Publishers should develop manual to guide works of aspiring authors

By ZAKAYO AMAYI 

Outspoken Sudanese writer, Taban lo Liyong, has repeatedly maintained that the East Africa region is a literary desert. His mind-boggling arguments could have been informed by the fact that the region which had once boasted of producing notable literary scholars the likes of the late Okot p’Bitek, foremost Kenyan author Ngugi wa Thiong’o, the late Owuor Anyumba, Taban lo Liyong himself had ceased to do so possibly for various reasons.

The heady 1960s and 70s had seen East Africa pioneer writers pen seminal works such as Song of Lawino, Artist the Ruler, Culture is Rutan, A Grain of Wheat and I Will Marry When I Want, which has over the years received much critical acclaim.

 In 1962, cohorts of scholars mainly from the East African and West African region gathered at Makerere University in Uganda for a conference whose main agenda was to deliberate on the definition of African Literature and question of usage of English verses native languages in literature.

 Use of native languages

During the conference, Ngugi wa Thiong’o and other scholars settled on the usage of native African languages in literary communication unlike the late Chinua Achebe and company who had advocated on the use of colonial language in literary communication due its wider readership.

In yet another contest, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Owuor Anyumba and other scholars advocated the review of Literature courses offered at the university with emphasis of inclusion of African literature courses in the curriculum. This had later led to the creation of the Department of Literature at the institution.

Then, there was also the experimentation with the style of a definitive African literature. Writers such as Okot p’Bitek started to experiment with the style and content of his work and no wonder he penned Song of Lawino and Song of Ocol in a galaxy of his other writings. Ever since, debates on the definition of African Literature have never ended. But that aside: is the East Africa region still a literary desert as per Taban lo Liyong’s contested utterances? What have contributed to this literary barrenness?  Critics and literary commentators in East Africa are still divided whether the region is a literary desert.

 Baseless criticism

There are scholars who feel that the Sudanese critic’s utterance was baseless and as a writer, he had himself not offered much in the literary circles. His books have been termed by many as ‘lacking both in content and style’ and as a result, he should not have judged East Africa Literature.

Contrary, there are those who support Taban’s arguments with much emphasis on the simmering debates in the literary circles and failure by both writers and publishers to churn out seminal books.

In the first scenario, critics have observed that there is a new generation of vibrant East African writers who have injected a lot in literary circles with their quality writings that is rich in style and content apart from addressing contemporary issues.  The list of these upcoming writers is long and include Kinyanjui Kombani’s The Last Villain of Molo, Arthur Gakwandi’s Kosiya Kifefe, Florence Mbaya’s A Journey Within, Margaret Ogolla’s The Mandate of the People, Stanley Gazemba’s The Stone Hills of Maragoli and Mukoma wa Ngugi’s Nairobi Heat.

In The Last Villains of Molo, the author, who was inspired by the 1992 ethnic clashes in Molo, has revisited the same through the persons of Bone, Bomu, Bafu, Ngeta and Rock.

In his 212-page novel, the main characters find themselves in Ngando slums having fled the ethnic-based violence in Molo.  With little to do, they engage in all manner of trade to eke out a living. The entry of Nancy — stylish sophisticated and shrewd — catapults them into a nightmare that leads to destitution, betrayal, desperation, revenge, friendship and lasting love.

This is a story of a new generation that rises above the confines of hatred and retribution and reasserts the inherent goodness in man.

The Last Villains of Molo is a well-crafted novel that can be compared to those done by pioneer East Africa writers. There are other authors too who have equally produced critically acclaimed works which have been read far and wide.  The current generation of outstanding East Africa critics, the likes of my former lecturer at the University of Nairobi, Prof Evan Mwangi, Simon Gikandi and Arthur Gakwandi have also made a name for themselves in global Literature.

As already noted, aspiring authors and publishers have for years been trading accusations on who is to blame for contributing to literary barrenness in the East Africa. A millionth time, publishers across the region have faced the brunt of aspiring authors and critics for not being willing to support budding writers.

As an example, there are many talented people in the East Africa region who, despite their creative energies, lack information on how to get published. There are those who think one need to pay publishers in order to get their works published. Others are of the opinion that publishers usually target works by well-established writers since it is easier to sell their books. Following such line of thoughts, it is hard to convince such minds given that books by such renown writers likeable in the market as compared to those by first-time authors.

Books could be wanting

Unfortunately, books by these established writers could be wanting and lacking both in style and content. For instance, Oludhe’s book Street Life is more of an imitation of Naipaul’s Miguel Street and was hurriedly written. Though the themes in the text are relevant, the book is not well crafted for it lacks both in style and content. Her other book, Homecoming, is not so much appealing especially to the current crop of ‘dotcom’ readers would always want to read something exciting.  Publishers also take exceedingly long to access manuscripts presented by aspiring authors and thereafter turn them down on flimsy grounds and thus demoralising would-be-authors.

It is also true that publishers usually take unnecessarily long to churn out books once the publishing contracts have been signed by both parties and even at times, fail to honour the contracts.  And apart from poor marketing strategies of published works, publishing firms often prefer to publish school texts as compared to the general readership books and thus killing creative talents. This, therefore, means that there are aspiring authors who would not live to see their manuscripts getting published on such grounds.

On the other hand, aspiring authors have been criticised of either being impatient or unwilling to cooperate with publishers on publication procedures. Many budding authors have suffered criticisms on the grounds of producing substandard works that do not meet minimum thresholds. 

And with such criticisms, some writers such as Emmanuel Kariuki, Kithaka wa Mberia and the former gardener-turn-award winning writer, Stanley Gazemba, attempted to venture into self-publication though such as an undertaking has its own share of challenges. In a recent article published in The Standard On Saturday, Kariuki confessed he had tried his hand in self-publication though with little success due to tough marketing strategies. However, there are those who have been riding high on self-publication the likes of Mwalimu Mberia.

With such accusations, there is evidence that the East Africa region is still struggling to establish itself as a literary powerhouse.

Despite the increment in the number of books churned out in the recent past, it is evident there are many creative minds out there whose talents have remained untapped.  Aspiring writers do lack relevant information or at times they are denied an opportunity to establish themselves as literary greats. No wonder some regions in Kenya such as Turkana County have not produced great writers if any.

Literary giants

This can be compared to regions such as Central, Rift Valley and Western Kenya that have produced revered literary giants the likes of veteran Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Kinyanjui Kombani, Meja Mwangi, Binyavanga Wainaina, Henry Ole Kulet, Kingwa Kamencu, Francis Imbuga, Stanley Gazemba, Egara Kabaji and Florence Mbaya.

Though Mzalendo Kibunjia might not like this, writers in Africa and Kenya in particular have been patterned along tribal lines for various reasons, top on the list is that members of some ethnic groups are less privileged than others in terms of education which is the light of any nation.

 In my view, publishers should strive to develop a writing manual to guide those who have the intention of getting published. The manual should consist of publishing procedures, payments of royalties and how to churn out saleable books.

In addition, universities need to emphasise on the practical aspect of literature so as to nurture creative minds. Presently, there is no university in Kenya that offers a degree in creative writing apart from Moi University, University of Nairobi and Kibabii University College that have incorporated creative writing courses in the literature curriculum.  In the University of Nairobi and Moi University for instance, graduate students can pen a novel for their MA programmes to form their dissertations. In fact, in Moi University, undergraduate students of Literature have their works of fiction, either collection of poems, novel/novella, play or anthology of short stories as their project work at Fourth Year.

No wonder one Mr Tobias Odongo Otieno, a lecturer at Moi University, wrote a novel for his MA in Literature while at the University of Nairobi that was later published by the East African Educational Publishers as The Missing Links. 

— Writer teaches Literature at the Kibabii University College, Bungoma.