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Surrounded by
books, journals, and awards, Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo is the
quintessential writer of creative and academic works. She has to her
credit 31 works in many genres, including children books, plays, short
stories, poetry volumes for children and adults, as well as
well-researched novels.

Professor of
English at the University of Lagos, Adimora-Ezeigbo sat down with NEXT
to discuss her forthcoming book, a novel of over 500 pages, titled,
‘Roses and Bullets’, to be published through the Jalaa Writers’
Collective.

Creativity in the blood

When I was in
secondary school, I started drawing pictures and putting words to them.
After I did that, I would show my family members. I attended a
secondary school where Literature was compulsory; it was in the school
that I was introduced to the subject and I loved it.

I was also editor
of the school magazine; and I was in the Dramatic Society where I wrote
my first play. The war started just before I finished, so I had to stop
school for a while. I finished secondary school and went on to the
University of Lagos.

I was the editor of
the university magazine and published short stories and poems in that
journal. I was not writing persistently after I became a lecturer. I am
not a full time writer; you cannot be a full time writer because there
is too much work. Creative writing is just an aspect of the writing I
do.

Haunted by war

I was a witness to
the war. I witnessed it as a secondary school student. I saw its
brutalities and discriminations. Everything that was negative, I
experienced it. It left in me a deep impression about the evils of war.
I knew the war will keep haunting me because I lost relatives, cousins,
in-laws, and friends who were then young boys of between 15 and 16.

Even my husband who
was a student at the University of Nigeria (Nsukka) then was in the
war; he rose to the rank of captain. My mind was full of the terrors of
the war. I witnessed rockets dropping from the sky. The war was on my
mind, so I decided to use it as the basis for my PhD; my thesis was
later published as a book.

Even after working
on the civil war in my thesis, it still haunted me, so I wrote short
stories and children’s books with the war as part of the storyline,
like in ‘Children of the Eagle’. I wanted to do something bigger, so I
wrote ‘Roses and Bullets’.

I started writing
it in 2003. I got all the materials I needed from writing my thesis; it
was not difficult writing the novel but I did not have time. It was
when I got a one-year fellowship at the Royal Holloway University
(London) in 2006 that I had time to write. I completed the book in
2007. I have been reworking it and giving other people to read, and now
it is ready for publishing.

Roses and Bullets

It is basically
about two important characters, a young man and a young woman in a
period of war. The war affected their love; it actually destroyed it.
It is about their lives and their families. The girl is the most
important character.

The story widens to
bring in the war experience and other characters who are affected by
it. ‘Roses and Bullets’ is a love story set before and after the war. I
have read everything on the Nigerian civil war. Apart from witnessing
it, I have been able to transmute ideas and facts into fiction.

Writers and publishing

One of the problems
writers face is the problem of distribution. Though I have published
with popular publishing houses, I can’t say [my works have] been well
distributed, even though publishers have distributors and agents. Many
of the smaller publishers have the same problem, I believe. That is why
they organise readings to that affect. I don’t know how well my books
are distributed, so I don’t know how well they are doing in the market.

Children and books

If you ask me, I
think Literature should not be dropped. Students should be made to do
Literature up to school certificate level. Reading improves your
control of language; books enlighten and inspire. Children need to
develop the love for books.

In spite of other
interests, books are still relevant, so children should be encouraged
to read, as it disciplines them. If a child can read for two to three
hours, the child will be disciplined. Every school should have a
functional library. When I was in secondary school I read everything in
the library.

Awareness is crucial. Children should be made aware of the importance of books; it forms the foundation for them.

Influences

I won’t say that I
was influenced by any individual. Rather, I would call it a voracious
influence. I have read so many books from around the world; how can I
say that anyone in particular has influenced me?

I wrote my first
book (‘Tainted Manuscript’) when I was 16. It still exists as a
manuscript, though it is tattered and torn. I hope to publish it
someday.

Jalaa Collective

It was Odili
Ujubuonu who introduced me to Jalaa while he was doing his Masters [at
the University of Lagos]. When he came to me the first time, I told him
that I had a publisher and I did not have problems with them. Odili
came again and shared with me the vision of the collective, but what
struck me were the young writers who were involved. They are people
that I admire, so I decided to join, even if it just to encourage them.

We agreed to
publish twice a year, April and December, because the idea is to bring
seriousness and excellence into writing, by being a model for other
collectives to emulate.

Turning back the clock

If I could change
anything in my writing career, I would have really liked to have
started writing much earlier. I could not start writing until I had
finished raising my children. This affects a lot of women writers. Some
of us who married in our 20s found ourselves taking care of our
children and going to work.

It was particularly
impossible to write at that time. I have written a novel now, I don’t
know when I would write another one – where is the time? The first
serious thing I published was in 1992 when I was already a senior
lecturer. I wish I had started writing when I was 18 or 19, but I have
no regrets that those years of my life were taken up by raising my
children and work. My children give me joy.

Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo’s ‘Roses and Bullets’ will be published by the Jalaa Collective.