Literature
BINYAVANGA WAINAINA, a Kenyan writer and winner of the 2002 Caine Prize for African Writing, who is currently a Bard Fellow and Director of the Chinua Achebe Centre for African Literature and Languages at Bard College, was one of the resource persons at the recent Farafina Trust Creative Writing Workshop in Lagos. The founding editor of Kwani?, a literary magazine that has become an important source of new writing from Africa, speaks with SUMAILA UMAISHA on what creative writing is all about.
NNW: What are the factors that make a good creative writing?
Binyavanga Wainaina: Oh, they are many; we can talk for hours about them. But we will I will just say that a good fiction writer aims to create a world, not to write a story. And that world operates by its own rules that are consistent, affecting, entertaining and thoughtful in the lines. Fiction is very little about theme; only professors of literature talk about themes. People don?t read fiction for themes, they read fiction to encounter characters and to enter and be involved with and belong to the world that has been created. And I think the practice of writing fiction has been challenged in many African countries because it?s been dominated too much by professors wanting to say ?focus on the theme?.
Would you say this principle have you mentioned was responsible for your winning the Caine prize?
It was very helpful because it gave a platform in a sense of being able to enter the market, sell books and so on. But I had been working on my craft before the prize. And I read a lot. And the point was just to turn that reading into being able to break down what great fiction writers were doing with their own craft and learn how they make their sentences, and learn how to see through the eyes of a craftsman who makes texts. That?s what I?ve been doing, what?s what I will always do. Ninety percent of the real work of fiction is always examining other people make their own.
Is imparting this principle part of your work at the Achebe Centre?
Our job at the Chinua Achebe Centre for artists and writers is simple. We love academics but we don?t want academics there; it is not for them, it is for writers and artists. So our job is to create projects and opportunities for writers to produce. And we are always looking for exciting ones. We are interested in new works, we are interested in encouraging new works, encouraging young writers. We are interested in putting established young writers in situations that are new and having them produce new things.
You?ve also won the Kenya Publishers Association prize. Comparing this to Caine prize, which would you say uplifts you more?
[A long pause] I see prizes to be something very useful about the public in a sense that the Caine prize put you on international media and allows your name to resonate to publishers and so on and allows your work to move forward. The Kenya Publishers Association prize was wonderful because it came from my own country. It is wonderful because I have been critical of Kenya publishers and I felt grateful that they took the criticism to heart and saw value in what I was doing. But it is not the prizes, I?m pleased with the work, I?m most proud of the stories I?ve written, I?m just happy reading and writing. And if in the bid you drop a prize, it is fine, you know.
You were nominated by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader, an award given to people for their potential to contribute to shaping the future of the world, but you rejected it in spite of the fact you?ve just stated. And you accepted Caine prize...
The Caine prize is for writers. Caine prize will not tell me not to criticise them, because it is a prize for fiction, they understand what fiction is. So even if I feel uncomfortable being an African writer going to the House of Lords to win a prize, it is still a prize for fiction. It means after going to the House of Lords for dinner I satirise the House, the prize will not have any problem. But it is different when you go and get prizes from politicians who are worth millions of dollars, who say they want to rule the world. That is no territory for a writer like me. It is not. Because you are suppose to be there behind them, making their life very difficult.
So your fear is that if you receive the award you would be dancing to their tune?
Yes. If Obasanjo tells you, you are the hero of the nation, how are you going to criticise him later? There are things you must keep independent from, because such prizes are ways of telling you to come and join the club. I don?t belong to that club. I belong to the club of people, just people. And I don?t distinguish between any members of the club.
You cried when you won the Caine prize.
Yeah! [laughs] It is ten thousand dollars! I had no money... are you joking!
What would you say that prize has done to you as a writer?
It just gave me legitimacy. Before I won it, I couldn?t think of earning as much as I could, I couldn?t think of having an agent. But I think the most important thing it did actually is that it gives me room in Kenya. Until I won the Caine prize nobody in Kenya was interested in the fact that I wrote fiction, except my friends. Nobody cared. Of course, being an ex-colonial country, when you win something from abroad they regard you more. Now they call me Mr. Binyavanga. But I was the same person before, writing the same thing. It is a shame on our country to get foreign legitimacy before one?s work could be appreciated. I would never been able to found Kwani? if I hadn?t won the Caine prize because I would not be taken serious in Kenya.
Three weeks before I was shortlisted for the prize, I went to a publisher and tried to get an appointment with an editor there but she refused to meet me. I travelled three hours to see her and then I called her and she said ?I?m busy?. So imagine trying to start something in a country that does that. Four weeks later, people were calling and saying, ?can we give you money to start a magazine?? That?s how it works. Maybe it is neo-colonialism I don?t know. But that?s how it works. So the prize helped a lot.
Talking about Kwani?; what is the aim of founding it?
There is a group of us; we had a lot of energy and enthusiasm, we wanted to push things along. There was a lot of energy. There was an election, the music scene was exciting, and there was a feeling of creativity. And that is where that energy came from.
There is this thing I read about you collecting food recipes; I can?t imagine you in a kitchen! What has that got to do with a writer?
I love cooking very much. There is a mistake in the information though, because I read about me having collected over 13,000 recipes. I have never done that. It was a mistake and I can?t stop it because it is already on the internet. I?ve collected about a thousand. I used to write about African food for South African newspapers. So I got known for doing that.
Finally, what?s your advice to young writers?
Read, read at lunch time, read in the morning, read fiction. Don?t read theories about fiction, read fiction. You will be a better writer the more fiction you read. Those who don?t read fiction don?t write well. You can measure it mathematically. Read without discrimination. Read the books you think you hate, read the books that are too difficult. When you master the books you thought were too difficult, it means you?ve grown.
(c)Published in the New Nigerian Newspapers of 12/6/2008
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Literature
Those who don?t read fiction don?t write well
BINYAVANGA WAINAINA, a Kenyan writer and winner of the 2002 Caine Prize for African Writing, who is currently a Bard Fellow and Director of the Chinua Achebe Centre for African Literature and Languages at Bard College, was one of the resource persons at the recent Farafina Trust Creative Writing Workshop in Lagos. The founding editor of Kwani?, a literary magazine that has become an important source of new writing from Africa, speaks with SUMAILA UMAISHA on what creative writing is all about.
NNW: What are the factors that make a good creative writing?
Binyavanga Wainaina: Oh, they are many; we can talk for hours about them. But we will I will just say that a good fiction writer aims to create a world, not to write a story. And that world operates by its own rules that are consistent, affecting, entertaining and thoughtful in the lines. Fiction is very little about theme; only professors of literature talk about themes. People don?t read fiction for themes, they read fiction to encounter characters and to enter and be involved with and belong to the world that has been created. And I think the practice of writing fiction has been challenged in many African countries because it?s been dominated too much by professors wanting to say ?focus on the theme?.
Would you say this principle have you mentioned was responsible for your winning the Caine prize?
It was very helpful because it gave a platform in a sense of being able to enter the market, sell books and so on. But I had been working on my craft before the prize. And I read a lot. And the point was just to turn that reading into being able to break down what great fiction writers were doing with their own craft and learn how they make their sentences, and learn how to see through the eyes of a craftsman who makes texts. That?s what I?ve been doing, what?s what I will always do. Ninety percent of the real work of fiction is always examining other people make their own.
Is imparting this principle part of your work at the Achebe Centre?
Our job at the Chinua Achebe Centre for artists and writers is simple. We love academics but we don?t want academics there; it is not for them, it is for writers and artists. So our job is to create projects and opportunities for writers to produce. And we are always looking for exciting ones. We are interested in new works, we are interested in encouraging new works, encouraging young writers. We are interested in putting established young writers in situations that are new and having them produce new things.
You?ve also won the Kenya Publishers Association prize. Comparing this to Caine prize, which would you say uplifts you more?
[A long pause] I see prizes to be something very useful about the public in a sense that the Caine prize put you on international media and allows your name to resonate to publishers and so on and allows your work to move forward. The Kenya Publishers Association prize was wonderful because it came from my own country. It is wonderful because I have been critical of Kenya publishers and I felt grateful that they took the criticism to heart and saw value in what I was doing. But it is not the prizes, I?m pleased with the work, I?m most proud of the stories I?ve written, I?m just happy reading and writing. And if in the bid you drop a prize, it is fine, you know.
You were nominated by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader, an award given to people for their potential to contribute to shaping the future of the world, but you rejected it in spite of the fact you?ve just stated. And you accepted Caine prize...
The Caine prize is for writers. Caine prize will not tell me not to criticise them, because it is a prize for fiction, they understand what fiction is. So even if I feel uncomfortable being an African writer going to the House of Lords to win a prize, it is still a prize for fiction. It means after going to the House of Lords for dinner I satirise the House, the prize will not have any problem. But it is different when you go and get prizes from politicians who are worth millions of dollars, who say they want to rule the world. That is no territory for a writer like me. It is not. Because you are suppose to be there behind them, making their life very difficult.
So your fear is that if you receive the award you would be dancing to their tune?
Yes. If Obasanjo tells you, you are the hero of the nation, how are you going to criticise him later? There are things you must keep independent from, because such prizes are ways of telling you to come and join the club. I don?t belong to that club. I belong to the club of people, just people. And I don?t distinguish between any members of the club.
You cried when you won the Caine prize.
Yeah! [laughs] It is ten thousand dollars! I had no money... are you joking!
What would you say that prize has done to you as a writer?
It just gave me legitimacy. Before I won it, I couldn?t think of earning as much as I could, I couldn?t think of having an agent. But I think the most important thing it did actually is that it gives me room in Kenya. Until I won the Caine prize nobody in Kenya was interested in the fact that I wrote fiction, except my friends. Nobody cared. Of course, being an ex-colonial country, when you win something from abroad they regard you more. Now they call me Mr. Binyavanga. But I was the same person before, writing the same thing. It is a shame on our country to get foreign legitimacy before one?s work could be appreciated. I would never been able to found Kwani? if I hadn?t won the Caine prize because I would not be taken serious in Kenya.
Three weeks before I was shortlisted for the prize, I went to a publisher and tried to get an appointment with an editor there but she refused to meet me. I travelled three hours to see her and then I called her and she said ?I?m busy?. So imagine trying to start something in a country that does that. Four weeks later, people were calling and saying, ?can we give you money to start a magazine?? That?s how it works. Maybe it is neo-colonialism I don?t know. But that?s how it works. So the prize helped a lot.
Talking about Kwani?; what is the aim of founding it?
There is a group of us; we had a lot of energy and enthusiasm, we wanted to push things along. There was a lot of energy. There was an election, the music scene was exciting, and there was a feeling of creativity. And that is where that energy came from.
There is this thing I read about you collecting food recipes; I can?t imagine you in a kitchen! What has that got to do with a writer?
I love cooking very much. There is a mistake in the information though, because I read about me having collected over 13,000 recipes. I have never done that. It was a mistake and I can?t stop it because it is already on the internet. I?ve collected about a thousand. I used to write about African food for South African newspapers. So I got known for doing that.
Finally, what?s your advice to young writers?
Read, read at lunch time, read in the morning, read fiction. Don?t read theories about fiction, read fiction. You will be a better writer the more fiction you read. Those who don?t read fiction don?t write well. You can measure it mathematically. Read without discrimination. Read the books you think you hate, read the books that are too difficult. When you master the books you thought were too difficult, it means you?ve grown.
(c)Published in the New Nigerian Newspapers of 12/6/2008
- Ee Sule And Julian Jackson Win 2013 Commonwealth Prizes ? Africa Region
The Commonwealth Foundation has announced the regional winners for the 2013 Commonwealth Book Prize and Commonwealth Short Story Prize. Representing Africa, Asia, Canada & Europe, Caribbean, and the Pacific regions, these writers will now...
- Farafina Trust Workshop 2013: Call For Applications
Farafina Trust will be holding a creative writing workshop in Lagos, organized by award winning writer and creative director of Farafina Trust, Chimamanda Adichie, from August 6 to August 16 2013. The Caine Prize winning Kenyan writer Binyavanga Wainaina,...
- Nlng Prize Controversy: It Was The Judges? Decision Not Ours
Professor Ben Elugbe of the Department of Linguistic and African Languages, University of Ibadan, who is the president of Nigerian Academy of Letters, NAL, and West African Linguistic Society, WALS, speaks to SUMAILA UMAISHA on the 2009 NLNG Prize controversy...
- I Feel At The Top Of The World!
ISAAC ATTAH OGEZI, legal practitioner, playwright, short story writer and literary essayist, based in Keffi, Nasarawa State, is a consistent literary prizes winner . In addition to his numerous prizes, his play, Waiting for Savon, has just won this year?s...
- Farafina's Window To The Publishing World
THE writer is often regarded as a lone figure in the process that makes him an author. Hence, in celebrating the author, the publisher is hardly featured in the success story. But the fact is, while the author is the source and central element in the...