The Sun News Online | How I write

Professor AbdulRasheed Na’Allah is a Nigerian writer based in the U.S. But as a poet, he is mostly inspired by African oral tradition. He writes more to depict African images. One striking thing about him is that despite the fact that he writes in English, many of his poems are written in Yoruba and Hausa. He therefore challenges Nigerian writers to write in their native languages.

The professor of Comparative and African Literature spoke on the authentic African writer. “ I write poems in Yoruba and Hausa. And I challenge African writers to do the same. The question had always been who is the greatest and authentic African writer is? Are they the ones who write in English, French, Portuguese and so on? Or those who write in African languages like Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa and others? Every African writer should write in at least one African language.’’

Background
I was born in Ilorin, Kwara State. I had my elementary school in Ilorin, after which I enrolled for my grade II Teachers College certificate. I taught in Ilorin for a while and later proceeded to the University of Ilorin to study English and Education. Upon graduation, I taught English in the Modern European Languages Department. I taught until October, 1994 when I left for the University of Alberta, Canada for my doctoral programme in Comparative Literature. Basically, my first two degrees (English and Education / Literature-in-English) were from the University of Ilorin.

How I started
I am a poet. It started writing from my college days. That was between 1976 and 1981. We had a very strong dramatic and poetry society. I remembered we used to visit NTA Sokoto to perform, Gabriel Okara and Wole Soyinka’s poems. We also performed Christopher Okigbo’s poems.

Finding environment for writing
At the University of Ilorin, I must say I found an excellent environment for creative writing. The University had a creative writing society, which I joined. David Cook who was our Head of Department was wonderful. He was very active in the creative writing society. Also Prof. Olu Obafemi was one of our major lecturers. He was wonderful too.

Poetry club
When I was about to graduate from the college, David Cook too was leaving. Later I returned and we all agreed to create a forum for creative writing. It eventually became a club, which brought people from Benue, Oyo, Ibadan, Lagos and Ilorin together. We also published a collection called New Voice. It was really a very interesting collection edited by David Cook and Olu Obafemi. That was my background in poetry. So naturally when I traveled to Canada, I continued my creative writing.

Inspiration
I am inspired by oral tradition and contemporary happenings in the society. My area of specialization is Comparative Literature on which I obtained a PhD. But my main focus is Oral Literature. Oral tradition has been a major influence on me. I really want to promote the oral heritage of my community.

Target audience
I target people who could read and write. Not just people who are educated. This is because I know those who can read and write are educated. I love reading and writing because I am also a writer who needs to read to be able to write better.

Writers’ block
I can abandon a poem for months; but I would later return to it when the urge to write returns. Usually too, I do revise what I’ve written when I regain the urge to write. This is unlike the oral poet who has to compose and perform simultaneously. I can write a few lines and wait to revise it before continuing my writings.

Writing time
I usually write in the night. That is when every one has gone to bed. I usually wake up in the midnight to begin my writing. I love midnight quietness, which usually brings out the best word that I want to use. Someone once described a poem as the best word in the best order. Most times I write in an environment where I sit down in the forest to listen to the voice of birds and the hollows of the insects. I love to write in the natural environment. The best usually comes out of me in these places.

Language and images
I write in a language that can appeal to the audience. I try to achieve this by including local images of African origin.

Writing in Yoruba and Hausa
I write poems in Yoruba and Hausa. And I challenge African writers to do the same. I feel that this argument on who the authentic African writer is will end if writers write in African languages. Many writers who have been writing in English, French, Portuguese while others have concentrated on traditional languages like Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa and so on. But who is the authentic African writer?

Literature in Nigeria
I have been in the U.S for quite sometime. But from what I have read from writers and students overseas, I really believe our literature is growing.

My works
I have two collections of poetry. The first one is titled Almajeri. It is a collection of poems. The second one is Ahumadu Fulani. These are my two collections and I will soon complete the third one. I also published a lot of poems in newspapers. I published some in The Herald Newspaper. One of these is titled After the Drought. Others are Lili which is fashioned after a Yoruba name for an insect that goes backward. When I was a child, I used metaphor to talk about the environment. One of these metaphors called Multi-national Companies; in which I spoke about the oil companies that came from abroad to explore oil in Nigeria.