Chibundu Onuzo: The Dylan Thomas Prize Shortlist

Young Nigerian writer who is also guest author at the Garden City Literary Festival, 2012 is on the Dylan Thomas Prize shortlist.

"A 21 year old Nigerian novelist is the youngest of five rising literary stars shortlisted for the  2012 University of Wales’ Dylan Thomas Prize, it was announced today...21 year old Chibundu Onuzo’s book  The Spider King’s Daughter is a modern-day Romeo  and Juliet set against the backdrop of a changing Lagos. "

The Dylan Thomas Prize is a leading prize for young published writers  under the age of thirty.   presented annually by the University of Wales. The prize, named in honour of the Welsh writer and poet Dylan Thomas, brings international prestige and a remuneration of £30,000. 

Congratulations Chibundu, from the GCLF Team!

The Voice Diary: October 18, 2012

Today, there were three main events: the public presentation of Port Harcourt as the UNESCO World Book Capital, 2014; a "Role Model Reads to Children" event where Dame Alice Lawrence Nemi, the Honourable Commissioner for Education, Rivers State read to children;  and a book signing session. All events were open to the public. The first, that seemed to be the highlight of the day was the official presentation of Port Harcourt as the UNESCO World Book Capital City, 2014. In attendance were the Nobel Laureate for Literature, Professor Wole Soyinka; the Commissioner for Information, Rivers State, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari who represented the Governor of Rivers State, HE Governor Rotimi Amaechi; the Country Representative of UNESCO, Dr Joseph Ngo who represented Director General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova. Seated also were the guest writers for the Garden City Literary Festival, Doreen Baingana, Veronique Tadjo and Chibundu Onuzo. Also seated were writers from the city of Port Harcourt, Igoni Barrett, Chief Elechi Amadi, and Pa Gabriel Okara. 

The event which was co-hosted by Who Wants to Be a Millionaire host, Frank Edoho opened with music from the Rivers States Schools Orchestra. The group of young children also led the audience to sing the National Anthem, which seemed to take on a new meaning, as the second stanza ended "...Great lofty heights attain, to build a nation where peace and justice shall reign."

Throughout the event, it seemed that every speaker focused on how as a country, we can attain lofty heights by supporting the ideas that literature carries. Koko Kalango, the Festival Director gave the welcome speech; she talked about the motive behind the title of this year's festival "The broad theme is interesting because it allows examine the work of women who  are operating in the literary space- writers, publishers, book sellers, literary critics. We will also be looking at what women write about and how relevant female writing is to the modern world, also how women are portrayed in literature."

She emphasised the importance of reading to thinking, to the growth of any society. "A reading people is a thinking people. In a reading society, thinking society, when we see a broken down fuel tanker, we do not go there and take our buckets to fetch petrol to sell for a little money. A thinking person knows that this is a dangerous thing to do as a single match can set a blaze that can kill dozens of people in minutes." She ended her address by welcoming everyone to the Garden City Literary Festival. 

This was followed by the Governor's welcome address presented by Mrs. Ibim Semenitari who lauded the activities of the Rainbow Book Club, as a strategic partnership with the state government in shining the light of enlightenment on the darkness of ignorance in the state. She espoused the potentials that Port Harcourt held being the UNESCO World Book Capital City, 2014, and said that the state would support in the activities.  "Let me on that note welcome you to the beautiful city of Port Harcourt and to the city of Rivers, to a state that is full of possibilities," she said, concluding the Governor's address.

The Director General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova was represented by the country rep, Dr Joseph Ngu. He lauded the work of the Rainbow Book Club as being in alignment with UNESCO's work. He said "In April 2013, Port Harcourt would be the first African city to serve as the UNESCO World Book Capital City. Books are transmitters of knowledge. They promote mutual understanding and help fight ignorance. That's why UNESCO wants to help combat illiteracy. This is why UNESCO is engaged as the lead agency for the global education for all women... With Port Harcourt as world Book capital in 2012, Africa will be able to share its vision of books with the world. We can also address the many challenges encountered by the national stakeholders. The stakes are high and we know that much has to be done, to ensure its success. But rest assured that UNESCO will continue to work with all the parties concerned. Thank you for your attention." 

There was an interlude to the speeches with Pa Okara who read his poem "The Call of the River Nun."

Professor Wole Soyinka took to the podium to give his speech, which he drew largely from social realities, happenings in the world of science and poetry. It was an exercise in decoding the coded language of science and transmitting it in the language that we all understood. He commended the Rainbow Book Club's work, as a legacy, a war of the forces of light against the forces of darkness. He commented on the Aluu incident "worse of all is that it took place in front of people who watched. Silent participants...I believe quite frankly that this country is at war: between the intellects and against the forces of reprobate thinking." 

It is in fact a fight for our humanity, he says "If we surrender to these banal forces in the society, we cease to be human beings. All organisations that wage war against enlightenment wage war, not against the state, but against humanity itself. We have the responsibility to support and sustain such efforts, and that makes RBC an ally organisation. Despite the horrors that surround us, we are very much alive, very much productive. It is an internal and external message, we must continue to preach to our children if we have any hope at all and any faith in our humanity." On Port-Harcourt's selection as the World Book Capital City, he said "This is an honour, not only to the nation but to the African continent. This is recognition that something is going right in Nigeria despite negativity. "

The logo for Port-Harcourt as the World Book Capital, 2014 was was unveiled by writers of Port-Harcourt; Wole Soyinka and his wife, Mrs Folake Soyinka, Mrs Ibim Semenitari and the invited writers.  

Dr Obari Gomba reviewed the book Nigerian Literature: Coat of Many Colours. He had a lot to say, here is a summary "Mrs Kalango's book has a colourful front cover with fourteen pictures of Nigerian writers. Soyinka's photo is the biggest. Does it surprise you? There are other 36 writers on the back cover. They have all added value to the book, period. If you envy them with a bias, then run for office in the next elections. Fifty Nigerian authors are listed. There are fifteen women. This is less than the 35% affirmative action for women; it calls more women to write...The scope of the book is impressive and covers all the generations of Nigerian writers. Many young writers are represented. That is not too many to sing the success of our generation. We have people who have done two, three works and are listed here. It is good that Ms. Kalango has not fallen in the class that says that wait for us until we are grey." 

The event came to a close with the Vote of Thanks delivered by Chief Elechi Amadi.  Copies of the book were given to members of the audience, who hurried to some of the writers who were around for pictures and autographs.

The Voice Interviews: Chibundu Onuzo

In this interview with Ainehi Edoro of Brittle Paper, Chibundu Onuzo, guest author at GCLF 2012, speaks about her writing and her new book The Spider King's Daughter. 

Why did you choose to set your first novel in Lagos?

I grew up there so I know the city quite well and I suppose with your first novel, you want to be writing about home territory. There are so many things you have to grapple with as an inexperienced writer and adding an unfamiliar setting is just an extra difficulty. It’s hard enough trying to evoke a place you know.

I’d never have thought of Lagos as a city of love, but you convinced me. What made you think of a Lagos romance?

Have you ever been to Tantalizers or Mr Biggs? Lagos is the Nigerian capital of romance. Every guy is a toaster and every girl is a babe in Eko.

Abike and Runner G are the two love birds. Can I confess that my favorite of the two is Runner G? I find his strength in the face of so much suffering both sexy and inspiring. Can you tell us how that character came to life?

I just started telling the story from his point of view. His voice came naturally to me because I think in personality, we’re quite similar.  You say he’s strong in the face of suffering but some readers have complained about his passivity in the face of adversity.  If I suddenly woke up poor, I’d hope to be like the hawker, I’d be capable of eking out some sort of living and putting away a few hundred Naira a week. If Abike suddenly woke up poor and was forced to become a hawker, she would organise all the other hawkers and form a hawkers' union and become the State Commissioner for the informal economy by the time she was done.

Why doesn’t Runner G have a “real” name?

I couldn’t find one. I just got to the end and nothing fit so I left him nameless and then his namelessness became a wider metaphor for the faceless poor in Lagos. When I was in primary school, there was an ice cream seller I used to buy ice lollies from almost every day and till today, I don’t know his name.

Isn’t Abike kind of a bitch? Lol.  Not really. When viewed in the context of her childhood, she’s actually quite humane, maybe even more humane than the hawker who had role models and a close family structure. I always tell harsh readers that any kind act you see Abike perform (such as the way she stands up for her driver) must be magnified  because of her upbringing.

My love affair with Abike is a bit different. I feel really drawn to the very things that made Runner G have such a hard time being her lover–her snarkiness, snobbishness, “sharp mouth,” her queen-of-my-domain mentality. Was her character difficult to write? Did you have to tap into your inner bitchiness?  

Giving Abike a narrative voice started off as a plot device. I only had one narrator in my first attempt at the book. As I’ve mentioned, the hawker is in many ways quite a passive character so not much had happened by page thirty. He was just walking round Lagos and describing things and musing. So when Abike came along, she was in the worst instances, not much more than bullet points and in the best instances, very, very obnoxious. So she certainly went through many rounds of editing.

Abike’s mother is a Nollywood actress. Your description of her odd ways is prettyhilarious. Could you talk a little bit about the Nollywood reference? What is it about Nollywood that made you want to say something about it in Spider King’s Daugther?

Abike’s mother is not my only reference to Nollywood in the book. The way I’ve structured the scenes borrows quite heavily from Nollywood filming techniques. If you’ve ever watched a Nollywood movie, the main character will walk in on her husband cheating on her, the camera will zoom to her eyes widening in horror, then the scene will change and we have to wait to find out what happens next. I do this kind of thing quite a few times in The Spider King’s Daughter.

You touch on depression a little bit–Runner G’s mother is a depressive. Were you trying to speak to the popular misconception that Africans don’t suffer depression?

I don’t really like the word depression. There are many shades and manifestations of sadness and depression is such a blanket term. The hawker’s mother has a very deep and quiet melancholia. Her shade of sadness would be mauve. But yes, Africans just like all human beings get depressed.

The story starts out like a Rom-fiction. But things gradually get dark. Were you going for  that? Would you say Spider King’s Daughter is a romance fiction, thriller, or a romance thriller?

None of the above really. You’ll have to come up with a few more.

I think it’s awesome. It’s fun to see what Abike and Runner G leave out or include in their separate accounts of a particular event. You did a good job of not making the telling and retelling tiresome for the reader? How did you do that?

Abike and the hawker are very different people. If my sister and I tell the story of the same event, the second time will definitely bore you but the hawker and Abike notice different things and they lay emphasis on different things because their experiences of life are so different.

Abike and Runner G definitely have great chemistry. But would you say that their romance was pretty PG-13? Why didn’t you give us a bit more steaminess? I don’t mean a 50 Shades kinda steamy. Just a bit more touching, kissing, making out, etc.

It seemed an accurate amount of steaminess to me. From what I remember (and it wasn’t that long ago), secondary school relationships in Nigeria were pretty vapourless. I don’t  know about your school but in my boarding school, kissing your boyfriend was quite a big deal. It didn’t often happen when you were ‘having something.’  You would normally wait until you were officially going out. One of my very close friends who was four years my senior, told me before he kissed his girlfriend for the first time. He planned it a couple of days in advance. You had to be quite savvy about these things and find a private place because there were always teachers prowling around who would swoop down to separate couples if they saw them holding hands for too long.

The ending. Wow! What can I say? I didn’t see it coming. The story takes a rather unexpected turn, leaving things a bit unresolved. Is there going to be a part two?

No part two or at least none is planned.  Even though I refer to Nollywood and borrow some techniques, this is not a Nollywood production.

Read Brittle Paper's review of The Spider King's Daughter

Chibundu Onuzo started writing novels and short stories at the age of 10 and less than a decade later, she became the youngest woman ever to be signed to Faber and Faber, which has published books by 12 Nobel Laureates and 6 Man Booker prize winners.

Guest Writer: Chibundu Onuzo

Chibundu Onuzo started writing novels and short stories at the age of 10 and less than a decade later, she became the youngest woman ever to be signed to Faber and Faber, which has published books by 12 Nobel Laureates and 6 Man Booker prize winners.

Chibundu, the youngest of four children, spent 14 years of her life in Nigeria before moving to England to continue her secondary education. While at boarding school, she started writing ‘The Spider King’s Daughter,’ with her home city of Lagos serving as inspiration. The novel is part of a two-book deal with the publishing powerhouse and charts the unlikely relationship that develops between a poor street hawker and a sheltered rich girl who meet on a street in Lagos.

“I love telling stories. It’s really that simple.”

Since its release in March 2012, the book has garnered a 4.5 out of 5 star rating on Amazon and a 4 star review from The Metro. It has even earned her a place alongside a Booker prize-nominated Oxford professor on the longlist for the £10,000 Desmond Elliott Prize for debut novelists.

Chibundu has given readings at the South Bank, The Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival and Cambridge Wordfest and recent media appearances include BBC Radio 3’s ‘The Verb’ and BBC Scotland’s ‘The Book Café.’ The Times describes the book as ‘a dark, tense, gripping first novel, peeling back layers of Nigerian society.’ The Observer calls it ‘an energetic thriller debut’ and the Financial Times writes, ‘there are promising flourishes here that catch the eye.’ In other parts of the world, The Strait Times, Singapore’s leading newspaper, describes the book as a ‘deliciously layered tale of corruption, revenge and coming of age,’ and the South Africa Times writes of Chibundu, “kill me dead. This girl has skills.”  

21-year-old Chibundu has also been profiled by CNN; The Observer recently named her as one of the Authors to Watch Out For in 2012.

“I don’t see success as a personal achievement. It’s not like I woke up and educated myself.” She says.  In June 2012, she was listed as The No. 1 Black Student in the U.K at an awards ceremony held at parliament. This year also, she finished a History degree at King’s College London where she obtained a first class. She plans to complete a Masters in Public Management and Governance and, if the success of her first book is anything to go by, her second will be another literary delight.

 

GCLF 2012: Books of the Festival

Death and the King’s Horseman, by Wole Soyinka

Elesin Oba, the King's Horseman, has a single destiny. When the King dies, he must commit ritual suicide and lead his King's favorite horse and dog through the passage to the world of the ancestors. A British colonial officer, Pilkings, intervenes.

The Concubine, by Elechi Amadi

Ihuoma, a beautiful young widow of exemplary character, has the admiration of the entire community in which she lives, and especially of the hunter Ekwueme. Obedient to the expectations of the traditional society they belong to, they forswear their love so that Ekwueme can marry the girl to whom he has been betrothed since birth. But their passion is fated, and jealousy, a love portion and the closeness of the spirit world, lift this simple tale on a tragic plane.

The Spider King’s Daughter, by Chibundu Onuzo

Seventeen-year-old Abike Johnson is the favourite child of her wealthy father. She lives in a sprawling mansion in Lagos, protected by armed guards and ferried everywhere in a huge black jeep. A world away from Abike’s mansion, in the city’s slums, lives an eighteen-year-old hawker struggling to make sense of the world. His family lost everything after his father’s death and now he sells ice cream at the side of the road to support his mother and sister. When Abike buys ice cream from the hawker one afternoon, they strike up a tentative and unlikely romance. But as they grow closer, revelations from the past threaten their relationship and both Abike and the hawker must decide where their loyalties lie.

Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria, by Noo Saro Wiwa

At its heart Noo Saro-Wiwa's Looking for Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria is both a travel memoir and a search for closure. Noo Saro-Wiwa, the daughter of the world-renowned anti-corruption and environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa was brought up in England but regularly visited Nigeria every year, that was until her father was executed in 1995 by the military government of Sani Abacha. After her father's murder Noo Saro-Wiwa decided that she would rather not have anything more to do with Nigeria and stayed away from the country for 10 years. Looking for Transwonderland is Noo Saro-Wiwa's attempt to rediscover and come to terms with Nigeria, to connect with her family history and heritage through experiencing Nigeria's rich diversity and to understand its complexities.

Tropical Fish, by Doreen Baingana

Tropical Fish follows the three Mugisha sisters, as they grow up against the backdrop of Uganda in the 1980s. Patti is a born-again Christian; Rosa is adventurous and sexually precocious. The star of the show however is Christine. We travel with her as she takes her first wobbly steps in high heels and later encounters the alienation amidst material wealth of America, before her final return home.

The Blind Kingdom, by Véronique Tadjo

This multi-layered narrative comprises a series of interwoven short stories and poetic texts which can be read within continental Africa, the African Diaspora and beyond. Véronique Tadjo imagines an African society on the brink of total collapse, yet there is no doubt that the story resonates in unsettling ways with recent political and social unrest in Côte d´Ivoire. This is a lyrical and yet haunting story, a book of love with fresh insights into the unfinished and complex struggles for African independence. Tadjo envisions a new world where outrage and chaos — necessary for change — generate hope, creativity and renewal.

Joys of Motherhood, by Buchi Emecheta

Nnu Ego is a woman devoted to her children, giving them all her energy, all her worldly possessions, indeed, all her life to them -- with the result that she finds herself friendless and alone in middle age. This story of a young mother's struggles in 1950s Lagos is a powerful commentary on polygamy, patriarchy, and women's changing roles in urban Nigeria.

The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives, by Lola Shoneyin

The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives is a book that explores the dynamics of a polygamous home in urban (circa 2001) Ibadan in Nigeria. It is told with a dry wit, very satirical and earthy. A stirring tale of men and women, mothers and children, servitude and independence, Shoneyin's novel illuminates the common threads that connect the experiences of all women: the hardships they bear, their struggle to define themselves, and their fierce desire to protect those they love.

***These books may be the focus of the festival but there are many other titles available for sale at the book fair. You don't want to miss out on these treasures. Happy New Month readers!

Call For Entries: The GCLF Writers' Workshop

Entries for the 5th edition of the annual Garden City Literary Festival Writers’ Workshop are now being accepted. The workshop will hold in October 2012.

The Writers’ Workshop is a creative platform where aspiring writers sit under the tutelage of their established counterparts. It is recommended for anyone who wants to improve their writing skills. Each applicant must indicate their preferred choice of workshop.

Application to more than one class will not be considered. Participants are required to submit samples of their writing (in line with requirement for the different genres) before Friday 31st August, 2012, to secure a place.

All applicants must submit the following:

FOR SHORT STORIES:

• Sample short story of between 1000 and 1500 words (please highlight--in the subject of your email--how many words your story contains). You should submit only your best story.

FOR POEMS:

• Sample poem (no longer than 1000 words). Please note: synopses or abstracts will NOT be accepted.

FOR DRAMA

• A ‘one act’ play script on any subject.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE FOLLOWING GUIDELINES MUST BE ADHERED TO:

• A one-page personal CV must be submitted along with each entry;
• A brief paragraph about what you intend to learn from your chosen workshop must be included in submission;
• All manuscripts must be double spaced with a header showing ‘author’ to the left, ‘title’ in the middle and ‘page number’ to the right;
• Handwritten entries or entries that do not adhere to the manuscript format above will not be accepted.

All sample materials must be submitted to info@gardencityfestival.com not later than 12 noon on Friday 31st August, 2012. Materials submitted after this date and time will not be accepted.

*Guest writers at the 5th edition of the Garden City Literary Festival include Doreen Baingana, Lola Shoneyin, Veronique Tadjo, Noo Saro-Wiwa, Chibundu Onuzo and the Caine Prize administrator, Lizzy Attree.

Chibundu Onuzo: On Writing The Spider King’s Daughter

Chibundu Onuzo's debut novel The Spider King's Daughter is the Rainbow Book Club's Book of the Month for July. She writes about her publishing journey. 

I started writing The Spider King’s Daughter when I was 17, got an agent at 18, signed with Faber at 19, finished editing while 20 and got published at 21. Condensed into this sentence, the whole thing looks incredibly neat and simple. That’s what summarising things does and this is why in my first cover letter to my agent, I refused to write a synopsis of my book. With only thirty-three pages written, I technically couldn’t have produced a summary. However, as I was also ideologically opposed to the synopsis, I informed my future agent: “I usually miss the point of summaries so I have enclosed the first three chapters for you to read and find out what the novel is about.” I am quoting from memory but the obnoxious sentiment is accurately transcribed.

Luckily, the lady who read it, Rosie Apponyi, liked what I’d sent and asked for more. At which point I emailed back, "I regret to say that I cannot send you a complete copy of my manuscript because I haven’t finished it yet." Rosie was kind enough to give me a few pointers, including her feeling that the story had lost momentum by the end of the extract. What followed was six months of writing where I added another narrative voice and eventually completed the novel. Again this summary of those six months does not include the prep I handed in late or the moment of 2am madness when I suddenly had the urge to delete the novel or the constipated toil of squeezing out an eight line paragraph. Suffice it to say that the first draft was completed in those six months and sent off to Rosie at Capel and Land accordingly.

Now somewhere along the line I had gotten the idea that since August 2008 when Rosie read the extract and June 2009 when I sent the complete manuscript, she had been sitting at her desk and painting her nails, waiting for The Spider King’s Daughter to arrive. So accompanying my posted manuscript, I sent an email saying:

—-

‘Dear Ms Apponyi,

I have sent the full manuscript to your agency’s address and it should be arriving, latest, on Monday.’

—-

She kindly wrote that she was looking forward to reading it. When nothing more had been heard for a week, I wrote again:

Dear Ms Apponyi,

Please could you tell me if your agency sends rejection slips to applicants?

—-

To which the long-suffering Rosie replied:

No, we don’t send rejection slips. However, I can tell you that we have received The Spider King’s Daughter and it is in my ‘to be read’ pile – this pile is very big but I will get to it eventually!

—-

Like Job, the thing which I had feared had come upon me. Despite the highlighted letters in which I had written THE SPIDER KING’S DAUGHTER on the envelope to show that this was the novel everyone at Capel and Land had been waiting for, I was back where I started: on the slush pile. And there I sat for a few more weeks, in which I lost faith in Capel and Land and sent off the opening chapters to two other agencies. One politely rejected me. As for the other, I still eagerly await a response with kind regards.

Rosie got back to me eventually and we started work on the novel. Those were the heady days of my first edit. I received the first set of notes on the 4th August 2009. By the next day, I had responded with some changes. As editing progressed, my response time slowed but in the six months I worked with Rosie, rarely a week went by in which I didn’t submit something for her to read.

When she felt the book was ready to be sent to editors at publishing houses, she did. Rosie never told me which publishers she submitted to in order to spare me the crushing feeling that accompanies rejections. Once in while she would emerge from the murky world of the ‘submission process’ and ask for a new prologue, a rewritten scene and once, a recent picture. This last shocked me. Hitherto, I had thought of the world of publishing as a higher plane where words were discussed by vegetarian intellectuals who did not care what an author looked like. Sad, sad day of teenage disillusionment.

Sarah Savitt at Faber made an offer (without a photo), we accepted and then I had a publisher and an editor. I didn’t really know what an editor did. I kind of had this vague idea that he/she would make all the changes they wanted in the manuscript, then I the author would look at these alterations and patiently point out where he/she had strayed from my voice. I was wrong. 

Chibundu Onuzo

Editing with an editor was just like editing with an agent, but longer. People always ask me why the editing process at Faber took so long. The only way I can explain it is I needed to think about the book. There were no massive alterations made. After a year and half of editing, Abike and the hawker’s story still followed the same trajectory; only two minor characters had been added; even the title had remained the same. But I had thought about my characters and made them more real in parts where my desire for a sharp plot had rendered them wooden. I had thought about the place I was trying to capture, driving round Lagos, looking for the scenes that encapsulated the chaos and creativity of my city. I had learnt about the usefulness of dialogue and replaced ‘we talked’ with actual conversations. And most important of all, I had learnt patience. To sit and go over the same paragraph. To examine a sentence’s rhythm. To be a little more of that pedantic, precise thing called a writer. 

So here we are at publication date. I am thoroughly sick of the thing. I am for the most part pleased with the thing. It’s a funny contradiction.

The Spider King’s Daughter by Chibundu Onuzo is available now in paperback. This article is re-published with the author's kind permission.

Rainbow Book of the Month: July

The Rainbow Book Club "Book of the Month" for July is The Spider King's Daughter by Chibundu Onuzo. Details here.