Globally recognized professor of African history, Toyin Falola, led eminent African writers and scholars in celebrating the output of African literature in 2023, with works in poetry, drama, prose narrative and children literature.

The renowned scholar chaired a penal of literary writers at the last edition of the Toyin Falola Interview Series with the theme centering on ‘2023 Outstanding African Creative Books Written in English: Novels, Drama, Poetry, Children’s Books’. The panelists were famous African writers such as Rehema Ndumbaro, Bill Ndi, Nthabiseng JahRose, Abubakar Adam Ibrahim and Fadwa Ashraf.

Opening the floor, the Secretary-General of the Pan African Writers Association (PAWA), Dr Wale Okediran was full of praise for Professor Falola when he thanked him for his commitment to African literature. According to him, “I am grateful that the Toyin Falola Interview Series is partnering with the Pan African Writers Association (PAWA). This is about the sixth occasion of our collaboration; and we are always grateful for the opportunity to use your platform to discuss literature, particularly African literature, and also to link up with our members who are all over the globe. Our panelists are distinguished writers and publishers in their own rights.”

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On his favorite African literary text for 2023, Ibrahim told the audience that “I love the River Spirit. It is a historical novel set in Sudan in the late 1880s. This was a transition period when Sudan was in a flux, moving from the Ottoman Empire to the British Empire. It follows how a religious fanatic came into the scene. First, it was about revolution and resistance of the Ottoman Empire’s influence on Sudan, and then it became more about the central character’s greed and need for power to control. The author was very descriptive. This shows the mastery of the author’s prose as well as her story-telling abilities. It is really a beautiful story. It moves you as the reader through various degrees of emotions and how you feel the connections of the characters. This was really outstanding for me.

“The second book I’ll like to talk about is Kalaf Epalanga’s Whites Can Dance Too. So, this is the story of a character who is called Kalaf. Kalaf Epalanga happens to be an Angolan writer, an Angolan DJ, an Angolan musician. Kalaf Epalanga is a man of many arts; very brilliant man. But his novel is basically about a character called Kalaf who happens to be basically travelling around the world and promoting his music, an Angolan music called Kuduro. He has this massive event in Norway in Oslo. During his travel to Oslo, he lost his document and suddenly instead of being on stage for the biggest event of his life, he finds himself in the detention centre because he is considered an illegal immigrant. At the heart of the story is music. So there is a lot of music. There is music as an escape, there is music as redemption, music hope and all of that. And it’s a very different story. Of course, we have read many immigrant narrations coming out of Africa; this is different. It is the story of an African travelling the world and actually spreading something that is considered African. So the whole idea is we are travelling the world, engaging the people and using music to break down the cultural and political divides between people, races, and all of that. It is a beautiful story well told. I think there is something fascinating about the storytelling as well: the fact that the narrative is musical.

“The third book is The Middle Daughter by Chika Unigwe. She is a Nigerian writer and she was also the winner of the Nigerian prize for literature in 2012. The Middle Daughter is her fourth novel. It is a very wonderful book, very interesting. It follows the story of a seventeen year-old Nani who becomes entangled with a rich guy who is actually a charlatan. He finds her at a moment when she is emotionally vulnerable because she had lost her dad, and lost her sister and there is disconnect between her and the remaining members of her family. So she finds her comfort and solace in this rich and charlatan character called Ephraim. Eventually, she discovers that this person who came into her life at this point of vulnerability isn’t quite the person she thought he was. So she ends up in an abusive relationship. It is a painful read. It is also an eye-opener. For me, that story seems to be a metaphor for the circumstances of Africa where people look to certain people as leaders and invest their hopes in these people to provide solution and escape for them; they end up empowering these people to manipulate them, to abuse them to do all of that. I know Chika did not write this as a political commentary but it also reads as a political commentary. But basically this is the story about the abuse and subjugation of women, the charlatanism that has become part of religion these days. It is a social critique; it is a political commentary; it is a commentary about our relationships with people.

“I think for me it is the social commentary that is embedded in all the stories. First, the other story is a historical fiction and a political commentary about some countries in transition. The Ottoman Empire on one hand and then the British Empire that is kind of coming to take over. And then in the middle of that we have religious fanaticism and that sort of echoes the Boko Haram crises we are having in Nigeria to an extent and the overwhelming problem we have of Charlatanism across the continent where you see Africans being abused by people who consider themselves as religious leaders. There is that element in that story running through. And that element kind of echoes in Chika’s Unigwe’s story as well. While Lila’s is kind of epic, more broad, Chika’s story is more individualized, where at the heart of the story is this Nani who is seventeen years old but she also falls victim of this religious charlatan and you see how he abuses her just as the character in Leila’s novel kind of deals with the people around him and the entire country as a whole. Kalaf ties in with this because it is also a story of Africans trying to find their place in the world. In this instance, Africans are not waiting to be influenced, he was more or less waiting in prison but at the same time he was traveling and spreading his influence. It is kind of intertextual how they connect and relate to each other.”

He, however, condemns the assumption that African literature only captures sociopolitical themes about Africa while noting that this is untrue and unacceptable. “There is a certain assumption that is placed on African writers, and by extension African writings, and by extension writings about Africa. Where it is supposed to explain your Africanness, your being human, being a person where you have to explain your culture, your identity, how you look and things like that. At the same time, there has been this tradition that limits African literature to maybe social and political critique where no matter what the story is about, it has to be about that. It is interesting that this trope has persisted over the years to an extent that you’ll find some people in academia and I say some who when they are engaging with Africa say what is this book saying about the African condition and situation in the country. For instance, if you write a book about Nigeria, it is expected to address boko haram, kidnapping, female genital mutilation and things like that, and then your story is not about genital mutilation; it has nothing to do with book haram, it is just a story. You don’t bring that same lens with that same frame to the critics of books written by an American writer. These three books have shifted away from trying to explain Africanness,” he said.

For his choice of favorite African literary texts for 2023, Bill stated “I have decided to talk about the book Unraveling by Sue Nyamnjoh. I look at her work which covers a whole lot of themes. She approaches her work with the Keatian lens. When I talk of Keatain lens, I am looking at John Keats who is the father of negative possibilities, and I think African writing should embrace giving our worldviews and experience we have had historically and otherwise to embrace our history with that Keatan lens. In every verse possible in her poetry, she invokes the impossibility of satiation of what everything has in store for us. The terseness of the poem written, meaning that a 7 or 8-year-old child could pick up and read without having any trouble, is one of the things that compels me to look at her poetry as some of the outstanding works. But we have this conception either as poet as critic that the more complex the work of poetry is, the better, but we have this younger crop of writers on the African continent who are there to tell us that the sophistication of poetry is not in its complexity but in its simplicity with complex thoughts that they provoke.

“She emphasizes the transient nature of things and all of these simply set the stage for the exploration of the aftermaths of mistakes. What happened during the colonial era had certain mistakes made, and what is the aftermath of those mistakes, how are we dealing with it, how are we handling those things, how are we handling things of impermanence? How can we emphasise the fact that the realization of permanence is a myth?

“Her poem is replete with imagery, loss and memory; there is the theme of desire, which takes the symbolism of a healing balm. This means all is not lost when we find ourselves in a difficult situation. We did hear about Africans trying to be judged by standards that are foreign, or trying to be dictated to on what African literature should be.

“We have talked about our literature being treated as undesirable whereas it has everything. I remember sitting on a panel to determine a prize and I made clear that all the books in contention were equally good books in their own rights and could win any prize that they could get into. If we look at Africa, the blacks all over the world have been victims of catch and release somehow. Let’s think about the imagery of the palms of the hand that creates a very tactile and intimate atmosphere. The palms are symbolic and represent the order of the speaker’s experiences, and we understand that our experiences are being toyed with.”

“My next favorite book is by Moshumee T. Dewoo. Her poems are being loaded with uncanny terseness, her language rumbles and compels with minimalism which speaks volumes. The themes she deals with are very current. They deal with themes of hybridization, the profane and the sacred. It shows her anger, and her thirst for freedom. Just reading the book I’ll say a thing or two about her. She is an Indo-African, and every time in her life, she has found herself trying to justify her Africanness. Does an Indo-African have to justify her Africanness? That shouldn’t be the case. So her work explores this lingering memory and invites the reader to ponder on the recurring motif of fear, dissolution, grief which embodies the guiding principle towards reconciliation when we are caught in the grip of painful existence.

“I believe poetry is that which has the ability to say a lot more in a little space, and with this in mind, I use my creative inspiration to say a lot more in a little space and in a prosaic language that is understood by all and giving them just something to reflect on. If you look at the works that I have picked I insist that it is about their terseness and brevity, I think if we are trying to think of it as a genre separate from a literary creativity. I must also add that the book of proverbs is an integral part of the holy book inasmuch as others would classify the holy book not literature, the literature in the holy book itself speaks volume and warrants that we reflect. It is like the battle we find ourselves in trying to classify maybe what is African literature. Then when the literature is produced what is this brand of literature?”

Before discussing her favorite books for 2023, an elated JahRose thanked Professor Falola for the opportunity to spotlight African literature. According to her “It is really truly a privilege to be part of the panel reflecting and putting the spotlight on African literature. It is only us in different parts of Africa that can truly highlight and introduce these works to one another. So I chose a children’s book. The author portrays challenges faced by young people in South Africa and of course this is a global pandemic of its own. Here we are confronted with the allure of drugs which in there introduces the character of Charles who becomes entangled in the web of addiction leading to consequences that reverberates through his family and communities. He looks into the personal struggles with the broader societal issue plaguing South Africa through his journey. We witness the harsh realities of substance abuse and the toll it takes on individuals, on families and the society as a whole. Charles steals from food in the house to electronic appliances. The mother becomes ill from dealing with this frustration. Mob justice comes into play as the community is also frustrated. Charles has wrong friends, peer pressure has him by the throat, his addiction escalates to health challenges, criminal activities and ends up being arrested and essentially a young life is ruined.

“So I found the depiction of Charles in turmoil particularly compelling and using internal conflicts in succumbing to the temptations of drugs and striving for a better future reflects the struggles of many young people caught in similar circumstances. It highlights the complex interplay of personal agencies and external influences. The lack of access to education at times and opportunities coupled with the pervasive presence of drugs in communities set the stage for a cycle of despair. How do you perceive the role of community support in addressing these challenges? Communities are paramount in breaking the cycle of addiction through effective effort, we can provide the necessary resources and guidance to empower young people like Charles to make positive choices and pursue alternative paths. Additionally fostering a culture of open dialogue. By encouraging empathy and understanding we can create a space where individual feel comfortable seeking help and accessing treatment without fear of judgement. So this book serves as a reminder of the challenges faced by young people and the urgent need for collective actions to create a brighter future for the youth who mostly in this country are unemployed. The book mirrors the power of storytelling to ignite empathy and inspire positive change.

“One other book that I have chose was written by Dr Jerry Mofokeng Wa Makhetha. He is one of the South African playwrights and actor and author, a motivational speaker and a marriage counsellor also. He wrote a book called I am a Man. He offers a profound reflection on manhood and identity and the complexities of family.

One poignant moment from our discussion focuses on Jerry’s revelation about his upbringing, particularly his discovery of being raised by his stepfather without his knowledge until later in life. Jerry shared with us the deeply personal journey of learning about his biological father at the age of 58. Despite being already a husband, a father and elder himself, it was a revelation that shook the very foundation of his identity, prompting him to embark on what he describes as a tortuous journey back to self. What struck me most was Dr Jerry’s nuanced approach to reconciling his new found knowledge with the reality of the man who had raised him, his stepfather despite the shock and upheaval caused by this revelation, Dr Jerry showed immense grace in acknowledging both his biological father and the man who had played a paternal role in his life. His story serves as a reminder of the complexity of familiar relationships and resilience of human spirit through his own experiences, then challenges us to confront our preconceived notions of manhood and the importance of embracing both our wound and trials as integral parts of our journey. It is more than just a memoir, it is a call to action for both men and women to participate in the nurturing of boys into men. It encourages us to strive for authentic selfhood and to create a world where masculinity is defined not by bravado but by vulnerability, empathy and growth. In this book Dr Jerry then takes on new layers of meaning enriched by cultural contexts and storytelling traditions of this native language. It is a testament to the universality of human experience and the power of language to transcend human barriers.”

The session which was beamed on several social media platforms had very prominent academics, literary and cultural enthusiasts in attendance.