‘Competitions can hinder quality of African writing’

Bookshelf: Can you take us back to your growing up days?Ellen Banda-Aaku: I grew up in Lusaka, in the days of no computer gadgets and no internet. Monday to Friday, I went to school till midday, played outside all afternoon and watched TV from 5pm. Those days there was only one channel which was owned […]

Bookshelf: Can you take us back to your growing up days?
Ellen Banda-Aaku: I grew up in Lusaka, in the days of no computer gadgets and no internet. Monday to Friday, I went to school till midday, played outside all afternoon and watched TV from 5pm. Those days there was only one channel which was owned by the national broadcasting house. It started at 5pm and closed at midnight. Sometimes, I read a bit outside of school, like when it was raining, so I couldn’t play outside. But I was not an avid reader, which I know is unusual for a writer.
Bookshelf: How did your journey into writing begin?
Banda-Aaku: I can’t recall when exactly the desire to write came about. But I finally set down to it when I moved to Ghana with my two children who were young at the time and I found time on my hands. I started writing a novel, then I saw a call for submissions to the MacMillan Writer’s Prize for Africa, and I entered. It was the start of my writing journey because I won a prize and my first book for children, ‘Patchwork,’ was published.
Bookshelf: What spurred your decision to write for children?
Banda-Aaku: It was entering the MacMillan Writer’s prize. It was a competition for African writing for children, so I had no choice, but I really enjoyed it and so I stuck to it.
Bookshelf: Do you think children’s literature is given the attention it deserves in Africa?
Banda-Aaku: I think in Africa children’s literature is published more than fiction for older readers. I say this because most publishers in Africa publish educational materials whose main audience are school going children. Attached to educational books, publishers tend to publish books for  children and young adults as supplementary reading in schools. A publisher will choose to publish a book for children on the basis that it can be purchased in large volumes as reading books by the ministry of education, so it has the potential to generate more income than books for adults.
Bookshelf: Three of your books, ‘Nthano Zathu,’ ‘Tama’s Journal,’ and ‘Sula and Ja,’ published by Farafina, a Nigerian publishing company, are to be released by the end of this year. What inspired these works?
Banda-Aaku: ‘Nthano Zathu’ is a compilation of stories of people touched by cancer in Zambia. The Zambia Cancer Society commissioned me to write the stories; I agreed to do it as it sounded like an interesting project. It turned out to be much more. It was a very emotional, humbling, rewarding, inspiring, life changing experience for me. ‘Tama’s Journal’ and ‘Sula & Ja’ were inspired by my passion for telling stories through the voice and eyes of a child.  With ‘Sula & Ja,’ I was also trying to fill a gap which I feel exists of stories that realistically portray the experiences of older teens on the continent.   
Bookshelf: If you are to generally put writing in Africa on a scale, what would it look like?
Banda-Aaku: If it’s to compare African writing with writing from other continents, I cannot make a comparison. I think every writer’s work is unique regardless of the continent the writer hails from. What I would say about writing coming out of Africa is that it is getting more exposure to other continents, which I think is a great thing.
Bookshelf: Can you narrate how you wrote ‘Patchwork’?
Banda-Aaku: ‘Patchwork’ was my MA in Creative Writing dissertation, so I had to write something. I started another novel which wasn’t working, so I stopped it and started writing what became ‘Patchwork.’ A lot of it was inspired by what I observed growing up in Zambia in the 70s and 80s. It started as a book for children but at some point it took on the tone of an adult novel. My main challenge was writing the main character, Pumpkin, as an adult in the second part of the novel.
Bookshelf: You have won several awards. How has this encouraged you as a writer and impacted on your writing so far?
Banda Aaku: I often wonder whether I would have continued writing if my first piece had not been published. Maybe, maybe not… I think awards do give confidence to a writer. I was definitely inspired to write more after I won the Macmillan writer’s prize for Africa.
Bookshelf: Do share your experience judging, especially the recently concluded 2014 Writivism Short Story Writing Competition, which took place in Kampala, Uganda.
Banda-Aaku: I enjoy reading all the stories and deliberating with other judges. It’s a very interesting process as sometimes everyone agrees and at other times disagrees. Writivism was great because the stories came from all regions on the continent. The way the prize is organized is a great way to encourage new writing; plus, the workshops given prior to the competition are invaluable.
Bookshelf: How do you think these competitions have served to help the growth of African literature?
Banda-Aaku: Competitions help to grow African literature in that they inspire people to write – which is a good thing. On the flip side, they can potentially hinder the quality of African literature. For instance, if the standard of submissions to a prize is low and winners are selected from the sub-standard quality and sometimes even published as part of the prizes, are we growing or developing literature? Having said this, I believe prizes and competitions have more advantages than disadvantages for the development of literature coming out of Africa.
Bookshelf: We do not hear of Pacesetters and the African Writers Series anymore. What is the way forward for African literature?
Banda-Aaku: Writers on the continent should write, write and write. If the quality is good, there will also be a publisher somewhere, out there!