Sada Malumfashi is a Kaduna-based writer and arts curator. AWAAL GATA poses nine questions to the awardee of the Goethe Institute/Sylt Foundation Writing Residency on his writing.
How did your romance with writing start?
I can remember writing my first poem as a nine-year-old. I fell in love with writing because it came easily as a means of expressing my inner self; my wants, my thoughts, my beliefs and my passions. For me and writing, it was love at first sight.
What inspired the poem? What was it about? Do you still have it?
It was a poem about a political figure. It was short, so it is still in my memory. There was a gubernatorial candidate that I was really impressed with. I was so impressed by his colourful posters, so I decided to write a poem, in the form of a letter, telling him of my support and love for him and wishing he would win a become a very good governor.
Between then and now, how would you assess your outputs? Do you feel fulfilled?
I am still growing artistically. I began to take writing with seriousness in 2014, after graduating from School of Pharmacy. Since then, it has been a learning curve, and I still see it that way. Of course there is always fulfillment for me doing what I enjoy the most, creating and sharing my works, and watching readers engage and interact with my them in their various ways.
How have your outputs been? How many works have you published?
I have three short stories published in the Bombay Review in India, Transition Magazine of Harvard University and New Orleans Review’s African Literary Hustle. I have a wide variety of non-fiction pieces published in Bakwa Magazine, Asymptote, This Is Africa, The Africa Report, Schlosspost, 2019 Reader of the Bamako Bienniale, amongst others.
When do you intend publishing a full book?
I am currently working on my debut novel as well as a non-fiction book that follows the work of three female artists from the global south in relation to conflict and climate change. I like to explore under-reported stories, especially by African women, with a specific interest in Northern Nigerian women in relation to literature and popular culture. This has shaped a lot of my writings and research.
What inspired the topics?
I grew reading a lot of Hausa literature, so I would say that inspired me to focus on Hausa writing. Like I said, I also like to bring out under-reported stories and stories of minorities. Women’s literature and popular culture in Northern Nigeria despite its availability is not widely recognised. A lot of people do not know about the works of amazing women writers, writing in Hausa form Northern Nigeria. I try in my writing to bring up these works into the conversation about African writing in general.
As an art curator, what has been your signature?
This is one part of my work that I have come to love and cherish. Over the last couple of years I have been curating the YELF Literary Evening, a literary and arts engagement sessions where we invite writers, artists, musicians and other art enthusiasts to discuss their works at the Creativity Court of the Yasmin El-Rufai Foundation in Kaduna.
In 2018, I also curated the Sembene Across Africa Documentary Screening at Kashim Ibrahim House, Kaduna. It was a part of an Africa-wide screening of Sembene, the filmmaker and his works simultaneously in 30 cities. I was delighted to bring that historic showing to Kaduna.
Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, I have also learnt to adapt to the new normal, moving the YELF Literary Evening to the digital space by conducting it in a live Instagram chat now tagged, the YELF Instagram Live Hangout. I also developed and initiated a Quarantine Poetry Series for Open Arts hosted by writer Salihu Mahe, where poets are hosted to a conversations via Instagram Live combining the experience of quarantine with literature.
You are professionally a pharmacist; does your romance with the arts allows you to practise your profession? How do you navigate between the two?
I studied Pharmacy, but my professional focus so far is in the arts and creative sector. I also freelance as a journalist.
Why is it so? Don’t you see Pharmacy as more reputable?
I find the creative arts to be quite reputable too. I mean during the current lockdown due to the pandemic, I believe artists are as essential as medics in ensuring our sanity. We all went back to listening to music, seeing movies/TV shows, or reading books to remain sane. The job of artists is quite essential and reputable.
