Conditions of production for writing, publishing and studying literature in africa: the Nigerian situation

Abstract

Text of contribution to a panel discussion on “Conditions of Production for Writing and Publishing in Africa” at a postgraduate seminar, Faculty of English, University of Cambridge, 1 February 2006, revised for a SCOLMA seminar with the present title at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London, 21March, 2006.Quite apart from claims made for Cyprian Ekwensi as the first Nigerian to publish a full-length novel in “modern English” (that is his 1954 novel, People of The City), it is generally accepted that Amos Tutuola's The Palm-wine Drinkard was the first novel in any variety of English to be published by a Nigerian. That novel was incidentally published in 1952 by Faber and Faber in the UK. Perhaps this has not after all turned out to be a good omen for publishing in Nigeria.