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
- 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
