The first Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) convention I attended was ten years ago in Port Harcourt in November 2001. I was very young and had just arrived back into the country. I made the long drive south from Jos to Port Harcourt with several other members of Jos ANA, but the taxing journey was worth it. I remember the twentieth anniversary ANA convention as one of the most exciting events I had ever been to, meeting writers, some of whom had come all the way from Kano for the event, and attending the premier performance of Elechi Amadi’s play The Woman of Calabar, which left me aching with laughter. At the book tables, I found the book that became one of my favourites, Prison Stories by Helon Habila, the self-published collection of short stories containing his Caine Prize winning story “Prison Stories” that would later be revised into the novel Waiting for an Angel. My encounter with ANA at that convention and then later in Jos as I became a part of the thriving chapter of Jos ANA was my first experience of the flourishing literary culture in Nigeria. It was also the first time I began to feel I was part of a Nigerian community, rather than living in the out-of-touch margins of expatriate life. It was my membership in Jos ANA that encouraged me to apply for a PhD with a plan to focus on contemporary Nigerian literature in English and write my MA thesis on Helon Habila’s Waiting for an Angel. And though my PhD research ended up taking a turn as I became more proficient in Hausa and became more interested in Nigerian films, the writer in me remains a part of ANA, that community of Nigerian authors writing in English, Hausa, and other Nigerian languages.
In 2008, after having moved back to Nigeria for my PhD research, I attended the ANA convention hosted in Gusau, Zamfara State, in 2008. Hafsat Abdulwaheed, often cited as the first female Hausa novelist, was a major part of the organizing committee, and the convention featured stimulating round tables between Nigerian authors from north and south, in English and Hausa. One of the most memorable sessions was when established and emerging writers like Odia Ofeimun and Richard Ali confronted then director general of the Kano State Censorship Board, Abubakar Rabo Abdulkareem.
This year, although I am trying to attend fewer events so that I can hunker down and finish my PhD dissertation, I was tempted away from my solitude when I heard that the 30th anniversary ANA convention themed “Homecoming: African Literature and Human development” was being held in Abuja from 30 November to 4 December. Additionally, Nigerian-American author Teju Cole was scheduled to give a reading, December 1, at the monthly Abuja literary event Infusion, run by Abuja-based author Lola Shoneyin. Cole’s novel Open City has been listed as one of top ten fiction books of 2011 by Time Magazine, and has received rave reviews, everywhere from the prestigious New Yorker to the Economist, so his appearance in Abuja during the ANA convention seemed perfect timing.
Arriving at the ANA convention on Thursday morning, I was delighted to see friends and mentors such as E.E. Sule, Richard Ali, Ado Ahmad Gidan Dabino, Alkasim Abdulkadir, Hafsat Abdulwaheed, Kanchana Ugbabe, Chike Ofili and others and to meet for the first time Baba Dzukogi, Chuma Nwokolo , Gimba Kakanda, Remi Raji, and others. The best reason to attend these sorts of conventions is usually to catch up with old friends, make new ones, and rummage through the book tables for new books. Another reason to attend is to be treated to hearing talks by some of the old greats of Nigerian literature, among whom were represented Abubakar Gimba, Gabriel Okara, Hafsat Abdulwaheed, Odia Ofeimun, Tanure Ojaide and others. I was particularly happy to see English language and Hausa language authors exchanging ideas, and impressed that several Hausa writers crossed national borders, coming all the way from Niamey, Niger, for the event.
However, the convention this time, at least the day and a half I experienced, was quite disappointing. Instead of any major round tables where we could hear authors speak out on their work, there were panels of academic papers about literature, the sorts of jargon filled presentations one will patiently suffer through at an academic conference but which have no place at a writers convention where the focus should be on creative writing. Similarly the politics of the ANA exco elections to be held at the end of the convention overshadowed the discussion of art. The next day, writers who had gathered at the Cyprian Ekwensi Cultural Centre for a literary round table were ejected from the premises because the hall had not been booked. What was to be an outing to Gurara Falls ended up as a last minute trip to Millenium Park where writers apparently organized an open mic for themselves, though I had already left by that time.
Not only was the convention itself disorganized and overly political, there also seemed to be a troubling disconnect between the ANA event and the other exciting contemporary literary bodies and authors, who regularly plan activities in Abuja. For example, although Lola Shoneyin’s novel The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives and children’s book Mayowa and the Masquerade both ended up winning ANA prizes, announced by email after the convention, I didn’t see her books anywhere at the event. Neither did I see any representation, at least on Thursday or Friday, from two of the most exciting Nigerian literary publishers Cassava Republic and Farafina . Although the Teju Cole reading was organized by Shoneyin’s Infusion, not by ANA, it seems that the appearance of such a celebrated Nigerian author could have been at least mentioned as an activity writers could attend. Several of us, who had heard about the reading elsewhere, headed Thursday evening from the convention over to Infusion, but most writers were left milling about at the venue where the night’s entertainment ended up being cancelled.
Fortunately, despite this year’s dull convention, ANA has an illustrious history, and when elections were held, a vibrant new EXCO was elected. Hopefully the new leadership of ANA will place passion for literature over politics, and bring ANA back to its old vibrancy in time for the next convention in Akwa Ibom.
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