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Do Contemporary African Writers Actually Sell Books? - Literature - Nairaland

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Do Contemporary African Writers Actually Sell Books? by AjanleKoko: 11:20pm On Dec 26, 2011
I'm just wondering.
Most of today's African writers don't seem to write books that anyone wants to read.
Growing up I read all the African Writers series. Peter Abrahams, Mongo Beti, James Ngugi . . .  I read them all.
Unfortunately, today I go to bookstores, and don't see any book by any Nigerian that I want to read.

I always read about African authors, Nigerian authors even, winning this prize or that prize. But when I pick up the books that won them those prizes, they're mostly filled with gunk and bad prose. Yet, all I hear is 'Africans don't like to read'. undecided.

Is it just me, or modern African writers just don't have the mass appeal? I don't for a second believe I am the only one that finds Nigerian literature boring. Take Nollywood. Same shitty formats but the public keeps consuming. Someone must be doing something right.
Re: Do Contemporary African Writers Actually Sell Books? by thiscounts(m): 2:59pm On Dec 27, 2011
@AjanleKoko,Check at my thread at this section, I have a novel entitled The raging fire being posted.Go through it and let me know your take on that.Art for art sake isnt what I believe in,not just to entertain alone but a message to pass across;the duty of every commited writer of his/her time.Chinuachebe,Wole Soyinka the list goes on kept history in ink and struggled to put things inorder,I think that should be our collective struggle,and that is what I based my writings on.
Re: Do Contemporary African Writers Actually Sell Books? by AjanleKoko: 9:10pm On Dec 27, 2011
Thanks. Pointer to the thread please?
Re: Do Contemporary African Writers Actually Sell Books? by lekside44(m): 11:05am On Jan 02, 2012
thiscounts:

@AjanleKoko,Check at my thread at this section, I have a novel entitled The raging fire being posted.Go through it and let me know your take on that.Art for art sake isnt what I believe in,not just to entertain alone but a message to pass across;the duty of every commited writer of his/her time.Chinuachebe,Wole Soyinka the list goes on kept history in ink and struggled to put things inorder,I think that should be our collective struggle,and that is what I based my writings on.

YES AN ART SHOULD BE CREATED REALLY NOT FOR MONETARY REASONS BUT TO TELL THE WORLD SOMETHING FROM WITHIN. THE MONEY WILL ONLY COMES IN AFTER THE WORK IS REALLY APPRECIATED. SAME THING APPLIES TO SCIENCE . MEN WHO UNLOCK THE MISTERY OF SCIENCE WERE NOT DOING IT FOR MONETARY PURPOSE BUT FOR MANKIND. THE SCIENTIST BOLTZMANN COMMITTED SUICIDE BECAUSE THE WORLD REFUSED TO TAKE TO ITS THEORY. IN NIGERIA TODAY HOWEVER, THE READING HABIT AMONG OUR YOUTH IS TOWARDS ZERO. MOST READING ONLY TAKES PLACE NOW FOR EXAMINATION PURPOSES. THEY ALL PREFARE FACEBOOKING, PINGGING, PLAYING MUSIC, E.T.C
Re: Do Contemporary African Writers Actually Sell Books? by paniki(m): 4:20pm On Jan 03, 2012
Front page?
Re: Do Contemporary African Writers Actually Sell Books? by AjanleKoko: 4:24pm On Jan 03, 2012
^^
Kinda worried myself.
You'd think with all the fuel subsidy crisis . . .
Re: Do Contemporary African Writers Actually Sell Books? by Knorkastur: 4:32pm On Jan 03, 2012
Re: Do Contemporary African Writers Actually Sell Books? by Orikinla(m): 4:39pm On Jan 03, 2012
AjanleKoko:

I'm just wondering.
Most of today's African writers don't seem to write books that anyone wants to read.
Growing up I read all the African Writers series. Peter Abrahams, Mongo Beti, James Ngugi . . .  I read them all.
Unfortunately, today I go to bookstores, and don't see any book by any Nigerian that I want to read.

I always read about African authors, Nigerian authors even, winning this prize or that prize. But when I pick up the books that won them those prizes, they're mostly filled with gunk and bad prose. Yet, all I hear is 'Africans don't like to read'. undecided.

Is it just me, or modern African writers just don't have the mass appeal? I don't for a second believe I am the only one that finds Nigerian literature boring. Take Nollywood. Same shitty formats but the public keeps consuming. Someone must be doing something right.


How many contemporary African writers have you read?

Many of them have written best selling novels, including Helen Oyeyemi (see http://www.fantasy-matters.com/2011/09/conversation-with-helen-oyeyemi.html) and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, (see http://www.ted.com/speakers/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie.html), her Purple Hibiscus has sold over 600, 000 copies in the US alone so far,  John Maxwell Coetzee of South Africa who has won the Booker Prize twice and was awarded the 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature, and many other current African writers have authored novels selling in thousands.
[size=48pt]
PLEASE, DO YOUR RESEARCH BEFORE SPEAKING ON ANY SUBJECT TO AVOID LOOKING LIKE AN INTELLECTUAL I-D-I-OT.[/size]
Re: Do Contemporary African Writers Actually Sell Books? by Joey82(m): 4:42pm On Jan 03, 2012
Nigerians are good writers and even now, I can tell u there are a handfull of good books out there written by Nigerians, the problem is it seems the writers have more patronage elsewhere other than Naija. When half of a yellow sun - Kaine Agary received so much reviews, illoked for that book in almost all the leading book stores in Ikeja but could not find, only to stumble on it 6months after at the airport in Lagos.

Uptill now am still looking for the following good books and they are no where to be found.
Yellow Yellow - Kaine Agary: it won nlng price for literature some time back
Unbridled - Jude Dibia
Black Bird - Jude Dibia
Every thing good will come - Sefi Attah.

Unfortunately, we have mor fashion boutiques flocking every conner of the street, and book stores going to extinction, the reading culture needs to be qwqke. how? I dont even know.
Re: Do Contemporary African Writers Actually Sell Books? by Natasha2(f): 4:47pm On Jan 03, 2012
Thanks Orinkinla I wouldn't have said it any better, gosh. I wonder the books he reads  cheesy
Re: Do Contemporary African Writers Actually Sell Books? by SEFAGO(m): 5:08pm On Jan 03, 2012
@ Ajanlekoko

I think the big problem with contemporary authors and not just African authors is a lack of new ideas.

What do you want these writers to right about? The Colonial experience? Already written. About the Corruption of African Government? Love story? The African immigrant experience in America, Europe, Asia? Already written? A good old story about life in contemporary Nigeria- already down.

"Everything has been said, and there is nothing to say" all the new s-h-it is just recycled s-h-it

Anyways I have gone back to reading other classics- I actually have a Mongo beti book on my shelf that was on my reading list for this christmas but had too much work to do so never got to it.
Re: Do Contemporary African Writers Actually Sell Books? by DisGuy: 5:12pm On Jan 03, 2012
for some reason, I have a feeling they are targetting international readers nowadays,  its more exotic and they are willing to fork out a lot more to fill their libraries, media discussion not just read and pass to the next person

The vibe generated by an african book oversea brings the writers some respectable level of exposure they cant get back home

for me personally im just tired of the usual, witchcraft, polygamy, some sacred traditions that dont exist anymore
i want fast paced crime fiction
Re: Do Contemporary African Writers Actually Sell Books? by slap1(m): 5:44pm On Jan 03, 2012
It depends on what you term ''good prose". Maybe you should have requested for a list of good African books instead.
Have you read Yellow-Yellow, A Life Elsewhere, Phoenix, Everything Good Will Come, Say You Are One of Them? You may also try books from Chris Abani, Helen Oyeyemi, etc. . .
Re: Do Contemporary African Writers Actually Sell Books? by velo10: 5:50pm On Jan 03, 2012
Yeah they sell. But you have to be at the top of your game to sell more like Chimamanda Adichie
Re: Do Contemporary African Writers Actually Sell Books? by Switup: 6:45pm On Jan 03, 2012
I lik this thread, thank God it made FP. Contemporary African Writers are at d top of d game. Bliv me. @OP Think u're interested in reading good novels? Go for authurs lik Chimamanda, Adaobi Tricia nwanoba, Helon Habila, Zainabu Jallo, just to mention a few. Im an aspiring writer, i dont mean to brag, BUT I WRITE LIKE CHIMAMANDA only in ma bedroom cus ive nt been Xpoz'd. So i can vouch that African Contemporary Writers needzzzz a big Thumbbbzzz up
Re: Do Contemporary African Writers Actually Sell Books? by virgo(f): 7:15pm On Jan 03, 2012
@Poster, sure you have read it all? To the best of my knowledge, contemporary Nigerian writers out there write very good books. My book "Twilight at Terracotta Indigo" is a fast paced suspense novel that picked up the 2011 ANA/NDDC Flora Nwankpa prize for literature and can be found in shops like Hub Media Store Lekki Lagos and Naijasistas Bookstore V.I. In Abuja, you can find the book at Pen and Pages Book store Wuse 2, Silverbird Lifestyle Media Store Central Area and The booksellers Area 11.

Jude Dibia is an author you should look out for too. He is a close friend and my biggest critic. He writes thought provoking literature. His three books "Walking with Shadows", "Unbridled" and "Blackbird" are beautiful works of prose.

Don't write Nigerian literature off. You might just be surprised by what is out there. All the best! smiley
Re: Do Contemporary African Writers Actually Sell Books? by AkoEja: 8:24pm On Jan 03, 2012
When you say African writers have won awards from other parts of the world and yet you are unable to find the writer that you want to read their book, I wonder what is going on here.

You cannot win a price as prestigious as the Nobel Prize or the Orange literature prize with a bad book. The book has to be good for them to win . Maybe they're not writing the books you like to read, and therefore you don't find the books that won those prices interesting. That does not say anything about the quality of the books. How can a bad book win the Orange literature price? At least the book would be of average quality.
Re: Do Contemporary African Writers Actually Sell Books? by safarigirl(f): 10:15pm On Jan 03, 2012
My problem is that the books they write are too mature.

The deal is, I'm 17, I'm ΩØƚ about to pick up Chimamanda's Purple Hibiscus ǡŋ₫ go through it, cos I'm bound to find it hopelessly boring, I would rather read Ǟ Sidney Sheldon novel since I can't find Ǟ good enough romance writer in Nigeria. Everyone's too busy tryna win Ǟ big award. Sheldon didn't win Ǟ noble prize but he's one ☺₣ the most famous authors in history.

That's my humble opinion, please don't crush me.
Re: Do Contemporary African Writers Actually Sell Books? by Nobody: 10:18pm On Jan 03, 2012
Maybe they are not writing what you like to read.
I notice these days I'd rather go for simple, easy to understand story-telling like Purple-Hibiscus by Chimamanda Adichie. The Western novel thrill reduces by the day for me because I basically read all that through my high school years and my taste is for something different now. Got tired of reading about AK-47 guns, or some serial killer and the likes  grin. I yearn for just simple but very interesting story telling and I find such solace in African novels. Maybe in a decade I'd lose my taste for it, who knows I might be interested in Chinese authors.
So I do think they sell.

1 Like

Re: Do Contemporary African Writers Actually Sell Books? by SEFAGO(m): 10:41pm On Jan 03, 2012
stillwater:

Maybe they are not writing what you like to read.
I notice these days I'd rather go for simple, easy to understand story-telling like Purple-Hibiscus by Chimamanda Adichie. The Western novel thrill reduces by the day for me because I basically read all that through my high school years and my taste is for something different now. Got tired of reading about AK-47 guns, or some serial killer and the likes  grin. I yearn for just simple but very interesting story telling and I find such solace in African novels. Maybe in a decade I'd lose my taste for it, who knows I might be interested in Chinese authors.
So I do think they sell.

Chinese authors are pretty good- I have read all the classics myself

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Great_Classical_Novels

They are very long though and might not be to your taste but they are a time waster so they might be pretty good
Re: Do Contemporary African Writers Actually Sell Books? by Impulse80(m): 10:57pm On Jan 03, 2012
What do u know about books? U think reading james hadley chase, sandra brown, vampire fictions are what will boost ur intellect? Nonsense let me tell u about Achebe, Soyinka Emecheta, Abrahams Wathiongo to name but a few, these are people that make u reason not some fictitious james bond
Re: Do Contemporary African Writers Actually Sell Books? by DisGuy: 11:27pm On Jan 03, 2012
safarigirl:

My problem is that the books they write are too mature.

The deal is, I'm 17, I'm ΩØƚ about to pick up Chimamanda's Purple Hibiscus ǡŋ₫ go through it, cos I'm bound to find it hopelessly boring, I would rather read Ǟ Sidney Sheldon novel since I can't find Ǟ good enough romance writer in Nigeria. Everyone's too busy tryna win Ǟ big award. Sheldon didn't win Ǟ noble prize but he's one ☺₣ the most famous authors in history.

That's my humble opinion, please don't crush me.

True
Re: Do Contemporary African Writers Actually Sell Books? by AjanleKoko: 11:36pm On Jan 03, 2012
Lol@ reactions.
Looks like our writers are about as touchy as the rest of us grin
Re: Do Contemporary African Writers Actually Sell Books? by muhsin(m): 12:14am On Jan 04, 2012
It's a pity, a real pity: we barely get these contemporary writings (books) here in the North. I sometimes feel desperate--is it because of our fast dying reading culture that publishers forget us when distributing their products? For e.g. I was opportuned to attent Kaine Agory's Reading Performance along a British award-winning author, Benedict Evaristo back in 2005. Agory read from her [then] about-to-be released published Yellow-Yellow novel. We even have pictures together after the reading. For all these years, I'm yet to see the book in any bookshop. I though saw it in one library, but where I cannot even borrow it. Pls help me (us) talk to those publishers. Thanks.
NB:
You can see from the foregoing, I got little or nothing to say on the OP.
Re: Do Contemporary African Writers Actually Sell Books? by AjanleKoko: 12:17am On Jan 04, 2012
Only the professional writers seem to be defending the writers.
The reading public appears unimpressed, or indifferent, or both. embarassed
Re: Do Contemporary African Writers Actually Sell Books? by sirwebs(m): 12:41am On Jan 04, 2012
muhsin:

It's a pity, a real pity: we barely get these contemporary writings (books) here in the North. I sometimes feel desperate--is it because of our fast dying reading culture that publishers forget us when distributing their products? For e.g. I was opportuned to attent Kaine Agory's Reading Performance along a British award-winning author, Benedict Evaristo back in 2005. Agory read from her [then] about-to-be released published Yellow-Yellow novel. We even have pictures together after the reading. For all these years, I'm yet to see the book in any bookshop. I though saw it in one library, but where I cannot even borrow it. Pls help me (us) talk to those publishers. Thanks.
NB:
You can see from the foregoing, I got little or nothing to say on the OP.

Get a kindle or sony E-reader.
Re: Do Contemporary African Writers Actually Sell Books? by Ndipe(m): 1:30am On Jan 04, 2012
informative thread.
Re: Do Contemporary African Writers Actually Sell Books? by PhysicsQED(m): 8:53am On Jan 04, 2012
SEFAGO:

Chinese authors are pretty good- I have read all the classics myself

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Great_Classical_Novels

They are very long though and might not be to your taste but they are a time waster so they might be pretty good

You've read all of them, unabridged? How long did that take you? grin

I thought about it a while back, but had to postpone that "indefinitely".

I own a copy of Dream of the Red Chamber, but it's abridged and I haven't read it. I'll probably buy the full thing later along with The Plum in the Golden Vase, but I probably won't buy or read the other three books.

What did you think of that book (Dream of the Red Chamber), by the way? Does it live up to the hype?
Re: Do Contemporary African Writers Actually Sell Books? by PhysicsQED(m): 9:02am On Jan 04, 2012
AjanleKoko:

I'm just wondering.
Most of today's African writers don't seem to write books that anyone wants to read.

I've seen books by Ben Okri and Chimamanda Adichie selling like hotcakes in the U.S. Don't know about Nigeria though.
Re: Do Contemporary African Writers Actually Sell Books? by AjanleKoko: 9:35am On Jan 04, 2012
PhysicsQED:

I've seen books by Ben Okri and Chimamanda Adichie selling like hotcakes in the U.S. Don't know about Nigeria though.

Ben Okri is a very good writer. That's based on the book of his that won the Booker Prize in 1991, The Famished Road. Though, I have to confess, I thought the then runner-up book by Martin Amis, Time's Arrow, a much more interesting read.

Chimamanda? Well, I have read the three books I know about, Half Of A Yellow Sun, The Thing Around Your Neck, and Purple Hibiscus. She's not as good a storyteller as the media makes her out to be.

I don't know what it is about the contemporary authors, especially the Nigerian ones. Crucify me if you will. But their work is boring.

SEFAGO:

@ Ajanlekoko

I think the big problem with contemporary authors and not just African authors is a lack of new ideas.

What do you want these writers to right about? The Colonial experience? Already written. About the Corruption of African Government? Love story? The African immigrant experience in America, Europe, Asia? Already written? A good old story about life in contemporary Nigeria- already down.

You might have a point there.
Re: Do Contemporary African Writers Actually Sell Books? by PhysicsQED(m): 10:08am On Jan 04, 2012
I haven't read any of their work. I have a lot of other interesting things I already plan to read, and I don't think there's any space/time to squeeze them into my library. Maybe some years from now I'll remember them though. Glad to hear Ben Okri's book lives up to the hype, though.
Re: Do Contemporary African Writers Actually Sell Books? by SEFAGO(m): 1:41pm On Jan 04, 2012
You've read all of them, unabridged? How long did that take you? Grin

I thought about it a while back, but had to postpone that "indefinitely".

I own a copy of Dream of the Red Chamber, but it's abridged and I haven't read it. I'll probably buy the full thing later along with The Plum in the Golden Vase, but I probably won't buy or read the other three books.

What did you think of that book (Dream of the Red Chamber), by the way? Does it live up to the hype?

I read like two unabridged (Journey to the west and Dream of the Red Chamber) but some of them are dull man if you read them unabridge especially romance of the three kingdoms

Coincidentally Dream of the Red Chamber is my favorite, excellent prose, and how it portrays Chinese culture & politics is quite interesting. Also the whole story has a strong message and makes you think. Recommend it if you have time honestly. Books are really long though I guess you gotta have to have a lot of free time or read over a long period.

I am obsessed with Asian culture (Japanese, Chinese, Thai anything) so I spent a lot of time reading their classics. Quite different and refreshing from western ones IMO.

The problem with Nigerian literature is that none of them really have deep meaning even Adichie's books are strictly narrative with no real deep insight on human nature though she does explore some interesting themes. Achebe was a god in that respect- his book was both cultural while presenting deep and symbolic meaning. Arrow of Gods, Things Fall Apart, No longer at ease all were not just "entertaining reads" but they made you think. His works are just like Dostoevsky meant to shock and make you ponder and wonder.

@ The 17 year old who is reading sidney sheldon- you are pathetic. When you grow up you will ifnd out that romance does not exist  grin

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