A diachronic survey of creative writing and publishing in Nigeria

Abstract

Most studies on the growth and evolution of Nigerian literature overlook the importance of the publishing firms in the making of this fast-growing corpus of literature. Without the role of publishers, literary voices would remain unheard. Yet, Nigerian literary space continues to experience the dearth of a comprehensive examination of the contribution of publishers in the emergence and sustenance of this literature. The aim of this study is to bring to the force the growth and evolution of literary publishing in Nigeria. The study begins with a survey of publishing by the missionary and early nationalists, to the evolution and impacts of multinational literary publishing firms in Nigerian literature, and then, to the rise of indigenous literary publishing houses in Nigeria. It is the intention of this study to foreground the inextricable bond between publishing and creative writing; and thus, placing literary publishing in a visible position in Nigerian literary space.