Ba’bila Mutia: Author Whose Dreams Always Come True
Ba’bila Mutia is an award-winning Cameroonian author, poet, and playwright. He holds an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Windsor, Canada. His short stories and poetry have been featured in anthologies and reviews worldwide. He is the author of Whose Land? (Longman children’s fiction); “Rain” (short story) in A Window on Africa; “The Miracle” (short story) in The Heinemann Book of Contemporary African Short Stories; “The Spirit Machine” (short story) in The Spirit Machine and Other New Short Stories from Cameroon and Coils of Mortal Flesh (poetry). In 1993, Mutia was a guest of the Berlin Academy of Arts for an international short story reading. In September 2011, Mutia’s play, The Road to Goma, was among six winners of the African Playwriting Project sponsored by the London National Theatre Studio where excerpts of his play were staged by professional actors. He has lived in Lagos and Benin City (Nigeria), Windsor and Halifax (Canada). He currently resides in Yaoundé, Cameroon where he is professor of African literature and creative writing at the École Normale Supérieure.
In 2016, Spears Media Press published Mutia’s novel, The Journey’s End in paperback. Described as a “classic” by Kehbuma Langmia, the novel reveals Mutia’s “creative and imaginative genius”. One of our editors was honoured to interview Professor Mutia for our March edition of author spotlight. We’re also pleased to announce the publication of this classic in Kindle format.
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SPM: When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
BM: I realized my ability to create stories from my imagination when I was in secondary school, Form 3.
SPM: How long did it take you to write your novel, The Journey’s End?
BM: The Journey’s End took 6 years to write because of a protracted writer’s block that prevented me from finishing the novel, particularly the last six chapters.
SPM: What events or experiences inspired your writing of The Journey’s End?
BM: The corruption and the tedious life in Cameroon that pensioners have to endure when they retire. Most of the events in the novel are real. The actual descriptions of Obili, the Ministry of Finance, Anguisa, the Public Service, Bastos, etc. are all real. The original title of the novel was The Cripple of Anguisa.
SPM: What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
BM: I like walking. Every Saturday, I walk for about 14 km. I also like walking along the beach and listening to the sound of the waves.
SPM: What does your family think of your writing?
BM: They think it’s great. They are avid readers of my stories. My last child (a boy of 15) has my genes. He is writing a story— The Cat that Spoke for 5 Minutes.
SPM: Who’s your favourite African writer?
BM: Cyprian Ekwensi.
SPM: What is your favourite childhood book?
BM: Aladdin and the Magic Lamp
SPM: What advice do you have for aspiring young African writers?
BM: They should first read the books of the older writers, then read those of the young writers.
SPM: Do you hear from your readers much? What kinds of things do they say?
BM: Yes, I hear from my readers. People from my country are of the view that the events in the novel are real. Most are shocked by the corruption. Others are shaken by the way the pensioner dies. Two critics are enthralled by the depiction of the events in the novel and realism of life in my country.
SPM: How many books have you written? Which is your favorite?
BM: I have written four books: The Journey’s End (a novel); Before This Time, Yesterday (a play); Coils of Mortal Flesh, (a collection of poetry); and Whose Land? (an environmental novel for children). My favorite is The Journey’s End.
SPM: Tell us one last thing readers don’t know about you.
BM: That I am a concentrated dreamer and some of my stories come from my dreams; and that my dreams always come true.
