Author of ‘A Common Currency For West Africa’, Abdulrasheed Isah, wishes he had discovered Arundhati Roy much earlier. ‘I am amazed at how she writes fascinating stories with profound rigour and simplicity… and how she uses fiction as a tool to fight social injustice. Few writers combine these qualities.’
Our questions are italicized.
What books or kinds of books did you read growing up?
As a kid in primary school, I mostly read textbooks. My favourite was the English textbook because I loved its stories and pictures. However, like most kids growing up in northern Nigeria at the turn of the century, I read a lot of Hausa novels, which were in ample supply in our house and neighborhoods.
I read all the popular books such as Ahmadu Ingawa’s Iliya Dan Maikarfi, John Tafida Umaru Zaria’s Jiki Magayi, and Abubakar Imam’s Magana Jari Ce. At night, we usually gathered around with my siblings to read until it was lights-out. Growing up, Hausa fiction fascinated me and sparked supernatural imaginations in my curious mind.
At secondary school, I was introduced to a wide range of popular English literature such as Ernest Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea and George Bernard Shaw’s Arms and the Man. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy them as much as the Hausa novels because they were a bit inaccessible and bland to me.
What’s something you wish more people knew about the Hausa novels you grew up reading?
They were beautifully written and have good storylines.
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