‘Fake writers fade too soon’

Bookshelf: Your book, ‘Funeral of the Minstrel,’ was released on the first of October. How does it feel? Nnorom Azuoye: ‘Funeral of the Minstrel’ is not exactly new work. I wrote the play in 2010, shortly after Esiaba Irobi died. An earlier version of the play was published in Sentinel Annual Literature Anthology in 2011. […]

Bookshelf: Your book, ‘Funeral of the Minstrel,’ was released on the first of October. How does it feel?
Nnorom Azuoye: ‘Funeral of the Minstrel’ is not exactly new work. I wrote the play in 2010, shortly after Esiaba Irobi died. An earlier version of the play was published in Sentinel Annual Literature Anthology in 2011. I chose to publish it as a stand-alone play this year to mark Esiaba Irobi’s birthday and to make it available to all theatre lovers. Still, it does feel good to birth new published material, especially for somebody like me because I invest more of my time and resources publishing other people’s works, ignoring my own. I don’t think anyone ever gets used to being published. The day you do that is the day you begin to get complacent.

Bookshelf: How did you come about your central character in the play, Dr. Esiaba Irobi?
Azuonye: Esiaba Irobi was my lecturer at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where I studied Dramatic Arts. He had a great artistic influence on me at Nsukka and most of my plays have echoes of Irobi. Although he was not as stuffy as some of the lecturers at Nsukka, we were not exactly friends and our interaction was either in the lecture room, and rehearsal or performance spaces. We reconnected in England years later and nurtured our friendship. Whenever he visited London from his base in the United States, we met up for a meal, and to rub minds on literary matters. He encouraged my efforts and gave me lots of ideas. After featuring him as a guest writer on my website nnoromazuonye.com, Esiaba suggested that I should move what I was doing away from my website and give it an identity of its own. That suggestion gave rise to Sentinel Poetry Movement which I founded on December 1, 2002. When he died, I was devastated. As Femi Osofisan wrote in the blurb of ‘Funeral of the Minstrel,’ the play is “…structured as a rite of mourning enacted by Esiaba’s peers and former students” and “…invokes the late writer’s anger and irreverence, his crusade against corruption and mediocre leadership…” In ‘Funeral of the Minstrel,’ Irobi is a force, not just a character. My greatest anxiety about this work is that I don’t know if I have managed to capture the essence of the great man. The jury is still out on that, however Andy Willoughby who knew him very well and worked with him, believes that the play allows “Esiaba Irobi’s charismatic electricity to crackle from beyond the veil … capturing his speech, his brawling irreverence and diamond sharp intelligence…” But time will tell, won’t it? When other people who knew Irobi read the play they might agree or disagree. The work is out there now and must make its own way.
 

Bookshelf: According to the story, he (Irobi) was born on October 1, 1960 in the Republic of Biafra. This is the exact date Nigeria became an independent nation. What do you hope to achieve with such an ambitious work?
Azuonye: The ambition in writing the play is not to play with the coincidence of his date of birth and the date of Nigeria’s independence. That coincidence was actually a nasty burden of irony on Irobi who never saw himself as a Nigerian. As far as he was concerned he was never a Nigerian citizen, he lived in Nigeria only as an exile. As he says in the play; “I regret that the sun did not rise again on the Republic of Biafra in my lifetime. Yet I am happy because I never for once stopped flying the flag of my nation, even while I lived in exile in Nigeria, and throughout my years of exile in Britain, and the United States of America. Don’t let them get history wrong with me as they have with Christopher Okigbo. He died as a Biafran soldier, but he is celebrated as a Nigerian poet.” It is very difficult to write about a real person who has lived. There is always the risk of taking artistic licence too far and make the character unrecognisable. My vindication will be when those who knew Esiaba tell me, after reading the play or after seeing it in performance that the experience was like meeting Esiaba alive again.

Bookshelf: Also, the work was officially released on Nigeria’s 55th anniversary. Is there an underlying message you are passing across that some people may miss?
Azuonye: The release of the book on October 1, like I said was to mark Esiaba’s birthday, not Nigeria’s independence. Nigeria of course is not an independent nation. What is the basis of Nigeria’s independence when people lack basic freedom, security and amenities? In his final moments before leaving the stage in ‘Funeral of the Minstrel’ Esiaba says to Georgie of the World, his muse; “You can’t even spend time in the dead of the night to critique my new play; ‘The Dickheads of Ngwa Land,’ the one I told you about, a whip against the backsides of all those shameless young men from our land who have made kidnapping of honest, hardworking citizens of this land a growth industry.” He had much to say, which should help Nigeria become a better place to live. During this fictional funeral as imagined by me, Esiaba uses the opportunity to address issues of importance and concern.

Bookshelf: You founded Sentinel Poetry Movement in 2002, Sentinel Literary Quarterly, and Sentinel Nigeria, among other magazines. All these are attempts to enrich literature in the country. What drives you?
Azuonye: It is the love of the written word, and to encourage and help as many people, especially the younger ones coming after us, to find avenues to channel their work. I don’t do these things for people to sing my praises. Over the last 13 years I have provided the platform for more Nigerian writers than I can count to showcase their talents, although they are not in the habit of acknowledging the role of Sentinel in their artistic journeys. This has not stopped me from continuing to give of myself to build more Nigerian literature.

Bookshelf: In 2008, you founded the Excel for Charity Writing Competition Series to encourage literary creative excellence while raising money for charities in the UK and elsewhere. What is the update on that?
Azuonye: Excel for Charity did great work in its time but is now semi-retired. I say semi-retired because I might revive it, but not the way it operated in the past. Because of the way it was structured, it was not sustainable. I still have a commitment in supporting the third sector through literature. It is a passion. That’s why I recently published the anthologies ‘Bridgewatcher and Other Poems’ and ‘Poems for a Liminal Age,’ incidentally both edited by Mandy Pannett in support of The Psychiatry Research Trust and Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders) respectively.

Bookshelf:How do you view the development of Nigerian literature at this time?
Azuonye: Nigerian literature is as strong now as ever. The growth of local publishing houses that do great work is only a sign of amazing things to come. One major issue is still just how quickly people want to see their names on book covers, and although I hold a dim view of the NLNG literature prize, the decision of their panel not to award a prize to any book this year testifies to the unfortunate trend.

Bookshelf: You appear to be more into poetry and playwriting. Is there any special reason for that?
Azuonye: Believe it or not, I have not written a new poem since 2015, and I don’t nearly write as many plays as I should. I also have manuscripts for two novels completed and a collection of short stories is ready to roll out in 2016. So, it is not exactly accurate that I write more poems and plays. The thing with the two novels I have completed is that they may never be published – ever. I wrote them at a different time in my life. The stories are morally and spiritually jaundiced and I could not edit out the rot in them without losing their souls.

Bookshelf: Do you have any rules guiding how you write?
Azuonye: I like to think that for me the most important rule is to keep the work honest. Readers can tell when you are thinking they are fools. There is a lot of pretentious writing going around. There are many Nigerian writers who might have made great writers but they are not being themselves and something is missing. Many think they have to become Soyinka or Achebe clones to be relevant. There is also this nonsense of making statements that ridicule God and God’s people as a way of showing that they are enlightened or liberated. The truth is we can see through them, and like all fakes, they fade too soon. Just keep it honest. Write about what you are passionate about. Your passion will infect people.

Bookshelf: What are you working on at the moment?
Azuonye: Mostly, what I am doing now is trying to get stuff I have written over the last 20 years or so, publishing-fit. My play, ‘A Tasty Taboo’ written in 1990 is getting an edit and will be published in 2016. It is a short play and will probably be published together with another short play, ‘This Thing Called Black.’ My collection of short stories, ‘The Magenta Shadow,’ is also slated for a 2016 release.  There is also the possibility I will publish a full-length play I wrote in 1991 titled, ‘Rage of the Restless.’ Let’s just say I am taking stock right now, publishing what is worth it and what I feel does not cut it I will keep in storage. Maybe years after I have passed on, somebody might feel that publishing them won’t hurt my image and let them out.

Bookshelf: Aside writing and anything related with it, what else do you do?
Azuonye: I do far too many things that I often wonder how I manage. I run the Sentinel Writing and Publishing Company Ltd with the trading styles SPM Publications, Sentinel Poetry Movement and Okolosi Books. Alongside that growing business I serve as a Methodist local preacher and for years now I have also worked as a business account manager with British Telecom Local Business (London West) in Mayfair, designing cutting edge business communications solutions for small to medium enterprises. My most important job however, is as a devoted husband to Thelma Amaka and father to Arinze, Nwachi and Obinna.

Bookshelf: According to the story, he (Irobi) was born on October 1, 1960 in the Republic of Biafra. This is the exact date Nigeria became an independent nation.What do you hope to achieve with such an ambitious work?
Azuonye: The ambition in writing the play is not to play with the coincidence of his date of birth and the date of Nigeria’s independence. That coincidence was actually a nasty burden of irony on Irobi who never saw himself as a Nigerian. As far as he was concerned he was never a Nigerian citizen, he lived in Nigeria only as an exile. As he says in the play; “I regret that the sun did not rise again on the Republic of Biafra in my lifetime. Yet I am happy because I never for once stopped flying the flag of my nation, even while I lived in exile in Nigeria, and throughout my years of exile in Britain, and the United States of America. Don’t let them get history wrong with me as they have with Christopher Okigbo. He died as a Biafran soldier, but he is celebrated as a Nigerian poet.” It is very difficult to write about a real person who has lived. There is always the risk of taking artistic licence too far and make the character unrecognisable. My vindication will be when those who knew Esiaba tell me, after reading the play or after seeing it in performance that the experience was like meeting Esiaba alive again.

Bookshelf: Also, the work was officially released on Nigeria’s 55th anniversary.Is there an underlying message you are passing across that some people may miss?
Azuonye: The release of the book on October 1, like I said was to mark Esiaba’s birthday, not Nigeria’s independence. Nigeria of course is not an independent nation. What is the basis of Nigeria’s independence when people lack basic freedom, security and amenities? In his final moments before leaving the stage in ‘Funeral of the Minstrel’ Esiaba says to Georgie of the World, his muse; “You can’t even spend time in the dead of the night to critique my new play; ‘The Dickheads of Ngwa Land,’ the one I told you about, a whip against the backsides of all those shameless young men from our land who have made kidnapping of honest, hardworking citizens of this land a growth industry.” He had much to say, which should help Nigeria become a better place to live. During this fictional funeral as imagined by me, Esiaba uses the opportunity to address issues of importance and concern.

Bookshelf: You founded Sentinel Poetry Movement in 2002, Sentinel Literary Quarterly, and Sentinel Nigeria, among other magazines. All these are attempts to enrich literature in the country. What drives you?
Azuonye: It is the love of the written word, and to encourage and help as many people, especially the younger ones coming after us, to find avenues to channel their works. I don’t do these things for people to sing my praises. Over the last 13 years I have provided the platform for more Nigerian writers than I can count to showcase their talents, although they are not in the habit of acknowledging the role of Sentinel in their artistic journeys. This has not stopped me from continuing to give of myself to build more Nigerian literature.

Bookshelf: In 2008, you founded the Excel for Charity Writing Competition Series to encourage literary creative excellence while raising money for charities in the UK and elsewhere.What is the update on that?
Azuonye: Excel for Charity did great work in its time but is now semi-retired. I say semi-retired because I might revive it, but not the way it operated in the past. Because of the way it was structured, it was not sustainable. I still have a commitment in supporting the third sector through literature. It is a passion. That’s why I recently published the anthologies ‘Bridgewatcher and Other Poems’ and ‘Poems for a Liminal Age,’ incidentally both edited by Mandy Pannett in support of The Psychiatry Research Trust and Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders) respectively.

Bookshelf: How do you view the development of Nigerian literature at this time?
Azuonye: Nigerian literature is as strong now as ever. The growth of local publishing houses that do great work is only a sign of amazing things to come. One major issue is still just how quickly people want to see their names on book covers, and although I hold a dim view of the NLNG literature prize, the decision of their panel not to award a prize to any book this year testifies to the unfortunate trend.

Bookshelf: You appear to be more into poetry and playwriting. Is there any special reason for that?
Azuonye: Believe it or not, I have not written a new poem since 2015, and I don’t nearly write as many plays as I should. I also have manuscripts for two novels completed and a collection of short stories is ready to roll out in 2016. So, it is not exactly accurate that I write more poems and plays. The thing with the two novels I have completed is that they may never be published – ever. I wrote them at a different time in my life. The stories are morally and spiritually jaundiced and I could not edit out the rot in them without losing their souls.

Bookshelf: Do you have any rules guiding how you write?
Azuonye: I like to think that for me the most important rule is to keep the work honest. Readers can tell when you are thinking they are fools. There is a lot of pretentious writing going around. There are many Nigerian writers who might have made great writers but they are not being themselves and something is missing. Many think they have to become Soyinka or Achebe clones to be relevant. There is also this nonsense of making statements that ridicule God and God’s people as a way of showing that they are enlightened or liberated. The truth is we can see through them, and like all fakes, they fade too soon. Just keep it honest. Write about what you are passionate about. Your passion will infect people.

Bookshelf: What are you working on at the moment?
Azuonye: Mostly, what I am doing now is trying to get stuff I have written over the last 20 years or so, publishing-fit. My play, ‘A Tasty Taboo’ written in 1990 is getting an edit and will be published in 2016. It is a short play and will probably be published together with another short play, ‘This Thing Called Black.’ My collection of short stories, ‘The Magenta Shadow,’ is also slated for a 2016 release.  There is also the possibility I will publish a full-length play I wrote in 1991 titled, ‘Rage of the Restless.’ Let’s just say I am taking stock right now, publishing what is worth it and what I feel does not cut it I will keep in storage. Maybe years after I have passed on, somebody might feel that publishing them won’t hurt my image and let them out.

Bookshelf: Aside writing and anything related with it, what else do you do?
Azuonye: I do far too many things that I often wonder how I manage. I run the Sentinel Writing and Publishing Company Ltd with the trading styles SPM Publications, Sentinel Poetry Movement and Okolosi Books. Alongside that growing business I serve as a Methodist local preacher and for years now I have also worked as a business account manager with British Telecom Local Business (London West) in Mayfair, designing cutting edge business communications solutions for small to medium enterprises. My most important job however, is as a devoted husband to Thelma Amaka and father to Arinze, Nwachi and Obinna. moments before leaving the stage in ‘Funeral of the Minstrel’ Esiaba says to Georgie of the World, his muse; “You can’t even spend time in the dead of the night to critique my new play; ‘The Dickheads of Ngwa Land,’ the one I told you about, a whip against the backsides of all those shameless young men from our land who have made kidnapping of honest, hardworking citizens of this land a growth industry.” He had much to say, which should help Nigeria become a better place to live. During this fictional funeral as imagined by me, Esiaba uses the opportunity to address issues of importance and concern.

Bookshelf: You founded Sentinel Poetry Movement in 2002, Sentinel Literary Quarterly, and Sentinel Nigeria, among other magazines.All these are attempts to enrich literature in the country. What drives you?
Azuonye: It is the love of the written word, and to encourage and help as many people, especially the younger ones coming after us, to find avenues to channel their works. I don’t do these things for people to sing my praises. Over the last 13 years I have provided the platform for more Nigerian writers than I can count to showcase their talents, although they are not in the habit of acknowledging the role of Sentinel in their artistic journeys. This has not stopped me from continuing to give of myself to build more Nigerian literature.

Bookshelf: In 2008, you founded the Excel for Charity Writing Competition Series to encourage literary creative excellence while raising money for charities in the UK and elsewhere.What is the update on that?
Azuonye: Excel for Charity did great work in its time but is now semi-retired. I say semi-retired because I might revive it, but not the way it operated in the past. Because of the way it was structured, it was not sustainable. I still have a commitment in supporting the third sector through literature. It is a passion. That’s why I recently published the anthologies ‘Bridgewatcher and Other Poems’ and ‘Poems for a Liminal Age,’ incidentally both edited by Mandy Pannett in support of The Psychiatry Research Trust and Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders) respectively.

Bookshelf:How do you view the development of Nigerian literature at this time?
Azuonye: Nigerian literature is as strong now as ever. The growth of local publishing houses that do great work is only a sign of amazing things to come. One major issue is still just how quickly people want to see their names on book covers, and although I hold a dim view of the NLNG literature prize, the decision of their panel not to award a prize to any book this year testifies to the unfortunate trend.

Bookshelf:You appear to be more into poetry and playwriting. Is there any special reason for that?
Azuonye: Believe it or not, I have not written a new poem since 2015, and I don’t nearly write as many plays as I should. I also have manuscripts for two novels completed and a collection of short stories is ready to roll out in 2016. So, it is not exactly accurate that I write more poems and plays. The thing with the two novels I have completed is that they may never be published – ever. I wrote them at a different time in my life. The stories are morally and spiritually jaundiced and I could not edit out the rot in them without losing their souls.

Bookshelf:Do you have any rules guiding how you write?
Azuonye: I like to think that for me the most important rule is to keep the work honest. Readers can tell when you are thinking they are fools. There is a lot of pretentious writing going around. There are many Nigerian writers who might have made great writers but they are not being themselves and something is missing. Many think they have to become Soyinka or Achebe clones to be relevant. There is also this nonsense of making statements that ridicule God and God’s people as a way of showing that they are enlightened or liberated. The truth is we can see through them, and like all fakes, they fade too soon. Just keep it honest. Write about what you are passionate about. Your passion will infect people.

Bookshelf: What are you working on at the moment?
Azuonye: Mostly, what I am doing now is trying to get stuff I have written over the last 20 years or so, publishing-fit. My play, ‘A Tasty Taboo’ written in 1990 is getting an edit and will be published in 2016. It is a short play and will probably be published together with another short play, ‘This Thing Called Black.’ My collection of short stories, ‘The Magenta Shadow,’ is also slated for a 2016 release.  There is also the possibility I will publish a full-length play I wrote in 1991 titled, ‘Rage of the Restless.’ Let’s just say I am taking stock right now, publishing what is worth it and what I feel does not cut it I will keep in storage. Maybe years after I have passed on, somebody might feel that publishing them won’t hurt my image and let them out.

Bookshelf: Aside writing and anything related with it, what else do you do?
Azuonye: I do far too many things that I often wonder how I manage. I run the Sentinel Writing and Publishing Company Ltd with the trading styles SPM Publications, Sentinel Poetry Movement and Okolosi Books. Alongside that growing business I serve as a Methodist local preacher and for years now I have also worked as a business account manager with British Telecom Local Business (London West) in Mayfair, designing cutting edge business communications solutions for small to medium enterprises. My most important job however, is as a devoted husband to Thelma Amaka and father to Arinze, Nwachi and Obinna.