Train authors to grow literature

The Kenya Literature Bureau Assistant Publishing Manager Kenneth Jumba (left), presents a trophy to the winner of this year composition to Kelly Junior Academy Principal uth Wangari during the Nairobi International Book fair at Westlands Primary School in Nairobi. (Photo: Govedi Asutsa/Standard)

September has it fair share of literary activities. First will be the Nairobi International Book Fair, which will quickly pave way for several local literary prizes that are usually awarded just after the fair.

A keen observer will realise there are more literary awards. The newly-introduced  Mabati-Cornell Kiswahili Prize for African Literature and the  Ubunifu Prize for Kiwahili Literature will augment the prize money available to writers.

Literary critics, discussants and quite a few lovers of literature have on several occasions decried the low literary standards in Kenya.

There is a dearth of writers; we are staring at a literary desert, they have opined.

Indeed, these fears are not altogether unfounded considering our near ‘no-show’ when it comes to major literary award long and short lists — Nigerian writer Chigozie Obioma just made it to the long list of the Man Booker Prize for his story The Fishermen, something we are yet to achieve.

We are quickly falling behind Ugandans, Zimbabweans and lagging way behind the West Africans in literary contests. The question is, how can we change this state of affairs?

One way of encouraging creative writing has been what I call the ‘September Awards’: The Jomo Kenyatta Award for Literature, the Wahome Mutahi Literary Award and the Burt Award for African Literature — run by the Kenya Publishers Association — are the toast of this literary month.

Indeed, these awards have encouraged creative writing and its growth in some quarters.

However, they have neither enhanced the study of literature nor encouraged a reading culture in Kenya.

Actually, the Kenyan writer has been someone whose motivation for writing has been the story he or she would like to put out there for people to read.

There are those who have just written for the joy of publishing. Indeed, there is a lot of potential   that is just waiting to be tapped.

However, this potential must first   be discovered then nurtured and developed before it can be realised.

It would be foolhardy to imagine that we will develop writers by awarding those we decide are the best among contestants.

If competitions are held in the next 10 years, we will most likely have, at least, three quarters of the usual writers winning.

Which means those missing out are still developing and may not have even been discovered.

This should not be misconstrued to mean that the current winners/writers are not worth their weight in gold — without a doubt they are.

They work extremely hard hence it is only proper to reward their labour.

However, there is an urgent need to go beyond the awards.

As a country, we should ensure training and development of creative writers.

Schools and institutions of higher learning should make conscious decisions to ensure that deliberate effort is directed towards this need.

Isn’t it interesting that trophies say, for sports, are usually bigger and more celebrated than anything that is related to writing or academics? The creative writer is always among ‘others.’   It is high time we stopped seeing creative writing as the other thing.

And for this perception to change, Kenyans should consume more literary works  developed by their sons and daughters.

We will be waiting for Godot, if we keep on thinking that someone else will come from somewhere to sling-short us out of our misery, especially if we do not even believe in ourselves or what we do.

Teachers should go beyond the prescriptive composition writing methods that result in so much duplicity — one can hardly tell apart the best compositions — as there is little indication of genuine creativity.

Teachers should encourage learners to consider writing as a profession

I have had the chance to meet 13-year olds who I dare say have shrewd creative minds capable of developing intricate plots.

And with the help and support of their parents and teachers, they have set their minds on becoming creative writers in future. There is great potential in these young people, yet these nascent creative minds must be well trained and mentored in order to excel in the writing business.

I have said before that more needs to be done in colleges.

The Unit called ‘The art of Writing’ or ‘Writing Skills’ is found in some  university academic programmes.

But  I am afraid this is nothing more than the usual introduction-body-conclusion composition writing chitchat.

Tertiary institutions should stop treating creative writing as a unit in a course and instead consider running a creative writing course on its own — this is successfully done elsewhere.

Publishing houses should also be involved in the development of writers. After all, they are the beneficiaries of such endeavours.

Good writers will translate to quality products; they ease the editors’ burden, reduce the time it takes to publish texts and ultimately reduce the cost of production.

As publishers do this, writers too ought to be on the lookout for training opportunities.

The National Book Development Council in conjunction with Canadian Organisation for Development through Education, run writing courses for writers and our creative writers should be on the lookout for the calls for training.

Further ideas on creative writing are appearing in our local dailies — writers should take advantage of this.

Media houses should consider having complete literary supplements just as the Times Literary Supplement or The New Yorker, where writers can publish complete short stories for the public to read.

What of sponsoring literary awards the way the Financial Times does with the FT/OppenheimerFunds Emerging Voices Awards for fiction literature, film-making and art?

Writing only gets better through practise.

Good writers are also avid readers. Writers therefore have a responsibility to ensure they practise their trade and that they are well read.

Finally, a few weeks back I indicated that Fresh Paint was published by Goethe Institut in conjunction with AMKA.

Actually, it was published by Goethe-Institut, Kenya and Native Intelligence; it was a project of AMKA and Goethe Institut. I regret any inconveniences caused by this mix up.