Why I started literary show despite science background – Ngutsav

Bookshelf: Recently, you started a radio programme called ‘The Purple Silver Book Club’ on Liberty Radio, 91.7 Kaduna. What is it about? Anselm Sesugh Ngutsav: It’s about showcasing the literary art in Africa. I want to encourage people to read and write, being that I suffered a lot when I was growing up because I […]

Bookshelf: Recently, you started a radio programme called ‘The Purple Silver Book Club’ on Liberty Radio, 91.7 Kaduna. What is it about?
Anselm Sesugh Ngutsav: It’s about showcasing the literary art in Africa. I want to encourage people to read and write, being that I suffered a lot when I was growing up because I was in the sciences. I grew up in a school environment where art was not respected, so I suffered the lack of access to things in art that could have developed me. That was how I happened to be stuck with the sciences. But even though I came to like the sciences, I would have loved to have had more opportunities in the art, but I didn’t and it cost me a lot of pain and suffering. So, the whole idea of doing this programme now is to take people away from the technology or digital distraction and offer them a reminder of the fact that life can still be very beautiful with art and there’s still time and ways to develop one’s self.

Bookshelf: How challenging was it putting the programme together?
Ngutsav: I had radio experience before. Back in the days, I worked in Radio Nigeria Harvest FM, then I went on to do some time at a private radio station as a staff which didn’t last. I think I left after three months. When I came to Kaduna I wrote a proposal and sent it to Liberty Radio. After conversing with the general manager, he referred me to the head of programmes who auditioned me and looked at the quality of my proposal. They couldn’t offer me the spot to do the programme immediately because they had submitted the programme schedule for the quarter, so they asked me to be patient. But I was showing up at certain programmes on the same platform as a guest and eventually they gave me thirty minutes for my programme.

Bookshelf: What is the vision?
Ngutsav: At the moment I’m hoping to do the programme continually to encourage people and try to create an environment that brings consciousness of art and literary art. I hope to create an environment in Kaduna State where people meet, a sought of open microphone affair where we do critique of works. So, this is only the beginner’s phase. The next phase is a place where people who love art can relax, enjoy themselves, be educated and discuss art.

Bookshelf: So, assuming we are on air this moment, what will the programme be like?
Ngutsav: I usually have guests on the programme. We discuss poetry, short stories, and so on. We also let people call on the programme and read out some of their works to us, after which guests do an on-the-spot critique. I’ve met a few people who give me books in support, which I, in turn, offer to other people on the programme.

Bookshelf: How did you start writing?
Ngutsav: My father has always had a lot of books. Back then, while growing up, we didn’t have a lot of television because television started at 4 o’clock in the afternoon and ended at twelve midnight. My parents didn’t let me run around like other kids, so basically, I went into reading. At a point, I felt the need to put something down. The first thing I wrote was met with a lot of antagonism from teachers, because then, my school thought more highly of sciences than arts. There was a time I wrote an essay in school for a competition and my teacher threw it away and I had to report to the principal for the teacher to collect it. Eventually, I studied Agricultural Environmental Engineering.

Bookshelf: What other aspect of art do you explore, aside literature?
Ngutsav: At the moment I’m doing a photo project on Kauru Local Government Area, a rural community in Kaduna State. People have different perspectives of the rural life, so I am trying to show the other side. Kauru is a small community, a local government with different districts, then there’s the Kauru area, like a subset of the local government. This is my focus. So, basically, I try to communicate a lighter side of rural life in pictures.

Bookshelf: Why the choice of Kauru?
Ngutsav:  I went to Kauru for my Youth Service. Before then I had never stayed in a rural community, so going there exposed me to what rural life looks like. I decided that I could live there, stay there and be part of the people. I joined in the day-to-day life and most times, I would just take pictures. I didn’t need to ask people to pose, just captured and it told a story in pictures. I tried to communicate the daily lives of people going about their businesses. I actually concentrate on posterity, the happy side which a lot of people tend to ignore.

Bookshelf: How far did this take you?
Ngutsav: I entered one of my images for the UNESCO Words of Tolerance competition. You enter an image or images and attach a post. I gave a quote from one of Chinua Achebe’s writings where he was saying there has to be an appraisal or re-appraisal of people’s lives in a country. I sent the image and the quote as my entry into the competition. They were going to shortlist fifteen winners around the world. I got a message that I came fifteenth on the shortlist.

Bookshelf: What was the image you sent as an entry about?
Ngutsav: It was about a group of Almajiri kids reciting the Qur’an just before dawn. I always passed by that spot and saw a lot of Almajiri children in the morning, say 4:30am and in the night when they come out. They make a bonfire, gather around it and then they do some recitals. Also, the fire serves as light for them to read from their slate. The image spoke to me a great deal because, before then, I was thinking about doing something about education in the local government. When I went there, I discovered that a lot of them were not educated, even students in school could not really speak English. There was this Almajiri boy who used to come to my house but we couldn’t communicate because he knew only Hausa and I only know English, so I would call somebody, any friend of mine that understands Hausa to serve as interpreter. We did it for a couple of days but it was very strenuous on our relationship because I liked the kid. So, I thought about doing something about the education there, something like a school where the kids can learn, but it was very challenging. In the course of this, I got to ask a lot of questions on how the system works and discovered it is very challenging for somebody to execute the project successfully. So, I decided to communicate the lifestyle. Apart from the members of the society, if I see anything about the Almajiri in Kauru, I take a photograph.