Salamatu Sule is the Secretary at the Abuja chapter of Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) who has just represented Nigeria at the just concluded Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany. In this interview with IBRAHIM RAMALAN, she spoke on her blast moments at book fair, and other sundry issues.
As the Secretary of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Abuja chapter, what have been your experiences, can you share with us so far?
Well, it has been good and tough very different from the knowledge you acquire from the four walls of a class room. The secretariat as you know is the engine room of any establishment and as a driver, I always try to ensure we get to that level where we have laid a solid structure that others can follow suit but with ANA, it has been a bit tough as we have issues like funding and still lacked other resources.
Again, it is one very big family organization where efforts are being put together by individual member executives to ensure things work. I have a chairman who is very understanding and always support the chapter in his own capacity to move the Association forward.
You represented Nigeria at the Frankfort Book Fair in Germany, how did it go and what was the experience like?
The 2015 Frankfurt World Book Fair is to me like a giant book with the whole world in it. It is the world forum for book dialogue, a platform where book business deals are being contracted and sealed. It is always great and amazing to see people from diverse continent and countries coming together to discuss just one thing; Books and its universe.
Did the Book Fair have other guest participants from all over the world in this regard?
Oh yes, the book fair had a participation of Indonesia as this year’s guest of honour with seventeen other guest visitors (GV) from different parts of the world, Nigeria inclusive. All participants were drawn from various aspects of the book industry from publishers to printers, journalist, agents, writers and translators.
You said Africa was under represented at the book fair, what do you think is the cause of this under representation and why?
There is a sort of disconnection between publishers and book sellers
and am not sure there is a partnership with the Association of
Nigerian Authors (ANA) at the National level in this regard. I understand from the conversation I had with some of the people I met following my visit to Nigeria and other African stand at the book fair that most books that were being requested were not available. My sense of underrepresentation is from the fact that works of authors were not proactively displayed and most publishers did not attend the fair. Africa had a very poor book stand with just few books and one publisher each. Sincerely, we can improve on this next time.
Describe your best moments at the Frankfort fair?
Like I said earlier, the book fair is like a big book with events and scenes that will linger in ones memory for a long time, every moment of it was like a page turner. The guest of honour, Indonesia had in display seventeen thousand Islands of imagination. On the pavilion were exhibitions of different works of art from Indonesia including spice section to spoken words and music, everything was historical.
Another interesting moment was meeting publishers and answering questions about Nigerian books. Discussing books at a welcome dinner organized for us by the foreign office was quite interesting, there we were asked to choose our favorite first sentence from a book of any genre and also speak for two minutes why we thought it special. I chose from a book by Nigerian Author, Michael Afenfia’s Don’t Die on Wednesday; a book about sport fiction. I talked about the themes of the book and they all enjoyed it.
Your trip was brief, can you tell us your views about the Germans?
The Germans are amazing people vast and productive in the book industry and other areas such as culture and tourism. I was well received by my tour guides, who were hospitable in every sense. Every moment of the sightseeing tour was interesting so many museums and I liked the book printing museum which from my finding is very dear to the Germans as far as history is concerned.
What can you say on the dwindling readership level of the youth?
You know when it comes to reading books in Nigeria, purpose as to why reading such books comes foreplay. I think the average young Nigerian adult reads less than two books in a year except in a dire situation like being in examination condition and he does this with the sole purpose of getting a pass mark which is different from reading for the sake of knowledge and enlightenment. Reading helps in self-discipline and also the best companion one can get. As much as there are E-books which naturally should have encourage reading, most young adult would prefer to gossip on twitter and facebook or rather go to galleria to see the best movies released.
|People say a nation that does not write is a dead nation. What is your take on that?
Quite true. First literacy will be dead and history will be lost to define a nation, it demands the understanding of literatures and histories of the people. It is better to always know where you are coming from than where you headed to. For us in Africa and Nigeria to be specific we have good and amazing writers and amongst them are great story tellers but to keep things in shape, we have to go back to our drawing board to encourage the teaching of literatures and history, I mean our history in schools.
What do you think is the challenge for writers generally?
Writers usually are custodian of the society, they portray the good the bad and the ugly for the purpose of effecting positive change. Writers more often put in their best to come up with works but the publishing climate is usually expensive and books don’t make good sale like other industries this is a challenge and we can start to explore what is obtainable in other countries like exploring the fix pricing system which has been in practice in German book industry.
You are known for outstanding book reviews. Which genre of literature do you like reviewing and why?
Fiction and non-fiction though I review all sort of books that is appealing but I fear to review poetry simply because of altering the poet’s intended message as more often poetry can be open to as many interpretation as possible. Again no harm in opening doors for meanings for a particular text after all, the author is dead as far as my reviewing any book is concerned.
Who are your role models?
(Laughs) I have been asked this questions a couple of times like almost every day. Zainab Alkali. Her stories are simple and straight forward, it often address the issues faced by a typical northern Nigerian woman and amongst contemporary, is Abubakar Adam Ibrahim still trying to write like him unfortunately, I haven’t dared to try my hands on prose or short stories like he does except for children’s stories which am building on.
