Murder is Everywhere

Michael - Alternate Thursdays 

Every year in December Catalyst Press hosts Reading Africa Week. The focus is on literature of all types written by Africans and usually about Africa. It includes events, live panels, and discussions online. For this year's event, I was asked to meet (electronically) with four crime writers from Africa to discuss what makes African crime writing different and special. The discussion took the form of a number of questions to kick it off followed by the responses from the authors and possible comments from them and other questions. Although it sounds a bit cumbersome, it actually worked really well and we came up with a very interesting discussion.

The roundtable, titled The Past, Present, and Future of African Crime Writing, was published on CrimeReads, and you can read the whole of it HERE.

To whet your appetite, here's an introduction to the authors and a sample question to each of them:

Mike Nicol is one of South Africa's most successful crime writers, and one of my favourite crime writers anywhere. Falls the Shadow, the first book in a new series featuring a female cop who cops the cops is out in February. I was fortunate to receive an advance copy from Catalyst Press and I loved it - one of my best crime fiction reads of the year.

Mike, your books all involve local issues that are real and serious. It’s been suggested that African crime fiction is about social justice issues. Would you agree with that? How does it affect readers abroad?

Mike Nicol: Absolutely agree with that. Crime fiction has both a political and a historical dimension. This might make things challenging for readers elsewhere as South African crime fiction doesn’t plough the serial killers and drug lords furrows. Well, not often and only as part of larger stories. One of my concerns is that because of the social justice issues, African crime fiction might not find a ready market elsewhere on the grounds that our societies are too complex and different for the Western readership.

Ciku Kimani-Mwaniki is a Kenyan journalist and author. Her latest book is NaiRobbery Cocktail, and I'm looking forward to reading it as soon as it's available here. 

Ciku, what brought you to writing a thriller?

Ciku Kimani-Mwaniki: My genre of choice is romance. Not your typical good-girl next door type. I write about love lives of the so-called society pariahs. Damaged people, if I may. When I decided to write Nairobbery Cocktail, the idea was to write about the love lives of criminals. I wanted to play with the idea of humanising them. What ended up happening was the book becoming more of a crime novel than a romance. I’m still surprised.

Iris Mwanza is a Zambian American author whose debut novel, The Lions’ Den, is a legal thriller based on a case where a fierce young, lawyer Grace Zulu is defending a queer teenager  charged with crimes against the order of nature (the Zambian law criminalizing same-sex relations). When Bessy disappears from police custody, Grace’s case becomes a larger quest for justice, and she must confront larger forces – the legal system, government, corruption, religion and the societal norms that allow and enable discrimination and human rights abuses. It was a stand-out debut, and I'm looking forward to more novels from her.

Iris, human nature is pretty much the same everywhere, but culture will affect character, behavior, aspirations, and motives. How central is this in your work? Do you feel constrained by social attitudes whether self-imposed or legal?

Iris Mwanza: I live in the US where I’m experiencing in real time what happens when legal protection, justice and social norms around equality, fairness and basic decency are under attack. It’s terrible and frightening to live through; however, I feel that the work of a writer is to explore the dark interiors of characters in ways that can explain and expose how these things happen. In my novel, the lead character Grace is someone with a strong moral compass and sense of justice who takes on corrupt people and systems, but I could also see making the same strong case for social justice through a lead character who was the opposite — immoral and depraved. For me authenticity is the key to unlocking a character and so censorship, especially self-censorship, is furthest from my mind. 

Leye Adenle is no stranger to Murder Is Everywhere, he used to be one of our bloggers until other time demands forced him to drop out. His Amaka thrillers set in Nigeria are all first rate with a powerful sense of place and social themes. In his latest book, Unfinished Business, Amaka is in London when one of the sex workers she tries to protect sends her a distress call from Lagos. The young lady has witnessed a high-profile double murder, and she has gone into hiding. Amaka must return to Lagos to rescue her before the assassins, their bosses, and the police find her friend.

Leye, how much does setting drive your stories? Could you imagine setting your books anywhere else?

Leye Adenle: Considering that I have set my stories in Lagos in Nigeria, on the moon, in various impossible dimensions, in Berlin, and lately in London, I would say that the setting and the story are, for me, sometimes inseparable but, with tiny tweaks, could be made to work anywhere on Earth. In the Amaka thriller series, I set out to write about violence against women, thieving corrupt politicians, and police brutality, but as I’m not American, I decided to set my work in Lagos.

I hope you're now convinced to take the time to enjoy the full discussion. It's right HERE on CrimeReads.

Happy Holidays everyone! See you next year.

Michael.