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Co-founder of Rovingheights Bookstore, Tobi Eyinade, disagrees with the belief that Africans do not read: ‘Rovingheights would not be here after nine years if that sentiment holds true.
Co-founder of Rovingheights Bookstore, Tobi Eyinade, disagrees with the belief that Africans do not read: ‘Rovingheights would not be here after nine years if that sentiment holds true. People often say Africans don’t read, yet we have managed to build a thriving book business despite the daunting challenges. Africans do read. While the numbers may not match those of other continents, we have come a long way.’
First Draft is our interview column, featuring authors and other prominent figures on books, reading, and writing.
Our questions are italicized.
What books or kinds of books did you read growing up?
I have my parents to thank for the eclectic books I read growing up. Their stern decision to not fix our damaged television in the mid-90s forced my siblings and I to find alternative ways to while away time in the suburban life of Agege, Lagos. Books became an inevitable escapism for me. Reading allowed me travel and see new places without moving an inch.
I read books in every shape or form, including newspapers. I remember my dad used to buy a lot of PM News, the defunct Next Newspaper, Tell, and The News. I also read magazines like Hint and old editions of Readers Digest. Then I upgraded to worn-out, coverless novels that were passed down from distant cousins and classmates in school. I voraciously devoured these books without even knowing their titles or seeing their covers. I would later discover that some of these books were by James Hardley Chase, some were from the Pacesetters series, and a few were Harlequin romance books. In school, I remember reading Eddie Iroh’s Without a Silver Spoon. Weirdly, I was not exposed to the Enid Blytons and J. K. Rowlings of this world as an early reader. I guess that gives a sense of my social class and humble upbringing. I was born and raised by two tenacious primary school teachers. They didn’t have the world but gave me and my siblings the absolute best in education and that shaped my love for books from an early age.
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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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