Q. What is the contemporary literary scene like...?
A. Well, the books are not getting sold. There is no excitement. People are quite despondent, and they don’t know where the work is going. They want to write—actually, a lot of people want to write. But where is this work going to go? Our young writers have trouble getting published by the publishing houses that we have... and so they resort to self-publishing.... But it’s too expensive for the market. There is also the fact that 50 percent of the population is illiterate. They can speak... but they cannot read or write.... And there is a big issue with egos. The old writers are not just the gatekeepers; they have entered and they have shut the gate firmly behind them so no one else can enter.... Another big problem is that when books are launched, it's in a gentrified area, so nobody else knows what is happening.- Aaron Bady interviews Edwige-Renée DRO, in The New Inquiry
(Wait - what? They were talking about the Ivory Coast...?! So sorry. Unexpurgated version here.)
