Stories are Hope and Resilience for a World in Quarantine

Apartheid in South Africa: As a car burns behind him, a young South African participates in a civil disturbance outside the Auduza Cemetery. [1985] - UN Photo

The coronavirus crisis has upended our world.  In January this year, the World Health Organisation declared the Covid-19 outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern – fast forward three months and the disease has spread across the world. In these unprecedented times, social distancing guidelines imposed by governments around the globe to combat the spread of this virus have resulted in all of us adapting to new ways of living. 

Sadly enough, the literary world, too, has been affected by Covid-19 – bookshops have closed down, literary festivals have been cancelled, publishing houses are furloughing staff, and authors and publishers are trying to get accustomed to the new norm. Here at the AKO Caine Prize, we have had to postpone our annual Award Ceremony from the summer to a more convenient date, which is yet to be confirmed. In spite of these recent challenges, we remain proudly determined to bring literature of excellence from African authors to a wider audience. We believe writing can be a source of hope and solace in troubling and uncertain times. It can provide both an escape and source of strength and encouragement. Our judges will adjudicate on the highly anticipated 2020 shortlist from their different parts of the world – Kenya, the Netherlands, and the UK. This year’s shortlist will be revealed in the coming month.

No less than other traditions, African writing has been expansive and cathartic in dealing with crisis and devastation. Writers like Ayi Kwei Armah in The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born (1968) has portrayed “the political devastation and social frustration” in Ghana, weaving together post-independence stories and the protagonist’s attempt to make sense of self and country. Mariama Bâ questions patriarchal structures and delves into “strength and powerlessness within marriage and society” in So Long a Letter .  In Memory of Love , Aminatta Forna depicts the realities of living in war-torn Sierra Leone, the nature of love and loss, and absolution. Writers like Ngugi wa Thiong’o speak of the resilient African spirit that has faced injustices, corruption and oppression in Minutes of Glory and Other Stories .

If we look at works specific to pandemics, acclaimed writers like Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe, Albert Camus and Stephen King have all used their imaginations to draw stark representations of pandemic-ridden worlds. The social implications of disease and isolation bring to our minds the importance of contact and relationships. Fever by South African author Deon Meyer is built on the premise of a weaponised, bioengineered virus that drives survivors to besiege each other for resources; reading these stories during such a time gives us the impetus to question our existing social structures, and redefine what’s important to us.

There are also former AKO Caine Prize winning stories, offering diverse experiences, which can be revisited. Binyavanga Wainaina’s Discovering Home is a good story to dive into as it looks at the dynamics of closed space and relationships. Monica Arac de Nyeko’s Jambula Tree is a portrait of a community affected forever by a love between two adolescents. Nigeria's EC Osondu’s Waiting looks at the experience of being a displaced person lost and forlorn: "Here in the camp, we wait and wait and then wait some more. It is the only thing we do. We wait for the food trucks to come and then we form a straight line and then we wait a few minutes for the line to scatter, then we wait for the fight to begin, and then we fight and struggle and bite and kick and curse and tear and grab and run."

My Father’s Head by Kenya's Okwiri Oduor’s delves into the narrator’s difficulty in dealing with the loss of her father and looks at memory, loss and loneliness, all relevant themes at this time. Troubled interactions and power relationships come alive in The Sack by Namwali Serpell while Memories we Lost by Lidudumalingani deals with mental health issues, and the reaction of a community.

Coming back to the current situation, writers have already started to respond to the crisis; Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s candid piece on grieving and coping during the lockdown is a touching read. She writes movingly of her anxiety living in “pandemic-blighted” times and how she is giving herself space to feel and let go. Similarly, Indian writer Arundhati Roy in her piece, The Pandemic is a Portal, explores in brilliant prose, what the past few months have been like for the world, and where and how it has all gone wrong. It is a call to change, to reset our lives, to “imagine the world anew” instead of “dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred, our avarice, our data banks and dead ideas, our dead rivers and smoky skies behind us.”

An incredible number of novelists and writers have weighed in with their opinions on the pandemic, as they talk of the devastating reality, the nature of time and space, confronting emotions and feelings of pain and fear. A few are optimistic as they paint a picture of hope and humanity.

It is comforting that we can still read what our favourite authors are saying and experiencing. Technology makes that possible; it is a wry upside to the pandemic, in that it has allowed us to escape the noise and franticness of ‘normal’ life and rearrange our thoughts. Reconnecting with books and writings may help us travel and connect through our collective imagination in this time of isolation. Hopefully, they’ll also make us ready and wiser for a post Covid-19 world.

Santhini Achamma Koshy is undertaking a Masters in Publishing at Kingston University, and is currently interning with the AKO Caine Prize for African Writing. Lynette Lisk is the Digital Communications & Events Consultant for the AKO Caine Prize.