"This crisis is going to cause young Africans to lose interest in reading and books. They are going to move towards telefilms, videos and cinema. And this tendency worries me," said the Nigerian novelist and playwright in an interview with PANA in Paris.
He also deplored the absence of real cultural policies in African countries.
"The threats related to the crisis find in Africa a breeding ground: the states have no planned cultural strategies in the medium and long terms. We know how to organise festivals and punctual commemorations, but there is nothing sustainable afterwards,"
Mr Soyinka said the financing of cultural policies should not be the sole responsibility of public budgets.
"It is not right to say that there is no money to finance culture. In Africa, we cannot raise funds where they exist. I think we must learn from the Americans who recruit people exclusively to raise funds subject to commissions that are paid to them," he suggested.
Wole Soyinka said he was nevertheless confident in the future of African literat ure.
"African literature has had its days of glory thanks to personalities such as Al ioune Diop, the founder of 'Présence Africaine', a publishing house. For me, very talented young writers have taken over. But the environment becomes increasingly unfavourable with the crisis."
Aged 75, Wole Soyinka was the first African and first black writer to be awarded in 1986 the Nobel Prize for Literature. He is the author of about 20 novels and plays translated into several languages.
Paris - 17/11/2009
Pana
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