The Bright Light Café Presents ...

Interview with Dan Akinlolu

Biography      Photos      Articles      Short Stories

When were you born?
I was born on 1^st of March 1978.  Thank God it wasn’t 28^th of February; perhaps I would have been a Leap Year baby.

Where were you born and raised?
I was born in Ibadan, Nigeria. I actually grew up in a large African family where we value communal relationship. I have one “Mum” but many “Mothers” what I mean is that because I grew up in a large family, lessons about life and what I wish to be in life came to me from multiple point of view and I think that really gave me an edge not to see life from one angle. If I did what was wrong, my mum wasn’t the only one to correct me, several other mothers and brothers and sisters are available to put me through. My father on the other hand was practically a very strict man, and I could say I had a very early exposure to reading.

How has your up bringing influence your writing?
Like I said, I grew up in an environment where we value books. My father reads a lot, he reads all through the night like he’s got an examination the following day, he treated his books and Christian literatures as if they were human beings, and he had to put that habit into everyone of us. Somehow, I realized it was some sort of a genetic trait as well. However, I started developing interest by reading the books of Solomon especially the Proverbs and Ecclesiastics, then the book of Job in the bible. They were wonderful poetic stories that have universal themes and common explanation to everyday problems. Besides, most African writers find it easier to lay claim to oral tradition as their source of inspiration, in the form of fables, folktales or panegyric poetry. No doubt about that because Africa is apparently rich in such tradition, but it is more than that for me.  Though I enjoy tapping into African proverbs for contemporary consumptions yet I enjoyed calling myself a third world writer than an African writer. I feel better as a third world writer.

When did you first start writing and why? What prompted you to become a writer?
Honestly that is a very big question. It is like asking why a mother gave birth to baby boy or a baby girl. Writing didn’t just happened to me one day, I could say I practically grew up with it. For instance most of my brothers write poetry flawlessly, infact one of my elder brother is a highly rated African poet and artiste in Canada. But I published my first poetry with one reputable poetry organization in USA in the 90s when I was barely 20 years old but the truth was that I wasn’t a good poet, I was just fortunate to get the poetry “Elegun the Masquerade” nominated and published because the organization needed a new voice and experiment from Africa, so the poetry was relevant to them. Several times I’ve tried poetry but it always turned as short story. About what prompted me into writing, I do love seeing my name in prints, there is something magical about it. Besides that, I love movies. It influences my juvenile writings a lot and so much that it pushes me beyond my boundary to explore things bigger than what I was. I enjoyed making friends with older people and I could remember an old friend, a lawyer, who advised me to write like an African and not about James Bond or Spider man.

What is your favourite book?
My favourite book is not one book. I have challenged myself to read as many titles and authors as possible. Any book that challenges my creativity and pushes my intellectual capacity to a certain thought pattern could be my favourite book. For instance, I studied English in the University of Ibadan, which alone exposed me to lots of literary traditions. In addition to that my first job was a sales executive in one of the largest bookselling firm, where I was faced with the challenges of reading as many books as possible so as to recommend good books to customers because you don’t sell what you don’t know. Besides, I had the opportunity of flirting around the publishing industry as an external editor to assess and evaluate manuscripts for possible publication. Though I was young and a bit inexperienced, yet I was quick enough to learn and could discern that there was a big difference between writing a book and writing a story and of course, that every writer needed a “signature tune”. Nevertheless, I still would say some books stick more to my memory than others, which include Frank McCourt’s “Angela’s Ashes” and Ben Okri’s “The famished Road”, Samuel Selvon’s “Lonely Londoners” and several other literary appreciation and biographies. The why? is because they are simple books that capture my world view, though I do not enjoy writings in sequel because authors tend to over use the setting and the monotony of characters is no longer original and genuine, nevertheless some works strikes me with the first paragraphs and sometimes by the first statement.

What is your favourite poetry?
Poetry? Hmmmmm, it’s difficult too. I enjoy John Milton’s “Paradise Lost” because its got a very wonderful opening that got me hooked up. But generally, Epic poetry fascinates me, they share a certain feature with short stories; they are bit prosaic in terms of length though the language could be archaic and grand. But I have read a handful of epic poetry that I’ve even adapted one of them for screenplay.

What is your favourite short story?
No favourite short story. But I loved Barbara Llewellyn's opening in “Words” and Malcolm Carvalho’s “The Maestro” but in addition to that, I enjoy any short stories that come from any third world countries especially from Caribbean and Latin America, they have a way of domesticating the English language to make it humorous, and humour plays a very major role in my personal opinion of everyday life.

Who is your favourite writer?
Any writer that could weave humour round a serious situation to make it look simple as part of life has a technique of affecting my mind to an extent. Samuel Selvon is good at that, and the Irish author, Frank McCourt, display a huge amount of such skills, Gabriel Garcia Marquez is also very good. The truth is that, it is not an easy task to make people laugh talk less of making them laugh loud while reading. It takes a lot of mastery and to understudy those who are good at it.

What is your Favourite song?
Classical piece,  Jazz and African music. They make me reflective and meditative.

What are your Writing goals?
May be Commonwealth Prize for Literature... may be Caine African writers’ Award...Pulitzer Prize ... may be Nobel laureate in literature…. may be Booker Prize. There are lots and lots of may be’s; what is important for me is to write first; season and people will decide whether I will be a classic and a bestseller.

What are your dream and goals?
I must confess that I am already living my dreams and goals; all I need is to work more hard to make things happen and invest in good positive friends like Rod Kirkham and Barbara Llewellyn, they are part of my story because they sort of believe in me. Some big things in life happens when you push, some happens when you are patient, others happen when you push at the same time be patient for the result.

What are your Hobbies?
My hobby is actually my career. I try to enjoy whatever I do.

What is the writing process like for you?  Do you sweat blood or do the words come easily? 
Every writer will tell you sometimes it flows and at other times, you’re kinda stuck!
However, I think I enjoyed a privilege of “spoken-writing” stories. First, don’t forget that English language isn’t my mother tongue, I speak Yoruba, but the fact that I love to write as if I am talking makes me see the beauty in all languages though it is very technical. All languages are beautiful if you make people read as if they are talking, stories become alive, participatory and easier to identify with. People don’t read because writers are boring, writers are boring because they don’t read, and they don’t read other people’s work because they only write to win competitions and not because they are writer.

For my part, I am still growing, I still need to invest more in myself and improve on my skills in the bid to maintain quality stories but so far, I have, in a way, contributed to literary development across the boundary which is somehow unusual for someone of my age.

Do you have an advice for aspiring writers?
Read other people’s work; write what you would love to read. Most importantly, have the confidence to call yourself a writer even if you are lazy about it. The more you do so the more you put yourself under an obligation to write something as a proof. After all professional writers are amateurs who didn’t quit.