By AnoteAjeluorou
PERHAPS the most radical outcome of
the NB/Farafina Trust’s Creative Writers Workshop that came to a close last Friday
with a Farafina Literary Eevening was Kenyan writer’s proposition of a literary
community and friendship as a means of broadening the literary space. It had
arisen from a conversation one of the facilitators, Binyavanga Wainaina (author
of One day I Will Write about this Place), had with
workshop coordinator, Chimamanda Adichie. Adichie had amplified it at the
closing conversation with the three facilitators (the others being Rob Spillman
and Jeff Allen from U.S).
Wainaina had affirmed that it was
important that writers formed communities of two or more people to support each
other in the creative process. He noted that the importance of literary
friendship was to make writing breathe in any given country. He charged the
workshop participants to use the opportunity wisely, saying that the current
generation had unbelievable opportunities, which he said did not reside in oil
and gas but the need to be committed to writing fully.
Spillman also agreed, saying
writing transcended boundaries and impregnable borders and that only through
writing communities could writing and the messages embedded in writing spread
to a wider audience. Allen recounted how contact with other writers like
Adichie came about through such writing community when he previously traveled
to Kenya for a workshop.
Also, the ever-persistent question
of how to stimulate interest in reading also came up for the four accomplished
writers. Wainaina put it down to failure of many educational systems, where
emphasis was not on reading for the pleasure of fun of it but only for
examination purposes. He also blamed poor politicking for the reading woe,
saying, “Something has been stolen from us, something political and spiritual.
Somebody has stolen something from us”, and stressed the need to regain
whatever it was that has been stolen from the populace to correct the anomaly.
While agreeing with Wainaina
on the educational front, Adichie would not be so persimistic about itbut said
although some sort of reading was going on, she wasn’t sure the sort of things
being read. “I’m not persimistic”, she said. “I think that people are reading
more today than 10 years ago. Social media really good but time spent in them
should be spent reading. Like Binyavanga said, the educational system has
failed. People read but what are they reading? Literature is important; it’s
about having fun, learning, and thinking deep. Do parents read themselves to
encourage their children to read? It’s okay for all of us to bemoan lack of
reading but we must start reading.”
On what constitute the
African story, Adichie discounted such a thing as African story, saying a story
should have sufficient human elements of the good and bad, including the
dreams, hopes and aspirations of human beings fully expressed. She further noted
that the story should be less about the subject as how it is done to realise
that person as a full human being. Spillman said the story should be about the
human person, and added, “I don’t read to have preconceptions reinforced. I ask
for the stories behind the headlines”. Allen said writers were always obligated
to the truth about the story. And, such truth, Adichie added, was “important as
writing required emotional truth and honesty, ability to offend”, when
necessary.
Allen expressed the view
that Nigerians have abundant energy, drive and ambition, saying, “I really had
a fantastic time” although he had to visit the Nigerian Embassy in New York
five times to get a visa. Spillman commented on the energy he noticed, adding,
“I love the energy and the creativity everywhere, although slightly
dysfunctional. You wonder how these things work, but they do work”.
Wainaina, who has been part of the
workshop since inception, said, “Every time I come renewed. There are a few
places I’ve been where there is a battle between good and evil but the good is
winning. There’s something extremely powerful about here (Nigeria)”.
EARLIER, Farafina CEO, Muktar
Bakare said the 20 participants for fourth edition of the workshop were drawn
from Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Cameroun, U.K. and the U.S. thus making it
the most broad-based workshop so far. He said the workshop was giving
opportunities for aspiring writers to find their own voices in their craft. He
expressed his optimism about the future of creative writing in Africa with the
quality of writers the workshop was training. He expressed gratitude to Nigeria
Breweries Plc for the support, saying the company was acting in the true sense
of culture patrons all over the world in supporting creativity.
Bakare paid glowing tributes to the four workshop
facilitators, whose individual talents he said was gradually creating global
recognition for it. He described Kenyan Wainaina as “a force of nature, a great
bridge-builder; he picks talents across Africa and introduces them to the
world”. He said Allen has continued to open doors for African writers all over
the world while Spillman “was committed to the creation of literature from
across cultures, especially his quest in always asking for new things and
always looking for opportunities from the best we have”.
For the home girl, Adichie, Bakare didn’t say much as her
dedication to the promotion of local talent has become legendary. He only
charged the workshop participants to “Please, do read, and write, too!”
On his part, Managing
Director and Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian Breweries Plc, Mr. Nicolaas
Vervelde, said, “It is always a great pleasure for me to be part of this
gathering of distinguished men and women of letters… Four years ago, Nigerian
Breweries began a partnership with Farafina Trust to sponsor the Creative
Writers Workshop. It is a partnership founded on our desire to encourage the
development of literary writing skills in Nigeria as part of our strategic
corporate initiatives towards talent development and youth empowerment.
Nigerian Breweries remains at the forefront of providing this kind of enduring
platforms to nurture Nigeria’s abundant talents”.
Vervelde also stated that the underlying vision for the
workshop and other CSR activities of the Nigeria Breweries Plc was “to harness
these talents. This country has amazing talents; it’s about the development of
these energetic, rough diamonds that we want to do. Adichie is the spiritual
leader of the workshop, and we cannot thank her enough”.
He expressed the hope that the workshop experience would
help the participants to improve their talents and develop as writers, adding,
“We hope that in a few years we will have the class of Ben Okri, Wole Soyinka
and other great Nigerian writers”.
Adichie, too, expressed her appreciation for the sponsorship
from Nigeria Breweries Plc, especially to its CEO, Vervelde, whom she described
as “having a warm humility about him and a genuine interest in developing
talents in Nigeria”. She also saluted his brother, Key Adichie, who manages the
NB/Farafina Trust, organisers of the creative writing workshop, saying, “My
brother with whom I grew up reading books” and her parents, for their faith in
her early in life, when they allowed her to switch from medicine to literature.
On the workshop, Adichie said, “We had a wonderful group
this year; I just love to teach writing”. While reading the citation of each of
the 20 participants present, Adichie was full of warm words for them, spelling
out their individual strengths as exposed in their workshop pieces and their
respective qualities and traits while at the workshop.
On their experiences coming to Nigeria to teach creative
writing, Spillman said, “When you’re in the U.S., you have an impression of
Nigeria, but it has been impressive coming here. My home is really in stories
in literature. From my parentage, I’m a normad. I couldn’t happier with the
students because they did what was expected of them”.
Allen was pleased to be in Nigeria for the second time,
adding, “It’s been an amazing experience. I enjoyed working with all the
writers; very fantastic”. He read from a new book he is working on due out next
year.
Three participant writers stood out from the crowd among the
21 writers. While two of them – Richard Alli (author of A City of Memories) and
Yetunde Omotosho (South Africa-based author of Bom Boy and
daughter of renowned writer, scholar and critic, Prof. Kole Omotosho) are
published authors, the other is Kano-based journalist with Abdulaziz Ahmed
Abdulaziz, with Blueprint newspaper.
To spice up the evening was
songstress, Onyaka Onwenu, who was praised to the high heavens by the duo of
Bakare and Adichie. She pelted the literary audience with melodies from her
evergreen repertoire. And they danced and sang along with her inside the Grand
Ballroom of Eko Hotel and Suites, Lagos.
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