It was an evening of literature and art and fun on August 9 at the Rele Gallery, Onikan, Lagos when Toni Kan and Victor Ehikhamenor a.k.a. Suzaboy were locked in conversation. For those who still think the above-mentioned three, that is, literature, art and fun don’t mix very well, it was an opportunity to have another think. Not only was the hall filled, the guests were there early and stayed till the end of the gathering and didn’t want to leave. Even the many who didn’t have a place to sit down! So magical was the gathering that in the two or so hours it took to hold the conversation moderated by Wana Udobang it was clear to see that this novel gathering, which the organisers said is the first of many to come, has managed to make writing sexy again. And, like Toni Kan said, is well on the way to “make writing a value creating enterprise”.
Writing, he said, is not easy and if you do it well you should be paid well.
The writer, Toni Kan and the artist, who also writes, Sozaboy, read from their works, the former from Nights of the Creaking Bed, a story collection and the latter from Excuse Me!, also a collection of sorts comprising even some of his works of art most of which were on display in the gallery space that held the guests.
Sozaboy opened with ‘My Mother, Information Management Czar’ which he dedicated to his mum, whom he said had recently passed on. The witty and very engaging write-up was taken from page 137 of his book. Toni Kan followed with “The Car they Borrowed’, equally funny and engaging.
When they took a break from reading the question of quality of writing today, writing fiction and sundry issues came up before Sozaboy, who said after the event that he got his moniker back in his university days when his class had studied the text by Ken Saro-Wiwa and he had fallen in love with the character, read from ‘Love Letters’. That got most of the guests excited to no end. Then it was the turn of Toni Kan to read an excerpt from his forthcoming novel titled ‘The Carnivorous City’ and due next year.
There was also talk about how technology like the internet is affecting writing because the freedom it allows may be easily abused.
“One hundred and forty characters are nice, but writing a 1400-word essay is another thing all together,” Toni Kan, who had earlier said that his last book has sold 10,000 copies, stated.
“It’s good for breaking news but not for serious writing,” Sozaboy said, adding that the quality of writing has deteriorated thanks to the internet which allows all comers. He then went on to read from ‘Blindness at the top’ a write of his published in the New York Times.
Some lucky guests walked away with book gifts and the posters that announced the event.
Ehikhamenor, who helped put the reading together, told TheNiche afterwards that the plan is to feature different writers as time goes on.
“This is just to jumpstart it and create some excitement around literature and art. My thinking is that we should marry both of them because artists and writers are not even communicating with each other. I picked Toni Kan because he understands my work and I understand his work. We didn’t just talk as writers the works around here are all mine,” he said.
Toni Kan said the large crowd was an indication that people are still in love with reading.
“People are reading. We make the mistake, as I say every time, look inside a bus driving on the Third Mainland Bridge, you see girls reading novels, all second hand foreign books,” he said.
Told that most of those people are reading motivational books, he countered that they are reading all the same.
“So, maybe we are not writing what is inspiring them to read us. My last book has sold almost 10000 copies. Who read it? Not goats, not evil spirits. People bought it so I think that we should begin to change what we write. I think that is the problem we have; why can’t we write stories that sound like Nollywood? If they can watch Nollywood, why can’t they read our stories? Maybe we are being too elitist, we think that writing has to be elitist, Soyinka-esque. It has to be something that people will find assessable and also real to them. Chimamanda’s books sell very well. So what is she writing that people are reading? Is it because she is Chimamanda? Is it because they were well written? Or is it because she struck a chord?”
