By Odimegwu Onwumere:
Like a marriage celebrated in heaven, that was how I felt when I saw
the report on the Internet: “Farafina Trustholds its 2011 creative
writing workshop in Lagos, from June 23 to July 2 2011.” I was so
elated when I saw that it was organized by award-winning writer and
creative director of Farafina Trust, Chimamanda Adichie. Adichie, who
quotes in her novel, Half of a Yellow Sun: \”Death would be a complete
knowingness, but what frightened him was this: not knowing beforehand
what it was he would know\”, \”This was love: a string of coincidences
that gathered significance and became miracles”, \”There are some
things that are so unforgivable that they make other things easily
forgivable”, and on and on. The workshop sponsored by Nigerian
Breweries Plc., guest writers included the Caine Prize winning Kenyan
writer, Binyavanga Wainaina, would co-teach the workshop alongside
Adichie. The aim of the workshop was to improve the craft of Nigerian
writers and to encourage published and unpublished writers by bringing
different perspectives to the art of storytelling. Participation was
limited only to those whose applications were accepted. Going to take
the form of a class, theworkshop participants would be assigned a wide
range of reading exercises and daily writing exercises.
My brain became like a writer’s notebook that he or she writes many
things after consummating the above information. I had the
requirements already in my Inbox, so I didn’t waste any time reading
protocol than copy and paste all the entry requirements in the body of
the e-mail. Pasting the entry was one of the rules to qualify for the
contest. “Please Do NOT include any attachments in your e-mail.
Applications with attachments will be automatically disqualified,” one
of the entry rules read. I was about pressing my mouse to send my
entry when Brother walked into the cyber cafe. I was agape.
A rare and powerful energy locks in Brother when it comes to writing.
I called him Brother and he called me Mr. Prose, because we worship on
the altar of writing. We are countrymen whom writing became their
first religion. He had seen what I was working on, needless to
acquaint him.
“Deadline for submissions is April 27 2011. Only those accepted to the
workshop will be notified by June 15 2011. Accommodation in Lagos will
be provided for all accepted applicants who are able to attend the
ten-day duration workshop. A literary evening of readings, open to the
public, will be held at the end of the workshop on July 2, 2011,”
Brother read loud on a different web page and drew the attention of
other cyber café users. “Forget sending this!” he warned, and didn’t
tell me reason, even as I seriously enquired to know. I was aghast. I
suspended sending; now ruminating on what prompted his coming to the
café by this time of the morning.
Fifteen years Brother worked as food engineer in London before he
returned to Nigeria five years ago; he never missed to write on
topical issues concerning Nigeria. His write-ups have been published
in the local and international newspapers and in the Internet. But I
am much head-buried to my prose works than I am head-buried to
newspaper works, because it is not easy surviving as a freelance
Journalist in Nigeria. But Brother contributes to the newspapers and
editors cull his works in any website they see them and publish
without seeking his permission and without a dime for him. Brother is
never worried about that because this is the system that plays in
Nigeria. So, every Opinion writer knows this.
“In London, anything that a freelancer contributed that was published
in the newspapers would at least place a plate of food on the table of
the freelancer,” Brother told me. But the excuse he gives as the
reason he did not contribute articles in London newspapers, is hinged
on the attendant joy he said that he derives from writing about
Nigeria. And I wonder most times why he writes. At this point, when he
saw that I was not curious to send the composed mail, he said: “Would
the workshop warrant the publishing of your manuscripts?” This is a
million question! It will not. “What is the need acquiring skill that
will not give the person succour?”
Brother writes more than Chinua Achebe but less popular than Achebe:
Brother begun to tell me that he writes virtually on a daily basis,
because Nigeria is news in every minute. “Cement price will soon go
down”, “Don’t rig for me, no election worth the life of any Nigerian”,
among other things, were headlines that graced many Nigerian
newspapers he had commented on in the recent past. He told me that he
is writing, not because he is outstanding in writing, but because of
the fulfillment he derives from it. Not minding that he is very much
insignificant in the world of Nigerian writers compared to writers
like Professor Chinua Achebe, Helon Habila, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
and Professor Wole Soyinka, and the rest, who have not only dominated
the Nigerian intellectual scene but world of intellectuals; these big
names do not deter him. The writers mentioned, however, occupy the
three genres of literature – Drama, Poetry and Prose – and
occasionally write articles for newspapers. Upon that the named
writers contribute to newspapers occasionally, yet they are widely
known than Brother.
Chinua Achebe has made a name with his novel, Things Fall Apart, Helon
Habila has made a name with hisWaiting For An Angel, Chimamanda Ngozi
Adichie has made a name with her Purple Hibiscus, and Wole Soyinka has
made a name by winning the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Things Fall Apart has been translated into more than fifty foreign
languages. In 2008, its fiftieth establishment was celebrated. Wole
Soyenka won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986. The Nobel Prize is
an international award administered by the Nobel Foundation in
Stockholm, Sweden. He is among the recipients of the outstanding
prestigious prize established since 1901, which has been awarding
prizes for achievements in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine,
literature and for peace. Helon Habila is the winner of the 2001Caine
Prize. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the winner of the Orange Broadband
Prize for Fiction in 2007. Brother has not won any prize, but he has
kept on writing.
Brother’s consolation for writing:
Brother quotes a lot from Mark Twain letter to George Bainton, 1888,
(Thanks, Andrew & Barbara), variation of Josh Billings, whenever he
was compared with those famous Nigerian writers as a weakling: “The
difference between the almost right word and the right word is really
a large matter – it\’s the difference between the lightning bug and the
lightning. Don\’t mistake vivacity for wit, thare iz about az much
difference az thare iz between lightning and a lightning bug.\” He also
says this to me whenever I am worried that he writes too much without
any material gains.
I was overzealous on his tireless habit for writing that does not pay,
he told me of how a rare and powerful meeting took place at the Royal
Court between young theatre writers from Nigeria and British actors
and directors in 26th October 2009. He told me that in May 2006, the
Royal Court began working with young, talented playwrights in Nigeria
with the support of both the Genesis Foundation and the British
Council. “Considerable talents were discovered in Lagos, Jos, Ibadan
and Abuja, when Elyse Dodgson, Head of the International Playwrights
at the Royal Court, travelled throughout Nigeria. So, I believe that I
would be discovered by Elyse one day,” he said, with laugh, because we
were no longer “Young Talents”.
The problem with Nigerian writing:
Newspapers, political and religious literature constituted the load of
publishing activity in Nigeria when the first printing outfit was
established in Calabar, the capital of the present day Cross River
State in 1846. Over a century from that year, Brother had wondered
that Nigeria has got over one thousand publishers, with not more than
one hundred registered member-firms in the Nigerian Publishers
Association, yet the expectation that they would serve writers in
Nigeria better was betrayed. For instance, I have not had any of my
manuscripts published by the Nigerian mainstream publishers. I
published my two books via vanity publishing. Vanity publishing became
a form of art and culture among Nigerian writers. Very essential, and
many people are into it.
“There are many writers who do not earn a living from writing like me,
they write for the fun and here you are preparing for workshop,” he
started to laugh again. “While Nigeria is replete with writers and
publishers, the burden of being a writer in the country is ruminated
with crestfallen, because of misgivings on Nigerian writers by the
environment they found themselves.” Brother was correct after all,
Governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Timipre Sylva, once said in the
newspapers that he ran away from writing because of his fear of being
poor. Or better said, he would have been like Nobel Laureate Professor
Wole Soyinka in writing, but for the fear of being poor, he joined
politics. Many Nigerians who could have found talent in writing ran
away from practicing because of what I call povertyphobia like
Governor Sylva did.
Difference between the young Nigerian writers and the old ones:
Unlike us writing for fun, Brother told me, the first and second
generation of Nigerian writers benefitted much from writing because
organisations and government paid heed to intellect in the 50s and
60s, by developing intellectuals’ artistic talents. They benefited
from grants and talent hunts, but here we are attending writing
workshops. We are “throwaway”. These early Nigerian writers had their
books published for free and were paid royalties. Many of the
publishing outfits then were European owned. Today, an author writes,
do the editing, proofread and critique his or her work, yet there is
no notable publishing outfit in Nigeria that will publish the writer.
Paying of royalties is a tall dream.
“The debacles of writers in the country today are not sugarcoated
story,” Brother said. “Sometimes I pity you, Mr. Prose. Was it this
difficult with Nigerian writers in those days and Chinua Achebe had
his Things Fall Apartpublished by the Heinemann Alan Hill’s African
Writers Series (AWS), the Heinemann Publishers in 1958? Today,
artistic and literary creations depend mostly and solely on the
individual initiatives and hardly with any federal, state or local
support.”
“I paid heavily to get my two published works out. Even the mainstream
publishing outfits, many are just good at smiling to the bank with the
money of their accepted writers who are mainly based overseas. Many of
the publishing outfits operate without an editorial team. One of my
friends overseas, John, has to edit his work elsewhere and even
designed the cover, because of that, yet his work was accepted,” I
said.
We have noticed that hardly do Nigerian art and culture ministry offer
assistance to younger writers in the provision of fellowships, study
grants for travels and purchase of the needed materials. I asked of
when writers in this country could be helped so that they can stop
depending on European cultural industries that are directly involved
in influencing artistic and literary creation of Nigerians.
To revive writers in Nigeria:
Brother said that the Nigerian government has to provide for the
Nigerian writers, like it has done to performance artistes, through
investments in cultural infrastructure, such as the building of
theatres, stadia and hosting large festivals all over the country.
Government should build the Abuja Writers’ Village, which the late
Mamman Jiya Vatsa procured for the Nigerian writers in 1985. The 56
acres of land is located at Mpape, a suburb of the Federal Capital,
Abuja. The lackadaisical manner with which government treat writers
is largely responsible for the underdeveloped reading culture in the
country and this should be quickly addressed if we are serious about
developing reading culture in Nigeria. The government should help
writers by building standard and state-of-the-art publishing
industries to cut cost of publishing. Constant scarcity of printing
materials should abate. Dearth of trained publishing personnel should
be re-addressed. Writing in indigenous languages should be
re-awakened. The inconsistent education policies and lack of direction
on the part of operators should be quickly addressed. Piracy and poor
promotion and distribution of books should be aggressively dealt with.
Nigeria is among the countries with training opportunities like
Farafina Trust, but we have many writers writing for fun in Nigeria.
As Brother and I were discussing all these, I lost interest in the
contest and refused to submit my application for the, Farafina Trust
creative writing workshop.
Odimegwu Onwumere, Poet/Author, contributed this piece from Rivers
State. Tel:+2348032552855. E-mail: apoet_25@yahoo.com