Adapted from a Presentation at a University of The Gambia Seminar Co-Sponsored by The US Embassy in The Gambia, 23 May 2007, Kanifing

The title of this talk is taken from interviews I conducted with Nana Grey-Johnson and Swaebou Conateh. When I asked Grey-Johnson to describe the state of Gambian literature, he said “We are creating our own foundations.” And Conateh compared writing to constructing buildings – putting words together is, he said, like building blocks. I think the phrase “creating our own foundations” also works as a metaphor for our literature – The Gambia is seen as having very little that does not come from abroad or is not overwhelmingly influenced by foreigners. But Gambian literature was and is, by definition, created by Gambians. Gambians themselves have built the foundations for present and future writers. I hope my research in some way also contributes to these foundations.

My research focuses on published Gambian literature written in English for a number of reasons. Most importantly, the majority of written (as opposed to oral) Gambian literature is in English, and English is the country’s chosen official language and medium of educational instruction. I strongly encourage criticism of the small but growing numbers of written texts in other Gambian languages. Gambian orature[i], the rich oral traditions which include poetry, stories, praisesongs, and riddles, can be linked to literature, but it is a genre unto itself and deserves separate analysis. I also want to say a word about the term literature – Gambians tend to think of literature as any kind of writing published in book form. My work, though, focuses on creative writing, that is poetry, fiction, and plays.

HISTORY

The very first published Gambian author was Phillis Wheatley, a young girl captured in the Senegambian region and taken to what is now the USA as a slave, who later became both educated and a celebrated poet. Scholars have written a lot about her poetry and life, and she is also claimed by Senegalese and African Americans in the USA, but Gambians claim her largely because of her reference to the Gambia River in her poem “Phillis’ Reply to the answer”.[ii]^,[iii]

More than 100 years later, and after The Gambia came into existence as an independent nation-state, the first contemporary creative works by Gambians were published.[iv] In 1960 the Heinemann African Writers Series (AWS) published William Conton’s The African; in 1965 and 67 the same publisher released Gambian Lenrie Peters’ novel The Second Round and his poetry collection Satellites. Also in 1967 The Philosophical Library published Augusta Mahoney’s play The Rebellion. (A number of people do not count Conton’s books as Gambian because he was born here but raised in Sierra Leone, where the book is set. Some do not consider Peters’ novel The Second Round to be Gambian either because it is also set in Sierra Leone.) These three early Gambian texts share notable similarities. All concern Africans who travel abroad to be educated, and who return home. Also, all were published abroad within a few years of The Gambia’s 1965 independence. As with many Anglophone former colonies, this initial burst of publication (which was also accompanied by an increase in popular theatre) can be linked both to a drive to create a national culture for the “new” nation, and to the creation of the Heinemann AWS.[v] The location of their publishers meant that these writers immediately were exposed to a readership beyond The Gambia. But it also meant that in their native land the books were difficult to obtain and expensive when they were available. Interestingly, although it was not published by the specialist and prestigious AWS, Mahoney’s play had the greatest African and Gambian audience of those early texts – because it was performed within the country and in Senegal at the famous Black Arts conference.

Reflecting their times, all three texts also engage the themes of national and personal independence, as well as how the two are related or conflict. Not surprisingly, Mahoney’s Rebellion also addresses women’s independence. Though only a few books by Gambians were published in the 1960s, those produced provide an important and engaging testament to their time.

The themes addressed were numerous. In the 183 pieces published in Ndaanan, topics ranged from the universal love, moon, and motherhood, to Black nationalism, to more specifically Gambian (or West African) subjects such as jali, Fula traditions, weaver birds, and popular local folktales.

You could say that Gambian literature ended the 20^th century with a big bang because of the relatively large number of texts being published, and because of the type of literature being produced. In these twenty years more than a dozen books were released by Gambians, in The Gambia and elsewhere in Africa, Europe, Asia, and the USA.

This generation of writers are more likely to write poetry and plays, more likely to be women, and are almost exclusively self-published. They include Baaba Sillah, Baba Galleh Jallow, Ramatoulie Othman, Ebou Gaye, and Fodeh Baldeh. This most recent generation is also more likely to openly criticize the government than earlier writers and to address controversial political issues (e.g. sex tourism and female circumcision in books such as Costly Prices, The Sun Will Soon Shine, and Dying for My Daughter).

If the first decades of Gambian writing are a source of controversy regarding the “Gambianness” of the content or the writers’ biography, these concerns are no longer relevant. The texts printed or published in the 1980s and 90s were largely by writers born, raised, and living (with the exception of Sillah and Sallah) in The Gambia, and whose works typically include Gambian details in their language, setting, and plot.

This detail is all the more interesting because several recent Gambian books became very popular outside of The Gambia. Mahoney, Peters, and Conton were published in England and the USA in the 1960s, and enjoyed some readership abroad. But in the 80s and 90s, Ebou Dibba, as well as Sheriff Samsideen Sarr and Sally Singateh, were published and widely read in Africa. In particular, Dibba’s Alhaji, Sarr’s Meet Me in Conakry, and Singateh’s Christie’s Crisis all remain in print and sell large numbers of copies in Western and Eastern Africa.

A number of factors account for this shift in readership. Both African and non-African publishers have increasingly recognized the large reading markets of countries such as Nigeria and Kenya (who alone contain millions of literate people). The short, fast-paced young adult novels Alhaji, Meet Me, Christie’s) are perennially popular with teenagers, even though they are not Dibba or Singateh’s best books. (I should note that you can get these books, and most of the others I am mentioning, here at the National Library.)

We are only seven years into the 21^st century, but it seems the trends of the last 20 years are continuing. The majority of Gambian literature is now self-published, including first books by promising authors Mariama Kahn, Baaba Sillah, and Baba Galleh Jallow. There are two major exceptions. The first is the reissuing of Nana Grey-Johnson’s The Magic Calabash by MacMillan Publishers in 2004, which means that his novel will have a new and broader life in African classrooms. The second exception is Reading the Ceiling, Gambian Dayo Forster’s first novel, published in 2007 by Simon and Schuster in London. Over the last 200 years, Gambians have published serious literary poetry and fiction, young adult novels, light or “popular” literature,[viii] and a small amount of critical work (mostly by Hassoum Ceesay, Chierno Barry and Pierre Gomez, both professors at UTG). So we cannot deny that by the beginning of the 21^st century, a Gambian literature does exist and is continuing to develop – even if most Gambians and others remain unaware of its existence.

That is a very brief description of the history of Gambian literature. I want to begin discussing some of the important issues relevant to Gambian literature by letting the authors themselves speak via the interviews I conducted.

One issue raised by several authors is that of language – and some of you may know this is an issue many African countries argue about. All of the writers agree that, in general, the English used by Gambians and in Gambian literature could be better. Fodeh Baldeh argues that Gambians should not be expected to write English well because most of us do not live in English, but only use it at school and work. He says that Gambian schools should teach Jola, Mandinka, Wolof, etc., and that these are the languages Gambian literature should be written in. Nana Grey-Johnson agrees that most Gambians do not live in English. But he argues that The Gambia has chosen English as its national language, and that it is a “universal tool” that can help the individual and the nation. He says we need to “fall in love” with English – and his argument implies that English should be taught better in schools, and that Gambians’ general attitude towards the language should be improved. What do you think?

Another major issue raised is the role of the writer and of literature in society. All of the writers I have interviewed believe that the writer has a responsibility to Gambian society to produce literature that is educational and positive. Where they differ is in whether the writer’s responsibility to society is greater or lesser than the responsibility to themselves, to their own vision. Some believe that literature has such a potentially large impact that the greater responsibility is to the society. One author specifically argued against “first amendment” writers who would put freedom of individual speech ahead of responsibility to community. But another argued that if the writer’s first responsibility is not to her or himself, then what is produced is not really literature from the author’s mind, but is instead the copying of other people’s beliefs. Again, I am interested in what you think.

Those are a few of the issues being discussed in terms of Gambian literature’s “present,” or Gambian literature now. But what about the literature’s future?

When I asked Gambian writers what Gambian literature needs, several ideas were repeated. A publishing house or cooperative to get manuscripts into book form, and to edit and proofread the writing. More Gambian literature in the schools. A national theatre to produce Gambian plays – and more Gambian content on local radio and television, including GRTS. More contests and prizes to encourage young Gambian writers – and perhaps another journal.

And I am going to add to this list more criticism of Gambian literature – to which I hope more Gambians will contribute. Criticism is important because it provides context for literature – in relationship to history, society, and politics, and in relationship to other literatures in Africa or around the world, Criticism can also help build the readership of Gambian literature at home (through reviews in newspapers, for instance) and abroad (through conferences and articles).

But what Gambian literature needs most to continue growing is for more Gambians to write! I want to end with some of our esteemed writers offering advice for people who want to write, or are secretly writing. Several writers eloquently discussed the importance of Gambians telling our own stories. o I end with that encouragement from the present generation of Gambian writers and critics to the next generation. For us to together continue building on the foundations of Gambian literature.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY (source Long Island University)

Academic History

Rosamond S. King, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the Department of English, [...] enjoys teaching African and Caribbean literature and culture to LIU-Brooklyn's diverse student body. She began teaching here in 2004, and has also taught at New York University, Rutgers University-Newark, and Hunter College.