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Does anybody read Hausa books?

Started by Fateez, July 12, 2009, 07:06:40 PM

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Fateez



I'm not talking about Magana Jari ce or Ilya dan Maikarfi. But those small 50 - 100 Naira books you find with the picture

of a woman in front (usually tayi tagumi kamar abun duniya ya ishe ta) also known as Littitaffan soyayya (Hehe!)

I recently discovered that we have amazing literary talent in the North. (Even though in Kano they face one mighty big

obstacle --> RIDICULOUS CENSORSHIP!) Still, they make me proud by delivering some really good material. I love

how they tackle very important social problems like divorce, domestic violence, rape, teenage marriages and adultery.

But that doesn't make it gloomy though, in fact, they make very good Chick lit.

It all started some years ago when my cousin bought me some really nice books as a present and I fell in love with them

instantly. I haven't read very many so I opened this thread for recommendations of good books and good authors!

Let me begin... I recommend:

Maryam Kabir Mashi
1. Kasaita
2. Menene abin yi?

Kasaita is probably the best Hausa lit. I have read! It's almost like a Hausa fairy tale set in Jos, complete with princes and

palaces and stretch limousines! The only problem is I have only read part 1 and apparently there's part 2 and even 3!!!! *sigh*

I have to hustle to find it now... Menene abin yi is a bit less fairy tail-y but also very interesting. Set in Kano about a

half Camerounian/half Nigerian girl.

Fatima Aminu Baba
1.  Haka ya isa!
2.  Auren Kisan Wuta

Haka ya isa is probably the most tragic/depressing book I have ever read (including Danielle Steel!) totally heart wrenching I

couldn't even read the part 2! But it's a very, very interesting story set in 1960s - ish *can't remember now, it's been a few years*

but it's really worth the read. It has a lot of wasan dandali, gayya and everything that makes grandma's stories so interesting..

good vintage Hausa stuff! Auren Kisan Wuta is a more fun and upbeat book but it has its serious side - hence the title. A must read!


Sadiya Yakasai
1.  Kawaici

Another good one. Very nice story about d'iyar Liman and an arranged marriage.

Like I said, I haven't read very many and I'm really looking forward to suggestions and reviews from those that have. :) :)

:)
"Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect."    ~ Mark Twain


gogannaka

Fateez kenan, you really love reading.
That is good,a culture that is fast vanishing.

When we were in secondary school a friend of ours used to read littatafan soyayya to us whenever a teacher wasn't around.
I really cannot remember their names now but i know we really enjoyed them that time.
Sometimes also,when there is no light(there's hardly light anyway) i tune into the radio and i find radio kaduna reading out those sort of books. I don't also know the name of the program and the time but i know that whenever i come across it i enjoy it. The woman that reads the books is also very good at it. I would appreciate if anyone gets me the program and timing.

I have a friend who is an author by name Nazir dakata. He was once the secretary to ANA Kano chapter. A very intelligent fella as he always taught me calculus. Whenever we are together with him he answers like a thousand calls from his fans. Sometimes he has to switch off his phone when we are studying. His books are really nice.

Being with him has really played a role in changing the way i see the hausa authors and novels.

I will get in touch with him and post some of his books.
Surely after suffering comes enjoyment

bakangizo

Fateez, if you go through some of the books, you will realise that the Censorship is not ridiculous. It is actually necessary. Some of them can be quite stupid. Still, there are talented authors there with quite excellent novels. Bashir Tofa 9the former Presidential Candidate) had just wrote some books, which were launched a few weeks back. Try get them if you can. I'm sure they will be nice.

Well, I just bought Sauna Jac and Tatsuniyoyi da Wassanni two days ago. ;D

Muhsin

Assalamu alaikum,

That reminds me of my days in Murtala Muhammad hospital. LOL ;D I read these books religiously. But now...I can't do that any more. The books published these days are mostly scraps--worse than ever. I barely enjoyed reading one when one lecturer at Dept. of Nigerian Languages, BUK, gave us an assignment to research on 50 of them. My God! I simply ran to the group I know have experts on reading these stuff, i.e. the group which comprises women. And luckily enough there was even a writer of these amongst them.

And regarding actions of Censorship; to me what they are doing is simply justifiable. They should continue, yes!
Get to know [and remember] Allah in prosperity & He will know  [and remember] you in adversity.

amira

Quote from: Fateez on July 12, 2009, 07:06:40 PM


Maryam Kabir Mashi
1. Kasaita
2. Menene abin yi?

Kasaita is probably the best Hausa lit. I have read! It's almost like a Hausa fairy tale set in Jos, complete with princes and

palaces and stretch limousines! The only problem is I have only read part 1 and apparently there's part 2 and even 3!!!! *sigh*

I have to hustle to find it now...
:)


Fateeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeez, i feel you, ive read Kasaita 1,2 and 3 Yasmin and her yarima faisal it was real gud ive read it like over and over again, ps ma hausa improved lol.

i gotta tell you to read another one which was sooooooooooo good its by habiba abubakar imam ikara, its called ina mafita it has 4 parts and its worth reading and Hajaj Husnaa your name was used here and she was the main charecter, she faced many hardships. A SAD story, although in the end it becomes bright ;D.
When i went on holiday thats was wen i was introduced to theses books, i dnt even read hausa books cos i aint good at trying to pronouce some words or even know their meanings, but its helped me with ma language so its good.
And the third that i read was called Hasashe but i cant remember the writer though, but it was ok.
*Each day is definately defining me and finding me*

Muhsin

@Amira,

You read these stuff? Wonder.
But its fine since they help you improve your language skills.
Get to know [and remember] Allah in prosperity & He will know  [and remember] you in adversity.

Fateez

#6
Quote from: gogannaka on July 14, 2009, 09:38:09 AM
Fateez kenan, you really love reading.
That is good,a culture that is fast vanishing.

When we were in secondary school a friend of ours used to read littatafan soyayya to us whenever a teacher wasn't around.
I really cannot remember their names now but i know we really enjoyed them that time.
Sometimes also,when there is no light(there's hardly light anyway) i tune into the radio and i find radio kaduna reading out those sort of books. I don't also know the name of the program and the time but i know that whenever i come across it i enjoy it. The woman that reads the books is also very good at it. I would appreciate if anyone gets me the program and timing.

I have a friend who is an author by name Nazir dakata. He was once the secretary to ANA Kano chapter. A very intelligent fella as he always taught me calculus. Whenever we are together with him he answers like a thousand calls from his fans. Sometimes he has to switch off his phone when we are studying. His books are really nice.

Being with him has really played a role in changing the way i see the hausa authors and novels.

I will get in touch with him and post some of his books.



Hehe, thanks Gogannaka. Yup, we holding on tight to reading! It's not going anywhere  8)  8). Hehe,

you're actually in the loop with one of the writers! That's great. Maybe you could convince him to post

up samples of chapters as .pdf on the downloads section of Kanoonline. Wouldn't that be good if we

can have excerpts from books? Maybe even get them on Kanoonline to give us their opinion on what

they're going through at the moment.


Quote from: Bakan~Gizo on July 16, 2009, 04:57:01 PM
Fateez, if you go through some of the books, you will realise that the Censorship is not ridiculous. It is actually necessary. Some of them can be quite stupid. Still, there are talented authors there with quite excellent novels. Bashir Tofa 9the former Presidential Candidate) had just wrote some books, which were launched a few weeks back. Try get them if you can. I'm sure they will be nice.

Well, I just bought Sauna Jac and Tatsuniyoyi da Wassanni two days ago. ;D

Hehe, hello Bakangizo. I think we're not going to agree on the censorship issue in a long time, however, I do

respect the fact that everyone's entitled to their own views so no hard feelings. I've given a lengthy explanation

on "The future of literature in northern nigeria".Anyways...

The books by Bashir Tofa:

Amarzadan a Birnin Aljanu

Amarzadan da Zoben Farsiyas

Kimiyyar Sararin Samaniya

Tunaninka Kamanninka

Kimiyya da Al'ajaban Al-Qur'ani

Gajerun Labarai

Mu Sha Dariya

Rayuwa Bayan Mutuwa


I am very impressed that he is a published writer, I hope many more people take after him.
"Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect."    ~ Mark Twain


Fateez

Quote from: amira on July 20, 2009, 01:57:33 AM
Quote from: Fateez on July 12, 2009, 07:06:40 PM


Maryam Kabir Mashi
1. Kasaita
2. Menene abin yi?

Kasaita is probably the best Hausa lit. I have read! It's almost like a Hausa fairy tale set in Jos, complete with princes and

palaces and stretch limousines! The only problem is I have only read part 1 and apparently there's part 2 and even 3!!!! *sigh*

I have to hustle to find it now...
:)


Fateeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeez, i feel you, ive read Kasaita 1,2 and 3 Yasmin and her yarima faisal it was real gud ive read it like over and over again, ps ma hausa improved lol.

i gotta tell you to read another one which was sooooooooooo good its by habiba abubakar imam ikara, its called ina mafita it has 4 parts and its worth reading and Hajaj Husnaa your name was used here and she was the main charecter, she faced many hardships. A SAD story, although in the end it becomes bright ;D.
When i went on holiday thats was wen i was introduced to theses books, i dnt even read hausa books cos i aint good at trying to pronouce some words or even know their meanings, but its helped me with ma language so its good.
And the third that i read was called Hasashe but i cant remember the writer though, but it was ok.


Amira! (You know I had to give you a special post!  :D) Yessss! I finally got my cousin to hustle and find me

the sequels but she could only find part 3 :( So now I'm stuck with Part 1 and Part 3 :( :( I'm tempted to read

to part 3 just to see what happens but I want the whole story too. *sigh* That book was lovely! I agree that

these books help improve vocabulary. It was the same for me with Hausa movies. You hear so many Karin

Magana it's hard not to start using them yourself :)

I've heard about ina mafita, but I thought it will be too depressing... maybe I can't handle it. These days I tend to

go for simple light hearted books. But since you've recommended it I'll be on the lookout :)

So glad you read them too. We should start a book club!
"Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect."    ~ Mark Twain


gogannaka

@ fateez.
I will get to invite the author to be posting excerpts from his books so that they can be reviewed.

I have read Bashir Tofa's 'Mu sha Dariya' and it was awesome.
Unfortunately i gave our home copy to someone and it never came out.
I have been on the lookout since for it. Do you have one?
The first one was the best...i remember on joke about one 'Goje gwani' who was a hero that would pick up a piece of cloth on the ground with his teeth while riding a horse.
Announcer yana ta 'koda' goje gwani.In the end dai goje gwani ya nuna bajinta. Announcer ya ce: 'to jama'a yanzu dai goje gwani zai sakko daga kan dokin shi,ya taka da kafar shi ya je ya debo ragowar hakoran shi da suka zube'....lol
i alway laugh when i remember this joke.

I need to get this book.
Surely after suffering comes enjoyment

Dan-Borno

GGNK i have the full pack, but i havent read even the back
covers.  may be after the ramadan i will go through them.
"My mama always used to tell me: 'If you can't find somethin' to live for, you best find somethin' to die for" - Tupak

bakangizo

Nice. Very nice to see ppl interested in hausa books.

anuwar

Asalam
     Some times i like to read the hausa novels but the problems shi ne must of the hausa books which peoples call kano market literature are not showing the hausa culture their main aim is love and violence and that is not what hausa culture is base on. :o

Muhsin

Salam,

Welcome aboard, anuwar. Hope you'll keep coming for there are interesting stuff as you might have noticed.

You said nothing but truth.  8)
Get to know [and remember] Allah in prosperity & He will know  [and remember] you in adversity.

gogannaka

We always talk about Hausa culture hausa culture.
How is the Hausa culture like in relation to the 'love and violence' depicted in the movies.

Sorry to say but the real hausa culture only exist in the gidan makama museum and the hawan sallah durbar.
All our lifestyle is a copy of other cultures.

Kuma wai isn't there a writing category titled 'FICTION'. What is wrong if the authors write in their own kind of culture?
Surely after suffering comes enjoyment

bakangizo

How can you say this? You mean we dont have a culture? Well, it is the first time I'm hearing this. And assuming we "don't have a culture", so anything goes for us? We should embrace anything? Haba mallam.