Nigeria’s literary circle was recently treated to an enlightening session of literary discussion, among other things, when prolific Francophone Congolese poet and novelist, Alain Mabanckou, kicked of his Nigerian tour last week.
On a five-country book tour which kicked off from Senegal, through Togo, Burkina Faso, Ghana and ended in Lagos, he presented his newest book to the literary world and his fans across the five countries and used the opportunity to speak on reviving interest in and growing African literature.
The tour was coordinated by Institut Français and Alliance Française to support the promotion of African and multilingual literature and the debate of ideas on the continent. Speaking with the author at Alliance Française in Lagos, the author divulged that his works have been translated and published in 15 languages so far, including English.
At the first event hosted at Alliance, tagged, ‘Telling your story, authentically: A conversation with Alain Mabanckou’, the writer held an intimate chat with a private audience made up of writers and key literary enthusiasts. He spoke to the audience about his life, career, books and their inspiration, issues on language barriers, why most African writers don’t write in local languages, adapting to trends, book publishing and patronage in Africa, among other issues.
He noted that literature is important because it is the only thing that does not remind us of our diversities, but our common existence as humans. He said despite the fact that he writes originally in French, he is not colonised mentally and the language is just a way of expressing himself. “It does not really matter if a book is written in English, French or in any of our African languages; it is the narrative and storyline that hooks the reader. We read Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, Ngugi Wa Thiong’o’s Weep Not, Child and other writers despite our language barriers and we still enjoyed their writings and were impacted too,” he noted.
However, he decried the fewer number of novels in African languages, noting that language, a strong part our culture is being eroded. On the argument that today’s youths are more interested in watching TV and being on social media, he said social media is not responsible for the dearth of the reading culture but only enhances it. “Whatever you want from social media, you will get. There are book clubs on social media where people discuss literature and books extensively.” He added that he uses social media to reach out to more people, especially the younger demographic. “When young people see me on TikTok, they ask what I am doing there. A lot of young people want to know more about literature but they are not on Facebook or Twitter and they discover me through my TikTok account.”
He said he wishes Nigerians would read all his books but if this is not possible, he wishes that ‘Broken Glass’ and ‘Memoirs of A Porcupine’ would make it to everyone’s reading list. “I am hard-pressed to pick though because I feel if I picked one as my most loved book, the others would be jealous. My books will be enjoyed by Nigerians because we share the same realities and experience. Also, there are English versions for those who don’t understand French,” he said.
Going down memory lane, he said when he was in middle/high school, they read books from notable African writers including, ‘Things Fall Apart’, Cyprian Ekwensi’s books, Ferdinand Oyono’s books and so on. He said they were only allowed to read African books in high school and wished that new writers be introduced to students very early.
Speaking on the perceived ‘disconnect’ in the works of African writers who happen to live outside the continent, he said it is not possible to detail Africa with just being physically in it alone. “As we move around the world, we have different types of Africans and different people express themselves differently, drawing from personal experiences. We need to explore the different kinds of literature available. If someone wants to write on Afrofuturism, let them go ahead.”
He said what needs to be addressed urgently is literary success and rewards for African writers. He said each time an African writer becomes successful, it is because of readers from the West.
“A popular writer from Congo will sell 200 copies of his bestselling novel in his country but that same book will sell over 60, 000 in the Western country he lives in. Africans always ask for books to be given free or very cheap and even when we drastically reduce prices to sell here, cutting our royalties to next to nothing, people still do not buy. We need our own people to support us as much as possible,” he said.
He also met with students from the University of Lagos Foreign Languages Department on the second day of his tour, where he also introduced his newest work, “Lettres à un jeune romancier sénégalais” (“Letters to a young Senegalese novelist”) to them.
