Why Nigerians should start paying attention to unhyped writers

As of this writing, I've read 80 books this year, and 20 of them are written by unknown writers and published by undiscovered local publishing houses.

Some of these books are not even on goodreads, so writing a long review or an essay about these books and author is a complete waste of time. (if you write for a website that makes money off clicks and adverts).

I have heard so many people say:

"It is either Chimamanda, or nothing"

I’ve come across hundreds of writers like Mabel Segun, Ousmene Sembene, Tanure Ojaide, Christopher Okigbo etc. forgotten by history or ignored altogether.

Some undoubtedly deserve their fate; others, immensely talented writers, nearly break your heart. I haven’t come closer to understanding the vicissitudes of literary fortune (the moment I do, I’ll open my own publishing house), but for reviewers/critics, this article written by Book Slut rings true for all of us.

"In order to make enough money to run a real publication, you have to write about books everyone has already heard of. You have to indulge in clickbait. You have to narrow your conversation down to the one that is already happening elsewhere.

I saw time and time again how little interest there was in radical voices, writers of colour, obscure women writers. I had given up on the site making money, and I would just shrug and continue to publish the voices I was interested in. I was lucky because I have a side business as a tarot reader, so the advertising dollars were not essential."

Recently, I spent 2 days writing an essay about Buchi Emecheta, imagine how I felt when I realized that only 24 people read it (according to google analytics).

So my rant began:

Why are there no literary agencies in Africa?

Reading books from different authors is amazing.

It's important to realize that not every of this book will be a page-turner from the start, heck I came to love and understand by Fiston Mwanza Mujila at page 67.

READ: Teju Cole on inspiration, originality and the 4 brilliant people every writer must read

I believe that increasing the diversity of the authors we read requires a conscious effort; it won't just happen on its own.

We should start reading books regardless of whether they are reviewed by New Yorker or not. Regardless of whether they are called award-winning or not.

As readers if we demand books from brilliant unknown authors, editors will have no choice but to supply them.

There's also a more important reason to read a wide range of books: Deliberately seeking out new literary voices expands our perspective and pushes us out of our comfort zone.

Lastly, in the hope that it’s not too late to save some writers from complete oblivion, support African books, read unknown authors, share links of great reviews you have enjoyed, read long essays to the end, and your life would be richer for it.

READ: 10 unpopular African literature books that deserve some recognition

READ: Chinua Achebe on storytelling, translation of his works to Igbo, and his advice to young writers.