‘Achebe’s Writings Gave Me Confidence’ - Chimamanda Adichie

Five months after his death, the late Prof Chinua Achebe’s influence on many African writers, especially the young ones continues to show at literary platforms.

Last Friday, Nigeria’s celebrated international writer and current winner of Chicago Tribune Heartland prize for fiction Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie said Achebe’s writings gave her the confidence to go into writing.

She said Achebe was very important to her like others such as Flora Nwakpa. She spoke at a reception tagged; Literary Evening marking the closing of a 10-day workshop for 22 talented creative writers organised by Farafina Trust and Nigerian Breweries Plc in Lagos. Adichie said she initially found it difficult carrying on with the writing of her earlier books, adding that it took her about two-and-a-half years to complete her first book. “In fact, my second book took me five years to complete.

You live to prepare to fall and rise again,” she said of how she weathered the many challenges of writing. Reacting to why she abandoned medicine for political science and communication, she said it was the best decision of her life. Adichie, who claimed she is not into poetry writing, said: “I passed well in science. I left medical sciences because it did not seem right for me.

During lectures, I will be writing poems on the back of my note books. Leaving medicine was the best for me. I did not want to study literature after that, so I took to political science and communication.” She observed that at the workshop, writers that came with best entries never emerged as the best of the lots, but added that there are enormous potentials in the writers.

Eight hundred entries were received for this year’s workshop, out of which 22 were selected. Managing Director, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Mr. Nicolas Vervelde said the partnership between Nigerian Breweries and Farafina Trust which began five years ago, was founded on the company’s desire to encourage the development of literary writing skills in Nigeria, as part of “our strategic corporate initiatives towards talent development and youth empowerment.”

“We expect that the impressive parade of facilitators this year just like in the past years would help give birth to a new generation of writers in the mould of the Chinua Achebes, Wole Soyinkas, Ben Okris and Chimamanda Adichies among others,” he said. Vervelde hoped that the writers that have emerged from the workshop would have the potential to become future Nobel Laureates in literature.

The literary event, which was held at the Lagos Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos was spiced up with poetry performance by Efe Paul, one of the participants and musical performances by KCee, of the Limpopo fame. Certificates of participation were presented by Mr Vervelde and Chimamanda Adichie to al the 22 participants.

Other writers that facilitated at the workshop included Kenyan writer, Mr. Binyavanga Wainaina; who won the Caine Prize for his short story Discovering Home in 2002, Mr Aslak Sira Myhre; a Norwegian politician and former party leader of Red Electoral Alliance (RV), Dr. Eghosa Imasuen; a Nigerian writer, medical doctor and author of Fine Boys.