Inside Nigeria’s only writers’ residency

Iseyin, a serene village in Oyo State, is carving a niche in Nigeria’s literary history. Last weekend, students of several secondary schools gathered at the IDGS school auditorium to bid farewell to two writers who have spent some six weeks in Iseyin. The writers, Igoni Barrett and Emmanuel Ugokwe, were the third set of residents […]

Iseyin, a serene village in Oyo State, is carving a niche in Nigeria’s literary history. Last weekend, students of several secondary schools gathered at the IDGS school auditorium to bid farewell to two writers who have spent some six weeks in Iseyin.

The writers, Igoni Barrett and Emmanuel Ugokwe, were the third set of residents in the Ebedi Writers Residency programme. The programme, which got on the way last year, is designed to give creative writers the needed seclusion to work on their manuscript. It is the only such programme in Nigeria at the moment.

“It provides the space to write, which was what I was looking for when I came here,” Igoni Barrett said. He has been on several residencies in other countries and this is the first he is attending in Nigeria.

The programmes afford writers a six week period of stay in a secluded facility so they could focus solely on writing free from worries. They are provided a weekly stipend of N10, 000 to take care of their financial needs and there is a housekeeper who takes care of the house, the writers’ laundry and even cooks any food of their choice for them.

Dr. Wale Okediran, former president of the Association of Nigerian Authors, ANA, is the brain and muscles behind the programme.

“I was actually encouraged to think along this line when I went for a weekend to my home town with my wife and she just said, look, why do you allow this place to go to waste, that we could make use of the place and she brought this idea of a resort,” he recalls, “The idea went down well with me because when I recollect in the past, after I have finished working on a manuscript I wanted just to have a few weeks to finish it up and I couldn’t.”

Now he is giving Nigerian writers the opportunity he did not have then. The place he refers to is a spacious villa in Iseyin. Each writer is provided with a private room with bathroom en suit. There is a TV room and a modest library for reference purpose. There are also provisions for internet facilities.

“All we want them to do is sleep, wake up, write, sleep, wake up, write,” Dr. Okediran says.

So far, three pairs of writers have benefited from the programme. One of them is Emmanuel Ugokwe. He writes in English and Igbo. Ebedi Writers Residency has given him the opportunity to finish up two manuscripts.

“I think the originator of this residency is giving life to literature here because this is what we need here. Sometimes we browse the net and see writers’ residency in Egypt, UK, Germany and elsewhere and you come here to Nigeria, a country that has produced a lot of good writers, and you can’t find it,” he says.

There is a little catch, however. Residents are required to contribute two hours a week to the community in whatever way they deem fit. The latest residents, Igoni and Emmanuel chose to interact with students in the community and share knowledge with them. The result of these interactions was evidenced by a drama presentation and readings of poetry by the students at the send off ceremony.

Dr. Okediran believes the community is benefitting more from the programme. Some of the students have never met a living writer before the programme brought several to the idyllic locale – they had thought all writers are dead. But now, some of the students aspire to be writers, he said.

The impact the writers have had on the students is demonstrated by the large number of students who turned out at the weekend to bid farewell to the residents who have spent over a month in their midst. It was a modest occasion held at the auditorium of the IDGS School.

Mr. Akin Bello, chairman of ANA Oyo State chapter, who also chaired the occasion, described the programme as “the small beginning of greater things,” adding that the residency may produce the next Soyinka or Achebe and someday they would be acknowledged as having started from Iseyin.

Iseyin is pleased with the impact of the programme on the community. To show its appreciation, Dr. Okediran has been offered a chieftaincy title for bringing the world to Iseyin.

“It’s been a very good development,” Biodun Alhassn says. He coordinates interactions between the residents and the community and thinks the community has benefitted a lot. “Iseyin has been neglected in the areas of arts and culture due to the emergence of the new religions…but now that we have seen someone who has taken up the challenge and bringing the world to Iseyin, I would like to thank him and encourage him to do more,” he says.

But Igoni Barrett feels the community is not taking full advantage of the residency programme. He had come prepared to facilitate a creative writing workshop only to meet children who could barely read. So his writing class turned to a reading class. “Even if we don’t get writers, we will get readers,” he says.

Big plans for Ebedi Wale Okediran has big plans for the programme. He is planning an expansion, from two to four residents. He is however keen to keep it unisex – males only or females only for each batch. There are also plans to seek grants or sponsorship to keep the programme running so that “donor fatigue” may not creep in. He is, so far, the sole financier of the programme.

As it is, the programme has plans to accommodate six or seven batches per annum and Dr. Okediran says the door is open for writers all over the country to send in their applications and proposal on the works they propose to embark on while on the residency. These works could be in any language, he says. One of the last residents, Ugokwe, writes in Igbo. Okediran has expressed desires to have more writers from the north on the programme.

Though the works the residents embark on are entirely the writers’ business, Okediran insists that writers interested in the programme should be there for the purpose of writing.

In terms of publication, Litramed, a Lagos based publishing outfit, has agreed to consider works from residents of Iseyin. So far, of the four works submitted to them, they have found one suitable for publication.

Where the writer has other arrangements for his works, the residency will not stand in his way. Igoni Barrett for instance has already forwarded his work to some foreign agents and they have accepted it.

As Iseyin gets ready for its next batch of writers in residence, Nigerian writers can heave a sigh of relief that something good is coming their way.