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Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo is not an uncommon name in Nigeria- children, students, and adults, from various walks of life have at one time or the other been touched by the power of her pen. She has over the years gradually and consistently produced literary works that are profound in their simplicity and thematic concerns. With two novels, three collections of short stories, two books for children, and dozens of critical essays, she has deftly utilized the power of her imagination in recapturing and recreating history. She is a professor in the Department of English, University of Lagos, where she has been teaching for well over two decades. Her latest novel, House of Symbols, published in 2001, won the first Zulu Sofola Award for women writers in Nigeria, and the AN A/Spectrum prize for prose. In spite of her often busy schedule, she unwinds and answers questions relating to her experience as a writer in this conversation with Anthonia Makwemoisa.
Makwemoisa: Many thanks for accepting to give this interview. Could we start by getting a vivid picture of your personal experience as a female writer in Nigeria.
Ezeigbo: To answer mis question one must consider a few issues: how much time one has for writing; how one has fared with publications, publishers, readers, and with critics. These are all part of my experience as a writer. Women in Nigeria don't seem to have much time to write - so many things to do. We know how difficult it is for married women expecially, what with children and family. You spend a lot of time having mese children; you spend time in die home; a woman spends more time with the kids man a man.
Moreover, I hold a fulltime job as a lecturer. I have taught courses of over six hundred students. At one time in a course, Introduction to the Novel, I taught over eight hundred students. You grade, give continuous assessment. Yet, you have many papers to write in addition to all these.
These things take your time. Writing requires time, privacy, concentration. In the office, students want to see you all the time. At home, your kids demand your time. Your family needs you. Then there are social commitments. I belong to a social...