Prolific young writer reveals how terrorists darkened his love story

Bookshelf: You are described as one of Nigeria’s youngest most published short story writers. How old are you?Obinna Udenwe: I turned 27 last month. I am getting old now. Bookshelf: How many short stories have you written so far?Udenwe: I have close to 90 short stories now. I make sure I write a short story […]

Bookshelf: You are described as one of Nigeria’s youngest most published short story writers. How old are you?
Obinna Udenwe: I turned 27 last month. I am getting old now.
Bookshelf: How many short stories have you written so far?
Udenwe: I have close to 90 short stories now. I make sure I write a short story per week. There was a time I used to do three short stories per week. The greatest challenge I have to writing stories is incessant electricity failure in Nigeria, else I would have doubled the number I have now. There is a short story project I am currently involved in, with a Mexican writer, Nora Vasconcelos. The project is titled ‘Crossover Mexico-Nigeria.’ By the end of the project I would have written five strong short stories and completed her own five short stories, so we have a total of 10 short stories chronicling lives in Mexico and Nigeria, and published in an anthology. Then around March or thereabout, Brittle Paper will be publishing a series of seven short stories of mine on church romance titled ‘Holy Sex.’
Bookshelf: When and how did you start writing?
Udenwe: Just few days ago, my siblings reminded me that when I was in junior secondary school – I think it was around 2001, 2002 – that I had a drawing book where I made funny drawings with stories weaved around them. I couldn’t remember this but they helped me to. They tried to argue that that was when I first wrote stories. But I remember vividly, around the year 2000 or 2001 when my uncle had just returned from Kano after an ‘intifada’ and he lost all his property and goods in the crisis. He was jobless, and then he discovered that I talked too much and was a storyteller. So, he came up with the idea of writing down the stories so that he could take them to a printer and get them printed, that way he would make money and start a new business. I was thrilled; we both hung all our hopes on the idea. So he bought me an exercise book and I wrote some folktales in Igbo language. He died before he could print the stories. Then in 2005, I began writing my first full-length novel.
Bookshelf: ‘Satans and Shaitans,’ published recently, appears to be your first novel. Why now?
Udenwe: Before ‘Satans and Shaitans,’ I wrote and self-published an epic-historical novel which was the bestselling book in my state from 2010 till last year when we withdrew it from circulation. But on Nigeria’s Democracy Day 2014, the government of Ebonyi State honoured me with the State Literary Icon Award for the book. So, I can say that ‘Satans and Shaitans’ is the first book of mine that went through the traditional publishing process. So you could be right if you say ‘Satans and Shaitans’ is my first novel.
Bookshelf: What led you to such a title?
Udenwe: It’s a dark story that explores terrorism and murder. The characters in the book are cunning, deceitful and witty, like serpents. And biblically, serpent is Satan – so that’s one of the explanations for the title. Again, in the story, a powerful secret society and a terrorist organisation fell out and members of the secret society referred to the terrorists as ‘Satans’ while the terrorists referred to members of the secret society as ‘Shaitans.’ And you know that in Islam, Satan is called Shaitan. That is the strongest point that formed the title of the book ‘Satans and Shaitans.’ So literarily put, the title ‘Satans and Shaitans’ explains two groups, the Christians, Satans and the Muslims, Shaitans, coming together to establish a terrorist organisation for their own selfish political gains, then they fall out at the end and all hell is let loose.
Bookshelf: The novel is centred on three key and presently contending issues in Nigeria, namely; terrorism, jihad and politics. What directed your focus on these?
Udenwe: At first it wasn’t my intention to focus on these issues. The story delved into those and dragged me along with it. ‘Satans and Shaitans’ is a love story set at the time of terrorism. When I began writing the book in 2007, it was a love story and nothing more, but along the line it turned into a story that x-rays how people filled with love but living in a society characterised by evil behave. At some point, it became a story of love and the occult and when Nigeria began to increasingly suffer terrorist attacks, the story ran away from me and took that route, incorporating terrorism and jihad. So terrorism and jihad became strong points just as the love theme is.
Bookshelf: What challenges did you face in bringing such an intriguing story to fruition?
Udenwe: By the time I started writing ‘Satans and Shaitans’ in 2007, I had worked on another novel, the one I self-published. So I already had experience to some extent. I was patient, took my time working on it, so I wouldn’t say I had any problem weaving the different facets of the story together. The greatest challenge I had was incessant power failure in Nigeria and of course the lengthy and rigorous process of research, having to read the Quran, the Hadith and a lot of books on terror and jihad, having to research on guns and IEDs. These were difficult things but not as challenging as living as a writer, in a place where you rely on erratic electricity supply.
Bookshelf: What do you hope Nigerian readers and the world at large will draw from your work?   
Udenwe: It is my desire to strike a sword at the hearts of the readers – to get them to wake up and realise that the world has been pushed to the wall. Some people wake up and claim they are doing God’s work for Him – They believe they can dictate for us how we live, worship, eat, even breath. It is such a shame. I want to use ‘Satans and Shaitans’ to arouse our consciousness and get us to realise that the world is no longer safe and we are not safe wherever we are. In Nigeria, it is such a shame that southerners think they are safe, so every day when we hear of terrorist attacks in the north, we shrug it off and continue to make merry, but in ‘Satans and Shaitans,’ we are warned that they are even on our doorsteps; that evil lurks.
Bookshelf: What is your preferred genre?
Udenwe: Prose and in prose, I love to write short stories a lot. I have found a new love in crime fiction and conspiracy and I wish to continue in these areas for some time. My next novel is also a conspiracy crime thriller.
Bookshelf: You are also a youth/democracy activist. Does this have any link to your writings?
Udenwe: It does. For many years I have worked with young people and organisations in youth/democracy issues in Nigeria. It helps me learn more about politics and our society.
Bookshelf: What else takes your time aside from writing?
Udenwe: I run a youth organisation called Ugreen Foundation, so I do public speaking, trainings, meetings, conferences etcetera and aside that I am a farmer. I run some stuff with politicians once in a while.  
Bookshelf: Who is your favourite writer?
Udenwe: My favourite writer in the world is Mario Puzo. I named a cat after him, but sadly the cat passed on to the great beyond in May last year. But I have someone whom I admire so much and he is Mukoma Wa Ngugi. We became friends in 2012 and he has been like a literary godfather. Mukoma has had a lot of impact on me as a writer. He has recommended me for programmes, provided support, advice and acted like an agent several times. Then I have Chika Unigwe, whom I regard as one of the best short story writers in Nigeria. We met on my way to Germany in 2011 and since then we have been very close.
Bookshelf: What do you think about the state of Nigerian literature at the moment?
Udenwe: I believe that we rock! I believe that we rule the world right now. Our own Helon Habila and Teju Cole just won the 2015 Windham Campbel Prize! Nigerian literature is growing stronger and more powerful. We have lots of young writers coming out to challenge stereotypes and the status quo. Prior to now, it seemed our writers were scared of exploring difficult literary genres and difficult themes, but things are changing. We now have writers like Deji Olukotun who wrote ‘Nigerians in Space’ and Chioma Iwunze, Ola Nubi and so on, writing beautiful romance stories; Abubakar Ibrahim mesmerising us with short stories that make you look inward and change the way you live, Paul Liam writing poems that hurl stones at our hearts; Nnedi Okorafor outdoing Ben Okiri in the world of fantasy and enchantment and even, magic. We are growing stronger. There is a budding Nigerian writer, Osemome Ndebbio, who is now writing dystopian and Utopian fiction – we will all be thrilled when her novels come out. So we are beginning to grow and move away from flat narrative novels that remind one of Nollywood.  
Bookshelf: What words do you have for young Nigerian writers?
Udenwe: Patience. Don’t rush a story and turn it into a manuscript in no time, take it to a roadside printing press and have a half-baked book in your hands. Be patient. Writing is like being in a long relationship with a woman.