Sumaila
Umaisha: You are one of the pioneer Nigerian writers. How did the
literary journey begin?
Gabriel Okara: I went to Government
College Umuahia in the 1930s and 40s when secondary schools were
really secondary schools and we were exposed to all branches of
study, from the Sciences to the Arts. We were also exposed to various
European writers and we were inspired by them. I began to think
about my experiences in the environment in which I grew up. I grew
up in the village of Bomoundi on the riverbanks where water was
everything for us. We used it for cooking, washing, transportation;
travelling from place to place. My father was a trader so we travelled
a lot selling our wares. All that experience of rivers coupled with
the indirect experience I had in the writings of writers like Charlotte
Brontë and William Shakespeare inspired me into writing.
SU: It appears you prefer expressing yourself
in poetry to other literary genres.
GO: My choice of the genre in
which to express myself at any given time depends on the themes
and subject. If poetry will be more expressive I choose it. But
sometimes I don’t even think of that; the thing just comes,
like the way a song would come to a singer.
SU: Rivers, which inspired some of your
beautiful works, seem to be a curse to the people of the Niger Delta
area now, considering the environmental pollution caused by the
oil exploration. If you were to write about the same rivers now
would it still be that exotic?
GO: The pollution does not take
place in all the rivers, not in the River Nun; it happens only where
there are oil wells. But, of course, if I’m writing on the
rivers today they will not be the same because the fact that some
rivers are affected means that the condition is not the same as
it was.
SU: What you may likely write now is protest
poetry to protest against the environmental degradation?
GO: Oh yes. My recent poem, River
Nun (III) is all about the rivers, but there are some changes
to reflect the present realities.
SU: Writers are said to be agents of change,
but writers like you have been writing for many years and yet nothing
seems to change especially in Nigeria - in fact, things seem to
be getting worse. Why?
GO: Writers express their own
ideal society, the kind they would like to live in. And sometimes
they forecast what the society in which they live will become in
future. But everything depends on the leadership. While writers
try to show the way, it is left for the leaders to bring about the
physical development. It is the leaders, the governors, the president
and others who are in government that can change the society through
initiating policies for development and executing such policies.
They are supposed to effect the physical changes like good roads
etc. that affect the lives of the people. The kind of change that
writers bring about is that of attitude. And attitudinal change
takes a long time. Sometimes it takes generations before some changes
could be noticed.
SU: Does this mean all
the ideals forecast by the Nigerian writers will eventually come
to pass?
GO: Certainly, things will change
for the better. No society is static. As the old writers pass away
the young ones will take over the fight for change; it is a continuous
fight. And change will come eventually.
SU: But it appears the condition is getting
worse…
GO: Things normally get worse
before they get better. The present situation is an indication of
the changes to come. A professor friend of mine once described what
is currently taking place in Nigeria as military materialism. Everyone
wants to get rich by all means. The means doesn’t matter;
the end justifies the means. With time all these will change.
SU: The publishing climate in Nigeria today
is not as it used to be in your days; it is unfavourable to the
young writers. What factors do you think are responsible for this?
GO: Many factors are responsible.
In our days you won’t find local publishers. Our works were
published abroad and brought back to the country. But today there
are many publishers. And these could not be called real publishers
because you have to pay before they publish your book. They call
themselves publishers when they are mere printers.
SU: So the problem is not lack of publishers
but the style of publishing?
GO: Yes, the problem is the style
of publishing which is more like printing job. In real publishing
you don’t pay publishers, they pay you in royalties. They
sign agreement with you and you wait and get your royalties depending
on the percentage agreed upon.
SU: Are you still writing?
GO: Yes.
SU: What work are you working on now?
GO: I don’t want to name
the title now. But it is a novel and hopefully it will be out [in
2009].
SU: What is your message to young writers?
GO: Young writers should be patient.
Practice makes perfect. They can’t just write anything and
feel it is good enough for publishing. Publishers are businessmen
like any other businessmen in other trades. They are not philanthropists;
they are out to make money. So young writers should be patient and
polish their works. When they are good, publishers will be running
after them, they won’t have to go canvassing for publishers,
they will run after them. They should be patient and be writing,
if they have that desire and innate talent in them, it doesn’t
matter how long it takes, it will come out. |
