Literature

A novel takes its author to wherever it wants ? E. E. Sule

E. E. Sule, Associate Professor of English at Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai, is no stranger to award winning, having won awards in literary competitions sponsored by Association of Nigerian Authors, ANA, and shortlisted for the prestigious NLNG prize. But his recent winning of the Commonwealth Prize with his novel, Sterile Sky, is certainly the biggest thing to happen to him so far in his writing career. In this interview with SUMAILA UMAISHA, the writer and literary critic confirms the fact.

How did you get the news about your novel, Sterile Sky, winning the Commonwealth prize?

The news came as a private email from the Commonwealth Foundation. And as I read it, I blinked rapidly, wondering if what I saw was real. It was real, Umaisha! I convinced myself that I read what was written right. Something to the effect that the judges had found my Sterile Skyworthy of the prize, among other shortlisted books.

How does it feel?

It feels so great. It gives me some sort of confidence. Now I know that what my friends and colleagues say about Sterile Skybeing a worthy book are not just flatteries. You know, it is one book that I had put in so much energy, that I had had friends and colleagues to inject their own experience into it. Of all the books I have written so far, it is the only one that has enjoyed both enormous goodwill and incredible inputs from fellow literary artists. Recall that I did the first draft under the mentorship of the world class Ghanaian writer Ayi Kwei Armah in Senegal. I think the book has begun its own life and I think it has a long way to go; it is likely to take me to places.

At your relatively young age you are a professor and an international award-winning author already. Are you surprised at your rapid progress?

Not really. But sometimes I?m amazed at how providence propels me forward. I did not, for instance, plan to be at IBB University at this point. But it came as a pleasant surprise. You know, moving to IBB University was one huge leap for me. I moved there because of certain unforeseen circumstances. I had thought that University of Abuja was my terminus. But it became clear that the University of Abuja authority did not value scholars, especially scholars that expose the institution internationally. Beside destiny, I have been a very hardworking person. I love my profession. I have been, since class 3 in secondary school, driven by a passion to become a professor of English. And I have assiduously spent my energies towards achieving that. It has not been easy, Umaisha. I have faced, very sadly, all kinds of conservative and retrogressive elements who either think I?m too fast, too ambitious or those who think young people like me should not become a professor. Very unfortunately, the academia which ought to be a place of progressive minds is today peopled by indolent, non-reading, non-researching, sadistic professors who think because it took them thirty years or more to become a professor, any other person has to equally spend those thirty years to become a professor. Sad, indeed.

What is the secret of your achievements?

Ambition. I have been a very ambitious person. Not the kind of ambition that destroys people. Just imagine that I got the inspiration, the revelation, in JSS 3 to become a professor. In those days, I had a consuming passion for anything literature. I used to cut the pictures of Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Christopher Okigbo, Niyi Osundare, and other prominent writers from newspapers and paste them everywhere in our tenement room-and-parlour. My parents, who had little or no education, thought I was mad. I have always thought that if not for the great ambition I had right from when I was in secondary school, I would not have been what I am today. I wish the younger ones could learn from this. A child must have an ambition and must aggressively pursue it.

Did you feel bad when you did not win the 2013 NLNG prize?

Sure, I did. But I?m a kind of person who believes that once I enter a competition, I don?t care what the outcome will be. My publisher had entered Sterile Sky for the competition in London and I made up my mind that whether it won or not, I would be what I am. You know, Umaisha, there is a certain form of luck in award winning, what some call the Midas touch.

A book may just be lucky to win an award, not necessarily because it is the best book shortlisted. Or, to put it precisely, the judges may just find exactly what they are looking for in a book even though that book, in the eyes of other public judges, may not be the best. And what is even the idea of a book ?being the best?? It is highly subjective. What is the best for me might not be the best for you. That is why even among panel of judges, there are arguments, debates, and voting as to which book should be awarded the prize.

The Sterile Sky was shortlisted for the NLNG alongside Chika Unigwe?s Black Sister?s Street. Unigwe eventually won, you didn?t. Now I learnt Unigwe also submitted the novel for the Commonwealth prize. And you eventually won, she didn?t. What does this say about literary judgment?

What it says about prizes is that the panel of judges looks out for distinctive yardsticks. Everything depends on the constituted panel of judges. The panel of judges of the NLNG, headed by the renowned scholar, Abiola Irele, might have been looking for something which they found in Chika?s novel. They did not find it in my novel. The panel of judges for the Commonwealth Prize might have been looking for something which they found in my novel. I suppose this is the logic of it all. I?m myself a judge of literary works and I know what are involved.

What does this prize mean to you?

Something great! It means confidence. Until I won the prize, I didn?t know that Sterile Sky was that worthy. It also gives me a kind of epiphany that I could pursue my career as a creative writer. You know, my first passion is the academia. But now I?m reconsidering that. I may have to dedicate more of my time to creative writing. I recall that when I was working with Ayi Kwei Armah, he once told me that he noticed I had a passion for scholarship, but he advised me to pay more attention to fiction writing where he thought I had a talent.

What do you have to say to the individuals that are part of your success story; especially Ayi Kwei Armah, with whom you spent nine months in Senegal in a writing residency in 2006?

I say thank you. See the acknowledgements in Sterile Sky. I have expressed my profound gratitude to all those involved in the making of the novel; my fellow residency writers namely Midred Barya, Aisatou Ka, and Kofi Doudu. They made great contributions to the novel in progress. I remember that Aisatou, in particular, told me, as parting words, that if my novel became successful, which she was sure it would be, I should not forget them. So, I don?t forget them at all. I will contact them and see how, in Nigerian parlance, I will wash the success with them! And my great friends in ANA who have also made efforts to see the novel become what it is today: Carmen, Crispin, Chinyere, Ahmed, Isaac, Spencer, Patrick, and a lot of them. I thank them all.

What is your advice to those who are equally aspiring to win awards like you?

Oh, they should simply work hard. Once you have worked very hard, then you leave the rest for providence to lead you wherever it wants. Nobody actually tells herself that she has written this novel so that she could win a particular award. But a novel has a way of asserting itself and bringing to the author things that might be more than awards. A novel has its own life; it lives the way it wants to live, and is capable of taking its author to wherever it wants. So, the point, really, is how dynamic a book is and how successful it fares in the markets of audiences, and what success it wants to bring to the authors. We only write novels, we don?t know what those novels will become in future. I wrote Sterile Sky under a very harsh condition and I never expected that it would be what it is today.

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Literature