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"For me, there’s no special atmosphere for writing. Whenever I feel the urge, (known in literature as ‘inspiration’) I write, using my small note book to capture scenes from the outside and passing ideas from my mind."
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Zaynab AlkaliSimple question, but difficult answer. At the age of eight, I literall — Zaynab Alkali
"Simple question, but difficult answer. At the age of eight, I literally held a hoe in my hands. Two plots of land were carved out for me from my mother’s land, one for okra, the other for groundnuts. I helped my mother pay my school fees. Many people would find this hard to believe. I am still holding a hoe, (in a sense). Hard work runs through my blood. It does not kill, but laziness does. If I were to write about myself I would have hundreds of titles, maybe a title for every page."
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Zaynab Alkali
Zaynab Alkali
author
Zaynab Alkali is a Nigerian novelist. She is also a poet and short story writer, recognized as the first female novelist in Northern Nigeria.
More by Zaynab Alkali
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"By the Grace of Almighty God, I want to believe that I have been able to touch the lives of people, not only through writing, but in other simple ways, and I intend to do that for as long as I live."
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Zaynab AlkaliQuote
"A little bit of me is in every book I have written. Consciously, or unconsciously, an artist gives away a piece of the ‘self’. It is widely believed that a good piece of creative work is an extension of the artist."
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Zaynab AlkaliQuote
"Recommending any one of my books would depend on the target audience. For young adults, ‘The Stillborn’, for the teens, ‘The Virtuous Woman’, for a variety of readers, ‘From The Housewife’, to the university undergraduate to the footloose, ‘Cobwebs and Other Stories’, for those interested in family values, ‘The Descendants’ and for the symbolist, ‘The Initiates’."
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Zaynab AlkaliQuote
"I cannot, now, remember any particular book that had triggered the ‘muse’ in me, but I can remember some of my best novels; Arrow of God, by Chinua Achebe, The River Between, by Ngugi wa Thiongo and Woman at Point Zero, by Nawal el Saadawi."
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Zaynab AlkaliQuote
"The hope that somewhere, somehow, someone may have benefitted from my ideas makes me feel I have made my little contribution to humanity. In addition to that, the national and international recognition is simply great"
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Zaynab Alkali