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In our latest First Draft interview, we asked six writers to share the last great book recommendations the received. Here’s what they told us.
Word-of-mouth recommendation has always been a great way to amplify the reach of great books. I speak for many readers when I say that the instinct to recommend books is almost as inherent as that which impels one to read in the first place. Oftentimes, when I read a book I truly enjoy, I immediately try to get the people I love to read it too. Sometimes I go as far as forcing books on people, breathing down their necks until they finally read it. If my methods seem a tad aggressive, it might help to know that some of the greatest books I’ve read have been forced down my throat in similar manners.
That’s why in our First Draft column at The Republic, we ask African writers to share the last great book recommendations the received. This way, we discover some of the popular books being passed around within writers’ inner circles. From the researcher and editor who borrowed a Nigerian author’s novel from a friend to the Nigerian author whose friend recommended a rollercoaster of a novel to her, these writers are taking—and loving—book recommendations from loved ones!
Here are six African writers and the last great book recommendations they have received.
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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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