GENDER AND CREATIVITY: THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF NIGERIAN FEMALE WRITERS (Published)
Argument on the eroding creative prowess among Nigerian writers of the contemporary period has been rift in recent writing of Charles Nnolim. The basic tenet of his argument is that the “fleshly school” of writers focuses on women, wine, club and fun and therefore “lacks fiery, vituperative and caustic commitment of the older generation”. The ideological trust of this research opposes this view. Available evidences in the last two decades reveal that literary creativity has received a boast in the hands of Nigerian female writers whose thematic pre-occupation centered on gender theories and gender-related issues. Nigerian writers like Zulu Sofola, Tess Onwueme, Irene Salami-Agunloye, Tracie Chima Uto-Ezeajugh, Julie Okoh, Chimamanda Adichie , to mention but a few have established themselves as creative genius, winning National and International Awards. Presently, gender equality has assumed a central stage in the world political and literary scene, it is therefore unfair to regard such huge creative output as “trivialities” simply because they address issues that affect mostly women. This paper seeks to evaluate the contributions of these women to the growth of world literature in general and Nigerian creative writings in particular and concludes that the corpus of works by most of these writers is great works of arts in all ramifications.
Keywords: Creativity, Female, Gender, Nigerian, Writers