What ails the local writing industry

Correspondent | Wednesday February 12, 2014 19:18

 

Gasebalwe Seretse, an author with a credit roll spanning several fiction and non-fiction titles, observes that despite the fast growing volume of locally produced literary works, writers are still to harness the strength in their growing numbers.  

“Authors are not doing enough to engage government. The trend is that most authors are lone wolves. We are not supportive of bodies like WABO (Writers Association of Botswana) which were set up to advocate for us,” Seretse admits.

Another veteran author, Moreri Moroka, explains that the disunity stems from a dearth of pride and the writers’ rather blurred sense of place in the greater scheme of all things cultural expression.

“For now, there is no clear description as to who exactly is a writer. There is no motivation for one to proudly call oneself a writer. There is neither recognition nor clear structures to support writers. I cannot talk about unity when the situation is still like this,” he says.

Doesn’t he think the situation therefore makes whatever authority that could help blameless?

“Not at all, in all countries, governments set the tone, funding literary works through the establishment of an arts council. In my view, if this structure does not exist, nothing will ever be aligned and well coordinated. This cannot be left to individuals nor clubs as setting up offices and other resources is too expensive,” he argues.

He dismisses talk that the lack of organisation among writers is hurting the art. He says this is too simplistic as writing should not be misconstrued as a personal endeavour.

“It is a national vocation that documents time and space of evolution of issues in a country in a particular era, hence the nation has to develop it and include it in its development plans. Individuals can own cars and houses, not writing. That is why we go to school, as opposed to relegating it to households,” he says.

Moroka argues that a nation must define who a writer is and nurture its writers. He contends that there should be a well thought out description of a writer because there are many branches of writing and literary criticism theories.

“Writers must know whether they are writing, for instance, on post colonial, reader response, Marxist and other theories so that readers use the right lens when reading their literature,” he says.

Isn’t that giving power to others outside the writers themselves? Shouldn’t the writers be the ones to say what writing is or not?

“The fact remains, writing has a history and parameters to work on, as such that guides people to know where they fall just like with other genres, like music. I do not see that changing anybody’s creativity. Right now, writers and readers have been for long channeled to follow Aristocles theory, which is so limiting. If there was an arts council, this thing could have long been challenged to make writing more liberal and more accommodative,” he contends.

Seretse also believes that the literary sector needs an arts council, but only if it is to be a highly inclusive creature.

“The problem here in Botswana is that some arts persuasions are preferred over others, which is sad. Even the President Day arts celebrations or whatever you call them snub authors,” he says.

He adds that the education system is not effectively producing the kind of writers that can find success in today’s overly competitive literary world. He says that government does not care about literature, citing public statements by some leaders that they do not like reading.

“In the past, good literature books were prescribed for schools, nowadays government refuses to buy literature books and they use the so-called recession as a pretext. We won’t be able to see any good writers anytime soon,” he observes.

Moroka thinks otherwise. He argues that the education system has produced great writers.

“We need a structure that can take over after the classroom, and that is the arts council,” he says. “We can benchmark with the best in the world and create a model (of an arts council) that can best suit our country”.

At the point where the manuscript becomes a book, the writer more often than not has to come face to face with the ugly face of the business. Seretse argues that the triumphantly glossy titles on bookshelves often cover the exploitative relationship that writers have with many a publisher.

“Sad, but true, we are seen as cash cows by our publishers. Honestly speaking, they are more concerned about how much cash they can make out of us. They don’t care about us,” he says.

How would he prefer the relationship work out?

“I believe it’s high time local publishers gave authors a little respect. Perhaps they need to interact more with us, not only when it suits them. We also need publishers who will be more interested in other works other than those which make profit only,” he says.

Moroka says as long as the country has no arts council, writers in Botswana will always be at the mercy of publishers.

“And publishers will also continue to be at the mercy of schools as the only market. We need a robust change, holistic change, and that can only come through an arts council,” he says.

However, it is not all gloom and doom.

Moroka observes that the writer today has a wide range of topical material to work with, citing climate change, corruption, gender and children issues. He points out that literacy rates have gone up with advances in technology having brought about awareness of the human condition while enhancing the socio-economic dialogue in the country.

Seretse also points to the internet, which he says has changed the landscape of literary production.

“Most authors are now able to do research for their works, both fiction and non-fiction. I for one believe some of my works have been helped by the advent of the internet in terms of quality and marketing,” he says.