On 29 March 2020, Roxane Gay officially announced the first three forthcoming titles from Roxane Gay Books. In this list is ‘And Then He Sang a Lullaby’, the debut novel of 22-year-old Nigerian writer and queer activist, Ani Kayode Somtochukwu.
Born in Enugu State Nigeria, Ani holds a degree in applied biology and biotechnology from Enugu State Science of Science and Technology. He is also the founder of the Queer Union For Economic and Social Transformation – a coalition fighting to end the economic and social oppression of queer people in Nigeria.
Ani’s And Then He Sang a Lullaby is described as a passionate story about two young men who may have too far a distance to bridge to find their way to one another but he says the novel did not start out this way.
“I came up with the idea for my novel while interning as a medical laboratory assistant in a hospital in Port Harcourt. One day a baby was born. They were small, pale, and looked so fragile. The nurses could not find a vein to take blood for tests so they came to call the head of the laboratory department. He brought me with him so I could observe and that was the first time the idea of August, one of the protagonists came to me. I started writing when I got home from work that day about August, and his struggle to exist as his own person. The more I wrote, the more the novel became about more than just August. It blossomed into a novel that centered the love of two men in a Nigerian university.”
Ani describes his novel as “a love story but not a romance novel”.
“Although the love between the protagonists is central to their growth, character development, and their analysis of the world. Their story is also about much more than love. It is about class conflict, state violence, and the different ways people experience the world when they are from a certain class, or express their gender in certain ways. It is about queer resistance and defiance.” He adds.
Queer Nigerians wondering if the price of defiance is worth it might find answers in this story. “How do you remain defiant as a queer person in a country like Nigeria where mere existence is a battle? I wanted to explore this question, to explore the life that makes people wake up every day and choose themselves above all else, even above the marginal safety that the closet might promise.” Ani explains.
The writing process was not an easy one for Ani. The general misconception about queerness and queerphobic laws made it challenging to tell a love story between two men in Nigeria.
“I received little to no moral support while writing my book. While I was in Port Harcourt, one of my uncles threatened to strip me naked and beat me in public with a matchet because I was openly queer. My aunt who I was staying with during my internship was also trying to convince me to seek conversion therapy. I didn’t want to discuss the book or its progress with people who could not stomach the thought that two men could fall in love and believe in the permanence of their love.”
Skepticism came even from people who knew and respected Ani’s sexual orientation.
“Some of my friends did not think the story made sense as my first book. They thought I needed something more “commercial”, something that Nigerian publishers could sell easily. I understood their arguments but these were not the kind of stories I wanted to tell. My stories never focused on non queer protagonists, my work was unapologetically queer and unapologetically ideological and I was willing to write this novel even if it never got published. I believed in it that much.”
Ani also cites financial challenges as something he had to deal with while writing. “Writing while poor and without resources, is such a draining experience. I was an unpaid intern, I did not own a laptop and I had no access to the internet while writing the first draft and that was a huge setback. The first draft of the novel was handwritten in an 80 leaves notebook. There were many times I wrote gibberish as placeholders with the understanding that when I could, I would check online for whatever information should have been there. There are some details that might seem minute but when you can’t easily do a fact check on Google and continue your writing, it throws you off.
“After writing in my notebook, I had to do most of the typing on my phone because giving it to typists cost seventy naira (₦70) a page and I did not have that money. It was such tedious work. I sometimes think back and marvel at the fact that I never thought of abandoning my story. Not once.”
In And Then He Sang a Lullaby, Ani dreams of a world where people believe in their humanity even under the imposition of poverty and oppression.
“I want people to leave this book with more understanding of what drives people to resist. I want them to see the hope behind revolutionary politics and belief in the triumph of the oppressed. It can sound very ideological and abstract but it is just about believing in your own eventual happiness. It is about finally winning a world where your community is safe, where you are able to take yourself as a given.”
Given the background of the book and what it took to write it, Ani is also glad that Roxane Gay is publishing it. First-time authors often have no editorial control over what actually happens to their book because they have no power, no brand name, and need to get published above all else, but Ani says he had no cause to worry.
“I have known about Roxane and her work for a while and I knew she was the type of person I wanted as a publisher. When I submitted my story to her, I did not have an agent yet. My manuscript had not won the James Currey Prize for African Literature yet nor had it been profiled anywhere. I just believed my book would be safe with her. That it would not be sanitized. That there would be no push to make it more “commercial” that she would publish MY book and that she would be appreciative of what I put into writing it.”
“It means a lot to me to have an editor committed to the same vision for my book as I am; who understands my book as a love story that speaks to class antagonisms and its intersection with queer resistance and our morality as a society.” He adds.
And Then He Sang a Lullaby will be released in June 2023, and we can’t wait to read it.
