Register
| Featured member |
|
|
|
| Written by admin | ||||
| Sunday, 22 February 2009 | ||||
Page 1 of 2  1. Full namesEmmanuella Celestina Nkwukajingi Nduonofit 2. Educational background So far, I have a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, majored in literature, from the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka in Anambra State, Nigeria. 3. Genre I write in the three basic genres of literature: Poetry, Prose fiction and Drama 4. When and how My writing life began at the tender age of twelve (12) not in this country Nigeria, but in Vienna, Austria, central Europe. I began with prose fiction (once-upon-a-time stories pencilled and collected in a 2B exercise book) before I gradually found my way to poetry, and lastly drama. 5. Why Sometimes, this question is hard to answer because at that point in my life, I had no reason why I was writing. Writing to me was a divine gift which, later on in my life, I just knew I had to harness. Another reason could be that it is essential to document whatever happens in everyday life, and even in one's own life: the thought processes, emotions, events, predictions, etc.. 6. Favorite writers My first writer that I encounted then was the author of the Nancy Drew detective/romance book series (forgotten his/her name). Later on in my life, African writers just seemed to attract me as well because of the obvious need to sustain my identity: Cyprian Ekwensi, Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Femi Osofisan, etc. Other foreign authors were also a great pull to me: Henry Bean, Ernest Hemmingway, Anton Chekhov, T. S. Eliot, William Shakespeare, etc. My chain of writers are so long, I can't contain them all, sorry. 7. Favorite books My readership varies drastically. Currently, I'm interested in reading national dailies that has current national literary news in the form of literary criticisms of books, or reviews of books. I love Henry Bean's False Match and Robert Ludlum's The Chancellor's Manuscript. So also Sidney Sheldon's books, his trilogy, fascinate me, for I trust him to be a core feminist. And someone just introduced me to some of Nora Roberts' romance novels, which I just couldn't put down. I own most of Chinua Achebe's first books and one of Cyprain Ekwensi's novels People of the City. Anyway, like I said, my readership is endless. 8. Published or unpublished Currently, I'm very unpublished, though I've contributed to one or two magazines, mainly unseen, and some of my poems are published in just one newspaper outfit here in Asaba, a state-owned newspaper called The Pointer. 9. Opinion about the writing and reading cultures in Nigeria There comes a time in a person’s life when one wishes to express himself in writing. Most people at some point in their lives have this desire, this dream to write a book, whether a factual study of a favourite subject, a gripping suspense novel or simply the telling of a life story. It has even been observed that it is easier to write a poem than a novel or play due to time factor.. The fact remains that everybody has a book in them. But I would be a fat liar to my reading audience if I say that the process of publishing the works of creative writers here in Nigeria was smooth-sailing and successful, for the greatest enemy of the writer is the publisher. The downturn in the economic order has caused the demise of the publishing houses and made the availability, distribution and marketing of new literary texts impossible. There is poor production of creative books and gross avoidable spelling errors in them. The critical establishment in the literary culture of Nigeria seemed to have died in its totality. Professor Williams Adebayo said that Nigerian literature is in a coma. Fear is an instinctive emotion aroused by impending or seeming danger, pain or evil. When one harbours this fear of creative writing and publishing, one has this intense emotion about the danger lurking for those two separate worlds – writing and publishing. We are made to understand that a huge gulf exists between writing and publishing – and this gulf widens day by day. Because of the persistently deteriorating, debilitating and chronically dwindling socio-politico-economic condition prevalent in Nigeria, the country has become a cemetery of potentials, which appears beyond redemption. A straightforward process of publication is realistically unobtainable in most cases and definitely unattainable at this present phase of life as a budding writer in Nigeria when hunger for the basic necessities of life is apparent. But fear is a dangerous journey to embark on, an interminable voyage that stretches for as long as one keeps it in that state. A creative writer will lose focus when this unsafe emotion lingers in his heart. It is imperative for the creative writer to be aware of the publishing atmosphere and climate in his country. He should feel challenged, not discouraged, to abide by the duties assigned to him and overcome those obstacles publishing a book can cause. I conclude by quoting a passage from Obi Egbuna’s novel “The Madness of Didi”: ‘Writers are men who dream impossible dreams, my boy. Anyone can be a writer, if he wants to badly enough. And if he is willing to pay the price.’ ‘What price, Uncle Didi?’ ‘The mistake people generally make is to romanticize writers as giants with two heads. Supermen. Human-gods who live in a world of absolute freedom, with no master to boss them around. The truth of the matter is that this is pure fiction. The opposite is in fact the case. My guess is that you’ll be finding this out for yourself one day, Obi, my friend. You may find, from personal experience, that a writer is no more free than a common labourer or a petty messenger, slaving away for a master in unquestioning obedience. It’s true, Obi. A writer is only a typist in the employ of Truth. He takes dictation from Truth just as any other typist takes dictation from a boss. Truth is a ruthless employer, who demands nothing short of everything, including your soul. In the writer’s job, there is no clocking out, because your office is between your ears, and you can’t clock out from your head, can you, Obi? In the writer’s job, there is no resignation, because the contract terminates in the grave. In the writer’s job, there is no real pay, or payday, for Truth is the only employer who expects payment from his employees. Some pay with their lives, some with their sanity, some with unrequited love, others with years of imprisonment. Yes, it’s true, Obi, my young friend. The history of world literature is littered with great names who have made such payments. They all do it in different ways, but they all do pay in the end.’ ‘You make it sound so horrible, Uncle Didi.’ (pages 206 – 207) |
||||
| Last Updated ( Sunday, 22 February 2009 ) | ||||