Renowned poet, novelist, Ahmed Maiwada is one of the presidential candidates in the
forthcoming election of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA). In this
interview with IBRAHIM RAMALAN he speaks on his manifesto among others issues.
You instituted the Teen Authors Prize, what informed this?
I was privileged to have great number of literary materials at the house in Zaria
City, where I grew up, and I had such amazing mentors as my mother and elder
brothers. I have imagined that, without those facilities to help sustain my
interest in writing, I might not have become a writer myself. Therefore, it was
my hope that Prizes will inspire teen authors to not only writes, but to
compete with each other, might just serve as an interest-sustaining and skill-sharpening
motivation for them.
I remember that our own Saddiq M. Dzukogi, a very promising poet already back then, won
the maiden prize. After that, the prize was awarded a second time, before it
ceased. Reasons such as poor quality of entries had been adduced by ANA.
So, programmes do you have for teen author?
I think,with a change of leadership in ANA to one that inspires confidence, we would
look into areas of inspiring the younger ones. However, ANA will look into its
resources and see the possibility of making grants to writers’ initiatives such
as HillTop Art initiative, Anti Talatu, Khalid Imam, and many others.
The needs are diverse, all aimed towards developing younger human capitals. ANA will no
longer distance itself writer groups, but draw them closer as partners and even
provide national platforms for the celebration of what these groups have
produced.
If elected as ANA president, how would you bring together literary platforms and
stakeholders in the country to pursue a national agenda for the creative
writing industry?
If I am given the opportunity to serve as president, ANA would lead any literary
platforms or stakeholders in the country that subscribe to ANA’s constitution.
We don’t powers nor right to conscript such stakeholders that do not wish to
align with us towards working together. Nevertheless, together with all the
ones that wish to partner with us, I have already stated that ANA would be
ready to work with them. We would recognise their existence, attend their
events whenever invited and participate in their programmes, with a view to
opening up the channels of understanding to such point that we might agree to
foster common advocacies and lobbies for the advancement of literature at the
institutions such as CBN.
However, we, as ANA, would have our own team, not mere individuals, who would study the
various laws establishing relevant government agencies in order to advice the
National Executive Council on how to canvass for support or partnerships from
those agencies.
I have always wished that ANA could even influence some amendments in our existing
acts, such as Copyright Act, so that, for instance, refusal by a book seller to
pay an author any agreed royalty when his books have been sold should be a
crime punishable by imprisonment.
Opening ANA to the teeming writers in Nigeria looking for direction will start from
registering at the chapters nearest to those writers. My national executive is
membership biased, and once such has been crossed, our visions are very clear
on what benefits might accrue to such teeming writers.
How do you intend to ensure that writers across the country write better, write more, and
make more impact on the socio-economic life of Nigerians?
I think anybody who promises to make another person write better must be lying. As a
writer, I have understood that we don’t have the same skills for writing at the
same levels with others. Some of us must naturally write better than others.
And I have also understood that writing better isn’t a function of the
education that one has acquired, else the best writers amongst us should be the
Professors.
That said, I have mentioned in my manifesto that opportunities would be given for
residencies, workshops among others, especially to younger Nigerian writers who
have shown some level of commitment and loyalty to the causes of ANA. By this,
it is clear that I would not focus on writers across the country except they
are members of ANA. However, by working together or partnering with sister
organisations or groups, our shared resources should be able to impact on those
other writers that belong to those sister groups/organisations.
On the whole, I believe that prizes automatically institute the atmosphere of competition
among writers, and we are promising exciting prizes for our members.