Yari interacts with KASU students

Monday, 15th June, 2009, was a memorable day for the students of the Department of English and Drama, Faculty of Arts, Kaduna State University, Kaduna, as they interacted with Labo Yari, the first Northern Nigerian novelist in English language .
The interactive session, which took place in the Faculty of Arts Lecture Room 1, was specially organized by the university for the students, particularly those undergoing Literature 316 Course, tagged ?Special Author for Special Topic?.
Under this programme, the institution had earlier hosted writers like Zaynab Alkali, first Northern female writer in English and Deputy Vice Chancellor, Administration, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Mu?azu Maiwada, author of State of the Anus and lecturer at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and Abubakar Gimba, author of several literary works and former President of Association of Nigerian Authors, ANA.
The theme of this edition of the interactive session is ?Northern Nigerian Writing?. Hence, discussions were focused on the art of creative writing, with particular reference to the Northern Nigerian experience.
The interaction was in two parts. The first part was a general session involving all the students of English, from 100 level to 400 level. The second part was exclusively for 300 level students and the discussion was more intensive, focusing on every aspect of Yari?s books.
The first part began at about 11 am with a welcome address by the Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Dr. A. K. Babajo, in which he explained the main objective of the occasion. According to him, the exercise was in fulfillment of the requirement of the Literature 316 Course, which is aimed at inculcating in the students the values of creativity through interaction with writers across the globe.
In compliance with the mission and vision of establishing the university, he said, the programme is, for now, focusing on Nigerian writers, with emphasis on Northern writers.
He further explained that the theme, ?Literature in Northern Nigeria?, was chosen in order to discuss the burning question of the dearth of writers in the North.
In his words: "As a university in the North we have given ourselves the task of asking the question, why don?t we have the Soyinkas and Achebes in the North even though history has recorded that there were several literary expressions in Northern Nigeria before the coming of the British colonialists and the English language. And we hope that this interactive session will find the answer."
After a short remark by the chairman of the occasion, Audee T. Giwa, an author and lecturer at the English Department, a brief biography of Labo Yari was read by Ebere Igwe a student of English. Then Yari went down memory lane recounting his writing experiences, how and when he started writing, his major inspirations and the pains and gains of being a writer.
Many famous writers began as journalists. Such was the case with the Katsina born author and member of ANA Board of Trustees. He started as a reporter in the Katsina Native Authority Information Service in 1962. And by 1966 he had obtained his Diploma in Journalism. Thereafter, he studied Norwegian Literature, Political Science and History at the University of Oslo, Norway. He then became a Press Attaché to the Nigerian Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden.
On returning to Nigeria, he joined the services of Fourth Dimension, publishers of most of his works, as Marketing Manager. He later switched over to the Northern Nigerian Publishing Company, where he served as the publishing executive from 1982 to 1988. He became the chairman of the company briefly before he went over to Gaskiya Corporation, a publishing company in Zaria, and later to the Katsina State government, serving as Government Printer.
During his active service in these various jobs in journalism and publishing, and even after retirement, he was busy writing and publishing his literary works. The works are Climate of Corruption (novel, 1978), A House in the Dark (short stories, 1985), A Man of the Moment (novel, 1992), A Day without a Cockcrow (short stories, 1999) and Muhamman Dikko: Emir of Katsina and His Times (biography, 2007).
Though the works are hardly read in institutions of learning, they are quite popular with the reading public. And for his monumental contribution to the Nigerian literature he has won awards, including a Merit Award by ANA.
After Labo Yari?s interesting account of his life and works came the question and answer session. Several questions were asked by the eager students. And his answers were simple and direct. On what makes a good writer, he said, "To be a good writer you have to be a good reader." What would you like to be remembered for? "What people think I am," he replied.
Even to the burning question of the dearth of writers in the North, his answer was unpretentious, though disappointing to those who thought he had the answer. "I don?t know," he said. "Educational imbalance between the North and the South is no longer a factor. So, I don?t really know why. Maybe you students could brainstorm and find the answer. But honestly, I don?t know."
And on that note, the first part of the session came to an end. The second part began after a short break and lasted for some hours.
As the students finally dispersed at the end of the second session, the question remained: Why are writers so few in the North compared to the South?
Is it the publishing climate? Is it lack of determination on the part of the writers? If so, then perhaps, interactive sessions like this would save the situation by sensitising aspiring writers on the enormous task before them and the right steps to take. In this regard, Kaduna State University could, by this regular interactive session, be said to be pioneering a noble cause that would eventually address the question.

It all started from my interest in reading. I was reading quite a lot right from my early age. So by the time I became a student in the University of Oslo, Norway, in 1966 I had developed interest not just in African literature but in the literatures of other European countries. Specifically, I studied Norwegian Literature.
It is from one of my lecturers then that I learnt that if you want to be a writer you don?t have to have a degree in Literature, all you need to do is read a lot; read literary materials that have to do with the area you want to specialize in. For instance, if you want to write thriller, read a lot of thriller novels. I took the lecturer?s advice and read a lot of serious works of literature.
When I came back to Nigeria after my course, I joined the Federal Ministry of Information where part of my responsibility included taking foreign journalists to the war front. After the civil war, I was sent to Stockholm as a press attache in the Nigerian embassy.
All this while I was reading seriously. And soon I began to write short stories. And after I have written about eleven stories, a Jamaica journalist and friend whom I met during the civil war advised me to publish a novel before short stories.
Apart from this Jamaica friend, late Aminu Abdullahi, the then Editor of New Nigerian, was also a source of encouragement. Whenever I submitted my work to him he would criticize it strongly, saying; "This is rubbish go and rewrite it."
Meanwhile, as I wrote the novel, Climate of Corruption, beginning from 1975, my short stories were being published by Spear magazine. When I completed writing the novel in 1976 I took it to Fourth Dimension for publication. And it became the first in the list of the books they published in Nigeria. The collection of short stories, A House in the Dark, wasn?t published till 1985.
In 1979 Fourth Dimension asked me to leave the civil service and joined them. I joined them at their Kaduna office were I tried to get Northern writers published. But they were not forthcoming; I couldn?t get any manuscripts. So when I was approached by the Northern Nigerian Publishing Company (NNPC) to join them as a publishing executive, I went over. It was there I wrote my second novel, A Man of the Moment, which was later published in 1990 by Fourth Dimension.
From NNPC I moved to Gaskiya Corporation, another publishing outfit based in Zaria. It wasn?t easy to write there, because the company was down and I really had to work hard to revive it. Though government had 60 per cent share, it was purely a commercial company and we had to pay our salaries from within. So, while I was there, all I did was to publish other people?s works.
However, I was able to write once again in 1990 when I left Gaskiya Corporation to Katsina where I was appointed government printer. There I wrote the short stories which were published in 1999 by Ibrahim Sheme?s publishing outfit, Informat. The collection is titled A Day Without a Cockcrow. First, I sent it to Fourth Dimension, but when Sheme, who was then the Arts Editor of New Nigerian, expressed desire to publish it, I withdrew it and sent it to him.
Then I wrote and published in 2007 a biography on the late Emir of Katsina, Muhamman Dikko, titled Muhamman Dikko: Emir of Katsina and His Times. So far, I have written five books.