HENRY AKUBUIRO || DAILY SUN || DECEMBER 2011

Egya Sule, in a way, is a non-conformist. A poet and a literary critic teaching at the University of Abuja, Sule doesn’t shy away from making controversial statements. At the Achebe ANA Colloquium in Enugu two years ago, while other critics were praising the Achebean oeuvre, Sule took a departure, describing Achebe as over-rated. He was at it again a few weeks ago, at the 1st MBA National Literary Colloquium, when he said Nigerian poetry has died. Literary World sought his comprehensive view on topical literary issues in Nigeria.

Six years after the establishment of The Nigeria Prize for Literature, do you think NLNG has improved Nigerian literature?
Not really. What the NLNG does is to put a large sum of money in the hand of a single writer every year. I don’t see how that improves the quality of writing. Rather, there has been a rush to publish to fit into the design of the NLNG competition, a situation that does not help our literature. The institution of literature, just like any other institution in Nigeria, needs a total overhaul. That is, there must be a holistic approach that takes into consideration all aspects of literary production such as a good reading culture, workshop on creative writing, editing and publishing outfit, and writing residency. So, instead of putting a hundred thousand dollars in the hand of an individual, NLNG should (and this is urgent in the condition we find ourselves in Nigeria) establish libraries, editing outfits, writing residency, and sponsor creative writing workshop. As I said elsewhere before, a serious writer would be more interested in seeing his work read, critiqued, canonized and responded to by her peers, rather than see it earn a hundred dollars from NLNG only to sink into oblivion. Every writer desires her work to attain the status of a classic. But we are in an age of mediocrity where attaining the status of classicism is almost impossible. If NLNG wants to improve Nigerian literature, then giving of prizes is the least thing to do. Look at the quality of works that win the prize. It seems to me that none of NLNG prize winners, so far, has the capacity to attain the status of a classic. >>READ MORE

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