Author of ‘The Measure of Our Lives’, Grey Atanda, wishes they had understood Chinua Achebe’s works sooner. ‘…not getting it crippled my own writing. If I had gotten Things Fall Apart earlier, I think, I would be a much better writer.’
Our questions are italicized.
What books or kinds of books did you read growing up?
My reading growing up was, as I would find out later, quite atypical. Unlike most people that I know, the only children’s books that I read were Nigerian children stories published by Lantern Books—simply because those were the books my mother bought me. So, none of that Enid Blyton or Roal Dahl phase for me.
It wasn’t until much later when I was in secondary school that I began to read American genre fiction
If you could rewrite a classic book/text, which would it be and why?
I can’t think of any. Rewriting a book requires a lot of love and dedication, I think. If a book inspires those feelings in me, well, I’d simply want to have written it.
That said, I do wish Americanah had been much shorter.
And what’s a book you recently read that changed your mind about something.
A line, from my friend Yosola’s final-year long essay on the gender binary and sexual fluidity in Akwaeke Emezi’s Freshwater: ‘If masculinity and femininity were not exclusively assigned to male and female bodies respectively, trans people may not be compelled to undergo surgeries to physically appear as their preferred gender. In fact, there may be no such thing as trans people.’
Of course not all trans people feel compelled to surgically transition, but the idea that the gender binary creates the trans binary identities (which I assume are what Yosola is referencing when she says ‘trans people’) interests me, since it logically follows then that the trans binary identities in turn foster the gender binary.
After all, being, for example, a trans man, reinforces ‘masculinity’ and the ‘man’ category just as much as being a cis man does. It may revolutionize the category, re-imagine what it means to be man—all of which is well and good—but in the end, it also contributes to its reproduction as a gender category.
Reading Yosola’s long essay is forcing me to review and more critically interrogate the trans identity and my position within it, as a non-binary person.
Unlike most people that I know, the only children’s books that I read were Nigerian children stories published by Lantern Books.
Recommend, bury or unwrite a book. You’d:
Recommend—I recently finished reading The Hunting Gun by Yasushi Inoue. It’s a small book, and the story it tells is not particularly elaborate, but it’s told in such a refreshingly new way, and with such poignancy that was quite unlike many things I’d read.
I’m also looking forward to reading TJ Benson’s new novel, The Madhouse. I’ve only read the blurb, but I’m already hooked!
Bury—If you mean bury as in (i) so that other people won’t have or get to read it, then none. I don’t feel confident enough to determine what books are not right or good enough for people to read.
But if it’s bury as in (ii) because I hate it, I really don’t tend to read books that I feel that strongly negatively about. I can detect it early, and as soon as I do, I stop reading.
Unwrite—None, for the same reason as (i) above. People should read more books, I think.
What is a common misconception about being non-binary?
I’m sure there are several, depending on which non-binary person you ask and the specific experiences they have had. For me though, it would be thinking that non-binary cannot exist.
You tell someone you’re non-binary and they can’t wrap their heads around it. It’s incredible. They really just cannot see how it is possible.
What is your writing process: edit as you write or draft first, then edit?
Both. I think writing is mostly editing, so I like to spend a lot of time doing editing, both during the writing and afterwards.
I recently finished reading The Hunting Gun by Yasushi Inoue. It’s a small book, and the story it tells is not particularly elaborate, but it’s told in such a refreshingly new way, and with such poignancy that was quite unlike many things I’d read.
What was your process for writing ‘The Measure of Our Lives’?
It’s funny, ‘The Measure of Our Lives’ started as a project lecture for a course I was taking at university. I had about a month to get it ready and deliver it in class, so I wrote it languidly at first. Quick short scribbles of ideas and thoughts in notebooks while I did the research.
It was very exciting to work on, but when I had put everything together and was ready for the presentation, I suddenly didn’t like it anymore. But my lecturer showed great enthusiasm about it, so that kind of reignited my interest, and I spent the next couple of months reworking it, editing over and over just to get it to a place I’d like.
I also had the help and support of some of my friends, like Adams Adeosun and Adeyosola Adeniran, who came in at crucial moments and gave truly illuminating insights. I guess what I’m trying to say in the end is that most of the writing process was in fact editing.
What’s more important: the story or how you write it?
Both.
Is good writing a talent (something innate) or a skill (something we learn)?
Certainly a skill. One gets better at it, I think.
What is the most meaningful piece of writing advice you’ve ever received?
‘Play.’ Toni Morrison said that once, when she was asked to give young writers some advice.
Play. Play with language, play with voice, play with structure. Try new things, liberate yourself.
Who is an author you wish you had discovered earlier?
Chinua Achebe. Not ‘discovered’ exactly, but understood. Truly understood. The language Achebe achieved in Things Fall Apart is really genius. I dismissed it for a long time, called the writing boring, the sentences unexciting.
But that was simply because I didn’t get it, and not getting it crippled my own writing. If I had gotten Things Fall Apart earlier, I think, I would be a much better writer.
Play. Play with language, play with voice, play with structure. Try new things. Liberate yourself.
What is your favourite topic to write or read about these days?
Love. It just fascinates me. Not just romantic love, but love in its true meaning, which is compassion, affection, understanding, knowledge.
I’m constantly trying to learn how to be better at loving, because that’s what I think we are all here for. To love ourselves, to love each other, to love the world.
What are you currently working on?
I’m trying to put a book together. It’s too early to go into details about it, but I can say that it’s fiction, the working title is Little Bird, and it’s going to be about love.
I’m constantly trying to learn how to be better at loving, because that’s what I think we are all here for. To love ourselves, to love each other, to love the world.
Question from Moyosore Orekoya: What is the most important question everyone should be trying to answer?
I don’t know, but I always try to imagine, when I meet new people, what kinds of lives they’ve lived. For me, it is a way of reminding myself that everyone is a set of complex experiences.
Bonus: Please suggest a question for a future author’s First Draft
What is the place of love, kindness, and forgiveness in these global modern cultures (the cancel culture, for example, or the ‘dragging’ culture) that we have created?⎈
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