A Writers' Body and the Nigerian Literary Tradition

The Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) inaugurated on June 27, 1981 at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, by Chinua Achebe celebrated her thirty-fifth anniversary in 2016. The occasion called for a reflection on the Nigerian literary tradition and on the burdens of current Nigerian writing. It also demanded an appraisal of the roles of the ANA as a body of writers in the formalization or even canonization of the literary tradition in Nigeria in the context of the objectives of the founding fathers of the association. Achebe's inauguration speech is thus examined as a foundational text on the roles of the writer and those of a body of writers; its chastened prophetic vision of burgeoning fanaticism in Nigeria is also drawn attention to in the current context of religious fundamentalism in the country.