Literature

Toni Kan - 'Short story is like a snap shot'

TONI KAN ONWORDI is an award winning poet, essayist and short story writer. He holds a BA and MA in English Literature from the universities of Jos and Lagos, respectively. He has published two critically acclaimed books; When a Dream Lingers Too Long, a collection of poems and Ballad of Rage, a novel. The poetry collection received honourable mention at the ANA poetry prize 2002 while the novel was shortlisted for the maiden NLNG literature prize in 2004. His awards have taken him to Scotland and Switzerland. In this interview with SUMAILA UMAISHA, he speaks on his writing experiences and the Nigerian literary scene.

NNW: When and how did you start writing?

Toni Kan Onwordi: My father studied English at University of Ibadan and we had a huge library while I was growing up. I started reading early and had a rich source and this is important because I don?t think you can be a writer if you don?t read. Anyway, I began to consciously think of writing after I read Ben Okri?s Flowers and Shadows. I must have been ten or eleven then and for my birthday, my dad sent me three books. Flowers and Shadows, Ben Okri?s debut novel, The Last Duty by Isidore Okpewho and Cross of Gold by Laureta Ngcobo. After reading Okri, I just knew I wanted to and had to write.

What are your major inspirations for writing?

In poetry as well as prose fiction, I am concerned primarily with exploring human relationships as well as motives and actions. What makes us do what we do and treat people the way we treat them. These are basic concerns, which are why I am not really at home with militant writing or political issues. If the story allows politics, I have no problem, but I am not going to force it just to be fashionable.

Writers who work in the bank usually complain of lack of enough time to write.
How are you coping?

It is interesting because I no longer work in a bank. I gave it up after six long years. But while a banker, I made out time to write and you will note that I have a regular income from writing which means I have deadlines which means I have to write at regular intervals and not just at my leisure. I am book reviewer for True Love and ThisDay. I also run a full page every Saturday in Daily Independent where I publish a true life/romance story. To meet these deadlines, I got a driver and a lap top so I can read in traffic and also write. Then most times, I stay back after work to put in an hour or two especially to work on my short stories, novel or poems. In the end it all boils down to discipline and dedication. The first part for me is tough because when I sit down to write, the first thing I really want to do is get up. But the second part is easy because the day I stop writing is the day I die.

Your short stories, in particular, have won many prizes. What does it take to produce a good short story?

I have won a couple of awards, yes, but I don?t know about many. But to answer your question, a short story is a compressed narrative. Too short to be a novel, but long enough to contain all the basic elements while packing a punch. In a short story, because of the length or lack of it, you need to be able to gather all your elements together in a fast, methodical and dramatic manner because you don?t have that leisure which a novel confers on you to flesh out the narrative, build characters etc. Let me put it this way, a novel is like a full length movie, while a short story is like a snap shot. You need to strike a strong chord from the beginning and for that you need to build strong and memorable characters, evoke strong images and have a dramatic and gripping story. The language has to be good too and then you have to read a lot. Discover good writers, read them and see what works for you and what doesn?t.

Would you say your career in journalism is partly responsible for your success as a writer?

I don?t like to see myself as a journalist because I never really practised that even though I have tried my hands at a few journalistic endeavours. I prefer to see myself as a writer, pure and simple. That said, working as editor of a magazine taught me discipline as a writer because at Hints our job was to write stories. So, we?d hang out in bars, nursing our beer and listening to drunken patrons talk and then we?d go back to the office, flesh out the story, change the locale, play around with character and voila, a story is born. It taught us discipline, helped our writing speed and sharpened our story telling skills.

What is your assessment of the Nigerian literary scene?

Vibrant and exciting and on the cusp of monumental change. Look at what?s happening: Helon, Chimamanda, Chris Abani, Biyi Bandele, Sefi Atta, Chika Unigwe, Ogaga, Maik Nwosu, EC Osondu etc. There is a flowering going on now and with people like Tolu Ogunlesi, Jude Dibia, Kaine Agary, Richard Ugbede Ali, yourself and a host of others creating prodigiously at home, I believe it?s amatter of time before the big publishers take notice and begin to home in on us. See, it?s happened in music and movie, it will happen in literature. Mark my words.

What would you say are the major problems of the Nigerian writer and how could they be solved?

First, we don?t read enough. Most of us are weaned on old texts. The world is changing and so are tastes. We must follow suit. Secondly, there is dearth of publishing infrastructure and the things that aid the publishing and distribution process. But things are changing with publishers like Cassava Republic and Farafina bringing out quality work while outlets like NU Metro are changing the game of sales and distribution.

What is the future of Nigerian literature?

Bright, so bright we need sunglasses to beat the glare.

What is your advice to the young Nigerian writer?

Read and don?t stop writing because you have to be ready when it happens and it will happen.

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Literature