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In our latest First Draft interview, we asked six writers about their fondest childhood memories. Here’s what they told us.
Children’s Day is a special day set aside to celebrate children—and for good reasons. Children are often treated as second-class citizens, not given the kind of treatment they deserve, especially in African societies where the tendency is to silence them, to tell them ‘Respect your elders’ and ‘Don’t talk when adults are talking.’ But while it is very important to celebrate children on this day, it is equally important to remember that all of us adults were once children too, and a day like this can be a good opportunity to reflect on our experiences of childhood.
In our First Draft column at The Republic, we asked six writers about their fondest childhood memories. Though long past childhood, these authors hold their fond childhood memories very dearly. Most of these memories feature family members, such as fathers and mothers, as in the case of the Cameroonian author who fondly remembers the taste of a bottle of Malta Guinness bought her by her father. Others, like Lola Akinmade Åkerström, reminisced about the moment they realized that writing fiction would become a part of their lives. By asking these authors about their fondest childhood memories, we have learnt just how dear family is to children.
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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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