Joy Isi Bewaji writes provocatively about life generally and about life in the city specifically. Khalam engaged her in conversation recently, these are the things she said:
Do you think digital media helps the reading habits of younger people?
The changing environment and working culture affects everything. Young people are controlled by trends. Digital media is trendy. Traditional reading habit is obviously not as fancy as the electronic mode. These methods of reading meet our needs in different ways. Young people are reading because the digital platform is a fad, a cool idea that they would want to be associated with. It also provides interaction, a form of art that allows you to share your knowledge and ignorance on the same level of appreciation, depending on which platform you are on. With digital media, there’s so much more than just texts- there are pictures and colour and (un)healthy distractions that allow for a balanced diet. It doesn’t seem as hectic and suits the lethargic mental lifestyle of the average.
As a writer, what would you like to see changed in the future of publishing in Africa?
It is important that African publishing realises its significance in the development and progress of the continent. That our voices reach a crescendo, our messages are not lost in a fair-weather romance with expectations from the West. I also believe that we should begin to pay attention to other genres of writing beyond the ugly carcass of poverty that we like to feed to the world. Africans fall in love, and it doesn’t have to be at the backyard near a gutter or a well or a farm; it could happen in a fancy restaurant. The complete story of who we are should be told. The prejudice of the African story stifles the writer and affects the fruitfulness of the industry. What we share with the rest of the world is prejudiced.
It is also important for publishing in Africa to grow beyond a unit that churns out ink on paper. All areas of the book chain should be realised. After printing, what next? Why do books sit in stores, gather dust and earn no dignity? Where are the buyers? Are the materials getting into the hands of the people who want them? Beyond literati incest, are we engaging the “other African” who wants to know more about our fiction and poetry? To flourish we would need to break the habit that puts the entire industry in a box.
Are writers doing enough to reach the next generation of readers?
No. They are gratified with being “badass writers” and writing for only a small crowd. It is shameful that even technology has not been able to bring the writer any closer to his real audience. The literary community is divided on the impact of technology to its various works. Some believe promoting literature through to millions online will eventually reduce the quality, genius of the art. It’s laughable at best. Every work of art is in need, desperate, hungry for an audience. If not, why do we bother to express ourselves? Why do we even write? It is snobbery that has birth hunger of a magnitude that leaves me baffled. –Because, if truth be told, the writer has no business being poor. I am of the school of thought that in a state of over 20 million people, at least 350,000 people are in need of alternate entertainment. We are firstly emotional creatures before we are intellectual; are we reaching our potential readers on that basis or are we spitting cerebral mucous all over them?
If you were empress for a day, what law would you enact for Nigeria?
No marriages and no child bearing for the next 10 years. Go and discover other methods to happiness and fulfilment. Nigeria cannot sustain another child, not one more. Obviously the “Nigerian marriage” needs a revised version; adjusted to fit the realities of our lives.
Public libraries or private libraries, which option do you think will help Africans more?
I have very little faith in the government, and I speak of the Nigerian government and its inability to meet the needs of its citizens. There have been attempts and we see how much of a wreck it becomes after a while. Every structure is designed to enrich a few; corruption looms from every quarters. Public libraries will come with toilets reeking so bad you will not be able to read a line without falling sick. There’ll be water mixed with urine dripping from the sink down to the feet of your seat; the air-conditioner will stop working after a few months (of course, an old fake junk presented as new); the pages of books will disappear one by one; the attendant will get pregnant and retire to her village.
Private libraries will last a little longer and charge the type of fees that will be able to build you a house after a year’s financial reckoning. It’s tough. As a Nigerian tired of poor service, I am always willing to pay the extra for something better. Private libraries will come with the required pretences of comfort that I can bear to live with.
What is your message to parents of the Chibok girls?
What do you say to a grieving parent except to connect to her soul, build an emotional bond. Nigeria fails us every day. Yet we cannot give up hope.
What is your message to the Nigerian government on the fate of the Chibok girls?
That this political sect is planning for a re-election and pursuing its political ambition with a lot of oomph is tragic. The Nigerian life is equal to that of a dog left outside the blistering sun. We die and the next minute the president has to jet out for a fancy conference. The opposition throws a punch, the ruling part sprays bullets; the circus continues. The blame game, the cluelessness, the tattered promises, the misinformation, poor communication; and endless row of incompetence. We demand a government with capacity. It is befuddling that a group of terrorists can hold a nation of over 150 million hostage, and the government left with erectile dysfunction.
In your view, are our cities safer for creative enterprises or less so?
Our cities do not come with the requisite amenities to function elegantly. Our cities come with epileptic power, crates and potholes as deep as a grave site, poor transport link and traffic bad enough to make you eat your buttons off your shirt. There’s nothing creatively conducive about our lives. These enterprises that exist nonetheless are like traders with heavy loads trudging through a long road with no vehicle in sight. To survive under these prevailing circumstances is akin to being nailed on the cross. Our lives are mentored by mass-market ventures; we survive only when we can move in a crowd. The creative enterprise continues to suffocate under unfavourable policies and structures. There’s nothing safe about being original in a society as ours. You’ll lose your mind and then your money.
If you had the chance, which other genre of literature will you tackle apart from fiction?
Poetry. I have become a junkie for fine poems. I am restless. I grow goose bumps. I hold my breasts, I tap my feet. I am in love. Poetry has found a submissive wife.
khalameditions 