Majid, Dabino, share writing journey at literary festival

Two Hausa writers, Rahma Sherif Abdul Majid and Ado Ahmad Gidan Dabino, shared their writing journey, particularly during the COVID-19 lockdown at Afrolit Sans Frontières, a virtual literary festival for writers of African origin. Hausa was the featured language at the Afrolit Sans Frontières African Languages Edition on Thursday, October 29, 2020. Two sessions, hosted […]

Two Hausa writers, Rahma Sherif Abdul Majid and Ado Ahmad Gidan Dabino, shared their writing journey, particularly during the COVID-19 lockdown at Afrolit Sans Frontières, a virtual literary festival for writers of African origin.

Hausa was the featured language at the Afrolit Sans Frontières African Languages Edition on Thursday, October 29, 2020. Two sessions, hosted by Nigeria’s award-winning novelist and short story writer, ‘Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, included discussions with first Majid, and then Dabino.

Majid, who is on record to have written one of the longest Hausa novels, of up to 500 pages, said she stayed indoors for months, which afforded her the opportunity to work on, ‘Wata Mace’ (One Woman), due to be released in January 2021.

Born in Lagos, Madig, author of over 20 books, published her first work at age 16. She told the story of how she started writing in exercise books at a very young age and was supported by a trader who ensured she got damaged copies directly from the factory.

Dabino, a novelist, playwright, poet, biographer, publisher, journalist, actor, film producer, director, and a cultural activist, has written over fifteen Hausa novels. Three of his works have been translated into English, including ‘The Soul of My Heart’ (‘In Da So Da Kauna’-translation), ‘Young Women Substance Abuse, and the Way Out’ (Translation of ‘Mata Da Shaye-shayen Kayan Maye: Ina Mafita?’), ‘Nemesis’ (‘Masoyan Zamani’-translation), and ‘Kaico!’

During lockdown, Dabino continued work on his play, known as ‘Mallam Salihu’, now in its 50th episode as ‘Mallam Zailani’.

Responding to a question from Ibrahim about why Hausa plays are in short supply, Dabino pointed out that people “prefer free flow writing” instead of reading plays the way they are.

“Even I write mainly for academic use in secondary schools and tertiary institutions,” he said. “Presently, it’s hard to list 50 written Hausa plays.”

Afrolit Sans Frontières was founded by author and publisher Zukiswa Wanner as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns.