Day John’s ‘Born on a Tuesday’ excited Abuja

Outside Salamanda Café, a cozy spot for book lovers, many vehicles dotted the curb at seven in the evening. It was December 9th, Elnathan John’s book party and people waited inside the gate, paying N2, 500 to gain entry, but most importantly, to collect the author’s much awaited debut novel, ‘Born on a Tuesday.’ It […]

Outside Salamanda Café, a cozy spot for book lovers, many vehicles dotted the curb at seven in the evening. It was December 9th, Elnathan John’s book party and people waited inside the gate, paying N2, 500 to gain entry, but most importantly, to collect the author’s much awaited debut novel, ‘Born on a Tuesday.’ It promised to be an evening of interactions with the author, writers and readers and also light refreshments.
People moved around, found seats before a small stage where books of different kinds are displayed on shelves. John seats beside Cassava Republic’s Bibi Bakare-Yusuf, his publisher and soon reads portions of his work. He read from the chapter titled ‘Fight,’ where a wrestling match takes place, another that talks about ‘Santi’ and Dantala’s (the central character) experience with food.
John responded to questions and talked about how he tried his best to put together a work that would reflect the society he wrote about.          
Speaking with Bookshelf, Bakare-Yusuf narrated how the author submitted his manuscript in draft form and she felt that “she was in the presence of something amazing and really wonderful, a story that we often don’t hear about, especially for people in the rest of Nigeria.
“But also, I thought, his is a story that’s important for the entire country to read, because all parts of Nigeria need to see themselves represented in literature. There’s a confidence that comes when you see your life’s story as worthy of documentation. And so, for me, here is a story that I felt has a potential to put literature from the North on a kind of, global African face.”
The publisher added that it was a beautiful story, done in a very sensitive way and well researched and that what excited her was the fact that even though “it was done in English, the voice is Hausa, so for me, I feel that I am in the presence of a second language.”
Guests at the event had things to say about the author and their expectations for the book.
Mustapha Alhassan hadn’t met John in person before that day, but follows him on twitter. “What I like most about him is his ability to express how one feels after a tragedy,” he said, adding that he doesn’t get high expectations from things generally and so would take a look at the book first and make a personal review. “I can’t be swayed by popular opinion. But from his articles that I have read, I know I would be expecting something incredible,” Alhassan offered.
Again, some readers have already read ‘Bayan Layi,’ John’s short story – that was once shortlisted for The Caine Prize for African Writing – and found it very interesting. Shadrack, another guest at the occasion is one of these, and found it so because he could relate with it. “It was vivid and real,” he said, adding that he expects to read something as poignant as the short story.
‘Born on a Tuesday’ is a novel written in the first person narrative about an ‘almajiri,’ sent away to study the Qur’an by his parents, and is gradually shaped by circumstances and the people he meets.
John’s short story, ‘Bayan Layi,’ was shortlisted for the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2013. He was shortlisted again in 2015 for his short story ‘Flying.’ His writing has been published on several platforms.