ANA, Atiku promote children literature

It is a common knowledge that Children’s Literature is the least patronised literary genre in Nigeria. Nigerian writers tend to shy away from producing the genre while parents and teachers seem to care less. And those who care simply resort to foreign reading materials that inculcate alien cultures. The result of this is the prevailing poor reading habit and cultural alienation.
It is in view of this ugly trend that ANA/Atiku Prize for Children’s Literature was instituted by the Association of Nigerian Authors, ANA, and endowed by the former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, in 2003. This is aimed at raising the stake of writing for children by Nigerian writers and encouraging the flourishing of indigenous children’s literary materials.
Last week marked a milestone in this all-important crusade as a national workshop was held in Yola, Adamawa State, to promote Children’s Literature and celebrate the achievements of the annual prize.
Organised by ANA in collaboration with the sponsors of the ANA/Atiku Prize for Children, American University of Nigeria, AUN, Yola, and Adama Beverages, Yola, the workshop took place from Friday 16th to Saturday 17th 2009, at the AUN.
Participants at the event included ANA members and children from across the country while the resource team was made up of seasoned writers, publishers and lecturers who are experts in Children’s Literature.
The event began at 10 am, Friday, with a grand opening ceremony in the AUN Cafeteria. Setting the tone for the occasion, the Master of Ceremony, Abubakar Abba Tahir, who is the Director, Public Affairs of the AUN, introduced the university leaders and other dignitaries. This was followed by opening remarks by the Chairman of the ceremony, Professor Ben Oguzie.
Professor Oguzie, who is one of the leaders of the university, observed that the event was a clear testimony to Atiku’s concern for the future of Nigerian children. He also commended the efforts of ANA which has been successfully running the ANA/Atiku Prize and expressed the hope that the prize and the workshop would produce future Achebes and Soyinkas.
In his welcome address, the president of AUN, Mr. Conrad Festa, stressed the importance of education and the place of literature in the scheme of things. He reiterated the view he expressed when ANA executive members paid him a courtesy visit earlier in the day; "Reading and writing are spiritual exercises that uplift the soul." He observed that the aim of the workshop was quite in line with the mission of the university, which is to promote education for the overall development of man. "We are, therefore, proud to be part of the event," he stressed.
Mr. Festa, who is also a seasoned poet, commended the sponsors of the workshop and called on other institutions of higher learning to be involved in the promotion of children’s literature.
ANA president, Hon. Wale Okediran, went down memory: "In the last four years of the life of this current ANA executive council, we have organised about ten workshops in different literary genres such as poetry, drama, environment and travel writing. Today’s event will be the first workshop on Children’s Literature."
He explained that the workshop was aimed at providing opportunity to get support from experts about writing and serving as a venue for interaction with fellow writers in order to enrich one’s creative ability. He recounted how his participation in a similar workshop organised by ANA in Kaduna fifteen years ago resulted in his success as a writer of Children’s Literature as he subsequently won the 1987 ANA/MATATU Prize for Children’s Literature.
The president expressed gratitude, on behalf of ANA, to all those that have contributed to the actualisation of the event.
In his own speech, Atiku Abubakar commended ANA for ensuring that the Children’s Literature Prize is not only being successfully run but a workshop of this nature was being held to promote Children’s Literature.
The former Vice President, who was represented by the General Manager of Adama Beverages, Alhaji Ahmed Jarma, urged writers to take interest in writing Children’s Literature so as to preserve our cultural heritage which, according to him, is being eroded by foreign literary materials.
Other dignitaries who delivered goodwill messages at the occasion included the librarian of AUN, Ms. Martha Peirs, who underscored the place of her project, KARATU Library, for young children in Yola, and the university’s Direcvtor of Admission, Mr. Basil Fahmy, who launched the AUN Spring 2010 recruitment campaign video, highlighting the first AUN’s graduation ceremony.
The opening ceremony was rounded off with a keynote address by Professor Virginia Dike of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Titled ‘Overview of Children’s Literature in Nigeria’, her 8-page paper focused on the historical overview of Children’s Literature in Nigeria, the right picture books and novels for young children. She concluded by emphasising the need for all hands to be on deck in the efforts to make children’s books available. "They need more books! While a good beginning has been made, much more is need," she said, hoping that workshops "such as this will lead to much literature of high quality Nigerian children and youth need and deserve."
Between the opening ceremony and the next programme, which was technical session, ANA executive paid a courtesy visit on the governor of Adamawa State. Receiving the executive members of ANA on behalf of the state governor, the deputy governor, Mr. Bala James, expressed delight at the choice of Yola as the venue for the workshop. "We are really overwhelmed and we hope that you will have a nice stay here and your mission of promoting children’s literature will be fulfilled," he said.
The technical session were held from 12 noon at Washington Hall of the AUN. The first session featured two topics: ‘Dialogue, Vocabulary Control and Styles in Children’s Literature’ and ‘Words and their Usages in Children’s Literature’. The topics were delivered by Akachi Adimora Ezeigbo of the University of Lagos and Philip Begho also of the University of Lagos, respectively. The major focus of the two presentations was on the need for the writer of Children’s Literature to be selective in his choice of words and dialogue, bearing in mind, among others, the interest and mental ability of the child.
The second session featured a topic, ‘Writing Poetry for Children’ by John Aseidu Sarpong, Kaduina-based writer and motivational speaker, and practical writing in which participants were made to practise what they had just learnt.
After the day’s hectic activities, an atmosphere of relaxation was provided in the evening by way of cocktail and reading at the AUN’s Club House. The cocktail turned out to be a dinner as mouthwatering foods and drinks were served. It also turned out to be more than just poetry reading, the occasion also featured music and dance by the Adamawa State Cultural Troupe. Gifts were equally presented to sponsors of the workshop by ANA.
The second day of the event, Saturday 17th, witnessed yet other interesting activities. The day began with the third technical session, which featured "Writing Children’s Picture Book: Content, illustration and Packaging’. The topic was delivered by the Abuja-based publisher, Bibi Bakare-Yusuf.
The session was followed by the closing ceremony in which the president of ANA and the president of AUN expressed appreciation to all those who where responsible for the success of the event.
Thereafter, participants took a tour of the AUN facilities, Adamawa Beverages Company and Gotel Radio, which belong to the former Vice President. The tour was an exciting side attraction and an eye opener to the fact that Abubakar Atiku has done to Adamawa State what other Nigerian political leaders have failed to achieve.
Participants were indeed exposed to so many attractions that left lasting memories. The flight to and from Yola, for instance, was quite an unforgetable experience, particularly to those who were flying for the first time.

PICTURE:

(from right) Prof. Akachi Adimora Ezeigbo handing ANA plague to interim president AUN, Dr. Conrad Festa.

(c) Reported by SUMAILA UMAISHA and published in the October 24, 2009, edition of New Nigerian.

Developing indegenous language (interview)

Moses Tsenongo, a graduate of the University of Jos, currently lecturing in the Department of English, Benue State University, is a multi-talented writer; a short story writer, a poet and translator. His numerous works, including five poetry collections and a translation of Things Fall Apart, are eloquent testimonies to his creative prowess. In this interview with Sumaila Umaisha, he speaks on the translation and his sources of inspiration.

NNW: When did you start writing?
Moses Tsenongo:

I started writing in 1985. I just finished reading Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson and the novel really inspired me. So I started a short story closely tailored after what I read in Treasure Island. Shortly after that I was arrested by poetry and I started writing very serious poetic scripts back in the 80s. But my career was launched in the 2000s when I published the first volume of my poems, titled Soliloquy. And all along it is poetry I’ve been writing and publishing. I have five volumes now. I’m hoping that they will be recognized with time.
Apart from Treasure Island what are your other sources of inspiration?
I come from a culture that is highly poetic, so my first source of inspiration are oral poets that I grew up among. But, of course, for written poetry, I also have poets that inspired me. They include Gabriel Okara and Niyi Osundare. Osundare was actually the poet that inspired me to start writing poetry. When I read some of his poems, I loved and admired them. Even when I’m tired when I read these poets something comes into me.
It is like you are also inspired by Chinua Achebe; you have done a translation of his Things Fall Apart into Tiv language.
Yes, prose wise, Achebe is my greatest. I admire him and I am hoping that in the future I will go back to writing prose.
Is your Things Fall Apart translation project completed now?
It has been completed eight years ago. It even won the ethnic language literature prize of the Benue State chapter of the Association of Nigerian Authors, ANA, in 2003. And I presented a paper on it in the international colloquium celebrating 50 years of Things Fall Apart at the University of Nsukka. That presentation really helped me because, after that Prof. Sam Okala discussed with me on how far I had approached my state government for the sponsorship and I told him my little effort and he said he would also assist me because he knows people in Benue State. He got across to Prof. Saint Bilika, Chief of Staff to Benue State government, who was already in the business of helping me to get some sponsorship form the state government. Prof. Okala’s call encouraged him and the state government approved one million naira for me. This encouraged me to get the work out. This came about as a result of the efforts of friends like you. I was really encouraged by your concern over the work as expressed by the publicity you gave me and the project. I sincerely must thank New Nigerian for that.
Given the state of indigenous literature in this country, what is the future of this work?
I’m sure it will do a lot to encourage Tiv language. As most of us are aware, our indigenous languages are endangered. It is very important that we should do something. Other languages like Hausa are doing very well. Some of us are taking a cue from them to see how we can promote other indigenous languages. I’m sure if this work comes out people will like it and it will encourage others. That was why I chose to translate Things Fall Apart in the first place. It is a novel that has been well read by a lot of people around my culture. And I know several of them would like to read it even if just for the curiosity of seeing that someone has been able to capture it in the indigenous language.
What is your advice to young writers?
Writing is not easy, making a name as a writer is not easy. Writers of the older generation are still alive and they are still writing. So the effort we really need to put in is much. But we have to keep on encouraging ourselves. Literary journalists will have to put in efforts to encourage writers because the odds against them are so much.

(c) Published in the 31/10/09 edition of New Nigerian.

Literary journalists in Nigeria are trying (interview)

Henry Akubuiro was born and raised in Imo State. Educated at Imo State University, Owerri, he holds a double major in English and Literary Studies. He is journalist as well as a creative writer. Before his present position as the arts editor of National LIFE tabloid, Lagos, he had worked as the literary editor of Sunday Sun and a freelance reporter with the defunct Hallmark newspaper. The 2005 winner of the Literary Journalist of the Year Award and 2009 winner of ANA/Lantern Prize for Children Fiction for his The Little Wizard of Okokomaiko (unpublished), spoke to SUMAILA UMAISHA on his experience on the beat and other issues.

NNW: Your writing experience; how did it all start?

Henry Akubuiro: Though many people know me as a journalist, my creative writing predates my journalism. My first attempt at creative writing was in my junior secondary, when, after reading Onuora Nzekwu’s classic, Eze Goes to School, I scribbled my own version, MacJoe’s School Days. But it wasn’t something serious. It was later when I entered the university in mid 1990s that I developed my writing skills. In my second year already I had written two full-length novel manuscripts. And by the time I graduated, I had over seven manuscripts in different genres (prose, drama and poetry). It wasn’t surprising that I won all the prizes for creative writing on campus. I also write short stories. If I compile what I have now, I should have enough to make a modest book of short stories.
Why haven’t you published the works yet?
My mentor in the university, Associate Prof. Isidore Diala, still finds it hard to believe that I haven’t published any work yet, despite vetting some for me almost a decade now. I don’t want to rush my work. I believe a thing worth doing is worth doing well. It is better to publish one and let it ring across the world than to have an oeuvre of creative hogwash in print that brings dishonour more than honour. In addition, I am not comfortable with self-publishing and their financial demands. Another reason I am still unpublished is the reality of Nigerian journalism profession where you have little or no time for yourself, especially if you are into literary journalism. However, I don’t think that is a cogent excuse. Recently, I finished reworking a prose manuscript, which, by God’s grace, will be published next year. Once that is out, others will follow. My problem isn’t writing; it is basically putting my act together to go to press.
Your manuscript, Little Wizard of Okokomaiko, has just won the ANA/Lantern Books Prize for Children Literature. Two years ago, you were nominated for the same category. Why do you find the juvenilia interesting?
As I told you, I started out as a juvenilia writer as a schoolboy before venturing into extended prose narrative, drama and poetry. Recently, I have come to rediscover myself in that genre (You know the genre has few people doing it, and we have to intervene). Again, because I barely have time for myself; so, the little time I have for creative writing, I use it for abridged narratives, which is why I have written about three children novellas within the last to years. Frankly, I would relish a writing residence abroad, which would give me ample time to (re)work on my extended narratives. If I can rework what I have written already, I may not bother to write a anything again, because I will have up to ten works at the end of the day.
You won ANA’s Literary Journalist of the Year award in 2005. What does it take to win the award? And how do you feel winning the award?
Winning the Literary Journalist of the Year means hard work, among others. I was new on the beat then when I won it, and, to tell you the truth, I saw the prize coming. For one, no sooner had I taken over the literary column in Sunday Sun than sales doubled, making the Sunday Sun the highest selling title on The Sun stable and Nigeria. My editor was to admit that I was partly responsible for the sudden increase in readership, because virtually everybody in the Nigerian literati was buying it. Again, I was always raising controversial issues, which kept many addicted to my weekly offerings. Winning the literary journalist of the year is a big honour, because it is the only such prize in Nigeria. I advise the Nigeria Media Merit Award (NMMA) to do something similar for literary journalists in Nigeria, too, instead of lumping all together as "entertainment journalists", whereas there is a wide difference between those who report showbiz and arts itself.
As a literary journalist, what is your assessment of the Nigerian literary scene?
Unlike the view hawked in certain quarters on this issue, I don’t share in the view that Nigerian literature is going down hill. To me, new writers now are writing better works than their predecessors. Why people are still valorizing the canon is because we are used to them. But, to be frank, we have wonderful set of (especially) novelists and poets in Nigeria now. The only setback is that people are not reading most of them due to promotional and marketing impediments. Once the publishers begin to do what they are supposed to do, the writers will be widely read and appreciated more.
The major aim of literary journalism is to promote literature through the media. To what extent has the Nigerian media achieved this objective in spite of the low reading culture?
To a large extent, the literary journalists in Nigeria are trying their best. It is not easy to be a literary journalist in Nigeria, because, unlike other beats, literary journalism is under-appreciated; yet we have kept the flag flying. The area I think literary journalists are not doing well is in the area of book reviews. Very few of us review new books weekly (though it takes some doing). In terms of publicizing literary activities in Nigeria, literary journalists do it better than their colleagues from other beats, despite the modicum of goodwill we enjoy. Writing features and doing thought-provoking interviews are not fairing badly, too. But I must emphasise that virtue is its own reward. The fact that people see you as a hero for writing on literature in the paper and like to snap pictures with you is a big honour. When people who have read me in the paper see me and get thrilled, I feel on top of the world. Good name is important.
Why has self-publishing become so rampant in Nigeria and how can this problem be solved?
If you ask leading literary journalists in Nigeria why they don’t publish creative works, they will tell you they don’t sell. The reason why books may not be selling here is because publishers have failed to do their homework properly. If you look at Nollywood, for instance, once a new video comes out, posters and adverts are everywhere, which raises people’s curiosity to buy. But, in the book industry, the release of a new book is almost muted. Self-publishing is thriving, because the big publishers have chickened out of the business for publishing more profitable text books (forgetting that creative works are everlasting investments), and you can’t compel an ambitious writer to be vegetating in his backyard when he wants to be read by the world. Major publishers should begin to give creative writing a worthy chance once again, like Heinemann, Macmillan, Longman and others used to do before. But I caution that, if you are patronising vanity press, make sure the work has to undergo the rigours of editing before publishing. Our writers should not be flaunting poverty as an excuse for producing shoddy jobs. It is unacceptable.
Nigerian writers seem to delight more in writing about corruption than other issues. Why?
Since literature is a reflection of society, our literature can’t escape that corruption motif. In Ghana, corruption is fading away; so, you would find it hard to read corruption in new Ghanaian literature. Besides, many of our writers are lazy; thus, they overflow the theme of corruption. This isn’t healthy for our literature, except there is a fresh perspective to it. The mistake many writers make is to dwell more on theme rather than craft. Nowadays in European and American literature, a writer can dwell on an ordinary thing like rat or taboo, yet make a bestseller out of it. It is not just the story, but how it is told that matters now.

(c) Published in the New Nigerian edition of 28th November, 2009.

Redefining the place of the girl-child (review)

Since the 1995 Beijing conference in which women from all over the world assembled to discuss gender related matters, the place of the girl-child in the scheme of things has been underscored by various writers. While some writers choose to fictionalise the subject-matter in form of plays, novels, short stories or poems, others prefer the direct essay genre.
In this book, Advice to My Daughter, B. B. Suleiman has come up with something different in order to make a better impact. The book is crafted in an all-embracing innovative style that combines fact and fiction. The epistolary technique is adopted in such a way that anecdotes, appeals, instructions and warnings interplay to deliver in a most effective manner the moral lessons parents are duty-bound to impart on their daughters.
The 110-page book contains series of letters addressed to a daughter or the persona, advising her on various aspects of her vulnerable life as she grows through the turbulent world. From her secondary school through university, the daughter receives letters from her father, which constantly remind her of the need to be morally upright. The letters spell out behaviours she should avoid and the ones she should stick to. They also stress the consequences she would suffer if she behaved contrary to the stipulated moral codes.
Specifically, the letters dwell on issues like sexuality, harmful traditional practices and education, as they affect the girl-child. From the first to the last letter, the issues are treated in a fatherly manner capable of appealing to not just the girl-child but parents alike who could use it as a complementary material to their efforts at guiding their daughters to the right path.
For instance, the first letter titled ‘Death of the Innocent’ relates the story of a neighbour whose young daughter got pregnant by fun seekers and ended up dying from pregnancy related complications. The same letter also relates the pathetic story of an eighteen-year old school girl who, according to newspapers reports, "delivered a baby in the bush and dumped it in the latrine!"
All these are consequences of wayward behaviours which committed parenthood could guide against.
B.B. Suleiman, who is a member of Association of Nigerian Authors, ANA, could be described as a writer with a bird’s eye view, seeing the girl-child issues from all perspectives; that of the parents, the girl-child herself and the society at large. Each of these aspects, according to the author, has a role to play in ensuring a safe and bright future for the girl-child. Over 60 per cent of the letters highlight the role the girl-child herself should play in the circumstance. While the parents provide the enabling environment, it is the responsibilty of the girl-child to stand up to actualise her beautiful dreams of the future. In the second letter ‘The Fear of Sugar Daddy’, the girl-child is admonished to protect herself from marauding womanisers and rapists by dressing and behaving decently.
Among the numerous consequences of unsafe and casual sex resulting from indecent behaviours is the HIV inffection, from which over 530,000 people have died since the beginning of the epidemic.
The seventh letter highlights the prevailing cases of sexual harassment in high constitutions of learning. Titled ‘A Mind of Your Own," the letter calls on the girl-child to rise above the situation by acknowledging the fact that she has the right to say no to sexual harassment and to safeguard her self-worth and family values.
Other letters, though equally addressed to the girl-child, stress the role of society at large in the upbringing of the child. In the letters, the author admonishes particularly the Nigerian traditional society to remove the cultural obstacles that have for years hindered the growth and development of the girl-child. They include traditional beliefs "that equate women status only with marriage and the number of children they are blessed with".
Indeed, Advice to My Daughter is mainly about the educational empowerment of the girl-child, the women folks and the society in general. As it is often said, when a girl is educated the entire nation is educated as no educated woman would allow her child to be an illitrate irrespective of the sex.
B.B. Suleiman has, no doubt, done a great job of focusing public attetion on this all-important issue. Unlike other books on this topic, which harp on gender debates that end up as mere intellectual exercise, this book is a loud and clear wake-up call to redeem the girl-child and give her a befitting future. In this era when most parents are too occupied to have even an occasional heart-to-heart discussion with their children especially on issues of sexuality, this book couldn’t have come at a more auspicious time. Written in a straight-forward and easy-to-comprehend language, the book will certainly go a long way in achieving the aims for which it was written.

(c) Reviewed by SUMAILA UMAISHA and published in the December 5th 2009 edition of New Nigerian newspaper.