Chigozie Obioma is a young Nigerian author whose debut novel The Fisherman was shortlisted for the 2015 Man Booker Prize. Photo credit: Zach Muller.
The Internet and digital technology has helped bring together arts from around the world, but to get a book published, many authors must go abroad. That’s what Nigerian writer Chigozie Obioma did for his debut novel The Fisherman, which was shortlisted for the best work in fiction at this year’s Man Booker Prize.Based in Nebraska, where he’s an assistant professor in literature, Obioma grew up in Akure, a southwestern Nigerian city where he remembers reading mostly British and African writers like George Orwell’s Animal Farm and Chinua Achebe’s The River. For him, it’s not surprising that his work is read overseas more frequently.
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“As a first timer, had The Fisherman not gotten attention overseas first, I doubt if I’d have been able to publish it in Nigeria,” he tells The Creators Project. “I’ve heard a few people say that writers who live abroad are perceivably incompetent in writing about Nigeria, even if you’ve lived in Nigeria till you were 22 and spent a good part of the year still there.”
The Fisherman is an insight into modern African literature, mixing themes of Greek tragedy and Igbo identity. Photo courtesy of: Pushkin Press.
The Fisherman—about four brothers and a dooming prophecy—will be published in Nigeria next month with a Abuja publishers Cassava Republic. The publishing house launched in 2006, after experiencing a lack of literature within the libraries across Africa’s largest economy.“Nigeria is a massive country and the population of those who read in relation to the nation at large is vanishingly small,” explains Obioma. “Nigerians don’t care for fiction and most people who read, read the Bible, the Koran or some ‘motivational’ or religious texts. In the cities, of course, there are burgeoning literary cultures and there is hope that we can foster a thriving literary culture but I believe it will take some time.”
In 2014, books were challenged for their content by parents (35%), unidentified (24%) and patrons (23%) in the US. Government bodies accounted for 4% of all challenges. Photo and statistics courtesy of: The Office for Intellectual Freedom of the American Library Association. Struggling with democracy after decades of military rule, Nigeria is considered ‘partly free’ by human rights advocates Freedom House. While in 2011 former President Goodluck Jonathan started allowing citizens to gain access to government records, a poor infrastructure makes processing requests difficult. Shortcomings in access to knowledge also trickles down to literature.
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“All around the continent books that are somewhat politically provocative are censored,” says Obioma. “Books are hardly banned but books that are believed to have the potential to stoke some kind of tension might be sneezed at in the country. Take Achebe’s The Was a Country for example.”There Was a Country is a 2012 novel written by renowned Nigerian author Chinua Achebe. While non-fiction, the book gives Achebe’s account of Nigeria’s 1967-1970 civil war—a story published over 50 years after his first novel, Things Fall Apart, which was at one point banned in Nigeria.“I think African nations would be more open minded to debate if we censored less,” says Obioma, his writing once compared to Achebe. “America and the West have gone beyond that kind of censorship.”
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In 2014, books were challenged for their content by parents (35%), unidentified (24%) and patrons (23%) in the US. Government bodies accounted for 4% of all challenges. Photo and statistics courtesy of: The Office for Intellectual Freedom of the American Library Association. Struggling with democracy after decades of military rule, Nigeria is considered ‘partly free’ by human rights advocates Freedom House. While in 2011 former President Goodluck Jonathan started allowing citizens to gain access to government records, a poor infrastructure makes processing requests difficult. Shortcomings in access to knowledge also trickles down to literature.“All around the continent books that are somewhat politically provocative are censored,” says Obioma. “Books are hardly banned but books that are believed to have the potential to stoke some kind of tension might be sneezed at in the country. Take Achebe’s The Was a Country for example.”There Was a Country is a 2012 novel written by renowned Nigerian author Chinua Achebe. While non-fiction, the book gives Achebe’s account of Nigeria’s 1967-1970 civil war—a story published over 50 years after his first novel, Things Fall Apart, which was at one point banned in Nigeria.“I think African nations would be more open minded to debate if we censored less,” says Obioma, his writing once compared to Achebe. “America and the West have gone beyond that kind of censorship.”
But America has its own problems, where books encompassing sexual content or themes of homosexuality are still challenged throughout the country’s libraries. Since 1999, the Freedom of Information Office of the American Library Association has recorded all titles from the past to present that have been removed from shelves.“Even fiction can reflect the way an author perceives the world,” says Obioma. “It’s something that makes our world richer. Maybe there are some books that shouldn’t be given to kids, but people should still be able to read them.”See more of Chigozie Obioma’s work and check out the books most censored in the US last year here.Related:Uncover Hemingway's Secret Lives at a New ExhibitionStunning Photos Show the Disappearing Remains of Navajo HistoryStep Inside a Book Labyrinth Shaped Like Borges' Fingerprint