By Femi Morgan and Umoren David
The evening was cosy after a lurch downpour accompanied by a soft interplay of syncopated rhythms and improvisation by Seun Olota-led band, Extasi, inciting some musing thrall followed by a playlet, ‘What’s this About’ by Toyin Osinaike and Simi. The presentation was a petite satirical display demonstrating the country’s systems’ failure. This ushered in hordes of people from all walks of life to the much-anticipated NLNG/CORA Book Party featuring the 11 initial shortlisted authors in the 2016 Nigeria Prize for Literature on July 31, at the Agip Hall of the Muson Centre in Lagos.
The 11 and their titles are Maryam Awaisu’s Burning Bright, Sefi Atta’s A Bit of a Difference, Mansim Okafor’s The Parable of the Lost Shepherds, Chika Unigwe’s Night Dancer, Ifeoma Okoye’s The Lost World, El-Nathan John’s Born on a Tuesday, Ogochukwu Promise’s Sorrow’s Joy and Abubakar Adam Ibrahim’s Season of Crimson Blossoms.
Others are Yejide Kilanko’s Daughters Who Walk this Path, Ifeoluwapo Adeniyi’s On the Bank of the River and Aramide Segun’s Enitan.
Of the 11, only three (Awaisu, Segun and Adeniyi) were physically present at the occasion. Others were connected via Skype, except for Atta, Promise and Unigwe who were unavoidably absent.
The party unfolded its various activities which culminated in readings from the works, and questioning segment moderated by author of the collection of poems, Clinical Blues, Dami Ajayi.
The session lasted for hours with a recurrent theme on the difficulty in publishing and with the publishing houses in Nigeria. This was spurred by the experiences encountered by most of the authors in previous publications and that resulted in vanity publishing.
Some of the writers demonstrated a woeful inclination towards the state of publishing in Nigeria. They described the situation as a structural problem that needs to be addressed. They posited that for most book publishers, survival comes first before quality service, which the authors were in agreement, should not be the case.
For Adeniyi, “It is the problem of reading and writing. We do not value these cultures.” The dearth of education in the country is so thick, she said.
The writers emphasised the need for restructuring of publishing houses as well as government’s involvement in the establishment of paper mills in the country, thereby reducing the cost of production. This they said would encourage creative authors to partner effectively with indigenous publishing firms and discourage self-publishing and patronage to foreign publishing firms.
In reaction to the gloom in the publishing industry, General Manager, External Relations, Nigeria LNG Ltd, Kudo Eresia-Eke, noted that leading voices must try to inspire people despite poor reading culture in the country. The shortlisted writers, he added, are now voices for their society.
He also addressed the lack of good leadership, saying that not everyone in government is a true leader, urging the people to choose their leaders and respond to issues affecting them.
Okoye didn’t hold back her breath on the theme. Her bitter experience induced the quest for vanity publishing which she prescribed as the best due to the factors surrounding the state of publishing firms in Nigeria.
The three women also spoke about their books, Adeniyi’s On the Bank of the River is about Enitan, a coming-of-age narrative of a girl growing up with a strict single mother. Awaisu’s Burning Bright is about Nadia, a character whose struggles with sickle cell anemia shows a nuance of swinging emotions about choices, love and care. Segun, who recently released Enitan after five years, explained that her book exposes the imbalances in modern family life and the pretentiousness of love in a home.
Okoye said her book, The Fourth World, is about the less-privileged in the society. Kilanko noted that her book, Daughters Who Walk this Path, was inspired by her social work experience in Ibadan, Oyo State. The book, which was first published in Canada, had progress on the international scene than in Nigeria due to the publishing challenges in the country.
El-Nathan John described Ajayi’s question about the NLNG prize money as a poverty conversation. He noted that focus should be on the works rather than the prize. He also noted that his novel, Born on a Tuesday, is deeply steeped in Northern storytelling culture, describing the realities and silences of life in the region.
Abubakar Adam Ibrahim said his book was written as a ventilation of loss and a collective memory of the losses of many people. Season of Crimson Blossoms tells a story of a young man in an amorous relationship with an older woman in the North. It also describes social, cultural and political shifts that are not talked about. Mansim Okafor said his book, The Parable of the Lost Shepherds, was inspired by his visit to Nigeria from his United States. It talks about the breakdown of the cultural glue and family relations due to the sentiments and doctrines of the new wave of Pentecostalism.
The party pages flipped and the Young’uns from Bariga popularly known as the Footprints of David accentuated their strides through poetry and a relish of traditional dance. They, through their creativity, also stole the show.
Eresia-Eke said the NLNG considers this as one of its initiatives to improve the society in which it does business. For NLNG, a robust engagement of the literary space will improve cultural interaction and engender a public culture that will permeate society, creating the change we all desire. He noted that the firm has greatly improved the climate by helping to cut down on gas flaring in the country and being the biggest tax contributor.
The shortlisted novels were chosen from 173 entries from Nigerians and Nigerians in Diaspora. Seven are by Diaspora writers, while one of the Nigerian resident writers is currently on a writing residency in Germany. The 2016 winner of the Nigeria LNG Prize for Literature will earn $100,000 (about N30 million).
General Secretary, Committee for Relevant Arts (CORA), Toyin Akinosho, described the event as one of its annual events that shore up the visibility of the writers and the ideas in their works. He said the works depict the African condition either in the Diaspora or at home and leave their readers with a proselytised questioning of African cosmopolitanism.
Akinosho also hinted that the shortlist encompasses a wide range of literary generations, from Okoye, a septuagenarian professor whose first book was published in the 1980s, to Adeniyi, a broadcaster in her late 20s whose first adult novel was published last year. He also noted that women have taken the centre stage of fiction writing in the country.
For Akinosho, the book party begins a conversation around the shortlisted titles and prepares readers and writers for other culture engagements such as the Lagos Book and Arts Festival (LABAF) scheduled for November.
• Morgan and David are Lagos-based writers.
