In conference with the
KNUST comrade who has a bewildering fructose of speech, and a sixth sense for
motivating writers of his generation
An interview with Kwabena Agyare Yeboah. By Darko Antwi
Kwabena Agyare Yeboah lives and writes from
Kumasi, Ghana where he edits fiction/non-fiction for Ehanom Review in the night, and works as a
technical writer in the day. His works have variously appeared on the internet
and in print.
DARKO: It is on record
that Songs Of My Heart was printed in
your name when you turned eighteen. That made you the youngest Ghanaian to have
had a book of poetry. How has that early publication
influenced your writing?
KWABENA: It was before 2009, I think, when I began
working on that project. I remember it as an incredible learning process. My
step-grandmother had passed on to greater glory. It was a period of self-discovery.
I questioned life and existence: why are we here? What does life hold? Why do
we die? Is life the end to everything? Some of these thoughts led me to experiment
with writing. Somehow, I fell in love with poetry. After secondary school, at
eighteen years, I published that book, but I do not think in any way that I hold
that record. I personally know of M J Jimmy, William Dubois and others who
published books when they were younger than I was.
It is fair to say that I failed with that project.
I was young, I was reckless. But that would be the biggest lessons that I would
learn in life – it is okay to fail but never let it be the end. I learnt life
would require my initiative. Age never mattered, my voice did. I learnt that I
was never going to be a good writer; I was just trying to be a good writer
(paraphrasing Chris Abani). I learnt that recklessness like wine is good for
life. It did not influence my writing. It influenced my person.
DARKO: When I read your
article, Writing To The World; The
Ghanaian Odyssey, I commented that “Yeboah is within the group of writers
who lure me to the last letter of their facility. I have an enthusiastic rush
for his essays” Standing by my word, I must say that the quality of your text
has since been consistent. I wonder how fulsome you write. Have you had any
special writing course?
KWABENA: I thought you were too generous with that
comment. God bless Philip Emeagwalifor inventing the internet. I think the best
writing course anyone can ever have is social media. I spend a greater time
reading. I read from friends on social media. The links they share. Even the
literary feuds. The friends who email me their reading lists. Suggest literary
magazines, journals, blogs etc. Those who believe in me more than I have ever
believed in myself. These are what have shaped me up. I have special respect
for many others who continuously re-invent the literary space using the
internet. I owe the WatsApp group, THE ARC that much for this. It is the
constant reminder or awareness of those people as writers that trickle down to
me. I sip their inspiration. Their arts. I am because they are. I thank God
that I know them, virtually or otherwise.
They remind me that as a writer, I am first and foremost a reader. By
what they do and for them, I always want to be better even though I know that “better” is a mirage. Above its illusion is its existence. Like nirvana.
DARKO: If it is fair to
argue that Ghana is presently blessed with talented authors like Boakyewaa
Glover, Prince Kwasi Mensah, Amma Darko etc, yet Ghanaian literature is no closer to
the depth and breadth of world recognition than it was 40 years ago, would you
nevertheless be convinced that there are factors that promise a glorious
future?
KWABENA: It is important to trace history if I am
to attempt an answer. The early post-colonial Ghanaian writers had support
systems. There was an industrious publishing sector. There were literary
journals like Okyeame, GAW’s Ntakra, The Legon Observer and other literary newsletters issued by
associations. There were editors of national dailies like Cameron Duodu who
were not just journalists but also writers (in the literary sense) so they
permitted spaces for the genres of literature. There was Ghana Book Development
Cooperation or something like that which gave small grants for publishing
books. There were writing prizes. Every year, students of Teacher Training
Colleges were anthologized in Talents For
Tomorrow. There were national anthologies like Messages and Ghana Voices
that kind of immortalized generations. There was a vibrant writer association.
The result was that Ghana was a force. Today, Uganda for example that was
referred to as ‘’literary dessert’’, Kenya, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Nigeria
are the biggest literary producers and consumers because there are literary
activities – literary festivals, literary journals, blogs, magazines and
vibrant (at least relatively) publishing line.
By the way, it has nothing to do with population. When Ghana was a force
in those days, it was because there were systems to discover and nurture
talents. Ghana had a smaller population size compared to say, Nigeria yet we
competed! So it’s not like there was a
point in history that there was bereft of talents. There has never been, in
fact. What we have always lacked for about thirty years now is that support
system. In my lifetime, I have seen a deteriorating Ghana Association of
Writers (GAW). I have seen a publishing line that wants to see some initials next
to your name. Regardless, I am a fair optimist. I believe in miracles. The
future will be glorious because we choose to work for it.
DARKO: Speaking on the
subject of criticism in governance, Hon Alan Bagbin said of his party that “I criticize
to improve” With regards to literary criticism, Elisabeth Sutherland testified
on The KSM Show that constructive criticism is one of the means to growth.
Should you apply any of their views, how relevant would you say criticism is to
career development?
KWABENA: Criticism in itself is an art. What I
have learnt is to be kind to it. There will no growth without it. There will be
no interpretation without it. There will be no beauty without it. Criticism is
like the rainbow. You miss it when you concentrate on only one colour. The
beauty is the blend with itself and the skies.
For the lack of criticism, a Ugandan proverb says, the trunk of the elephant grows longer.
DARKO: By concentrating
on the strength of the writer, you make criticism look pretty simple. It seems
you care so much about writers’ ego –
and for that pressure, you sweep the grotesque under carpet. Do you mind
if a writer feels intimidated by a surgery on his weakness?
KWABENA: I think criticism is the most abused word
in history, well aside love. Criticism should not only be about good or bad,
grotesques or otherwise, heaven or hell. A critic should be able to situate a
work in the body of reasoning. Originally, that was what literary criticism was
about. That is why the Euro-centric tendencies have Formalism, Marxist. Feminist
criticisms etc. What I am careful of is not to run ‘’How to write’’ workshops
in my commentaries. I believe in the freedom of the individual in choosing what
she wants. I cannot say, “her diction reads like it is structured and baby of
a textbook knowledge” and write for another, “she is careless with diction.
Did she write that in her dream?” Where then lays the balance? It is this
sensationalism that invitingly, I am disinterested in. It is not about caring
about egos. It is about my conscience and what plainly, I see as honesty. I focus more on interpretation than
evaluation because the former is more tangible. Apart from religion, I ask for
evidence in everything.
DARKO: Would you dispel
the fear which supposes that your critical work is mostly meant to heap praises
on the demoralized Ghanaian writer who has been rejected by publishers in every
corner of the literary world? In a bid to strengthen the fragile spirit of the
art, you often overlook the overt flaws of the amateur writer. Shouldn’t you
rather be forthright in your practice?
KWABENA: Being rejected by a publisher does not
mean a work in itself is bad. We have a
wobbling publishing sector. It means that many writers would have to work with
foreign publishers and editors. What will be my advantage, in relative terms,
is the ability to identify and understand the underpinning sensibilities of
writers from this part of the world. What I seek again is escapism. I am very
selective about the works that I talk about. I talk about what I honestly feel.
I hold writers, amateur or otherwise to the same principles that I hold myself
to. By the way, ‘flaws’ are not peculiar to ‘amateur’ writers. At a point
in time, life needs that aesthetic grotesque because it begins evolution
and evolution begets an art which finds its language as poetry.
DARKO: Expressing his views on the social life of the
stereotypical writer, the famous playwright, Uncle Ebo Whyte said that “Writing
is a very jealous field. It won’t allow you to have a girlfriend” At variance with
Whyte’s proverb, you and many other young writers have active social
engagements, aside the pursuit of literature. Though you do not conform to
reclusivity, would you ever condone elitism among writers?
KWABENA: Writers like to be fetish. The truth is,
writers are humans and they have human traits. There is nothing exclusive or
elitist about writing. Writers are humans who write.
DARKO: I have never
imagined a new magazine that collects the finest of African literature as does
Ehanom Review. Being the publisher and editor of this online novelty, could you
give advice on how one could establish a charismatic content and sustain
reader-interest in a blogsphere where magazines lose followers in a flash – and
could hardly go beyond their 3rd (annual) issue?
KWABENA: The internet is an exciting platform and
also, it democratizes literature. I do not see many problems on the demand
side. My constant fear is the supply side: our end. This is a wholly voluntary
venture. There is no grant for it, there is no ‘’thank you’’ donation for it.
Many people who undertake these initiatives are busy professionals. It gets to
time that you cannot keep with reading submissions and editing. You simply have
to let it go – another chapter of history should end. May be, what people
should start exploring is succession plan. Luckily, I have at least a year to
do this. Let’s hope there will be another crop of people to pick it up when the
bell calls our time.
DARKO: Thank you so
much! The Street wishes you the best in your post-graduation endeavours.
KWABENA: Thank you for having me here, sir. I
really appreciate it. Let’s do what we can whilst we can for what we love. May
God bless us all.
