Ndidi Chiazor-Enenmor is a multi-talented author and passionate advocate for education, children’s rights and cultural awareness. With a background in library science and English literature, Chiazor-Enenmor has made significant contributions to children’s literature, winning accolades such as the Association of Nigeria Authors Prize for Children’s Literature.
The author of short stories, plays and novels., has made the shortlist of the Nigeria Prize for Literature for her children’s book, A Father’s Pride.
In this interview with thelagosreview’s Terh Agbedeh, she talks about how being a finalist will impact on her writing, how folktales are important in African oral tradition and the authors who inspire her, among other issues.
How does it feel to be the Nigeria Prize For Literature finalist again?
I feel very happy, very honoured. I feel blessed and I’m glad I made the list again. I’m glad that what I’m doing, my writing is making an impact, especially the things I write for children because I write with purpose, vision because I want children to learn a lot from my book.
Please tell, what is A Father’s Pride is about?
The book, A Father’s Pride has three major themes; first one is protection of children, especially with regard to the Child Rights Act. There’s the theme of protecting our culture. You will agree with me that so many things about our culture are being forgotten, especially with the advent of social media. I know that the only constant thing in life is change, things will definitely change but so many good aspects of our culture should be retained and not swept away. There is the theme of environmental protection. These are issues I’m very passionate about, they are so close to my heart and they are explored in the book.
How would you say A Father’s Pride stands out from the works of others?
It stands out so well because the book is remarkable, it is fantastic and it can keep children busy for a whole year. Apart from reading the story, there are activity pages at the end of the book sectioned into three-, the aspect of culture, environmental protection and child rights. So, children can keep busy all through the year. Talking about the environment, there’s a chapter on tree planting, because our environment is suffering. So, children can positively engage themselves because you find out that with the advent of the internet, children are struggling to do things because there’s life beyond the phone. We should monitor the screen time of children. So, I am creating an avenue for children to channel their energy into other things that will keep them positively engaged.
Apart from the activities, how else did you try to keep them captivated?
The language is simple, the dialogue very intense. Someone asked me earlier the difference between my book that was longlisted in 2019 and A Father’s Pride and I said there is a big difference because the dialogue is so intense and now, I involve more children. Not just the protagonist, you could see her friends playing active roles. Other characters engaged in the entire plot of the book. This is to make children imagine themselves in some of the characters highlighted in the book. There is also the issue of local content. This is very important for me. I made sure that 95% of the characters bear Nigerian names. These are things I try to include in all my books. Especially in A Father’s Pride you’d see the aspect of local language which is dying out; that’s another area I’m so passionate about. We should revive that. There is no reason why a Nigerian child cannot speak a single Nigerian language.
How did you balance education with entertainment?
I recognise that some people, when they say they are writing for children, at the end of the day, you’d find out they have just written textbooks. So, first of all in children’s literature, there should be entertainment. They must enjoy the book before they can learn whatever lesson is in it. In fact, A Father’s Pride is like many stories in a story. You could see there’s a place the child is telling folktales to the family she visits for a period of time. The folktale is important in Africa oral tradition where they learn moral lessons. We should bring back these things. It’s worrisome that our children are spending so much time on social media, indulging in things they shouldn’t learn at their age. These are responsible for moral decadence in the society.
How will being a finalist impact your writing?
Yes, like I said, it’s a thing of honour and makes me recognise that my work is making an impact and I don’t take it for granted. It has exposed me to many people who didn’t know me, I got lots of congratulatory messages from people I didn’t even know.
You do other genres, which are you more comfortable with?
Am comfortable with writing for adults and children. So far, I’ve written more than 10 children’s books. I started with children’s book actually and I write more for children
Do you also write poetry?
No, I’m not so much of a poet but I’ve written a drama.
Is there any part of you in the book?
People think that when an author writes, the author is writing from personal experience. To some extent, it’s true but then, things that you have assimilated over the time, things that happened to other people around you, rest in your subconscious so when you are writing, you see these things coming alive. You won’t see me as Urenma but growing up, there was a little girl that was maltreated. And you know what, her name was Ndidi but then I used to bear Dorothy. So, the little girl was being mistreated by the woman she lived with and as a young girl, I couldn’t do anything to help. I cannot forget her. Now thinking back, I wonder why the older adults around didn’t do anything. I wish she gets to read this book to know how much I thought about her. So, I picked pieces of things I’ve encountered over the years.
Who are the authors that have inspired you?
Many authors have inspired me. Writers like Mable Segun encouraged me a lot to write my first book, I’ll Always Eat My Food. I owe her a lot of appreciation. Enid Blyton inspired me a lot, too. When I was in secondary school at St Catherine’s Girls’ Secondary School, Nkwerre in Imo State, we had a library filled with books. I borrowed books and read a lot of them. I read Eze Goes to School by Onuora Nzekwu, Tales Out of School, Samankwe and the HighWay Robbers, Mezie the Ogbanje Boy; so many of them influenced my writing.
What are your thoughts on NLNG’s sponsorship of the prize?
Oh! It’s so fantastic that they have kept the prize over the years. This is the 20th year. So many other organisations that started literary prizes stopped. I give a lot of kudos to NLNG for sustaining the prize. This makes the authors to be on our toes to make sure we publish quality books.
In a rapidly modernising world, how do you see the balance between cultural preservation and environmental advocacy being maintained, especially as highlighted in the book?
We blame the government for so many things but the government alone cannot do these things. We see our gutters being flooded for instance, a lot of people will sweep their refuse inside the gutters especially when it’s raining. If we don’t tackle these things, it’s like we are sitting on a keg of gunpowder. The consequences will be catastrophic. Instead of littering everywhere with plastic bottles we can recycle. We are talking about environmental problems; depletion of the ozone layer, deforestation. People are cutting down trees to build houses without reserving a little space for gardening. Even as a tenant, you can plant something now using pots, plastics and bags. This can help reduce hunger no matter the level. Also, it helps replenish the earth. So, with A Father’s Pride, I’m lending my voice to this call that we need to protect and preserve our environment in whatever little way we can. As for the aspect of culture, you see a little child greeting hello, hey guys, what are we talking about? We cannot adopt everything from the outside world. How can a 10-year-old greet you that way? While I talked about the Child Right Act, the children also have responsibilities. Respect for your elders is a responsibility. When we all play our part, everybody will be happy and we will live longer.
