NLNG Literature Prize: ‘Excellence should be the only criterion if I were to win’ – Anaele Ihuoma, author of IMMINENT RIVER
ANAELE IHUOMA is a consummate writer whose works interrogate how the past bears witness against the present and how humanity tends to be a poor student of history and so blunders on in spite of resources at its disposal. Ihuoma, who is among the 11 writers vying for the USD$100,000 prize money for the NLNG’s The Nigeria Prize for Literature 2020, explained how his work Imminent River is a testament to man’s feebleness and the quest for a society where justice prevails.
According to him, “Is injustice a contemporary challenge or one that has menaced the world ever since Jacob upstaged Esau with their mother’s apparent complicity? If the healer Daa-Mbiiway had been allowed to flourish, would contemporary health issues like cancer, ebola and even Covid-19 have met their match in the ageless healer? I do not know. Neither would I claim to know the ‘ways out’.”
He also has an interesting perspective on the NLNG Prize, as energiser of fiction writing in the country.
“Just check out social media: You’d marvel at the number of writers’ groups and forums that are established and aspiring Nigerian writers have formed or joined,” he said. “A great majority of them are in it to improve their craft, as they engage with known writers and up-and coming ones. I believe that, across society, the whole dynamics is changing. Parents who had hitherto balked at their children’s engagements in writing now actually encourage them along that literary path as they see the likes of Tade Ipadeola, Chika Unigwe, Soji Cole, Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, Jude Idada, and other – if you like – pen-made men and women.
“And it’s not just about the official winners; everyone who has been galvanised to strive to improve their craft is already a winner, after all tomorrow beckons. Neither is it about literature as a main career choice; many people from other works of life such as engineers, lawyers and medics (the latter having formed an eternal fraternity with writers, have produced some of literature’s best works – Anton Chekhov being a case in point) have moved from mere dilettantes to the mainstream in their writings. This is happening everywhere in the world, but, I believe, more so in Nigeria, and I wager that The Nigerian Prize for Literature sponsored by Nigerian Liquified Natural Gas Limited (NLNG) has much to do with the trend.”
Ihuoma said he was in his parlour when news of his book making the shortlist of 11 got to him.
“Right in my parlour,” he enthused. “It was a Sunday afternoon. I had just come back from church and was trying to read up on social media when my phone rang; it was from the writer Iquo DianaAbasi, one of my favourite poets but one with whom I do not recall ever having spoken on the phone before. The manner I leapt for joy as she broke the good news made my daughter, sitting by, run up to hug me even without knowing what the news was all about; a hug that only tightened when I, in turn, broke the news to her. The whole family then embarked on a spontaneous dance-and- songs festival of praise to God.”
He likened writing to breathing, saying not to write is not to breathe.
“Writing has not just done something for me, it has, in a sense, actually made me. Here, I’m not just talking of my current position on the social ladder. I’m talking about self-discovery, about a re-awakening to a reality beyond materiality, about a reappraisal of the universe and of one’s place in it, about social relationships, about redefinition of values – social, cultural, political, etc; of the very essence of existence. Fact is, to write, you must read: that is why we are often described as ‘bibliophile’ – lover of books.
“You don’t love books just so that you collect them and display them as artefacts or library ornaments, you read them. Often this is inconvenient and may even cause friction in the family, as it may not pay the bills, at least not in the interim, but it has become part of you. The sum-total of your readings and writings is what goes to define and redefine you. Going forward, I hope and pray that writing would give me a bigger reason to want to continue to write. That I would go beyond what Abraham Maslow classifies as biological needs, to instead, scale needs of a higher order. Add value to other people’s lives. Engage in problem-solving on a higher level. Make global impact. And I would like to focus on the novel and drama, two genres that might point their practitioners to the cinema industry, perhaps the non-glamorous niches across the value chain.”
He argued that excellence should be the only criterion that should make his book or other books in the contest win the coveted prize, noting, “And so, if Imminent River should emerge winner of the prize this year, it should be for no other reason than that it was adjudged primus inter pares, first among equals, in a field that has been described as an ‘excellent list.’”
According to Ihuoma, taking advantage of a writing programme in a US university and taking care of health challenge are priority for him if he were to win the prize.
“First, as I write, I am at pains trying to come to terms with the fact that I am unable to take up an MFA Creative Writing offer at a North American university because I cannot provide enough evidence of funds for my Form I-20. Perhaps even more important, it will position me well to take adequate care of my health and my family’s. And to think that this was a deferred admission carried over from the 2019 admission cycle, for the same reason! So, you can see that I will not have to construct Invitation-To-Tender billboards for the supply of ideas for judicious use of the prize money – if and when it arrives. But then, as our people say, one should not start preparing stew for the eating of a bird that is still perched on a tree. Now is the time to mix dreams with prayers.”
