"A reading nation is a leading nation" - Eugenia Abu
Following closely on the heels of the carnival like public presentation of her debut poetry collection, “Dont Look At Me Like That”, high-profile television broadcaster, Eugenia Abu recently kick-started the 2010 literary season of the Abuja Writers Forum(AWF), with an appearance at the popular Guest Writer Session. Soon after the event which attracted a lot of literary enthusiasts in Abuja, Emman Usman Shehu and Elnathan John, got Mrs Abu to talk about her two books, mentoring children through literature, the challenges of combining broadcasting and writing and other issues.

You were one of the judges of a literary contest in 2008. Did that give you some insights on the production of Nigerian Literature?
I think Nigerian writers have fantastic stories to tell but we have poor processes in delivering them and sometimes poor methods in delivering them sometimes and the way we play with words also, our writing is affected by a lack of reading. You can’t be a good writer if you don’t read a lot. A lot of new writers think to write is a piece of cake. Writing is hard work. It requires a lot of reading and patience. In Nigeria, it requires a lot of self improvement and pro-activeness. You also need other people’s opinion which a lot of writers are not willing to take and that is why there is a lot of vanity publishing. Once you have got what it takes, you go ahead and publish, warts and all. Editing is not taken seriously in a lot of literary work and good editors are hard to find. They are there and so writers should give their works to good editors to look at. It usually attracts a fee and so writers should be prepared. It is difficult for someone to believe that it took 2 years for the collation of my first book and it took 26 years to write the essays that are in the book. It was not done in a day. Writers should write a lot as this improves you. My second book includes poems I wrote over twenty years ago. It took me over 30 years to put my first book in print. A writer should be ready to burn the candle and be ready for both fair and unfair criticism. That should not put you off. Your work should be original, read a lot, and don’t try to copy from another writer. Write a lot of things and show people your work. As a judge of the AWF short story competition for 2008, I found a lot of good writing but you are put off by a lot of mistakes like bad grammar, poor spelling and poor syntax. Not all stories should necessarily be a spark or get off to shining start but there are things that should engage you especially at the opening. Overall, Nigeria has a wealth of excellent storytellers that just need polishing, more creative writing workshops, more editors, more publishers and sponsors by government and corporate organisations should assist writers and in turn that should enhance the reading culture.

How do you cope with the demands of broadcasting and creative writing?
Because I have learnt to manage my time well and with God ordering my steps, It is not such a big deal. But it is hard work. Broadcasting is very time consuming and it is my full time job. During my holidays, I write and most of my work is done in the wee hours of the morning. Every writer has his work time. I recall Professor Soyinka at a reading session in Abuja saying he goes away sometimes for a month or more doing nothing but writing. I wish I had that kind of luxury. But Prof has paid his dues and is now a full time writer. One day if God blesses me, that too will come to pass. Now I have to juggle full time work and writing because writing is a passion. Nigerians don’t like to buy books and I need to pay my bills.

Have you been fulfilled by mentoring children through creative writing?
Nothing has fulfilled me more apart from being blessed with my own children. It is a special place to be when a child looks at you happily after scribbling his short story which is pure, beautiful and original with bad spellings in it but an out of this world story and you say “this is beautiful, well done, let’s see how we can make it better”. One week of mentoring children annually since 2007 is awesome, I am lucky to have some of the finest young people as facilitators, our greatest thanks to our resource persons who give of their time and our supporters, we cannot thank them enough. My husband’s consulting firm arranges everything. As lead facilitator all I really do is drive the process, engage with resource persons and provide organisation to the craziness around managing children, an hour or two a day through the week. It is a blessing and I always learn from the children even though I am the one teaching them writing. It’s hard without major sponsors but our supporters give drinks, books, snacks, provide venue and logistics. I want to single out Napo private school in Maitama for giving us their venue for two consecutive editions, the Corps Marshall Mr Osita Chidoka for his interest and support and Yaliam press our printers for excellent work in the printing of the books by the children and giving us some concessions.

How would you define creative writing?
That’s an interesting question. I am pretty lucky to write across genres. Not everyone is so gifted. I am a poet, a short story writer and an essayist and hopefully I will add novels to my collection. Occasionally I do short plays. I have heard people say essays are not creative work, which is really unfortunate. Dr Abati for instance and some of our great columnists engage all of us in sheer creativity when they take something less than ordinary to the height of continuous bliss with elegant writing. Adewale Maja Pearce writes beautiful essays so does Abubakar Gimba. Read international journals, writing essays is a special creative gift. The latest Nobel winner for literature is an essayist. Most successful fiction writers also engage in essay writing. Not everyone is an Eddy Iroh or a Reuben Abati. It comes from years of research, hard work and much reading. Not everyone can be a successful columnist, not everyone can even write a column. Creative writing schools across the world recognises travel writing, essays and biographies as creative writing (non -fiction).They are also categorized as life writing. It is for this reason that some people have a good story to tell and they need a creative person or writer to help with telling the story. Some successful writers only do creative non-fiction writing, It is an art. So it is an ignorant person who classifies essay writing or travel writing as non creative because it is not fiction. Any writing that resonates, that is well crafted, that engages you, that drives you to tears of joy or sorrow with the creative string of words is creative writing. Period. I would like to see more prizes for creative writing (non-fiction) across board, this is how to make our writing in some of our papers more bearable and improve them. Bad writings even abound in a lot of our papers. In the past, it was where we learnt how to write. From columnists whose writings we have t enjoyed. Let’s return to the days of writing glory, fiction or non-fiction. In the past our more famous writers, apart from Achebe, and all our writing elder statesmen, were Newspaper columnists. A collection of interviews is a body of creative work. Take note of the interviews of Achebe and other writers in the African Literature Today series, they are illuminating. Perhaps proponents and self-confessed purists of fiction, poetry and plays would rather those were published in historical documents rather than a literary series. Creative writing is all encompassing and those who write in certain genres should not consider themselves better than others in a certain area. Creative writing is a gift from God and we should be grateful for the craft the Lord has seen fit to bless us with instead of being arrogant and self-opinionated.

Now that your poetry collection is out will your short stories be next in line ?
Aah! That’s a difficult question. This is because I have met a lot of fans of my short stories who are angry with me for not putting out my short story collection first. I am still refining them. As they stand, some editors think they are good enough but I will like to push the envelope. I have a collection of about thirteen and three are in progress. I guess when I am done with these three then I will know how to proceed. But I also have a collection of inspirational pieces, a finished work and a cookery book. My publicity and strategy team are still working on what’s next but I am not even supposed to talk about it yet as the poetry collection “Don’t look at me like that” has just come out and they will want to leverage on it and promote it. So all other works are not to be discussed at length for now (laughter).

Is there a novel in the works?
I have one finished novella and two novels in progress but you know how it is to conclude these. I need to go away to a cabin somewhere far away where I can write and write and write and when I am tired go to the village market wherever it is in the world and eat fresh fruits. Aah! Where will I find that luxury? And for someone other than me to pick up the bills. One day (laughter) and I hope soon.

What has your involvement with NTA International been like?
NTA International is management’s decision to put NTA on the global map and sell Nigerian’s culture and goodness to the rest of the world. Indeed we are a great nation of good people. Nigeria has some of the warmest people in the world. Just a miniscule number of people giving us a bad name, we should promote the good in us. For me NTA International is a learning curve and I will give it the benefit of my experience as I do with all assignments I have had over the years.

Who are your favourite writers and why are they your favourites?
Wow! How does one begin to answer that question? I am a voracious reader intrinsically drawn to the written word wherever it is; from books to newspapers, journals to magazines. I think I am a written word junky. I enjoy Chinua Achebe’s wit and simplicity and love Soyinka’s poetry. The writings of Uwem Akpan the Jesuit priest in his award winning short story collection Say you are one of them blew my socks off. Phenomenal short stories difficult to believe the characters are fictional. He is a truly gifted writer. I thoroughly enjoy Doreen Baygana, the Uganda Author of “Tropical fish”. Outside Nigeria I was a James Hardley Chase addict as a young girl. His elegant use of words. I was completely in love with him and still read him. I am a Dennis Brutus fanatic I am blown over by his poetry and was largely influenced by him. For short stories, Nadine Gordimer is a masterful creator of some of the finest. I think the young Turks back in Nigeria are doing very well the Helon Habilas, the Jude Dibias, the Chimamandas, the Kaine Agaris, the Uzor Maxim Uzuatos and the recent Caine prize winner E.C. Osondu. Sefi Ata is also a fantastic short story writer I greatly enjoyed “lawless and other stories”. Where do you begin when you have old school, when you have the great professor Ngugi, the phenomenal professor J.P Clark, Gabriel Okara and those who set the path for women writing in Nigeria Buchi Emecheta, Flora Nwapa whose ANA endowed prize I was privileged to have won in 2008? These are all fantastic pioneers whose wisdom we drink from. If anyone has read Zadie Smith’s “White teeth”, Tony Parson’s “Man and Boy” then they know that I love books that are completely hilarious both in their depth and storyline. Humour never hurt a book and when it is so subtle you need to sniff it out. I love that I can laugh out loud when reading a book to the utter shock of my co-travellers in a bus or train. Recently I have been engaged with Asian Authors and the cultural kaleidoscope they bring to the table is awe inspiring. I am in love with Arundhati Roys The God of small things, Karen Desais The inheritance of loss and the works of Kazuo Ishiguro. I also totally loved Anthony Golden’s “memoirs of a Geisha” and Isabella Allende’s “Aphrodite”. For multi genre master, Abubakar Gimba, I enjoy everything he writes; he is a master essayist, Novelist and poet. He continues to inspire me and I enjoy Emman Usman Shehu’s poetry, Ken Ike Okere’s Igbo poems in translation, Diego Okonyedo’s “from a poet to its creator”, the angry poems of Musa Idris Okpanachi, Jackie Kay Nigerian born Scottish award winning poet, novelist and short story writer whom I met at the British Council Cambridge Writers Seminar in 2007. Indeed, It is difficult to choose my favourite. I am a rather unfaithful reader; I confess to a roaming love and not stuck to one writer. My mood also plays a major factor. Generally it is difficult to find a favourite author with someone like me because I usually will find something good even in an ordinary book. In between, I check out award winning books or a book that there has been a rave about. There must be something in them and I find that thing and enrich myself.

To what extent did your undergraduate background shape your broadcasting and writing careers?
I think going through the curriculum of A. B. U Zaria’s English Department in the seventies with all the books we were made to read, the round theatre tradition every two weeks where you watch live plays. And then being under the watchful eyes of a great teacher Professor David Ker were years that sharpened my writing and polished me off for writing and broadcasting. I was the Acting editor of the English literary magazine Kuka in 1980. Those were great times.

What was the Communications Policy Studies programme like?
The MA Communication policy studies course at City University London which I took in 1991 was an incredible course combining Telecommunications and media studies. We studied Satellite technology, the radio spectrum and the Global telecommunications Industry. We also studied Communication policies of several frontline countries in the telecommunications industry. In the media, areas of interest included Media deregulation and the sociology of media audiences among several media related issues. My MA dissertation was on “the role of the radio in women and development” using the better life programme as a test case. I came away from the course with a distinction, one of two persons in a class of 37 and a place for a PhD but I had missed my family too much and returned home. Indeed it was as I said earlier a really engaging Telecommunications and media course and with it I can work in the Telecommunication industry anywhere in the world or in the media.

What are you reading currently?
I am currently reading Kazuo Isiguro’s short story collection “Nocturnes”, Subtle, elegant, musical, humorous and haunting; great short stories.

In one the Essays in your book, "In the Blink of an Eye", you expressed concern about the state of the nation, when you analysed the terrible fuel situation in 1989. Do you think anything has changed?
Fuel shortage continues to be a challenging issue in Nigeria. It does seem to me that from the time I wrote the essay on fuel scarcity in the early 80’s, nothing much has changed which is sad. I believe Stakeholders should find answers to the unfortunate situation.

What is your opinion on new Nigerian Writing? Do you think there is promise?
I know that there is a renaissance in Nigerian writing and in a short while we will take over the world. It is my firm belief. Back home there are fantastic writers who are not well known because they don’t have the publicity that Nigerian writers who live abroad have. We need to publicise our home based writers more and buy them more, support them. I was in Australia last year when Chimamanda opened the Sydney writer’s festival. She was celebrated in almost every Australian paper. With Nigeria popping up every now and then that’s heart warming. Watch out back home the Nigerian writers are coming. It is a good thing but they need support across board. A reading nation is a leading nation.

I notice your passion for women issues especially in your collection of essays. How far do you think women have come, [especially women writers], after the Beijing Conference which I am aware you attended?
I do have a passion for women issues. I just got back from being a panellist at a tribunal on issues of girl child education by an NGO called change masters international. The stories are sad. There was a 13 year old house girl whose salary is used to pay her brother’s school fees and you could see anger in her eyes as she told her story and she is illiterate. Beijing yeah, so much hopes. I don’t think women’s issues are as hot on the front burner as they ought to be. I doubt that it affected the increase in the number of women writers. Well may be in taking back their voices. But been creative is a special platform and perhaps that will help to tell women stories better. Most literary men do not tell our stories well. It is time for the women to pick up the gauntlet.

Nigerian Literature Is Popular In The U.S. - Barbara Jones
Dr Barbara Jones, an international library consultant was in the country recently at the auspices of the United States Embassy. She was also a resource person at the July 25 workshop organised by the Abuja Writers’ Forum (AWF) where she talked about grants and residencies for writers. In this interview with TUNJI AJIBADE, Jones bares her mind on some issues especially about Nigerian literature in America and how writers could be better at what they do.

Please, tell us about yourself.
I think of myself as a person with a great number of interests and an intense interest in people and learning. I am a "global nomad," because I love to travel out of my comfort zone and learn new ideas and meet new people. I am from the American Midwest, and I see much of the friendly, generous nature of Midwesterners in Nigerians. I am a retired librarian and took early retirement in order to dedicate more time to international consulting and research. For me, retirement means time to do what I want to do, when I want to do it! In terms of interests, I love to read and I love textiles and collect them. I am very interested in Nigerian textiles and spent a wonderful time in Kano at the dye pits! David Dorman, my husband, is also a librarian and he spends lots of time in Nigeria as well. Our son, Zachary, is 24 and is a computer networking "geek."

You read English as first degree in 1968 and you did not finish at the Columbia School of Library Services until ten years later. What informed your decision to take library services as a profession?
Between my degree in English in 1968, and my MLS in library service, I tried to decide what to do in life. I started out as a high school English teacher but at that time there were no jobs so I changed careers and became a librarian. I have always enjoyed doing research and became very interested in rare books and manuscripts. That is where I thought my career would take me, but I always ended up back in library management! I am passionate about freedom of expression, and think librarians hold the key to creating open access to information for citizens.

You are an internationally-acclaimed library consultant, tell us what your work involves.
My work involves "train the trainer" workshops around the world. These have been sponsored mostly by the International Federation of Library Associations, and by SIDA, a Swedish government fund. A group of us have created three curricula: Freedom of Expression on the Internet; Librarians and the Dissemination of HIV/AIDS information; and Libraries and the Struggle for Government Transparency. I have taught in Asia, Africa, and South America . I have a book contract to write about my adventures!

You were in Nigeria as a resource person at the July edition of Abuja Writers’ Forum’s creative writing workshop. What’s your view about writing in Nigeria and Nigerian writers?
I personally have read a lot of fiction by Nigerian writers and think it is superb. The first for me was Things Fall Apart, and I suspect that is true for a lot of Americans. A lot of high schools and colleges assign that book as required reading. When I began teaching in Nigeria and listening to my husband's experiences I began reading again. My latest favorites are Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun and also the novel, Graceland . Also Wole Soyinka's autobiographical work. The tradition is incredibly rich and I only wish I could read in a Nigerian language! It is a joy for me to see a new newspaper like Next, which has a great intellectual bent and lots of literary information. It is great to see that Abuja has a writers forum, not just Lagos .

At the creative workshop, you took a section on grant and residencies. What do you think Nigerian writers should do to access grants in the US , for instance?
I think Nigerian writers should look at some of the resources on the sheet I handed out (at the workshop). I think Writers' Marketplace and similar publications have ideas about where to get published. I also mentioned some grant opportunities. Another approach is to become an artist in residence. Since Nigerian literature is so popular in the U.S. , there may be opportunities even if the economy is pretty bad right now. My experience is that if you Google one source ("grants for African creative writing"), one source will lead you to another. Networking is KEY. The Abuja Writers Forum is terrific because you can share information there.

What do you think of Abuja Writer’s Forum’s international journal of Writing, Criticism and - Cavalvade?
I think it’s fabulous….

You spent a couple of days in Nigeria , what do you think of its people?
I love the Nigerian people I have met, both here in Nigeria and back home. I am Jewish, and the Nigerian diaspora reminds me of the Jewish diaspora in some ways. Nigerians in the U.S. really do keep a lot of their identity and traditions, yet they also "fit" really well into the whole U.S. "vibe." This interests me a lot and I haven't quite figured it out yet. The Nigerians I have met are very sophisticated in terms of their sense of humor, which I love. Also they are generous in spirit. Being invited to church last Sunday, for example, was a wonderful experience for me and everyone was so friendly and welcoming. My husband and I held a dinner for our Nigerian friends in Connecticut a few weeks ago, and we had such a wonderful time, just sitting around the table and laughing.
I do wonder sometimes how Nigerians keep up their sense of humor because on a day to day basis life seems so hard. The electricity outages would make me so angry, because here is a sophisticated, wealthy country that can't provide a power grid. The absurdity of it!
One of my favorite things to do in Nigeria is go to a dressmaker and have traditional Nigerian dresses designed for me. This is a tradition we no longer have in the U.S. I love to go to the tailor's shop, sit around with other women and their kids, look through catalogs, touch the fabric, and just TALK. I want to write a story about Nigerian dressmakers, but I don't have the talent unfortunately. I feel the same way about markets. We no longer have those in the U.S. , though farmers' markets are coming back.

You retired last June as the librarian of Caleb T. Winchester University and Dean’s Council member, Wesleyan University both in the US , what are your plans for the future and do they include Africa ?
My plans after retirement are to write another book, to quilt and knit (I love crafts), to learn more about Nigerian textiles, to teach, to continue to travel around the world. David (husband) and I hope that someone in Nigeria will offer both of us a short-term teaching gig in a library school, so that we can live here for a while. He likes it here, too.

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