Novel reading is increasing Tanzanian youth but few Tanzanians choose writing as their career. It may pay well if you write your story book and have it published. This is just an inspiration to writers.
I agree with you beyond reasonable doubt that
reading among Tanzanian youth has increased in the past few years. Now, whether this is attributed to the emergence of a knowledge-thirst generation or that reading is simply sexy, I am yet to know.
As a minor part in fostering community building in ''urban'' Dar es Salaam we (an independent group) conducted a small survey early this year on reading preferences among individuals. Here is a summary of what we found out.
Children books - 9%
Graphics novels - 19%
Personal development - 21%
Romantic novels - 14%
Science (general) - 12%
Short stories - 3%
Text books - 22%
Well, the sample was small and from one area of the city. In addition, the genres used in the survey were generalized for simplicity with criticism that could go either direction.The survey did not count for newspaper or magazine reading which can also be argued either way (but for the sake of the survey, books were more appealing).
Results: We knew that most Tanzanians read books assigned to them by instructors so there goes the high numbers in text books. Personal development, I personally relate this to university students and mothers.Why?Well, I would absentmindedly refer to the large numbers of students that have read Ben Carson's works and an even larger group of mothers reading nutrition and parenting books. Again, this is a very small sample that I worked with.
But what surprised me is the percentage of people reading graphics novels. Still can't explain this one but I guess more pictures and less words do the trick. Short stories?I had expected more from this but as it turns out, Tanzanians are full of surprises.
So, should Tanzanians write more?Hell yeah!But an even more important question is what Tanzanians should write to earn a living and make a difference. I guess further research is in order (and I mean statistically).