Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka mesmerises audiences at Sharjah International Book Fair
Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka interacts with the audience at SIBF on Thursday morning.
Raghib Hassan, Staff Reporter
The second day of the 42nd Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) was chirping with joy and energy in the morning. Hundreds of school-going children under the watchful eye of their teachers looked excited and curious to meet and listen to Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka at the Intellectual Hall of Expo Centre. It was a great moment for children to see a Nobel Laureate sitting in front of them. Soyinka had won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986, the first Black person to win the award. He is perhaps the most versatile of African writers, equally at home in all genres.
Soyinka graced the SIBF on Thursday morning. Children listened patiently to him for more than an hour and interacted with the literary giant. Even at the age of 89, Soyinka did not show any sign of slowing down and his energy looked infectious. He too looked excited seeing curious souls around him in the auditorium and replied to each and every question posed to him. Recalling his childhood, he said, “I was a voracious reader. Books had to be kept out of my reach while I was a toddler.
I was compelled to read. By the time I turned 3, I had started reading well.” He informed, “My father was a teacher, so he had a library and I would shut myself inside his library to read those books. I would never feel satisfied after reading a book, and I would re-tell those stories in my way. “I started writing short stories but I never intended to become a writer, but I always wanted to change the narrative. I enjoy that. I was a curious child. I always wanted to know what was behind (it).”
Recalling his early days of writing, he quipped, “I had theatre so I did not wait for my books to be published and that’s why I did not feel frustrated unlike other young writers. I love theatre. I feel theatre is one of my favourite ways of teaching.” Sharing words of wisdom with students he said, “Prepare to receive rejection. Keep those rejections close to your heart as scars of battle and continue writing. Don’t wait for approval. Try to write whatever you want to write. Never force yourself. You see which medium you want to choose.” When asked when he did realise he had become an established writer, he replied in his simplicity, “I never feel I have arrived.”
That might be the reason for his constant urge to write more and more and that’s why even at 89, he is marching ahead. Inspired by Mandela Calling Former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela his inspiration, he said, “He is one man who has always inspired me throughout my life.” When asked to share his moment of writing his first book he said, “It was an exciting moment. Holding a copy of a published book is an incredible experience.
It was a magical moment and I celebrated that moment.” Soyinka has held professorships at distinguished US universities including Harvard, Yale, Duke, Emory and Loyola Marymount as well as highly respected institutions throughout Africa and Europe. He has been associated with NYU Abu Dhabi as Arts Professor of Theatre since August 2022. Talking about his association he said, “I was enthralled by the mood of the university.
I love meeting students from all over the world and I enjoy teaching.” Social media not his cup of tea He has not been a fan of social media. Talking about that he said, “It is indeed a wonderful platform and a great medium to communicate, but social media has been taken over by barbarians and they have polluted it and that’s why serious people are running away from it now. It is a pity. We should not allow social media to go waste.” “I hope may be with the help of Artificial Intelligence we can keep social media under check,” he expressed hope. When asked to share the secret of staying fit at 89, he said, “I am just lucky.
I enjoy my company and I listen to my body a lot. More than that I feel writing has become my habit.” Writing a book is a tedious process because it never stops. Your publishers always keep asking you, so you don’t know when it will stop.” Soyinka has a canny resemblance to Hollywood star Morgan Freeman and former United National Secretary General Kofi Annan, and has come across many embarrassing moments a number times.
Sharing his experience he said, “People come to me saying hello Mr. Freeman. I feel Morgan Freeman has made my life miserable. I wear a hat at times to avoid being misjudged.” In the coming days, SIBF is going host Bollywood stars Neena Gupta, Kareena Kapoor and Kajol Devgn, American astronaut Sunita Williams, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) S. Somnath and Mallika Sarabhai.
