MABEL SEGUN (Nigeria)

THE PIONEERS. One of the first quality female creative writers in Africa - that is Mabel Segun of Nigeria. Well educated, talented from a young age, she has made her mark over the decades as adroit poet, fiction writer, biographer, and essayist.

Mabel Segun's writings are marked by sparseness interspersed with a deft, sure hand as far as the prose itself is concerned, sensitivity, an equipoise of focus, with didactic undertones. A grand matriarch in the niche, she garners colossal respect across the board. 

For the majority, she will always be synonymous with her work, My Father's Daughter, which remains one of the classics of Nigerian literature, often categorised as juvenile, but universal in many other sweeping respects. It is a famous work that many pundits have stressed should never be allowed to go out of print (like Robert Wellesley Cole's Kossoh Town Boy)

Mabel Segun has not produced the type of striking, lengthy creative works that the likes of Chinua Achebe or Flora Nwapa are renowned for. But there are parallels in their writings, especially with Nwapa, an early female writer like Mabel Segun

Consider Segun 's work, Surrender and Other Stories (1995)  for example.  The book comprises shorter writings that reflect the variegated lives and experiences of women. Nwapa has also produced shorter fiction which focus on women in this way too; arguably no male writer would be able to write in this vein, as the works are unequivocally genuine, presented realistically from the prism of a woman. Such short vignettes are convincing and authentic.

Indeed, Mabel Segun is noted for her convincing writings, even when they are biographical, autobiographical. Of course her work, My Father's Daughter, comes to mind here.  But so also does the later work, My Mother's Daughter. The writer directly and indirectly pays tribute to her parents, mammoth influences in her life.

A formidable part of her literary repertoire includes her copious writings for the young, including the very young. This distinguished award winning writer has also evinced competent interest in Education, Sports, and Broadcasting. A Living Legend at almost 90! 
- O Bolaji

SELECTED WORKS

My Father's Daughter 

Olu and the Broken Statue

Sorry No Vacancy

Conflict and Other Poems

My Mother's Daughter

Ping Pong (on Table Tennis)

The First Corn

The Twins and the Tree Spirits

Surrender and Other Stories 

Reader's Theatre ((plays)

Under the Mango Tree