'It is good winning ANA Children's Literature Prize'

• Published date: 15 January 2023
• Publication title: Nigeria - The Nation

Amadi Ekwutosilam Njoku aka Mazi Emeritus Njoku is a high school English Language preceptor, essayist, literary analyst, and Managing Editor at Africa Press Chamber, Lagos. His novel, 'The Invincible Will' won the prize for Children's Literature at this year's Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Literature Prize. In this interview with OLAITAN GANIU, he reveals the secret of winning the award, his inspiration and lots more.

How do you feel being one of the winners of this year's Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Literature

I truly feel proud and happy. The award is not only a huge recognition for me as a burgeoning writer and literary practitioner but also an acknowledgment of a job well done. So apart from the validation, it has given me in the creative vocation, it has also boosted my confidence.

What strategy did you adopt to win the Children's Literature category?

Strategy? Haha! Like every other great writer, I should say I understood my target audience and mastered the art before trying to tell my story. And when the submission window for this year's ANA prizes for Literature was opened in April, I read the entry requirements for the Children's Literature category and was satisfied that, like other authors whose works were shortlisted, 'The Invincible Will' was good to go for that category. I packaged and dispatched the required copies of the novel to ANA national headquarters in Abuja.

How many books have you written?

If you ask a Yoruba man how many children he has, his typical response will be that they do not count children. The same applies to writers because writing is a continuum especially if it's the art that chose you. A writer has no holiday, he's writing or thinking about one. And to be fair to your question, I should say I have written several pieces across genres and I'm not retiring any soon. But if you had asked me how many books I have published so far, I would have said 4 with my award-winning book 'The Invincible Will' being my debut middle-grade novel.

How do you get your inspiration to write?

Human experiences. That, of course, is the core of Literature. I don't have to go to a monastery or become secluded from humanity to be inspired. By noticing the daily events around me and listening to people during conversations or discourse of any kind and then what we may call ordinary may strike me in a different way that would require a creative afflatus to turn it into something extraordinary. Oftentimes too, I get inspiration from...