Boys, Girls, and Beasts is due to be released from Masobe Books on Nov. 15, 2024. Fahimta Literary Discourse had a one-on-one conversation with Nathaniel Bivan…

FLD: Your background is rooted in solutions and conflict journalism. How did these experiences influence the creation of Boys, Girls and Beasts?
NB: This is a great question, and I must admit, one that I have looked forward to responding to. I worked with Daily Trust Newspaper for almost a decade, until early 2021. Within this period, I saw how Boko Haram grew to become a deadly force to reckon with, and then banditry followed. A lot had happened within this period—By 2014, the Chibok girls had been kidnapped and many Nigerians had been displaced in the Northeast. In 2018, I was so disturbed by the trend that I wondered what it would be like for a terrorist to seek redemption despite the atrocities he has committed. That led to the creation of my major character, Jaka. By 2021, when I became a features editor at HumAngle Media, a newsroom focusing on humanitarian and conflict reportage, I was sufficiently fired up as I wrote draft after draft of the manuscript. Between 2021 and 2022, chasing stories, I have travelled to Jos, Niger, Kaduna and Borno states, where violent conflict has rendered many homeless. Worthy of note, though, is that while I sought solutions amid all the conflict, all these experiences became fodder for Boys, Girls, and Beasts.
FLD: In Boys, Girls and Beasts, you focus on the life of a child rebel. What motivated you to explore this theme, and how did you approach the emotional complexities from a child’s perspective in such a harsh reality?
NB: Like I said, I was disturbed by what was happening in my country and the north in particular, a region I grew up in and that has shaped me into who I am today. In 2022, after interviewing more than a hundred people—I actually interviewed up to fifty for The Polarised City alone, a series set in Jos—in over twelve months, I struggled with PTSD. These were people who had either survived from gunshot wounds or lost loved ones to terrorists or ethnoreligious conflict. Again, I was curious about the prospect of redemption for someone who drew blood, brought destruction and served death to others in its darkest form.
I have interviewed many children in my line of work. One case scenario was in Maiduguri where I interviewed some in a displaced persons camp. You could see their innocence, their shyness or timidity when being interviewed. But then, sometimes you notice their boldness and determination to tell their story the best way they could. Jaka is no different—he was only a boy when he lost his entire family. But like every human, our experiences could either betray our innocence or bring out the darkest part of us. In Jaka, the two played out. But he’s was different because there was something else that possessed him, something inhuman that was beyond his control. So, it took a willingness on my part to think like a child who has lost everything and at the same time try to discover what it is like to be overtaken by another spirit, in this case, one that could literally transform you.
FLD: Can you share some of the research or personal experiences that informed the depiction of conflict and survival in the novel?
NB: A large part of what is in my book was influenced by actual events, news reports and rumours that were never substantiated. What I did was to take the raw material and ask the question, what if? A major part of my research work was interviewing Hamza Idris, an editor in Daily Trust. I’m not sure I had even actively started writing the novel by then. I was interviewing him for another project and he shared his experience reporting the Boko Haram conflict for several years in Maiduguri. He shared some of their beliefs and ideology with me, something you may not find in any news report, and that blew me away. So, when I started work on BGB, I knew that I wanted to create a terrorist rebel group that planned to take over the earth in the most bizarre fashion imaginable—their plan, among others, was to replicate their kind by impregnating women and girls they called vessels. About my personal experience, I would say as a believer in redemption for mankind through Jesus Christ, I was intrigued by the prospect of redemption for bloodthirsty killers, just like Nigeria’s Operation Safe Corridor programme which seeks to rehabilitate and re-integrate ex-terrorists.
FLD: The title Boys, Girls and Beasts is striking. What’s the significance behind it, and how does it reflect the central themes of the novel?
NB: It’s simple: boys become foot soldiers in a bloodthirsty rebel group with mystical powers, and women and girls become tools of reproduction as well as bomb carriers. This, in itself, is a summary of the chaos in the story.
FLD: MASOBE Publishers is known for supporting fresh and bold voices. How has your partnership with them influenced the development of your debut novel?
NB: The partnership is everything. Their decision to acquire the rights to my novel is a blessing. Without them, the book would still have been released, but it would not be what you see today. I think the book cover design alone speaks to that question because so much work went into it.
FLD: What challenges did you face in balancing your career as a journalist, and working on your debut novel?
NB: I started writing this novel in 2018 while still a reporter before I became an editor at Daily Trust. Most times I wrote first thing in the morning before I set out to the office or the field. At other times, I arrived at the office early and put in the work before my colleagues showed up. I did the same after I had cleared my desk in the evenings. I would stay a little bit longer writing. It wasn’t easy. There were pending assignments and features to write, stories to edit and news trends to follow, but I didn’t have a choice. I have always wanted to be a novelist above almost everything else. This meant I needed to put in the work, and I did.
FLD: Your work as a journalist focuses on solutions to conflict. How do you think storytelling in fiction, like Boys, Girls and Beasts, can contribute to the larger conversation about conflict resolution, especially with the recent developments going on around the world?
NB: I think it can contribute to the conversation a whole lot. If I didn’t think so, I wouldn’t waste my time writing Jaka’s story. While I believe strongly in excellent storytelling that grabs readers by the throat, I also belong to the school of thought that my work should count for something in shaping the discourse around a particular subject, and in this case, it is terrorism the world over with West Africa in focus and Nigeria in particular. Terrorists don’t kidnap boys and hold them for fun. They need to groom their next generation. The same terrorists don’t also have sex with girls they abduct just for pleasure, there is a strong belief in the reproduction of their kind. After all, sex is beyond physical, it is spiritual, but I stand to be corrected.
Then there is also the political will to end the conflict. I’ll never forget the report of how, in the early hours of October 31, 2020, the United State’s Navy SEALS rescued an American hostage and killed six of his seven captors in northern Nigeria. Imagine, an entire mission to rescue one person, and it was a success, while the Nigerian government leaves Leah Sharibu and many others in the hands of terrorists and bandits for months and years.
FLD: What do you hope readers will take away from the portrayal of survival, resilience, and conflict through the eyes of a child in your book?
NB: A couple of things, really—one, there’s always a back story that shapes who we become, and also the fact that everyone has a shot at redemption, no matter how dark their past is.
FLD: With this novel as your entry into fiction, how do you envision the role of storytelling in advocating for change in society, particularly in regions affected by conflict?
NB: I have been writing fiction since 2003 while I was still an undergraduate. I self-published my first work, a novella titled The World Has Eyes in 2011. Then Flower Blind, a children’s storybook in 2018. I have also published a few stories on some platforms. I really would not like to despise my days of small beginnings, as it is written in the Bible’s Zechariah 4:10, but rather, embrace them. I must, however, acknowledge that my debut novel does seal my arrival as a fiction writer, particularly in the realm of speculative fiction.
Stories, particularly fiction are one of the highest forms of activism as far as I am concerned. You can’t easily kill a story. Different accounts, for example, of an event in history, be it told via fiction or nonfiction, contribute to the amount of information available for effective understanding of any particular incident. It’s like a report where, in order to balance a story, all sides need to be featured and their voices heard so it can attain a certain level of objectivity. It’s the same in storytelling. Everyone is free to write from where they stand, and in that way, we enjoy a more rounded perspective on the subject. So, the more the merrier.
FLD: Looking forward, do you see yourself continuing to explore themes of conflict and survival in your future writing, or are there other areas you’re eager to delve into?
NB: Like Helon Habila once told me in a conversation years ago when I asked about his next work, I don’t want to jinx it. But…I’m not done with this realm yet.
FLD: Thank you for your time.
NB: You’re welcome.