BNW Magazine: The Lords and Ladies of the Pen: A Celebration of Contemporary Nigerian Literature: Henry Onyeama: Commentary: Biafra Nigeria World @ Biafra NigeriaWorld.

�It will be good. Everything good will come to me.� This extract from Nigerian writer Seffi Atta�s debut novel �Everything Good Will Come� is an apt reflection on the current state of literature in Nigeria. But many people might query this statement. What is so good about Nigerian literature? In a country where illiteracy has assumed alarming proportions; where the disdain of those in power for intellectual pursuit is palpable; where economic hardship makes paying for a novel a luxury few can afford; where writers are most likely to lose some benefits if they run foul of some establishment; where publishers would rather publish school textbooks than a novel, what is worth celebrating about Nigerian literature?

A lot. The fact that Nigerians have not allowed the creative fire to burn out in the

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country despite the painful political and economic developments since the 1980s and 1990s is worth noting.

As successive military regimes turned Nigeria into a sport, many writers who could have continued the literary traditions started by lords and ladies of the pen like Chinua Achebe and Flora Nwapa were silenced, either by the difficulties of eking out a living in an increasingly inhospitable environment or the repressive juntas who knew the power of the written word. The few who wrote churned out works, which can best be described as parodies of literature. Many who could, voted with their legs for safer climes in Europe and America. There, they took up academic positions. But quite a few of them continued to write.

Back home, there were intrepid spirits who braved the odds and wrote good works. The roles of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) and the press within the dark days of military rule must be recognized. Although ANA�s woes at the hands of the establishment were debilitating � General Mamman Vatsa, one of ANA�s most important patrons, was shot for alleged involvement in a coup plot, and Ken Saro-Wiwa, an ex-ANA president, was hanged for alleged murder � it continued to provide a platform for budding talents. Its conventions and literary prizes were a springboard for many of Nigeria�s new lords and ladies of the pen. The Nigerian press remained a virile outlet for the increasing brood of writers.

But when the world noticed the good things from the pen of Nigerian writers, it was

from Nigerians outside the country. In 1991 Ben Okri won the British Booker Prize with his novel The Famished Road. Okri had been writing even as a teenager and his first novel was published in Nigeria. But he only became a literary power when he left home. The Booker Prize was the first global imprimatur of Nigeria�s literature since Wole Soyinka won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986.

There was a lot of praise for Nigerian literature overseas but since this was occasioned by a handful of writers, the world press saw the whole thing as a flash in the pan. It was as if whatever Nigerians wrote had to meet Western criteria before it was deemed fit for global consumption. Back home, despite adversity, good writers emerged, merging journalism, the academia and even the sciences with creativity. Writers like Nduka Otiono, Promise Okekwe and Ibrahim Sheme extended literary frontiers.

In 2001 the world took note of Nigeria�s literature. This time charity really began at home. Helon Habila, a Lagos-based journalist, won the Caine Prize for African Literature. The new kid on the block beat some of Africa�s greatest writers to win the prize with his self-published entry. His feat was no fluke as another Nigerian writer, another relatively unknown called Segun Afolabi, won the prize in 2005. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Chika Unigwe and Ike Okonta, all leading Nigerian writers, were nominated for the prize, which is regarded as a catalyst for the growth of African literature, in 2002, 2004 and 2005 respectively.

Since then Nigerian literature by the generation forged in adversity has etched itself on global consciousness. The success of writers like Adichie, Seffi Atta, and Chris Abani, all based outside Nigeria, indicate that pen for pen, the Nigerian story is as unique as that of any other clime. But the home front has a mixed record. Many home-based writers are writing excellent work, and the advent of democracy has greatly opened up space for literary practitioners. But challenges remain: declining education standards, low patronage for books which has been worsened by the blossoming of the local film industry, the dearth of publishing outlets which has forced many writers to resort to self-publishing and the seeming inability of literati to divorce literature from formal academic pursuits in the average Nigerian psyche.

Themes and standards remain a cause for concern. A Nigerian journalist opined that

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many of the new writers are still hamstrung by themes of �culture conflict and colonialism clichés.� However, many writers are vigorously exploring new areas, including �forbidden� ones like homosexuality. The glaring deficits in the standard of many books published in Nigeria was thrown up in 2004 when no single writer won the $20,000 Nigerian Literature Prize sponsored by the Nigerian Liquefied Gas Company. Three writers who made the finals shared the prize, and even then the judges described their works as full of unprofessional howlers. Two poets jointly won this year�s prize.

These challenges notwithstanding, Nigerian books remain popular, even outside the country. A few Nigerian publishers like Farafina are working hard to give Nigerian writers a globally recognized outlet. The best is yet to come for contemporary Nigerian writers if they will heed the advice of Oba Abdulraheem of the Literary Society of Nigeria:

a lot more needs to be done in the area of aesthetic connection. It may be all right to dare brutal dictatorship� But the writer needs to learn to fashion fiery words of lead, to wave bulletproof vests of songs, just as he will need to learn to construct trenches of metaphor.

BiafraNigeriaWorld

Henry Onyeama

Umuogbunu Village, Awka

Henry Chukwuemeka Onyeama is a teacher and writer

The Lords and Ladies of the Pen: A Celebration of Contemporary Nigerian Literature