African writers check-in and chat thread

Chris P · Oct 3, 2012

Muli mutya, African writers!

This is a thread to check in and tell us a bit about yourself, what you write, and to just hang out and chat about writing or whatever. Whether you are a native-born African writer, a native African writer living elsewhere, or an elsewhere-born writer now living in Africa (like me

) feel free to contribute. Shoot, even if you're a non-native, non-resident, and just like to write about Africa feel free to join in.

Kulika, ne mweebale nnyo!

Chris P · Oct 3, 2012

Since I started it, I'll go first.

I'm American by birth, and have had a love of Africa since I was a child watching the nature shows on TV. I first got to visit the continent in 1993 with my uni for a three-week Kenyan safari, and then my work sent me to Mozambique for a few weeks in 2007. Now, I'm a volunteer in the Peace Corps in Uganda, and I'll be here until 2014.

My Luganda is not nearly good enough to carry on a coherent conversation, let alone write a story, so I do all my writing in English. I wrote a novel between 2008 and 2010 taking place in Africa, but it had many, many pacing problems and now that I am here I'm doing a massive rewrite that I hope (nsubiira!) will be finished by spring--er, that's northern hemisphere spring. I'm writing other things too, and links to my published short stories are in the AW library (see my sig!).

SaraP · Oct 6, 2012

Hey hey!

My only connection to Africa is the relationship my family has to Angola. My parents got married there, my older brother was born there, but the family moved back to Portugal soon after. I still have a cousin and an aunt living there.

I confess I have never felt attracted to any place below the Equator, for some reason, although I really enjoyed the book Out of Africa. And I will add that of all of my grandfather's trips (and he did LOTS), the Kenya Safari was his favorite. I've heard it said that once you experience Africa, the continent never leaves you. Maybe I'll have to see it for myself.

Chris P · Oct 10, 2012

You'll have to come, Sara! And there's plenty of Africa above the equator. Once you get here you can live pretty cheaply. In some ways its a lot more relaxed (I don't worry so much about money, bills, schedules, etc) but it's not always an easy life (power outages, water outages, simmering unrest, crime, being constantly hounded because of my skin color). I'm glad I'm here. Not sure if I could do this long term. I'm here for 2 years, we'll see after that.

SaraP · Oct 10, 2012

Above-Equator Africa feels somehow different... a more Arabian influence, maybe?

Robbert · Oct 11, 2012

First off, thanks Chris for starting this thread and that lovely new creation, Above-Equator Africa

SaraP said:
Above-Equator Africa feels somehow different... a more Arabian influence, maybe?

To answer your question: Yes, yes, no.

Of course, Above-Equator Africa is much more under Arabian influence because Below-Equator Africa isn't exactly an Arab stronghold. Looking at the map in more detail makes me want to say this: Egypt is the only truly Arab country in Africa. Needless to say that it has much in common with Sudan, Nigeria and the countries of the Maghreb since the Koran is the common denominator--language to a much, much lesser extent.

That said, the Maghreb is for the most part influenced by the Berber people. Although they were forced to convert to Islam many centuries ago, they have retained some of their customs and are for example looked down upon by many Arab nations for reasons of blasphemy (worshipping other Gods apart from the one and only prophet Muhammad).

Robbert · Oct 11, 2012

In late 2007, I was en route to Senegal intending to sell my car, have a bit of a holiday and fly back into Europe. That was the plan.

The reason I feel invited to contribute to this thread has something to do with,
* never having gone further south than Morocco / Marrakesh,
* having stayed on ever since,
* and a Shell service station

I was sitting in a nearby Café while my car was in the Shell Lavage. Eventually I paid my Thé à la Menthe, walked back, and Bingo! My car was smackbang in the middle of the road. Accident. Crashed into a lorry (I had the car keys on me the whole time).

Chris P said:
In some ways its a lot more relaxed but it's not always an easy life.

Agreed.
Next to my desk is a framed picture on the wall, depicting me as proud as a peacock in front of the court with a cheque in hand...
* three and a half years after the accident had happened…
* compensation amounted to two-thirds of what I had had to pay for the repair…
* reimbursement of court costs and lawyer’s fees are unheard of in this country…

It would be a dream to one day start querying agents with a MS where my characters are involved with Morocco’s good as well as bad sides.

Chris P · Oct 11, 2012

Perhaps the Equator isn't the best demarcation line. Maybe the boundaries of the semi-arid regions would be better? Northern Uganda is very different than where I am near Kampala, but that's largely due to the historical kingdom structure in place when the Europeans arrived.

We have about 12% Muslims here in Uganda, but the culture here is much more Catholic and born-again Christian. You tend to get more Muslims as you go east toward the coast, not only in Kenya but also farther south in Tanzania and Mozambique. I've never been to North Africa, but the Muslims here and in Mozambique are much more African than they are Arabic, as would be expected since American Muslims are more American than Arabic.

I'd love to know more about the spread of Islam in Africa. Huge history that many of us (well, me, at least) know nothing about.

Chris P · Oct 11, 2012

Robbert said:
It would be a dream to one day start querying agents with a MS where my characters are involved with Morocco’s good as well as bad sides.

Go for it, Robbert! Africa memoirs are almost a genre unto themselves, as are Peace Corps memoirs!

I don't have plans as of yet to write or publish a Peace Corps memoir; I'll have to let the experience sink in for a bit. My WIP Nyasaland (in my sig) was originally inspired by my two weeks in Mozambique (although it's all fiction) but I had to wait about six months before my recollections were coherent enough to say anything about them.

nemesis87 · Nov 20, 2012

South Africa anyone?

Chris P · Nov 20, 2012

Hello Nemesis! I know we've had South African AW members in the past, but I don't know if they are still active. Whereabouts are you?

SaraP · Nov 20, 2012

The South African thread is here. Do remember you can post in both threads.

lastlittlebird · Jan 2, 2013

I only just found this thread and thought I would post.
I'm not from Africa, but I was in the Peace Corps ('04-'06) and was placed in Mali. Ever since leaving, I've wanted to go back, but it's become a lot more difficult now that they have had an uprising.
I did a book of semi-fictional poetry about my experiences in Mali for a masters degree in 2011 and have slowly been bringing it up to scratch so that I can hopefully get it published (as a whole, many of the poems have been individually published) one day.
It feels really good to spread little stories (which my poems tend to be) about a culture and place that is very different to New Zealand.

Which sector are you Chris? I was SED (Small Enterprise Development) but tended to just do a little bit of everything.

Chris P · Jan 2, 2013

lastlittlebird said:
Which sector are you Chris? I was SED (Small Enterprise Development) but tended to just do a little bit of everything.

Officially I am Community Economic Development, and subsector is agrobusiness. PC-Uganda doesn't have an Agriculture sector, so they shoehorn any ag people into CED. I was originally nominated for Ag/Envir in the South Pacific, and Uganda was a last-minute change by the PC. My background is entomology and insecticides, and I came to the Peace Corps to gain skills in actually growing stuff. I spent all my time in a lab in my previous job.

Africa does inspire us to write, doesn't it? How close is the poetry to publication?

lastlittlebird · Jan 3, 2013

I was originally supposed to be working in Health, then it changed to Education and finally, within the final week, to SED.

They do switch people around a bit, don't they?

Entomology huh? You must be having a ball there if it's anything like Mali. I'm fascinated by insects and the variety and beauty of some of the ones I saw (and was bitten by!) astounded me.

Are you based in a rural area? I had some friends who were ag volunteers, but in my area the growing season was very short, so they generally tended to work on other projects for a lot of the year. It must be nice to get your hands into the soil after working in the lab

I could probably get my collection published right now (give or take a year of course) if I sent it around. I've actually got to the point where I am somewhat (a very small somewhat) known in the NZ poetry arena.
But I'm not happy with it yet and it deals with some important subjects, like female circumcision, and homosexuality, so I really want to get it right. I need to put a lot more work into it before I'd feel happy trying to get it published.
I do think I'll probably be writing about Africa for the rest of my life though. And that's a good thing

Chris P · Jan 3, 2013

I'm pretty urban, actually. I'm between Kampala and Entebbe, and the whole area has seen pretty massive development in the last 15 or so years. That's actually good for my organization, as that means there are a lot of people around who want to know what we're teaching.

I keep going back and forth on whether or not to try to salvage my Africa novels. The first one was way too long, and started as a "buddy" novel that turned into kidnapping adventure. I was going to ditch the buddy part, keep the kidnapping and start over. But I just can't bear to part with the earlier version. Perhaps I have two novels here, and maybe that's what I should do. But I've been working on this for years, and I'll just go around in circles until I make a final decision. I hate to waste the words I'd written, but it might not be publishable and working on it more will only waste more time. *Sigh*

lastlittlebird · Jan 3, 2013

I don't like wasting my words either, but sometimes I decide that the world "isn't ready" (ha) and just shelf them.
I do think that a buddy novel set in Africa would be awesome. I think that more novels should be written about Africa that aren't all doom and gloom.

Chris P · Jan 3, 2013

lastlittlebird said:
I think that more novels should be written about Africa that aren't all doom and gloom.

I agree totally! I tire of the "Africa as the tragically wounded mother of humanity" motif. It's almost turned into a "noble savage" stereotype that's considered so insensitive. Yeah, we've got problems here, and many of those problems stem from the West's treatment of Africa since the 1400s, and even before if we include the Arab slave trade going back to the 1100s. But when that's all we can say about this place it's really limiting.

You've given me some hope for the buddy travel novel. I'll give it some more thought. Of course, the kidnapping novel (Nyasaland in my sig) is more likely to get picked up, and is probably closer to being done.

dsoul700 · Jan 3, 2013

I'm a writer from Nigeria, born and raised. I've published a short story collection, and right now trying to find a literary agent here in the U.S., who'd be interested in representing my novel that's an espionage thriller that takes place in the Niger-Delta oil region in my country.

I've grown tired of a lot of Nigerian writers only dabbling in literary type of stories. It's about time Africa produced writers who're able to venture into further genre.

Chris P · Jan 3, 2013

Great to see you, dsoul! Sounds like an exciting story.

dsoul700 · Jan 4, 2013

Chris P said:
Great to see you, dsoul! Sounds like an exciting story.

It is if I can get someone to publish it for me.

Chris P · Jan 4, 2013

dsoul700 said:
It is if I can get someone to publish it for me.

I'm not sure how much you've lurked around here, but read through the sticky threads in the "Query Letter Hell" section of "Share Your Work," write a kick-but query and start subbing.

dsoul700 · Jan 4, 2013

Chris P said:
I'm not sure how much you've lurked around here, but read through the sticky threads in the "Query Letter Hell" section of "Share Your Work," write a kick-but query and start subbing.

Being there, done that.

Chris P · Jan 4, 2013

dsoul700 said:
Being there, done that.

Nuts. This is a pretty unforgiving business sometimes. Keep on trucking and don't give up!

lastlittlebird · Jan 4, 2013

I'm really hoping to get around to setting a bunch of science fiction in Mali so between us we've got a few of the genres covered

I guess the fact that people seem to veer towards literary instead of genre when writing about Africa is a good point.... literary tends to be kind of depressing (not always, but often).

I wonder if it's got something to do with market expectations... people expect literary to be challenging and often from the viewpoint of a culture different to their own, but the perception is that genre will be something to read "for fun" and should stay "easier", or closer to home. This is wrong for a couple of reasons of course (genre can/should be challenging, and the familiar isn't necessarily easier... not to mention, there are many parts of Africa which wouldn't be all that exotic to a Western reader).

This is assuming that most major publishers are looking at things from the perspective of a Western market of course, I don't know how big a local market could potentially be.
I'm not the brightest tool in the shed when it comes to talking about this kind of thing though, so ignore me if I'm not making sense.

I hope you have more luck placing your novel dsoul. The Niger Delta is a fascinating setting for a story.

African writers check-in and chat thread

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