On creative writing workshops in Nigeria

Creative writing workshops have flourished in the country in the past few years. CHUKS OLUIGBO writes that these workshops, since inception, have equipped aspiring writers with necessary tools to pursue and realise their dreams

While flipping through the pages of a national newspaper one misty evening in May 2010, Stanley Azuakola, then an undergraduate student of University of Benin, stumbles on an ad announcing the 2010 Fidelity Bank Creative Writing Workshop to be facilitated by Helon Habila, Nigeria-born award-winning author and Creative Writing teacher at George Mason University, Virginia, USA. Habila, the ad says, is to be assisted by Madeleine Thien, an Asian-Canadian novelist, and Tsitsi Dangeremgba, a Zimbabwean screenwriter.

Burning with zeal to be part of the workshop, which he sees as a great opportunity to network as well as learn from the experts and fine-tune the budding writing talent in him, Azuakola quickly goes into his bank of short stories, picks one that he thinks is his best, which is also within the 800-word limit specified by the ad, and quickly sends it to the email address provided. Weeks later, he receives a reply informing him that he is one of the 20, out of over 1,000 young Nigerians that applied, selected to participate in the workshop.

And so, from July 16 through 22, Azuakola sat at Gracepoint Resort Hotel, Wuse, Abuja, 9am to 6pm daily, with 19 other aspiring writers from across the country, listening, reading, learning, interacting, sharing, exchanging ideas, experimenting, and battling with numerous writing exercises – with the trio of Helon, Madeleine and Tsitsi mentoring.

Today, three years down the line, Azuakola, who says the week at the Fidelity Creative Writing Workshop was his first time to physically be in the same room with writers, whether established or aspiring, tells me the experience remains one of the most enjoyable, memorable and impactful in his life. “These days I write more of non-fiction pieces, but the influence of that one week always shines through in my work as a reporter, columnist and editor. From the minutiae like being more aware of the common mistakes young (and old) writers make to the more nuanced issues like knowing how to creatively arrange a piece, the experience has always come in handy. There's also the aspect of the solid network of like-minded people built as a result of the one week encounter. More than anything for me, however, the biggest gain was what it did to my mind. Listening to and learning from those award-winning authors in an exclusive environment did something to the way I saw the world and my place in it as a writer. It's hard to describe, but suddenly I could see possibilities more clearly,” he says.

Like Azuakola, many aspiring writers in Nigeria are availing themselves of the opportunity provided by creative writing workshops to rediscover, brush up, fine-tune and polish their raw creative writing talents.

The first celebrated creative writing workshop in the country in recent memory, a collaboration between Farafina and Fidelity Bank, was held in 2007. Facilitated by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, award-winning author of Purple Hibiscus and other novels, that pioneer class had the likes of Uche Peter Umez, Jumoke Verissimo, Eghosa Imasuen, Tolu Ogunlesi, among others. The primary goal of the workshop was to improve the craft of writers and to encourage published and unpublished writers by bringing different perspectives to the art of storytelling.

While Farafina has gone ahead with the Farafina Trust Creative Writing Workshop, supported by Nigerian Breweries plc since 2009 (with an initial donation of N7 million that year), Fidelity Bank shortly began a separate workshop. Both workshops have trained many aspiring writers every year since inception, and have attracted facilitators such as Kenyan writer Binyavanga Wainaina, Aminatta Forna, Sally Keith, Chika Unigwe (winner of the 2012 Nigeria LNG Prize for Literature), South African writer Niq Mhlongo, Ghanaian writer Ama Ata Aidoo, etc.

The workshops usually take the form of a class, where participants are assigned a wide range of reading exercises, as well as daily writing exercises. The participants are expected to receive sufficient training in the art of creative writing so that they could, in the long run, contribute meaningfully to the development of literature in this part of the world.

In his message to the 2012 class of Farafina Trust Creative Writing Workshop, the managing director/CEO of Nigerian Breweries plc, Nicolaas Vervelde, said the workshop has impacted on Nigerian writing positively. “I have no doubt that this special workshop has helped in no small way to improve the skills of Nigerian writers, as well as encouraged both published and unpublished writers by giving them a platform to fulfil the urge for self-expression. I believe our mutual objective is being realised as the creative writers’ workshop continues to attract huge interest within and outside of Nigeria…. It is our hope that the writers that have emerged from this workshop will have the potential to become future Nobel laureates in literature,” he said.

And indeed, some success stories have been recorded from the workshops. These would include Uche Peter Umez, Eghosa Imasuen, Jumoke Verissimo, Jude Dibia, Tolu Ogunlesi, Nze Sylva Ifedigbo, A. Igoni Barret, Gimba Kakanda, Richard Ali, Chinyere Iwuala Obi-Obasi, Ifesinachi Okoli, Fred Chiagozie Nwonwu, among others.

Uche Umez tells me that the writing workshops he attended have impacted on his writing career in many ways. “First, you are made to realise writing is an art that demands passion, discipline and hard work. Secondly, you can’t be a good writer if you don’t read widely,” he says.

He re-echoes what Reginald Ihejiahi, managing director/CEO of Fidelity Bank, told the 2012 set of Fidelity Bank Workshop participants: “You need to learn. If you don’t read enough, you’re not likely going to write well.” And these workshops are providing that opportunity for aspiring Nigerian writers to read, learn, and better themselves.

Assessing his progress since after the first workshop, Umez says it has been steady, adding, however, that he’s still a work-in-progress. He adds, “I needed the experience at the time, and for every writer, any experience, however little, is integral to their development.”

And truly, Umez has made steady progress, putting his workshop experiences to practice through hard work. Today, even though he tells Henry Onyema in an interview that he doesn’t think prizes define the strength of Nigerian literature, Umez has gone on to win several literary laurels, including ANA/Funtime Prize for Children's Literature, 2007 and 2008 (with Sam and the Wallet and The Christmas Gift, respectively); laureate, UNESCO-Aschberg, Sanskriti Kendra, India (2009); winner, Bath Spa Creative Writing Competition, UK; and his short stories have been highly commended in the Commonwealth Short Story Competition. He was the runner-up for the 2007 Nigeria LNG Prize for Literature, where he was shortlisted alongside Mabel Segun and Akachi Ezeigbo, two Nigerian literary giants. His Runaway Hero also made the shortlist for the 2011 LNG prize.

Like Umez, Tolu Ogunlesi, another success story, agrees that writing workshops have proved to be invaluable opportunities for inspiration and networking, and they have also helped him build communities he can reach out to for guidance in his writing career. Yet, he does not think he can directly connect his career progress with the workshops he has attended. “I don't think workshops help people win awards. And they certainly can't turn non-writers into writers,” he tells me.

And he may be right, considering that there are also many others who have participated in some of these writing workshops over the years but have not found – and may never find – a foothold in the writing world. Of course, as always, many are called but few are chosen.

Could he have done without the workshop experience then? “Yes, absolutely,” Ogunlesi says. “I think I could have done without a workshop experience. Workshops are not magic wands. They're useful opportunities, no doubt, but they're not indispensable.”

He also believes that writing workshops should be encouraged. “Writing is often a solitary task. Writers need the communities and networks and inspiration that workshops help produce/provide. I think we can never have too many of them, especially in Nigeria where writing courses and publication outlets (periodicals) are not as common as they should be.”

Besides the two major writing workshops in the country, other workshops have also sprung up. Abuja Writers’ Forum (AWF), led by Emman Usman Shehu, for instance, has in recent times been organising series of creative writing workshops on all genres of literature.

Azuakola also makes a case for the encouragement of writing workshops in the country. Even though he believes he might have been able to pursue his writing dream with or without a workshop, he does not doubt that writing workshops are relevant and perform a very useful service not just to the individual writers like him who are privileged to participate, but also for the Nigerian literary community which looks forward yearly to these workshops. “We also must not forget that lots of outstanding writers have passed through the workshops and have gone on to produce brilliant works. Whereas some may still have pursued their dreams to fruition without passing through the workshops, for most others, the workshops served as the boost, the catalyst and the smoothener,” he says.

For Okechukwu Egboluche, an aspiring writer, who has applied for writing workshops in the past, creative writing workshops are necessary because learning is an ongoing process, especially for writers. “Nobody has a monopoly of knowledge,” he says. “Creative writing workshop gives budding writers the opportunity to learn new tips from established writers. It is also an opportunity to interact and network with other budding writers too. Iron sharpens iron. Interacting with like minds in the course of the workshop and even after the workshop would help writers to remain committed and improve in the craft. For a writer who is still trying to grow in the craft to interact one-on-one with writers that have made their mark and are still waxing strong in the craft, like Chimamanda Adichie, Helon Habila, Binyavanga Wainaina, Madeliene Thien, etc, is enough motivation that would enable them to do more to succeed.”

He further says that much as Creative Writing is a discipline studied in higher institutions, even though not yet available in the country, many writers succeed not because of their discipline but because of their talent and commitment to it. Thus, for him, writers like him who did not study Creative Writing or Literature see creative writing workshops as an opportunity to learn the nitty-gritty of writing.

This is exactly what Helon Habila, himself multiple award-winning author of Waiting for an Angel, Measuring Time and other great books, has consistently told participants at his workshops over the years: There is no university in Nigeria offering degree programme in Creative Writing. Creative writing workshops, therefore, are one way of getting skills in creative writing in the country, and those who are lucky to be selected should consider it a privilege.