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Engineer, editor and author of Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon, Wole Talabi, believes the mechanics of storytelling at any length aren’t different. However, ‘the main difference between writing a short story and writing a novel is the time commitment needed to finish a novel and the number of story threads that need to be maintained and brought together to make a complete whole.’
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About the Author
is an engineer, writer, and editor from Nigeria. His stories have appeared in Asimov’s, the Africa Risen anthology, Lightspeed and several other places. His fiction has been a finalist for many awards including the Caine Prize (2018), the Locus Award (2022), the Jim Baen Memorial Award (2022) and the Nommo Award which he won in 2018 and 2020. His work has also been translated into Spanish, Norwegian, Chinese, Italian, Bengali, and French. His novel Shigidi (and the Brass Head of Obalufon) is forthcoming from DAW books in 2023.
Nigerian novelist, poet and author of Graceland, Chris Abani, does not believe ‘Nigerian literature’ exists as a category: ‘It is a common misconception that there is a fixed category that can be read as essentially “Nigerian literature”. Nigeria has 500 nations, 500 languages and about 2,000 dialects. While culture and language can overlap, the level of diversity is such that Nigerian literature cannot be easily narrowed down.’
For the co-founder and publishing director, of Cassava Republic Press, which marks its 20th anniversary this year, Bibi Bakare-Yusuf, it is telling that African literature is often pronounced dead in recent years, when more women and queer voices are becoming more prominent: ‘The loudest obituary writers about African literature tend to be men. These elegies seem to come from a tacit sense of personal or generational displacement rather than from the actual state of the field.’
Nigerian poet, novelist and author of Madame Sosostris and the Festival for the Broken-Hearted, Ben Okri, argues that Nigerian literature doesn’t always have to be about Nigeria: ‘Nigerian literature limits itself to Nigeria and then limits even the ways in which the country can be written about. What we want is a vast literature, a great literature…that speaks to all humanity.’
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