How meaningful is the phrase “Nigerian writer” or “African writer” within this context?
“African writer” is, I feel, a label for those in the West to lump vastly different people together. “Nigerian writer” is a more useful term, but then again it’s not the same as “Nigerian-born writer”. From a writing point of view, it’s often easier to write when one achieves a certain distance from something, be it in miles or time. So a Nigerian writer, working abroad, is still a Nigerian writer. At least five of the authors mentioned above write/wrote from outside their country of birth, but one would never consider them anything other than their nationality. By Nigerian born, are you referring to citizenship at birth or heritage or both? And to what extent has your Nigerianness influenced your writing, if at all? I’m not sure it’s helpful or meaningful to try to classify what a Nigerian or an African writer is. By Nigerian-born I simply mean just that – born in Nigeria. Everything is relative, though. Say someone with Nigerian parents was born in New York City. They might be fierce
