Recently, some talented and promising Nigerian writers took part in the Ecuador-Nigeria Short Story Writers Contest, organised by the Abuja Writer’s Forum. Five winners emerged and has had their short stories translated to Spanish and published in Ecuador. In this interview with HALIMA OJI, the winners: Jojo Altine Elhassan; Tunde Ososanya; Jude Badaki; Blessing Akinsehinwa; and Nzube Nlebedim; share their excitement, expectations and future plans.
JOJO:
How did you know of the contest?
I heard about it during one of the writer’s session in Abuja.
What motivated you to write the story you entered in the contest?
“Killing me softly”. I was a maid of honour to a childhood friend. Activities prior her wedding conjured all sorts thought in my mind, given nature and range of activities we undertook. My writing muse really did woo me all through those memorable weeks.
What do you like to read and who are your favourite authors?
I read anything that grabs my attention from the first page. Some of my favourite authors include Francine Rivers, Kent Nerburn, Sidney Sheldon, Danielle Steele, John Jakes, Nora Roberts and Miranda Lee.
How did you get your start in writing and what was your greatest challenge?
I have always generated academic reports for as long as I can remember. However, I decided to hone my skill in creative writing. In line with this, I initially attended some critique sessions organised by the AWF and it actively widened my literacy scope.
I enrolled and paid rapt attention at the Beginners Writing Workshop organised by the forum and got my work perused by friend, Mary Kokoma. I continued to read and write whilst incorporating knowledge gained from the workshop I had attended.
How did it feel being one of the winners and having your work translated and published in Ecuador?
I was gratified and humbled. I still am. When I got home, I extracted the story I had buried in my archive, re-read, digested it, smiled and decided to whisk a novel from it.
Some of your works are about to be published. What are they about?
I am working on my debut novel “Down the Corridor”. It is a contemporary fiction that narrates the socio-economic realities of living and working in modern Nigeria from a female’s perspective, using satire and humorous imagery.
It explores diverse themes that include: ethics in the workplace, singlehood, typical marriages and cultural idiosyncrasies that remain the norm for many in our clime.
Which areas would you want your work to make impact?
It’ll be to activate much-needed reforms on the written themes.
TUNDE:
How did you know of the contest?
I learnt about the contest from a friend who saw the call for submission of short stories on Facebook. She tagged me to the post and I applied.
What motivated you to write the story?
Wellington Street is the first story in the new collection of short stories I’m currently working on. I didn’t have the idea of the short story I needed to write prior to writing Wellington Street.
The first sentence I typed introduced the story to me, and the image of Wale, the protagonist, appeared. I saw the protagonist as someone who needed to find himself and be distinct from those around him. So, I thought of developing the story around the themes of survival, denial, lust, and self-discovery.
What do you like to read and who are your favourite authors?
I appreciate and read anything good. Some of my favourite authors are Wole Soyinka, John Pepper Clark-Bekederemo, Ngugiwa Thiong’o, Pius Adesanmi, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Binyavanga Wainaina, Lynn Abbey, Megan Abbott, and Warren Adler.
How did you get your start in writing and what was your greatest challenge?
It all started when I developed love for books while growing up. I remember I usually go to my father’s mini library to pick up James Hadley Chase, Sydney Sheldon, and some other foreign authors. Those books held me spellbound, I couldn’t get enough of them. Literature class in secondary school strengthened my love for books. When I was introduced to the works of Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, JP Clark, Buchi Emecheta, Ola Rotimi, etc. So, I started writing while in secondary school.
My first creative work was a poem. I started with poetry, and then I experimented with play, before finally accepting prose as my calling. The greatest challenge about writing is getting published. There are a lot of writers in Nigeria that write beautiful stories, but because the fact remains that no publisher wants to publish unknown writers, these talents remain unnoticed.
How did it feel being one of the winners and having your work published in Ecuador?
I felt so excited when I received the mail that my short story came first. It is an encouragement for me. It shows that people appreciate my creativity, and that I can achieve more if I continue to take my craft seriously.
Will this achievement increase the zeal to participate in other competitions?
Of course, it will. I participated in different writing contests before this, and I’ll keep doing that.
Some of your works are about to be published. What are they about?
I have “Later Tonight” on Amazon and OkadaBooks and honestly it has not been doing well on both. I wish the book had more sales. Those who have bought and read it were not disappointed. The low patronage could be as a result of the fact that readers pay attention to known writers.
Has your writing affected your day to day life?
I allot time to all that needs to be done, so that nothing suffers at the end. But sometimes I get inspired when I’m in a middle of something else other than writing, so I drop what I’m doing at that moment and begin to write.
The experience of winning the contest has motivated me to write stories that people will read over and over again and won’t get tired.
Which areas would you want your work to make impact?
It will be on addressing the vices that are be-devilling the world. Some of which are terrorism, poverty, religious intolerance, and racial discrimination.
BLESSING:
How did you of the contest?
I became aware of the competition when the information was shared on the Abuja Literary Society WhatsApp platform. I am a member.
What motivated you to write the story?
‘On the Shores of Death’ is a literary response to the menace of ritual kidnappings and killings ravaging the country at the moment. While the story itself is hundred per cent fiction, my choice of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway is because of the notoriety of the route in the history of the crime of ritual killings in Nigeria.
You are a teacher, lawyer, architect among others, how do you juggle them?
My training as a lawyer and arbitrator equipped me with the ability to not only multi-task, but to multi-task successfully. Furthermore, these skills are complimented with reading and writing.
Voracious reading and deft legal writing are the hallmark of a good lawyer. I simply leverage on these skills to carry out daily tasks.
What do you like to read and who are your favourite authors?
I enjoy reading novels generally, except romance. In no particular order, my favourite authors include Chinua Achebe, Chimamanda Adichie, Dan Brown and John Grisham.
How did you get your start in writing and what was your greatest challenge?
I enjoy employing suspense to my writings. Hence my greatest challenge when writing a story is being able to keep my audience captivated by my story till the end, without giving away anything as to the resolution of the plot.
How did it feel being one of the winners?
Being selected as one of the top five winners in a national contest is to say the least exhilarating, exciting and encouraging. It bolstered my confidence in my craft, that I am on the right track as a young writer and all I have to do is improve my art.
Will this achievement increase the zeal to participate in other competitions and have your work published in future?
With this achievement, I am more confident in making my art go public, unlike previously when I feared that my stories were not good enough for public consumption.
Which areas would you want your work to make impact?
Just like Achebe, my ultimate aim is to use my art, African literature, to mirror the ills of the African society, to serve as a tool for social change, and to project the African culture, way of life to the world.
JUDE:
What motivated you to write the story?
A writer always needs inspiration and the third world provides the writer with something to feed on. All across the length and breadth of Africa we find ready experiences that can be mirrored.
So, I drew inspiration from constant stories of restiveness in our contemporary society.
What do you like to read and who are your favourite authors?
I read anything handy, from children literatures, tourist guides, comics, newspapers and maps. Whether poetry, drama, or prose. I take in everything.
My favourite authors are Jane Austen, Emily Bront, Maxim Gorky, Harper Lee, Richard Wright, Ryder Haggard, William Thackeray, Oscar Wilde, Thomas Hardy.
How did you get your start in writing and what was your greatest challenge?
I started just after my last year in secondary school; recording memories of school life. As an undergraduate, I took a course in creative writing. At that time, I was more concerned with writing skits, playlets and plays.
Afterwards, I submitted a number of entries for the BBC playwriting competition, for all entries I was unsuccessful. It was at this point that I switched to poetry. My first published creative work was in the genre of poetry. I was also involved in a number of poetry reading forums.
Greatest challenge is the reluctant reading public, the exorbitant cost of publishing and the lack of operational copyright laws to protect the writer in Nigeria.
How did it feel being one of the winners and having published in Ecuador?
Well I grew up with books all around me because my mother was a versatile English and literature teacher. For coming second best. Well, what can I say. However, getting my work published in Spanish gives it a global significance.
Will this achievement increase the zeal to participate in other competitions and have your work published in future?
I’ll definitely participate in future competitions and would also look forward to having more of my works published.
Has your writing affected your day to day life?
As a writer, I have become a keen observer of events and human behaviours. The humbling experiences others and I go through have also affected my way of viewing life with ‘philosophical equanimity’
Which areas would you want your work to make impact?
I intend to use my work as a rallying point to forge a more peaceful and humane world.
NZUBE:
What motivated you to write the story?
The story is actually an old one. I had written it about three years ago and left it fallow. The original title was “Letter From Lawrence”. It was about the infamous armed robber, Lawrence Anini, who terrorised the people of Benin and environs but was later caught and executed in 1987.
Last year, I took a creative writing course, where I presented the story. The lecturer didn’t quite like the story, criticising it as simply a report.
He, however, asked me to re-write the work, and I did and presented it to him. He loved it and advised I publish it. I had then changed the title to “The Tale of ‘Alvine’ Chike”.
What do you like to read and who are your favourite authors?
I read everything that comes my way. From novels, drama, poetry, newspaper reports, down to scientific reports. Anything at all that I can lay my hands on. But I read novels majorly.
I have read a lot of Sidney Sheldon’s works. He’s a marvellous writer. I also read James Hardley Chase, Dan Brown, Wole Soyinka, and Chinua Achebe. I was however fascinated at an early age by the unique styles of James Hardley Chase and Sidney Sheldon.
How did you get your start in writing and what was your greatest challenge?
I started writing poetry some years ago but stopped. It really wasn’t my thing to do. I felt I wasn’t cut out for it. I found my passion in prose, and it has been what I’ve focused on ever since.
I can’t run away from my first love, anyway. I believe I would one day write poetry again. There are many challenges in the writing process.
How did it feel being one of the winners?
It is actually the first time I am having my work accepted. This is probably because I don’t send my works out. It felt really good coming in third place.
Will this achievement increase the zeal to participate in other competitions?
Yes, of course. Definitely! I believe I have something good enough to offer now.
Some of your works are about to be published. What are they about?
I have two novellas. One is titled “A Cry Within”, and the other one “Obafo”. I wrote them five years ago. “A Cry Within” discusses the disputed subject of fate and its attendant result in the life of the main character.
Obafo is about an Ilorin war leader, who loses a war and is mandated to commit suicide, but flees Ilorin to Lagos to be a slave.
Which areas would you want your work to make impact?
My work would do something to clear or add voice to the controversial issues in the world at the moment. Contested issues such as feminism, homosexuality and even spirituality are and would be the major focus of my works.
Oji, a member of AWF, is a journalist and media consultant cum development enthusiast.
