By Rukayat Atanda, Special Correspondent, Lagos
Art of reading, experts affirmed, is one of the major criteria that determines the success story of most intellectuals. Author of What the Sea Told Me, Sule Emmanuel Egya, said his inspiration for writing came from his personal engagement in wide reading.
He made this declaration in an online report, stating that his love for reading developed since he was in primary school.
Described himself as a bookworm, Egya said he received ‘mercy of life’ through the literary materials he read at his tender age.
His words: I started reading during my primary school years, it was one of those things that fascinated children in print. I indulged myself in the lure of pen and paper. When I found myself in secondary school where we had a moderate library, I was impressed.”
Moreover, Egya regretted that the absence of modern library in his community as at that time, made him lose the opportunity of reading some books he wished to read.
“What I most regret is that I couldn’t get the books I wanted to read. The libraries, as they are now, were barren. Sometimes I keep wondering how some of us even managed to get to the stage of writing what we have written. I do believe that without reading, one cannot write.”
Recalling the lessons that he learnt from Afam Akeh’s collection of poems, Stole Moments, he said he was captivated by the words that made him picked some of the words and assembled it as part of the guild line, he used to write.
As everyone would have their perception in reading, Egya prefers to be reading contemporary African writers because it was easy for him to identify their dictions, themes and settings, most especially African writers series of Heinemann. He also admitted to be reading British and American authors, especially those that existed in the 18th century.
From his catalogue, Egya listed Ayi Kwei Armah, Dambudzo Marechera, Nadine Gordimer, Ben Okri, J. M. Coetzee, Wole Soyinka, Ola Rotimi, William Shakespeare, Derek Walcott, Niyi Osundare, T. S. Eliot, Pablo Neruda, Satish Verma, among others.
Egya said in Coetzee book contains certain classics that inspires the works of the art.
He also stressed that most of the books he read consciously or unconsciously have influenced his life creatively and have also improved his writing skills.
“I cannot particularly point at any poets as my favourite, but I do have great respect for almost all the great poets of Africa, who have fascinated me in a way that I quote their words,” he said.
He implored aspiring writers to create time to read and write, saying, “people bring moral force into art by their readings. No reading is innocent. We all come to a piece of literary work with our biases and sentiments.”
Egya, an ex-lecturer at the Nasarawa State University, Keffi, is a George Forster Fellow at Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany. He was also a PhD holder of Nigerian Literature at the University of Abuja.
A number of reports reflected how some of his publications stand as a proof of his rare skill. He has also been described as a specialist in new writings emerging from African literature.
His books includes: The Agatu Culture: Songs and Dances; The Writings of Zaynab Alkali, Three volumes of poetry; Naked Sun, among others.
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