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Tope Folarin on Accessibility

In this long but compelling essay in the LA Review of Books, Nigerian-American writer and winner of the 2013 Caine Prize Tọ́pẹ́ Fọlárìn discusses the challenge faced by new African writers trying to gain international recognition and being judged against a standard of “accessibility” set by selected role models.

The long essay slash book review is written in a smooth and accessible – he won’t like that word – style that sustains interest from beginning to end, making a valid argument against a single-story stereotyping of African stories that inevitably happens because of a conditioning of taste by the gatekeepers of the profession.

Here’s an excerpt:

It can be said that black artists who live in the United States or produce art that is consumed in the United States are “expected” to create certain kinds of art, but the reason these expectations exist is because some black artist has produced a pioneering work that, for any number of reasons, garners significant attention and is thus perceived by a predominantly white Western audience as the height of black achievement, the precise standard that every other black artist in the same field must strive to achieve in order for their work to be accessible to an audience that otherwise knows next to nothing about the community the black artist has emerged from.

I don’t know whether his conclusion in the essay point more to the laziness of popular culture that chooses instead to anoint one messenger in every generation and move on rather than spending time sampling every offering for a varied taste, or whether there indeed a nefarious effort against the thriving of a diverse minority voice from around the continent. What he insists on however – as the crux of the essay – is that thriving as a prominent voice in African literature often requires a combination of luck, accessibility in the right kind of way, and talent, not necessarily in that order.

Still worth a read.

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Photo: DailyMaverick.co.za

Three Writers Shortlisted for the Nigerian Literature prize

Out of the total of 173 entries received for the NLNG-sponsored Nigerian Literature Prize 2016, a shortlist of three has been released. This announcement follows an initial shortlist of eleven which was released in July. The three shortlisted entries, in alphabetic order, are:

Born on a Tuesday (Elnathan John)
Night Dancer (Chika Unigwe), and
Season of Crimson Blossoms (Abubakar Adam Ibrahim).

Born on a Tuesday, published by Parresia Books, is a story about contemporary northern Nigeria which has over the years experienced religious violence and carnage as seen through the eyes of a young man. Born on a Tuesday is Elnathan John’s first novel. John is a writer, lawyer and a Civitella Ranieri Fellow. He has also been shortlisted twice by the Caine Prize for African Writing.

Chika Unigwe’s Night Dancer, published by Jonathan Cape, focusses on the young protagonist’s search for identity and her consequent reappraisal of her mother’s values. This is Chika Unigwe’s second time on the fiction shortlist. She won in 2012 with her novel On Black Sisters’ Street. Unigwe sits on the Board of Trustees of pan-African literary initiative Writivism, and was recently appointed a judge for the Man Booker Prize, 2017.

Season of Crimson Blossoms is a novel set in conservative northern Nigeria. It focusses on unusual love affairs between characters, as well as ambiguities in religion and politics. Published by Cassava Republic Press, Season of Crimson Blossoms is Ibrahim’s debut novel. Ibrahim has won the BBC African Performance Prize and the Amatu Braide Prize for Prose. He is a Gabriel Garcia Marquez Fellow (2013) and a Civitella Ranieri Fellow (2015).

Three Writers Set for Artmosphere Lagos Reading

Artmosphere, one of Nigeria’s leading culture, literature and arts events, will be hosting three poets in the city of Lagos. The event will involve poetry readings and conversations from the myriad themes written by the poets. Poets, Peter Akinlabí, winner of the Sentinel Quarterly Poetry Competition and author of the Akashic chapbook, A Pagan Place, Níran Òkéwọlé, winner of the Muson Prize for Poetry and author of The Hate Artist, and Fẹ́mi Morgan, arts curator and author of Renegade. The Artmosphere Lagos event is in collaboration with Khalam editions, an imprint of an avant-garde publishing house, Khalam Publishers.

It is scheduled for 2pm on Saturday, 3rd of September, 2016 at the Patabah Bookstore, Shop B 18, Adéníran Ògúnsànyà Shopping Mall, Adéníran Ògúnsànya Street, Sùrùlérè, Lagos, Nigeria.

The poets were chosen for their philosophic disposition to persona, racial and global discourses, for their penchant to write outside the orientation of the popular style and artistic crafting. The book parley will be a gathering of Lagos residents and individuals who are interested in open conversations about art, social, political and cosmopolitan issues that affect our lives.

Artmosphere has curated literature, arts and culture events in Ibadan for the past five years. It has hosted writers, poets, philosophers, social and culture activists in the country, like Níyì Ọ̀súndáre, Tanure Ojaide, Sam Omatseye, Victor Ehikhamenor, Túndé Adégbọlá, Efe Paul Azino, Aiye Ola Mabiaku, Jùmọ̀kẹ́ Verissimo, Fúnmi Àlùkò, Ìfẹ́olúwa Adéníyì, Saddiq Dzukogi, Ahmed Maiwada, amongst others. It has also organized the Writer’s Notable Series, occasional readings in honour of exceptional writers and creative mentors in Nigeria, which hosted Tádé Ìpàdéọlá in Lagos, in 2013. Artmosphere Lagos will offer the Lagos public the arts, culture and literature conversations that has become a staple in the city of Ibadan.

NEWS: Artmosphere to Host Two Nigerian Writers

Artmosphere, one of Nigeria’s leading culture, music and literature events, will host Tanure Ojaide, Poet Laurete and Winner of the 2016 Folon Nicholos Prize, and Sam Omatseye, writer, columnist and Honourary Fellow of the Nigeria Academy of Letters. The event will engage the authors on their most recent works-‘Song of Myself’ by Tanure Ojaide and My Name is Okoro by Sam Omatseye. Other works written by these authors will also be discussed at the event.

‘Song of Myself’ is an offering from the Udje poetry tradion and the stylistic vision of the poet laurete, it talks about a myriad of themes including love, culture, politics, environment amongst others.It also speaks to the history of destruction of the cultural values of the Niger Delta. My Name is Okoro is an alternative narration of the Biafran war from the point of view of the Niger delta. It is the 49th anniversary of the Nigeria civil war, and yet it remains a ‘no go’ area in national discourse, the novel prods us to take a look at our nation and negotiate the ethnic relations of our landscape.

The event will hold at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan on Saturday, 23rd of July, 2016 by 3pm. It will be moderated by Femi Morgan, curator of Artmosphere and Adémọ́lá Adéṣọlá, a public intellectual, literary critic and book editor. Entry is free.

Artmosphere is curated as a social enterprise since 2011. It is a book, arts, music and culture event that has engendered artistic and intellectual, social and political conversations and creating a community of readers and writers. It has hosted the likes of Niyi Osundare, Victor Ehikhamenor, Efe Paul Azino, Túndé Adégbọlá, Chuma Nwokolo, Aýeọlá Mabiaku, Tádé Ìpàdéọlá, amongst others and has organised creative writing workshops in the city of Ibadan.

NLNG Releases a Shortlist of 11 for 2016

According to the Advisory Board for The Nigeria Prize for Literature, led by Emeritus Professor Ayo Banjo, 11 Nigerian authors have been shortlisted for this year’s Literature Prize for Prose Fiction, worth $100,000. This initial shortlist was drawn from 173 books.

Here are the authors (resident in the country and outside) and their work in the shortlist:

Chika Unigwe (winner of the prize in 2012): Night Dancer (2014).
Ogochukwu Promise (author of over fifteen novels): Sorrow’s Joy
Yejide Kilanko (a writer of poetry and fiction): Daughters Who Walk This Path.
Ifeoma Okoye (a writer and author of children’s literature): The Fourth World
Sefi Atta (author of Everything Good Will Come): A Bit of Difference
Abubakar Adam Ibrahim (writer and journalist): Season of Crimson Blossoms
Ifeoluwa Adeniyi (radio broadcaster): On the Bank of the River
Elnathan John (lawyer and writer): Born On A Tuesday
Aramide Segun (winner of an ANA Prose Prize): Eniitan Daughter of Destiny
Maryam Awaisu (radio presenter): Burning Bright
Mansim Chumah Okafor (author of two previous books of fiction): The Parable of the Lost Shepherds

The list was presented by the chairman, panel of judges for this year’s prize, Prof. Dan Izevbaye, well-respected literary critic and a professor of English Language at Bowen University, Iwo. Other members of the panel of judges include Professor Asabe Usman Kabir, Professor of Oral and African Literatures at Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto and Professor Isidore Diala, a professor of African Literature at Imo State University, Owerri and first winner of The Nigeria Prize for Literary Criticism.

“The Nigeria Prize for Literature has, since 2004, rewarded eminent writers such as Gabriel Okara (co-winner, 2004, poetry), Professor Ezenwa Ohaeto (co-winner, 2004, poetry) for The Dreamer, His Vision; Ahmed Yerima (2005, drama) for his play, Hard Ground; Mabel Segun (co-winner, 2007, children’s literature) for her collection of short plays Reader’s Theatre; Professor Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo (co-winner, 2007, children’s literature) for her book, My Cousin Sammy; Kaine Agary (2008, prose) for her book Yellow Yellow; Esiaba Irobi (2010, drama) who clinched the prize posthumously with his book Cemetery Road; Adeleke Adeyemi (2011, children’s literature) with his book The Missing Clock; Chika Unigwe (2012, prose), with her novel, On Black Sisters Street; Tade Ipadeola (2013, poetry) with his collection of poems, The Sahara Testaments and Professor Sam Ukala (2014, drama) with his play, Iredi War.”

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