or standing before suspecting bookish fans and white-haired pundits at readings.

Over the years, I have learnt to invest my time in going to places where I would come face to face with others in the world of writing and get clearer sense of the demands of my industry. In 2009, I was invited to a fiction writing workshop as part of activities of a literary festival. I'd submitted a short story, as required, and months later received an email inviting me to show up in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, a place I had never been to before; and the rest, as they say, is history. This annual festival of words has become a pilgrimage of sorts for me. I have come to know Garden City Literary Festival as a one-stop literary event for readers, writers, publishers, and stakeholders in the book industry.

I have since published a story collection, The Book of M; contributed short stories to literary journals on three continents, and won a writing fellowship. A few weeks from now I will once again be thrust into the public glare. I have been invited to a talk show at a local TV station to talk about my life as a writer of macabre stories. Hopefully I will survive this one, although I can always use more of them. Passion is never enough. In the world of imaginative literature sometimes you need to wake up, make the coffee, and then enjoy the coffee.

Samuel Kolawole has contributed short fiction to Jungle Jim, Translitmag, Superstition Review, and Sentinel Literary Quarterly. His stories are forthcoming in Outcast, an anthology of African and Asian writers, and the ISFN anthology, a Canadian-based imprint. A winner of the Reading Bridges fellowship, Samuel lives in Ibadan, where he has begun work on his novel.

Mai Nasara at Friends of the Library Annual Meeting

The next Friends Annual Meeting will feature last year's NLNG Prize for Literature winner, Adeleke Adeyemi, who writes as Mai Nasara. He will be speaking on the topic "Round Earth, Flat World: Lessons in Limits and the Cradle of Man".

This event is free and open to the public. The Friends of the Library will report on their support of the programs and services of Monroe County Public Library. Light refreshments will be served. Bring a friend!

Date: Wednesday, June 27

Time: 5:45 - 7:15 pm

Venue: Friends of the Library, 303 E. Kirkwood Ave., Bloomington, IN 47408MCPL, Room 1B.

Port Harcourt Announces Bid for World Book Capital

From the bid website:

The title ‘World Book Capital’ is conferred by UNESCO to a city in recognition of its quality of programmes to foster the promotion of books and encourage reading. The scheme was launched in 2001 with Madrid as the first city to be given the title, followed by Alexandria in 2002 and New Delhi in 2003. Bangkok was most recently selected as the 2013 World Book Capital. Port Harcourt has submitted a bid to become World Book Capital in 2014.

The bid was submitted a team headed by Rainbow Book Club founder Koko Kalango, who's also the Director of the Garden City Literary Festival. For more information you can download the bid summary here.

Favourite Five: Dami Ajayi

Dami Ajayi is one of the publishers of Saraba Mag. He was recently shortlisted for the Melita Hume Poetry Prize. You can read some of Dami's poems here. He tells us about his favourite five (plus one) poetry collections.

Prufrock and Other Observations by T. S. Eliot
I have been told many times that I am heavily influenced by Eliot and my amiable answer is often, who isn’t? It is not arguable that Elliot is one of the poets who came out of 20th century with an irresistible scaffold of influence. I find The Love Songs of Alfred J. Prufrock to be a major masterpiece that I have attempted to parody but have failed colossally by personal standards.

West African Verse edited by Donatus Nwoga
Donatus Nwoga’s anthology of West African poets was in my school syllabus for junior readers and it is perhaps my first exposure to the possibilities of African poetry, if there is anything so called. I read this book into the depth of the nights as a youngster and it sunk in me a yearning to wield my pen in the fashion of great masters of African expressions like Wole Soyinka, Kwesi Brew, David Diop, Lenrie Peters and J. P. Clark.

Satellites by Lenrie Peters
The Gambian poet and surgeon’s first collection of poems showed me that poetry could measure humanity in the realms of medicine. It unveiled how the sinews of poetry could be firmed with medical parlance and how humanity could burst out of clinical scenarios with a haunting freshness. After all Eliot once called mature poets thieves, so Satellites found my inspiration for Clinical Blues.

Logarhythms by Niran Okewole
This is a rare gem, an exuberant first collection by psychiatrist and award-winning poet, Niran Okewole. This collection educated me on the possibilities of being contemporary, dialectical and relevant all in one spell. "Twenty-five Seasons" was a poem that saved me from the throes of depression in my last days in medical school; it showed me the universality of human experiences and how a poet’s duty is to look into varying situations with a discerning lens and fresh ink.

The Rain Fardel by Tade Ipadeola
Here is a poet with whom I’m well pleased. His poetry is a melting pot where rigorously exhausted muse meets mastery at its best. Ipadeola approaches poetry a Victorian slant that is surprisingly relevant and this is surprising in these days of free verse and prose poetry. The Rain Fardel is a compendium of poems and choreopoems that come alive in the mind of the reader like incantations that seamlessly blends culture, specialty and acute observation into crisp and eloquent verses.

Giovanni’s New Room edited by ‘Biyi Olusolape
Biyi Olusolape edited Saraba’s fourth chapbook of poetry which themed on love. An e-book comprising of poems by several poets of Nigerian descent engages a difficult theme but succeeds. Love is analysed in its numerous variety: self-love, awry love, consanguineous love and sensual love. And this is done with a tinge of contemporariness. It alludes unequivocally to James Baldwin’s Giovanni Room from where its title was borrowed.

CATE celebrates 13

Children and the Environment (CATE) is an NGO working with children and young people to build awareness on environmental matters. It also promotes sustainable ecotourism as a tool for poverty alleviation in targeted communities.

The celebration of the 13th anniversary of CATE's founding holds tomorrow, Saturday 16th June, 2012 at the CORA office, 1st Floor, 95, Bode Thomas Street, Surulere, Lagos.

The CATE Team was at GCLF last year. Led by author Sola Alamutu, they took 100 children, (fifty primary school and fifty secondary school students) through a three-day series of creative writing, arts and drama workshops on the theme "Reading and Leading." At the conclusion of the workshops the GCLF Director Koko Kalango presented over 200 students with a bag of books sponsored by the Rivers State Sustainable Development Agency, headed by Noble Pepple.

Tell Your Story with Debonair Bookstores

Debonair Bookstore, the first online bookstore in Africa’s most populous country – Nigeria, is pleased to announce that on 1st October 2012 our eBookstore will launch to the general public. This is a call to all publishers and writers. In addition to allowing people download ebooks unto their existing devices, our eBookstore, called the Bamboo Store, will also allow downloads on our Bamboo e-readers and Bamboo tablets.

Self published authors have the opportunity to put up their ebooks on the Bamboo store platform before the launch date at no cost, meaning you can publish and sell your book without the upfront cost associated with print publishing.

The Bamboo store is the gateway to the African market of 450 million upwardly mobile Africans with payment platforms designed for the African market as well as conventional credit card options. With the launch of the Bamboo Store, authors get:

• High royalty percentage. Publishing is free and you can earn up to 70% royalty in perpetuity while having the ability to set your own price.
• Quick publishing. Publishing takes less than five minutes and your book usually appears on the Bamboo store within a day.
• Easy. A final manuscript and a Debonair account are all that you need to publish your book on our Bamboo Store.
• Sell globally. Our platform accepts payment from popular African payment merchants and all the major credit cards.
• Get paid monthly in US dollars or in Nigerian naira.

If you’d like to put your book on the Bamboo store before the launch date, please send an email to editor@debonairbookstore.com. For more information visit Debonair Blog.

Osofisan's "Midnight Blackout" at Terrakulture

Midnight Blackout is a hilarious comedy play written by Professor Femi Osofisan. Osofisan was at the Garden City Literary Festival in 2011.  Midnight Blackout is produced by Performing Arts Workshop and Studio (PAWS) and directed by Kenneth Uphopho.

Date: Every Sunday in June - 3rd, 10th, 17th, 24th, 2012

Time: 3:00pm & 6:00pm

Venue: Terra Kulture, 1376, Tiamuyu Savage Street, Victoria Island, Lagos

Tickets: N2,500

Koko Kalango: For the Love of Books

On Sunday, June 3rd, 2012, ThisDay Newspapers published a piece (on pages 78 and 79) titled "For the Love of Books", which focused on Rainbow Book Club's book reading on May 28 to encourage reading among children. The Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, read to public primary school children  in the Enuoha Local Government Area of Rivers State.

The article was also about Koko Kalango's work with the Garden City Literary Festival and the Rainbow Book Club. Below are excerpts.

On the Origin of the Name "Rainbow Book Club"

"Over time, the sign  of the rainbow has been used by different people to designate different concepts. But it has its origin in the Bible. The rainbow was given by God as a sign of promise. All the work that I do comes under the name as a reminder that I am ultimately accountable to God."

On RBC's Significance

"The book club's visit to schools, has, meanwhile, begun to yield results. A boy in one of the schools was once moved to tell a story of how reading had changed his life. A flurry of emails also came from university undergraduates, who were in secondary school when they attended the reading programmes. Keeping in touch with RBC was their way of saying "Thank You."

RBC's Ultimate Goal

"The book club's ultimate goal is to change the society through changing the mindset of its citizens. And this is possible through the love of reading. We also hope, as a long-term goal, to change the entire continent."

The festival is scheduled to hold between October 15-20, 2012. Keep those days open. 

The African Writers Series is Seeking Manuscripts

The African Writers Series is a wide-ranging series offering stories, poetry, biographical writings and essays from across Africa. It includes work from nearly 40 writers from 19 different countries, including classic titles from renowned African authors such as Chinua Achebe, Bessie Head and Ngugi wa Thiong'o. Go here if you would like to submit your work to the series.

Chinua Achebe in Discussion with K. Anthony Appiah

The Voice Interviews: Deborah Ahenkorah

What are your fondest memories of growing up?

We had a light yellow wooden table in our verandah at home and I would wrap my mother’s wax cloth around the table to create what I called, my secret cave. From this cave I would delve into books and read and read and read, travelling many different worlds, living many exciting adventures!

Why the interest in encouraging reading?

I had such a brilliant time with books as a child and I think everyone should have that opportunity too. Also, it is fairly inarguable that reading encourages one to develop curiosity, an understanding of the world and intellectual capacity. These are all solid reasons why reading should be encouraged, especially among young people.

When and why did you start the Golden BAOBAB Prize?

I started the Golden Baobab Prize in my second year of university. Before this I had started a previous organization, Project Educate in Africa, which sent funds and donated books from the United States to different African countries. While this organization’s work was good and necessary to promoting literacy in Africa, I didn’t think it was the solution. If there are no books in Africa, it is because people in Africa are not writing and creating books. So I created the Golden Baobab Prize. It is an annual African literary award that discovers, nurtures and celebrates promising writer of African children’s literature. We connect these writers with leading publishers and partner to ensure that winning African children’s books enter the marketplace.

Why focus on children's stories?

 Children’s stories because it’s a sector that’s largely ignored. Even regions of the world that produce thousands of children’s titles a year have children’s prizes that are ensuring quality production. Africa is not producing enough children’s stories, and before the Golden Baobab Prize, there was no annual continental prize addressing the issue.

Why is reading important?

A people have a reading culture when they have inculcated the habit of seeking out knowledge from wide varieties of books. This reading culture naturally translates into a reasoning culture, an intellectually questioning culture and a culture that is informed about their immediate and far off surroundings. So for instance if people read only novels or only read newspapers or only read the Koran, that is not a reading culture. Now I find that reading in Africa is determined by your purchasing power. Since there are not that many free libraries if your parents cannot afford to buy you books, or you yourself are hustling too much to give a hoot about a book, where is the reading culture? I think that as the middle and upper class in Africa grow, there will be more of a true reading culture.

How do you encourage people to read?

I think people read the things that speak to them. Same with music and movies, you’re drawn to the things you can relate to. So I believe that providing wonderfully written, beautifully illustrated stories that reflect African experiences is one way to getting more young people reading.

What feedback have you received about the project that brought a smile to your face?

We were recently named, by Echoing Green, a leading international social sector investor, as one of the boldest social innovations of our times, addressing some of societies most critical issues. A great honor! We were part of 22 people selected from close to 3,000 applicants from all over the world. It’ll be a very long time before I stop smiling about this!

What advice do you have for anyone thinking of going into publishing as a career?


As we say in Ghana, Chale! Now is really not the time to enter publishing. The industry is in upheaval all over the world as it morphs with technology and nobody knows what it’s going to look like in the next 3 years even. But then again, Africa is a couple of years behind this upheaval so people may want to get in on Africa and once the international industry figures itself out, they can quickly take the new model and apply to African situations. What’s important to contemplate though is that publishing in Africa requires good African writers. So while you wait for the industry to settle down, my best, unbiased advice is to invest in the Golden Baobab Prize and help us discover the new African literary giants for the exciting times up ahead!

Unoma Azuah: On Writing EDIBLE BONES

The story of Edible Bones focuses on the protagonist by the name Kaitochukwu. As a security guard for the American Embassy in Lagos, Kaitochukwu daily contains the rushing hundreds of eager Nigerian visa applicants who, before dawn, line up pressed against locked wire fences outside the embassy entrance. When 8 a.m. arrives, the embassy opens. Each day, only about one third of the men and women get their turn at the service desk as the day progresses. Most of them are told that their request for a travel visa has been denied. Kaitochukwu, however, gets the long anticipated news that is opposite of that received by his fellow hopefuls. His six-month old request for a visa to travel to the US has been approved.

Kaitochukwu departs for Cleveland, Ohio, excited to fulfill the American dream of his media-driven imagination where every house is a castle, and every American life is complete with luxurious cars, designer clothes, and widescreen TVs. What he, instead, encounters is a path beset by unstable relationships with women, violent crime, and job loss. Edible Bones follows Kaitochukwu’s journey as an undocumented African immigrant in an unwelcoming American urban square, chronicling the distance between his grand expectations and his ensuing formidable fate. The need for a speedy decision becomes the one tough battle Kaito has to face when he finally visits how home country, Nigeria.

Edible Bones is inspired by the numerous immigrant stories I’ve heard and witnessed. Also being an immigrant myself prompted me to write the book. I also wanted to tell a story that I feel has not been told enough. The story of how America is not always the land of milk and honey for everybody. You have to earn that “milk” and that “honey”; you don’t just waltz into the country and stumble upon success. Some Americans “burst” their butts everyday, working to make ends meet, yet some of them don’t get it, talk more of an immigrant who, first of all, is unaware and then is illegal. So it gets complicated in almost every angle. And I don’t entirely blame Kaito for his mistakes. When you don’t know any better, you tend to fumble around a lot before you get your bearing. Some people learn faster than others and adjust accordingly, others never really learn.

Author's photo courtesy of Wordsbody

The processes I employed involved research and observation. I conducted a number of interviews in order to have an idea of how to craft the prison parts of the story for instance. I also conducted interviews to have an idea of how some Nigerian immigrants reacted to the issue of homosexuality. For example, it was important to find out if their views on the issue changed because of the changed environment. The result of the interviews is surprising and one would need to find out from the novel.

The other process that was part of writing the novel was the need for me to take a long break, three months or four months in a year, to be alone and not be distracted. It was a successful attempt even though I found myself constantly explaining why I had to turn down that lunch or dinner invitation. The sacrifices required to see Edible Bones come to life were well worth it.

I decided to publish Edible Bones in Nigeria first because the primary audience of the novel is the Nigerian public. There is also a conscious effort on my part to practice the saying that “charity begins at home.” This may not necessarily apply to all my subsequent novels, but for this particular one, delivering it first to my people is as urgent as the message the novel bears.

—Unoma Azuah

The Edible Bones Review Contest: To participate, buy a copy of the book, read it, and then write a review of no more that 500 words. You stand a chance of winning the following cash prizes: First Prize: 15, 000 naira; Second Prize: 10, 000 naira; Third Prize: 5, 000 naira. More information here.