I have 2 books on the
way. One is Kings Fall Apart, the other, The gods are Now
to Blame –Dele Ashade
By TESSY OKOYE
Tuesday,
December 11, 2007
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•Ashade
Photo: Sun News Publishing |
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Dele Ashade is a force to reckon with in educational and
literary writings. The prolific writer whose debut work is
entitled, A-One English: A Complete GCE and SSCE Text published
in 1987, has been a trail-blazer in his field of specialisation.
Ashade, Chairman of Ashdell Publishers Limited, told Daily
Sun that his forary into Applied Linguistics, where
he bagged a Ph.D., provides the thrust of his language-teaching
and writing styles.
Natural writing skill
I started writing at a very tender age and have been writing
for over 20 years. My writing skill is natural. When we talk
about writing, people usually think about literary writing.
But writing can be for academic purpose and literary exercise
of the mind for use by the larger society. It is in literary
writing that we find the larger joy of writing.
Though I am an academic writer, my first real literary writing
which was pencilled down after my National Youth Service in
1987, was lost to an inferno. I was really inspired into full-time
writing by the experience I gathered from teaching in Ile-Ife.
I had a school called Jubilation Jamb College (JJC), which
attracted students from virtually all states of the federation.
The teaching we gave at that time, which by the grace of God
seemed acceptable to the students, were then converted into
books. The first one to hit the market in 1987 was A-One English:
A Complete GCE and SSCE Text. We thank God that since A-One
English made its debut in the market, it has never been off
bookshelves. It has been growing from strength to strength.
Books written so far
As an educational author, I have written over 13 books in
English Language. And they include, A-One English: A Complete
GCE/SSCE Text, A-to Z of JAMB’s Use of English to help
Jamb candidates. Church English for Pastors, Ministers and
Church Workers, Junior A-One English for JSS 1-3 students,
and Minor A-One English Books for Primary Schools pupils.
Others are the Invisible Teacher of JAMB’s Use of English,
One Thousand Rules of English. I also wrote a religious book
entitled, Asking Without Refusal. Some of my unpublished works,
which are still being compiled are; Kings Fall Apart, The
gods are Now to be Blame, Wetin You Carry and Unseen Teacher
of GCE English. My dream is to service all educational strata
and segments of society.
Feedback
I have wonderful stories to tell about my writing experience,
especially in regards to A-One English, A-Z of Jamb Use of
English and the Invisible Teacher of Jamb Use of English for
University Matriculation examination, Polytechnics and Colleges
of Education Examination Candidates.
In a month, I receive up to 300 letters from students, teachers,
principals and even parents. People also call me from outside
the country to tell me how much they appreciate the positive
impact of my books on the society. The Commissioner for Education
in Osun State even listed some of my books for use in schools,
when I had not applied for their recommendation. It was when
I took the books to the ministry for recommendation and adoption
that I was told that they have been listed. These types of
encouragement have kept me going.
Writing time
I don’t dedicate any particular time to writing. I write
when an opportunity presents itself. And at such time, there
must be no distraction or disturbance of any form. When I
am driving and an idea comes up in my head, I just park by
the side of the road and put it down. Waiting for someone
who has just dropped from the car to shop for just ten minutes
is an opportunity to pencil down my thought. My type of writing
comes naturally. Moreso, since I don’t need to make
too many consultations or crosscheck facts, my thoughts flow
uninhibited. What I write are things almost everyone knows,
but which by God’s grace, I just put down as very simple
source of knowledge.
Writer’s block
There is no writer that does not experience brain block at
one time or the other. Nobody is a computer or bank of knowledge.
When an idea is not well thought out, there is a tendency
to get stuck along the line. Those of us that write purely
educational books don’t experience writer’s block.
This is because we know exactly what we are writing. The only
thing that can stop me from writing, like I said earlier,
is unfavourable writing environment. I accept the fact that
sometimes one might reach a point where he has to stop for
a while. That point for me is when I want to do a deeper research.
Publishing
From experience, it is very difficult to get published as
a first time author. Publishers reject new writers. But my
experience as a first time author was different. I was invited
to discuss a fairly good deal about my book. They offered
to take over my title and pay me 15 per cent, which was against
the 10 percent they usually pay authors as royalty. But I
rejected the offer, after going over it in my mind. I later
published the title myself, after a friend who was a lecturer
had gone through the manuscript.
Ills of piracy
Piracy is a scourge that should be cleansed from our system.
In the movie industry it is a terrible pain in the neck. In
the book industry, it is a nightmare. Pirates ensure that
reading and writing culture don’t progress. This is
because writers would naturally recoil into their shell for
fear of getting their works pirated.
My books have always been targets of pirates. There was a
day I was driving along Ikorodu Road, and saw one of my publications
with a book hawker. I called him pretending to want to buy
the book. After bargaining with him, he gladly handed me the
copy and was waiting to be paid. But by the time I drew his
attention to my picture at the back of the book, he took to
his heels.
At a point in my career, I almost went into production of
educational English videos, but stopped when I was told the
idea would be hijacked by pirates. I believe that the combined
effort of Nigerian Publishers Association and Nigerian Copyright
Commission would go a long way in riding the country of this
scourge. No pirated book can be sold without the collaboration
and unholy alliance of booksellers.
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