Have you ever been to
the street of Emodi in Olodi Apapa of Lagos State. Have you witnessed the way
beggars there fight tooth and nail to get a crumpled Naira note from a generous
giver. Have you? If no, then you are in for a ride. So take a breath. One, two,
off we go…
The present day writers
can be likened to this set of unfortunate people whom fate has not been fair
to. They are more like a cluster of hungry puppies, jumping up and down to get
a tug at their mother’s mammary gland. Thus, the strongest gets an easy go.
Once upon a time, it wasn’t so.
Our writers were
writers were idolized, appreciated and recognized. They were respected too.
Both the said published and unpublished ones. The society looked up to them,
almost feeding from their fingers. Worshipping the very ground they walked on.
It was in this wake that we had; Chimamanda Adichie, Chika Unigwe, Chinelo
Okparanta, Ojay Aito and a host of others. These giants were not left at the
mercy of any fame-game. Their works were read, well scrutinized and then given
a thumps up sign. They got a token there, an award here. Appreciations, a
million appreciations and respect.
Now, fast forward to
the current year. The recent happenings leave bile at the pit of our stomachs.
We now have our writers clamoring for “likes”, soliciting for “votes”, falling
prey to this much viewers-game planned by the hosts. It is in this wake that we
have piss poor stories making top charts just because of their large fan base.
“Eziokwu”,
this speaks of good gone sour, dishonesty and favoritism. It is so because
friends and well wishers are compelled to vote for their “person”
notwithstanding that such works could be literary jargon with little or no
creativity.
The yearly Etisalat
flash fiction is an example. Here we have writers striving for votes so that at
the end of the day, their pockets would be $1000 richer. What more can be said
of this sudden change in the literary world? Should we look the other way while
value is been sold for amount of likes/votes? This shouldn’t be so.
It shouldn’t be the
yardstick for measuring what is exhilarating and what is not. Every literary
contest should have a panel of judges bestowed with the responsibility of
sifting the weevils from the grains. Writers are gods. People who create from a figment of their imagination. Writers are not beggars. They shouldn’t be made
so. It is indeed an ugly picture seeing a writer pleading for likes and votes.
It shouldn’t be made so.
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