The road to the top of the writing
career in Nigeria is fraught with a lot of challenges. Sometimes it is a mix of
high and low moments, sadness and joy, disappointments and successes; and at
other times it is just one straight sad story. But with hard work, diligence,
patience, perseverance, perspicacity, and sometimes an element of luck, one can
still make a success of it.
The problem is that many younger
Nigerian writers, those who are based in Nigeria, seem too impatient. They are
often in a haste to publish and in the process make a lot of regrettable
mistakes. The other problem is that once they fail in that first attempt, they
begin to think the door is permanently shut; that there is absolutely no hope
for them to even raise their heads above the level where they are. They blame
the harsh Nigerian environment; and they conclude that they won’t succeed
unless they travel overseas. Then they justify their stance with ready names of
writers who, according to them, wouldn’t have succeeded if they hadn’t
travelled to Oyibo man’s country.
Well, there may be some merit in the
argument about one environment being more conducive than the other. However, it
doesn’t tell the whole story. It doesn’t tell us, for instance, that while for
a number of Nigerian writers we only heard about them when they found
themselves outside the country, the general rule is that many others started
here, made a success of their writing career here, and won international
laurels while still here. Thereafter, some relocated overseas while others
stayed back, keeping the fire alive. It doesn’t also tell us that Chinua
Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, which has today been translated into over 50
world languages, was written right here in Nigeria; nor does it say that that
masterpiece was actually rejected a number of times before Heinemann eventually
reluctantly accepted to publish it. And it doesn’t tell us that Helon Habila,
author of the award-winning Waiting for an Angel (Commonwealth
Writers Prize for New Writing) and Measuring Time (the Caine
Prize), began his writing career here.
A little about Helon Habila. Born in
Kaltungo, present-day Gombe State, Helon first worked as a teacher in Bauchi
before moving over to Lagos, where he first wrote for Hints Magazine,
and then Vanguard. Interestingly, Helon wrote Waiting for an Angel
while in Nigeria and won the Commonwealth Prize from here, before proceeding to
the UK for a fellowship, then a PhD, and then to the United States as the first
Chinua Achebe Fellow at Bard College.
In a brief chat with him in Abuja
during the 2010 Fidelity Creative Writing Workshop which he facilitated, and in
which I happened to be one of the about 20 participants, Helon told me that, in
his reckoning, up-and-coming Nigerian writers have better chances of making it
today than he had when he was an aspiring writer.
“We have a democracy now, even
though it is not where we want it to be. But basically, things are freer now.
There are actually indigenous publishing companies that publish, places like
Cassava Republic and Farafina. There weren’t any when I was trying to get
published in 1999/2000. So, it was bleaker. Plus there was a dictatorship then;
you couldn’t think; you had no freedom; you couldn’t do what you wanted to do.
But now I think it’s much better,” Helon said in that interview.
“Now they have models. There are
people like Chimamanda Adichie who have done it. And if you want to look at
men, there are people like me who have done it, people like Bi Bandele, and so
on. So, they can actually not say that they can’t do it because it’s not been
done, or because it’s impossible. They have exemplars, they have people who
have done it, and we started from here. It’s not as if I was born in America or
London, no; or I wrote my book there, no. Actually, I lived here and I wrote it
here and I got it published here. People like Tricia Nwaubani are even living
here now and they’ve won Commonwealth prizes. So, I think things are better
than they were, and any other person who wants to do this has no excuse not to
achieve, or not to go as far as the skies, if that is what you want,” he added.
Very reassuring words for the
conscientious aspiring writer! And you can add a list of other Nigerian writers
who live here and are making a success of their career right here in Nigeria.
You can also add that the NLNG-sponsored Nigeria Prize for Literature has over
the years virtually been won by home-based writers, with the foreign league
occasionally strolling in. That’s a big statement. So, unless you decide to
kill the spirit, just know that you can get to where you want to, no matter
your location, if you work hard at it.
One more thing: don’t be discouraged
if publishers do not readily accept to publish your work. And don’t abuse them.
Don’t complain that they only accept works from known writers. Just try to
understand with them. Think of it, these publishing companies are in business;
they are taking on writers that can guarantee quick return on their investment.
If you were in their shoes you’d probably do the same. Just keep writing, and
keep using online platforms to push out your works. Someday, if you work hard
enough, and if you stand out, publishers will be falling over themselves to
publish your book.
In concluding, the words of Akachi
Ezeigbo, accomplished writer and professor of English at the University of
Lagos, in a recent interview I had with her, come in handy: “You see, writing
is not all about producing a manuscript and rushing to the publisher or the
printing press to print it out. There is a kind of programme that any work must
pass through for it to come out well. That’s why there are publishers. Overseas
they have literary agents and editors before the publisher comes in. A book
really has to go through these processes if it has to come out well. But when you
just produce a manuscript this year, and you are in too much of a hurry, three
months you go and print it, no matter how talented you are, that book will
suffer some disadvantages. Many people may be having this problem because they
are too impatient; not because they are not writing well, but because they are
not following due process. There is due process in writing too. There are
trained editors, and you need to let them see your work. There are publishing
houses in Nigeria which have good editors, and if they publish you, they are
not in a hurry. So, I think the writer should be more patient and tarry a while
to edit and re-edit before publishing.”
I rest my pen!
