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Nothing could beat
the eloquence of a writer at the Farafina Trust Literary evening on May
29 at the Civic Centre. Marking the end of a 10-day Creative Writing
Workshop, the literary evening infused music into readings by the
workshop facilitators – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Chika Unigwe, Niq
Mhlongo, and Binyavanga Wainaina. Foremost Ghanaian writer, Ama Ata
Aidoo, was the special guest of honour.

Welcoming the
audience, publisher of Farafina Books and trustee of Farafina Trust,
Muhtar Bakare, said the workshop was a way of ensuring that people take
control of their own stories. “Literature is very important,” he said.
“Ideas lead change in society (and) literature helps us to qualify
these ideas.”

Talent-spotting

CEO of Nigerian
Breweries Plc, Paul Hamers, said the event was a stimulating
experience. He said NB Plc were proud sponsors of the workshop which
empowers youth, especially as part of their aims is to spot and nurture
the diverse creative talent in Nigeria. Praising the award-winning
Adichie as “an icon of hope and a role model,” he asked her to set to
work on releasing another work, as he had read her first three.

Two of the authors
currently reigning on Nigeria’s literary scene opened the floor for
readings over the course of the evening. Both winners of the
Commonwealth Best First Book prize (Africa Region), Sade Adeniran and
Adaobi Nwaubani read from their debut novels, ‘Imagine This’ and ‘I Do
Not Come To You By Chance’, which won in 2008 and 2010 respectively.

Next was the
presentation of certificates to the workshop’s 20 participants. Bakare
assisted Adichie with handing out the certificates to the aspiring
writers who were a mix of bankers, scientists, broadcasters, and
actors. What followed was a sign that these latest twenty had no mean
competition to contend with.

After the
presentation, each of the facilitators delivered a 10-minute reading.
Adichie read from an untitled work in progress. It was the voice of a
young girl, whose parents had turned a blind eye to the fact that her
liberal aunt was a general’s mistress, and not his protégé as they
chose to believe.

Unigwe, author of
the award-winning ‘The Phoenix’ read from ‘On Black Sisters’ Street’,
her most recent novel about Nigerian prostitutes in Belgium. She read
the part where one of the characters, Ama, had agreed to join Senghor
Dele’s prostitution ring in Antwerp’s red light districts.

Caine winner,
Wainaina, enlisted the help of Nigerian writer, Eghosa Imasuen, to read
from a play about Lagos titled, ‘Shine Your Eye.’ Wainaina had the
author of ‘To Saint Patrick’ read the excerpt because it was written in
Pidgin English and Wainaina, a Kenyan, “can not be seen speaking Pidgin
in public.” Wainaina then read an excerpt from his uncompleted memoir,
tentatively titled, ‘I Will One Day Write About This Place.’ South
African author of ‘Dog Eat Dog’, Niq Mhlongo, read the first chapter of
his second book, ‘After Tears’, but not before telling the audience how
pleased he was to be in Nigeria for the first time. The title of the
book, he explained, was drawn from the period following mourning when
South Africans drowned their sorrows in beer.

Ego-rubbing

It was then time
for the 30-minute session featuring special guest of honour and one of
Africa’s foremost female writers, Ama Ata Aidoo, Ghanaian author of the
plays, ‘Anowa’ and ‘The Dilemma of a Ghost.’ Highlighting the “fiery
female” characters in Aidoo’s works as well as her “clear, lucid
sentences”, Adichie praised the author’s creativity as an inspiration.
“I occupy the space of a black African happy feminist because writers
like Ama Ata Aidoo came before me. Her storytelling nurtured mine,”
Adichie said, “I feel a deep gratitude to her for my writing.” The
author of ‘Purple Hibiscus’ hailed Aidoo’s prowess as short story
writer, poet, dramatist, essayist, and academic. She called her a
thinker, teacher, enabler, and inspirer.

Aidoo expressed
surprise at “the kind of ego-rubbing I have received here today.”
Reciprocating the honour given her in the citation read by Adichie,
Aidoo said before leaving Ghana for Lagos, she made sure to mention
during every conversation that she was coming to Lagos as a part of a
workshop organised by Adichie.

“We didn’t even
know that you knew her” or “Now you are claiming to know her too” were
some of the reactions she received when she made the ‘revelation.’
“These reactions from her fans in Accra describe a solid appreciation
of her works because they don’t know her personally. I was ordered to
let you know, Chimamanda, how much they appreciate you.”

Blame the hurricanes on Africa

Aidoo pointed out
that good writing is eternal, and is accepted the same way across time
and space. She thanked young writers and book lovers present for
showing their support and appreciation for writers, saying it was a
good way to rubbish the statement that if you do not want Africans to
see anything, put it in a book.

She then proceeded
to read from some of her works. Dispelling the notion that she
abandoned poetry for other forms, Aidoo said it was all a case of bad
marketing. “When I get a captive audience, ladies and gentlemen, I read
my poetry first,” she said, and read two pieces from ‘An Angry Letter
in January’, her second poetry collection.

The first was
‘Questions’ (a poem about leadership) dedicated to Chinua Achebe and
the second, ‘Speaking of Hurricanes’, was dedicated to female Kenyan
writer, Micere Mugo (who co-authored ‘The Trials of Dedan Kimathi’ with
Ngugi Wa Thiong’O), and all other African exiles.

The second poem was
conceived after Aidoo heard some strange information that hurricanes in
the Americas were due to heavy rains in West Africa.

Aidoo also read a
flash (short short story) fiction piece, ‘Recipe For A Stone Meal’ and
a short story titled ‘She Who Would Be King’ to the enthralled
audience, who applauded Aidoo’s interesting, humorous, and dramatic
reading.

A writer by chance

She was then joined on stage by Adichie, Unigwe, Mhlongo, and Wainaina in a Q&A session with the audience.

The ubiquitous
question of African writing and identity reared its head once more.
Some of the responses from the facilitators showed their displeasure at
always having to answer the query.

Most of them saw it
as unwarranted, saying the writing should speak for itself rather than
certain people trying to dictate that this is what African writing
prescribes. Adichie had an issue with those who felt she could not
discuss feminist themes in her books because according to them it “was
not African.” There were spirited views from the stage, with Unigwe
insisting that she had no issues with being known as an ‘African
writer’.

A question about
the reading culture also proved contentious, but the writers concluded
that Africans do read. Mhlongo, however, said that although Black
Africans in South Africa read a lot, they hardly buy books. Aidoo
pointed out that most of the books are marketed as school textbooks and
that once the school quota is satisfied, publishers hardly care for the
other existing reader-groups. For Adichie, the distribution framework
and affordability were probable causes of books not reaching as wide as
they should.

Responding to a
question on why she wrote ‘The Phoenix’ in the second person narrative,
Unigwe said any writer should use the most fitting voice for a
character’s psychological state. The second person voice was for her
the perfect choice in a character that was trying to distance herself
from her troubles.

“If people want to
make money they should go and work in banks,” was Adichie’s response
when a ‘talent scout’ asked what message to give to his young mentees
who were impatient about making money from their ‘gifts’. The evening
ended on a musical note with Lola Okusami, one of the workshop’s
participants, performing two songs, ‘Lonely Girl’ and ‘Move’ before
Seun Kuti and his Egypt 80 band took to the stage in an energetic
performance.

After the intellectual exchange of ideas, it was time to unwind and
see if the writers’ dance steps were as good as their words.