Chisom Okafor on Writers Focus.
Chisom Okafor let's us in on his journey through writing.
He chats with Francisca Ogechi Okwulehie on the way forward and positive steps being taken to improve the Writing industry in Nigeria.
FOO: Tell us about yourself.( Name, Schools attended, Family etc)
CO: My name is Chisom Okafor. I’m 26, second offspring out of four. I was born (and grew up) in Enugu, a quiet town in South Eastern Nigeria. I attended the University of Nigeria Primary School Enugu Campus, Cyrich International School, Konigin Des Friedens College, and University of Nigeria, Nsukka where I studied Human Nutrition and Dietetics and graduated in 2016. I’ve worked in Lagos State for 2 years afterwards (spent a year in Yaba and the other year in Lekki) and I’m presently a Dietetic intern at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Ituku-Ozalla, Enugu.
FOO: How did you get into Writing?
CO: Back then, my brother would borrow up to 3 books on Fridays from his school library and that, I think, led me into the world of books and reading and writing. I remember reading Cyprain Ekwensi’s Juju Rock and An African Night’s Entertainment, and how I was deeply moved by these beautiful narratives, and then a lot of books by Nigerian authors writing in English and Igbo, and then came the abridged versions of Gulliver’s Travels, Treasure Island, Oliver Twist, Tom Sawyer, and so on. Then I’d write a sequel to any book I felt had an inadequate ending and would make my classmates read what I had written (hahaha). However, poetry first discovered me in Junior Secondary School and then later established her present when I joined this beautiful league of writers at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in my Second Year, called The Writers’ Community. There, I started writing seriously, heavily influenced by how these young writers (though inexperienced then) approached writing, as though it were a prayer. There, I met Adaeze Nwadike (2016 Nigerian Students’ Poetry Prize Finalist and 2015 Babishai Niwe Poetry Award Finalist), Otosirieze Obi-Young (now Deputy Editor at Brittle Paper and among the judges of 2019 Miles Morland Writing Scholarship and Gerald Kraak Prize), Ebenezer Agu (poet, essayist and editor at 20.35 Africa Anthology), Arinze Ifeakandu (2017 Caine Prize finalist), Prince Jacon (Visual Artist, and editor at 20.35 Africa), Michael Umoh (prose writer and finalist for the 2017 Nigerian Flash Fiction Contest by AMAB Books), Benson David (poet and editor at 20.35 Africa), Uzoma Ihejirika (finalist for 2018 ACT Award), Muna Chinedu (finalist for 2018 Babishai Niwe Poetry Award), Oluchukwu Ifechukwu (poet and essayist), Igboanugo Stanley, Chidimma Nnamani and many others. So, on Saturdays, we came with our works to the community and shared, read and workshopped. The truth is that without them, writing would never have come to me in the way that it did, or become what it is to me now, in this particularly remarkable way.
FOO: Who are your Favourite Authors?
CO: Hmmmm...I try hard not to have ‘favourites’ because the list is always flawed, which means that I may not be able to remember all, although John Greene is amazing and I think Louise Glück is way more than phenomenal and her work are intensely audacious and always come shrouded in a delicate urgency (whoever starts a poem with: At the end of my suffering/ there was a door/ hear me out: that which you call death/ I remember). I admire a whole lot of writers so much that I find it extremely difficult to pick a few and call them ‘favourites’. I’m like a true fisherman, I test all waters (haha). I also think that there are many young Nigerian writers that are doing just fine.
FOO: Do you have published work(s)/ articles? ( Where can they be found?)
CO: I don’t have a full length or chapbook out yet, I’m finishing up my debut collection, but my poems appear or are forthcoming in Praire Schooner, Rattle, The Indian Journal of Literature and Aesthetics, Palette Poetry, EXPOUND, Brittle Paper, Kikwetu, The Rising Phoenix, The Single Story Foundation Journal, Jalada (After Life Anthology), Praxis (International Women’s Day Anthology for 2017), Ake Review, The Gerald Kraak Anthology for 2019 (The Heart of the Matter) and Sentinel Literary Literary Quarterly. Brittle Paper included two of my poems in their 101 Notable Pieces of 2018 and one other on the 2018 Brittle Paper Award shortlist for poetry (I mentioned them because the links to the poems are available on their website).
FOO: What is the most fascinating thing about writing?
CO: Well, an older, more established poet once said this: poetry isn’t the answer to everything, but there’s a time when a poem is needed. And when it is needed, it is the only thing that is needed and the only thing that will work.’ I think this is completely true, and that at this point, I mean at the point where the need for words, for introspection, for a prayer, intersects with language itself (though it may be inadequate), there true poetry lies. ‘On any path that may have heart,’ wrote Carlos Castaneda, ‘there I travel.’ And this is what leaves me spellbound after reading a beautiful poem or after writing one: the realization that this profound work of art which may have taken many hours or days (or weeks) to come into life, could seize me for ages and refuse to let go, that it could possess aesthetic, nostalgic and therapeutic effects all at the same time. The fact that when poetry is needed, it is the only thing that is needed and the only thing that works. I talk about this genre here because it has, for a couple of years, been a space that claimed me completely. Each poem is to me, like rebirth, like a new name, represents a new currency of personhood. And then it endures, there is something fascinating, you know, about the possibility of living on after one’s own death. Works of art allow for this.
FOO: Do you have writing Mentors?
CO: Haha. I laughed because each time I think of ‘mentor’, I think of Kwame Dawes. After we met at the 2018 Lagos International Poetry Festival, I sent him an email, requesting to participate in his haiku challenge. This was to mark the beginning of about a hundred days of consistent correspondence and then many more days afterwards. It amazes me how someone regarded as the busiest man in literature, could still pay attention to even the least significant of details (he laughed when I pointed that out). With ‘Father’ Dawes, each of Bob Marley’s songs took on a different life (especially Redemption Song and of course, No Woman No Cry), Bob Dylan and Harry Belafonte became more than just songwriters. With Kwame Dawes, possibilities are boundless and I can’t imagine him slowing down anytime soon.
FOO: Is there anything the Writing industry can do to get better?
CO: Do you mean in Nigeria? I think we need more serious outlets for writers. We need more and more institutions. For instance, the folks at Brittle Paper are doing an amazing job, giving young writers the much needed visibility (the annual Brittle Paper Awards, for instance, which began in 2017). So are outlets like EXPOUND and Praxis. So are initiatives like 20.35 Africa: An Anthology of Contemporary Poetry, curated by Ebenezer Agu, Benson David, Gbenga Adeoba (2018 Brunnel International African Prize Finalist and winner of the 2019 Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets), Osinachi Prince Jacon and myself. Poets in Nigeria (PIN) should be commended too. There are literary societies like the ones in Enugu, Lagos, Minna, Port Harcourt, etc that meet about twice monthly. We also have the Lagos International Poetry Festival, Ake Arts and Book Festival, Festival Poetry Calabar and recently, Kaduna Book and Arts Festival and Benue Book and Arts Festival. But we’ve barely scratched the surface. You should read Ebenezer Agu’s essay on Brittle Paper titled, ‘After LIPFest and Ake Festival, What Next For the Upcoming Nigerian Poet?’ to understand fully, the point I’m trying to make here, which is: festivals are awesome, but more than just festivals of which younger writers may not even afford to attend (I mean, I had to save for 2 months to be able to attend last year’s Lagos International Poetry Festival), the older, more established poets need to give back in more visible and consistent ways. For instance, Gbenga Adesina taught a masterclass and last year in Lagos and organized a reading alongside Kechi Nomu, which was sponsored and I’m sure he was overwhelmed, as was I, by the attendance, Itiola Jones intends to do same this year, Ogochukwu Ukwueze wants to curate and document published works by the younger generation of Nigerian writers for academic purpose, the Ebedi Writers’ Residency and the PIN Virginrose Residency are beautiful initiatives. So, I think Young Nigerian poets need structures with rigid foundational intent, let’s aim at making real, available and affordable, initiatives like consistent workshops (not just the ones held once in a year during the very few literary festivals that we have here), fellowships and residencies, and programmes capable of affording writers creative spaces and as a result, the visibility that they so desperately need in a turbulent place like Nigeria.
FOO: On a scale of 1-10 what's your fashion?
CO: (inserts ‘laughter again’). ‘4’ probably. Fashion and special effects don’t interest me greatly. I‘m terribly sorry about this.
FOO: Do you have a specific time for writing?
CO: No I don’t. Maybe ‘professional writers’ do and I don’t see myself as one yet. I simply type ideas on my phone anywhere and anytime or use a notepad and then build on them when I have the time. I seek solitude all the time, but then I like to think that introspection is more important and perhaps independent of solitude, so what I do is that I think, observe, approach writing with empathy, conjure metaphors when I’m able to, then add flesh to the ideas later. I’d love to have a defined routine though, but not now. So, I agonize through each poem when I feel I have to, it isn’t such a pleasant experience, though. It’s rather painstaking. But I think that’s why writing is still very beautiful for me, the process of writing each poem, of finding ways to make it work, is like a journey on a long, lonely, rough road with a lot of air and very sharp bends, and I’m curious each time, I want to sweat it out. I want to know more. I want to see what the next detour holds for me (haha).
FOO: What sort/genre of books do you read?
CO: Poetry. I dabble into other genres, from time to time. But right now, I’m reading Chris Abani’s Song For Night, which is a novella (I stumbled upon the book at Ouida Bookstore in Lagos and wondered why I hadn’t seen it earlier on).
FOO: If you were to go on a date with a Writer/Author who would that be and why?
CO: Hahaha...If it were to be a male, then he would probably be Ishion Hutchinson, I’d like us to talk about his book, ‘House of Lords and Commons’ all day and I’d ask him to take me to St. Lucia, to Derek Walcott’s grave so I can pay homage...Haha. Itiola Jones too. She’s excruciatingly brilliant and outrageously down to earth. Her laughter is clean water (she knows what I mean and I hope she doesn’t get to see this...haha). In fact I’m confused now, because I’m also thinking of Ocean Voung and Teju Cole and Jericho Brown and Ilya Kaminsky!
FOO: Do you think Writers should depend on the profits of their writing alone?( What's your opinion on Writer's having a side hustle?)
CO: Well, I think writers should make money from what they love and maybe hustle within the confines of what they love. But in Nigeria, because we don’t yet have a working system for writers, I think finding a day job isn’t a bad idea. So you ask yourself first, ‘what is my motivation? Why do I write? For a start, am I honest with and true to my craft? Am I satisfied with the proceeds from my writing? Does it pay my bills? Most important, do I want it to?’ Personally, I write neither for the money (from prizes or publications) nor to make a living out of it (because nothing was promised to any of us and because doing that would equate inviting pressure upon myself and maybe on my work rate which I try as hard as possible to keep fairly stable). But then, back to the question, though many people may disagree, I still think writers living in Nigeria should get something doing by the side, something soft, something that would still afford them the pleasure of intense reading and writing, until the big break (if there is anything like that) comes.
FOO:If you were to go on a vacation, what will be the five things you take along as a Writer?
CO: A notepad, pen/pencil, a cell phone, a laptop, roasted cashew nuts (this is very important, you know).
FOO: Drop your social media handles so your readers can get in touch with you.
CO: I’m only active on Facebook and to be frank, it’s more than enough distraction already. Here is my
He chats with Francisca Ogechi Okwulehie on the way forward and positive steps being taken to improve the Writing industry in Nigeria.
FOO: Tell us about yourself.( Name, Schools attended, Family etc)
CO: My name is Chisom Okafor. I’m 26, second offspring out of four. I was born (and grew up) in Enugu, a quiet town in South Eastern Nigeria. I attended the University of Nigeria Primary School Enugu Campus, Cyrich International School, Konigin Des Friedens College, and University of Nigeria, Nsukka where I studied Human Nutrition and Dietetics and graduated in 2016. I’ve worked in Lagos State for 2 years afterwards (spent a year in Yaba and the other year in Lekki) and I’m presently a Dietetic intern at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Ituku-Ozalla, Enugu.
FOO: How did you get into Writing?
CO: Back then, my brother would borrow up to 3 books on Fridays from his school library and that, I think, led me into the world of books and reading and writing. I remember reading Cyprain Ekwensi’s Juju Rock and An African Night’s Entertainment, and how I was deeply moved by these beautiful narratives, and then a lot of books by Nigerian authors writing in English and Igbo, and then came the abridged versions of Gulliver’s Travels, Treasure Island, Oliver Twist, Tom Sawyer, and so on. Then I’d write a sequel to any book I felt had an inadequate ending and would make my classmates read what I had written (hahaha). However, poetry first discovered me in Junior Secondary School and then later established her present when I joined this beautiful league of writers at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in my Second Year, called The Writers’ Community. There, I started writing seriously, heavily influenced by how these young writers (though inexperienced then) approached writing, as though it were a prayer. There, I met Adaeze Nwadike (2016 Nigerian Students’ Poetry Prize Finalist and 2015 Babishai Niwe Poetry Award Finalist), Otosirieze Obi-Young (now Deputy Editor at Brittle Paper and among the judges of 2019 Miles Morland Writing Scholarship and Gerald Kraak Prize), Ebenezer Agu (poet, essayist and editor at 20.35 Africa Anthology), Arinze Ifeakandu (2017 Caine Prize finalist), Prince Jacon (Visual Artist, and editor at 20.35 Africa), Michael Umoh (prose writer and finalist for the 2017 Nigerian Flash Fiction Contest by AMAB Books), Benson David (poet and editor at 20.35 Africa), Uzoma Ihejirika (finalist for 2018 ACT Award), Muna Chinedu (finalist for 2018 Babishai Niwe Poetry Award), Oluchukwu Ifechukwu (poet and essayist), Igboanugo Stanley, Chidimma Nnamani and many others. So, on Saturdays, we came with our works to the community and shared, read and workshopped. The truth is that without them, writing would never have come to me in the way that it did, or become what it is to me now, in this particularly remarkable way.
FOO: Who are your Favourite Authors?
CO: Hmmmm...I try hard not to have ‘favourites’ because the list is always flawed, which means that I may not be able to remember all, although John Greene is amazing and I think Louise Glück is way more than phenomenal and her work are intensely audacious and always come shrouded in a delicate urgency (whoever starts a poem with: At the end of my suffering/ there was a door/ hear me out: that which you call death/ I remember). I admire a whole lot of writers so much that I find it extremely difficult to pick a few and call them ‘favourites’. I’m like a true fisherman, I test all waters (haha). I also think that there are many young Nigerian writers that are doing just fine.
FOO: Do you have published work(s)/ articles? ( Where can they be found?)
CO: I don’t have a full length or chapbook out yet, I’m finishing up my debut collection, but my poems appear or are forthcoming in Praire Schooner, Rattle, The Indian Journal of Literature and Aesthetics, Palette Poetry, EXPOUND, Brittle Paper, Kikwetu, The Rising Phoenix, The Single Story Foundation Journal, Jalada (After Life Anthology), Praxis (International Women’s Day Anthology for 2017), Ake Review, The Gerald Kraak Anthology for 2019 (The Heart of the Matter) and Sentinel Literary Literary Quarterly. Brittle Paper included two of my poems in their 101 Notable Pieces of 2018 and one other on the 2018 Brittle Paper Award shortlist for poetry (I mentioned them because the links to the poems are available on their website).
FOO: What is the most fascinating thing about writing?
CO: Well, an older, more established poet once said this: poetry isn’t the answer to everything, but there’s a time when a poem is needed. And when it is needed, it is the only thing that is needed and the only thing that will work.’ I think this is completely true, and that at this point, I mean at the point where the need for words, for introspection, for a prayer, intersects with language itself (though it may be inadequate), there true poetry lies. ‘On any path that may have heart,’ wrote Carlos Castaneda, ‘there I travel.’ And this is what leaves me spellbound after reading a beautiful poem or after writing one: the realization that this profound work of art which may have taken many hours or days (or weeks) to come into life, could seize me for ages and refuse to let go, that it could possess aesthetic, nostalgic and therapeutic effects all at the same time. The fact that when poetry is needed, it is the only thing that is needed and the only thing that works. I talk about this genre here because it has, for a couple of years, been a space that claimed me completely. Each poem is to me, like rebirth, like a new name, represents a new currency of personhood. And then it endures, there is something fascinating, you know, about the possibility of living on after one’s own death. Works of art allow for this.
FOO: Do you have writing Mentors?
CO: Haha. I laughed because each time I think of ‘mentor’, I think of Kwame Dawes. After we met at the 2018 Lagos International Poetry Festival, I sent him an email, requesting to participate in his haiku challenge. This was to mark the beginning of about a hundred days of consistent correspondence and then many more days afterwards. It amazes me how someone regarded as the busiest man in literature, could still pay attention to even the least significant of details (he laughed when I pointed that out). With ‘Father’ Dawes, each of Bob Marley’s songs took on a different life (especially Redemption Song and of course, No Woman No Cry), Bob Dylan and Harry Belafonte became more than just songwriters. With Kwame Dawes, possibilities are boundless and I can’t imagine him slowing down anytime soon.
FOO: Is there anything the Writing industry can do to get better?
CO: Do you mean in Nigeria? I think we need more serious outlets for writers. We need more and more institutions. For instance, the folks at Brittle Paper are doing an amazing job, giving young writers the much needed visibility (the annual Brittle Paper Awards, for instance, which began in 2017). So are outlets like EXPOUND and Praxis. So are initiatives like 20.35 Africa: An Anthology of Contemporary Poetry, curated by Ebenezer Agu, Benson David, Gbenga Adeoba (2018 Brunnel International African Prize Finalist and winner of the 2019 Sillerman First Book Prize for African Poets), Osinachi Prince Jacon and myself. Poets in Nigeria (PIN) should be commended too. There are literary societies like the ones in Enugu, Lagos, Minna, Port Harcourt, etc that meet about twice monthly. We also have the Lagos International Poetry Festival, Ake Arts and Book Festival, Festival Poetry Calabar and recently, Kaduna Book and Arts Festival and Benue Book and Arts Festival. But we’ve barely scratched the surface. You should read Ebenezer Agu’s essay on Brittle Paper titled, ‘After LIPFest and Ake Festival, What Next For the Upcoming Nigerian Poet?’ to understand fully, the point I’m trying to make here, which is: festivals are awesome, but more than just festivals of which younger writers may not even afford to attend (I mean, I had to save for 2 months to be able to attend last year’s Lagos International Poetry Festival), the older, more established poets need to give back in more visible and consistent ways. For instance, Gbenga Adesina taught a masterclass and last year in Lagos and organized a reading alongside Kechi Nomu, which was sponsored and I’m sure he was overwhelmed, as was I, by the attendance, Itiola Jones intends to do same this year, Ogochukwu Ukwueze wants to curate and document published works by the younger generation of Nigerian writers for academic purpose, the Ebedi Writers’ Residency and the PIN Virginrose Residency are beautiful initiatives. So, I think Young Nigerian poets need structures with rigid foundational intent, let’s aim at making real, available and affordable, initiatives like consistent workshops (not just the ones held once in a year during the very few literary festivals that we have here), fellowships and residencies, and programmes capable of affording writers creative spaces and as a result, the visibility that they so desperately need in a turbulent place like Nigeria.
FOO: On a scale of 1-10 what's your fashion?
CO: (inserts ‘laughter again’). ‘4’ probably. Fashion and special effects don’t interest me greatly. I‘m terribly sorry about this.
FOO: Do you have a specific time for writing?
CO: No I don’t. Maybe ‘professional writers’ do and I don’t see myself as one yet. I simply type ideas on my phone anywhere and anytime or use a notepad and then build on them when I have the time. I seek solitude all the time, but then I like to think that introspection is more important and perhaps independent of solitude, so what I do is that I think, observe, approach writing with empathy, conjure metaphors when I’m able to, then add flesh to the ideas later. I’d love to have a defined routine though, but not now. So, I agonize through each poem when I feel I have to, it isn’t such a pleasant experience, though. It’s rather painstaking. But I think that’s why writing is still very beautiful for me, the process of writing each poem, of finding ways to make it work, is like a journey on a long, lonely, rough road with a lot of air and very sharp bends, and I’m curious each time, I want to sweat it out. I want to know more. I want to see what the next detour holds for me (haha).
FOO: What sort/genre of books do you read?
CO: Poetry. I dabble into other genres, from time to time. But right now, I’m reading Chris Abani’s Song For Night, which is a novella (I stumbled upon the book at Ouida Bookstore in Lagos and wondered why I hadn’t seen it earlier on).
FOO: If you were to go on a date with a Writer/Author who would that be and why?
CO: Hahaha...If it were to be a male, then he would probably be Ishion Hutchinson, I’d like us to talk about his book, ‘House of Lords and Commons’ all day and I’d ask him to take me to St. Lucia, to Derek Walcott’s grave so I can pay homage...Haha. Itiola Jones too. She’s excruciatingly brilliant and outrageously down to earth. Her laughter is clean water (she knows what I mean and I hope she doesn’t get to see this...haha). In fact I’m confused now, because I’m also thinking of Ocean Voung and Teju Cole and Jericho Brown and Ilya Kaminsky!
FOO: Do you think Writers should depend on the profits of their writing alone?( What's your opinion on Writer's having a side hustle?)
CO: Well, I think writers should make money from what they love and maybe hustle within the confines of what they love. But in Nigeria, because we don’t yet have a working system for writers, I think finding a day job isn’t a bad idea. So you ask yourself first, ‘what is my motivation? Why do I write? For a start, am I honest with and true to my craft? Am I satisfied with the proceeds from my writing? Does it pay my bills? Most important, do I want it to?’ Personally, I write neither for the money (from prizes or publications) nor to make a living out of it (because nothing was promised to any of us and because doing that would equate inviting pressure upon myself and maybe on my work rate which I try as hard as possible to keep fairly stable). But then, back to the question, though many people may disagree, I still think writers living in Nigeria should get something doing by the side, something soft, something that would still afford them the pleasure of intense reading and writing, until the big break (if there is anything like that) comes.
FOO:If you were to go on a vacation, what will be the five things you take along as a Writer?
CO: A notepad, pen/pencil, a cell phone, a laptop, roasted cashew nuts (this is very important, you know).
FOO: Drop your social media handles so your readers can get in touch with you.
CO: I’m only active on Facebook and to be frank, it’s more than enough distraction already. Here is my
ID: facebook.com/chisom.okafor
FOO: Thanks for your time and attention.
CO: Thank you too, Francisca.
CO: Thank you too, Francisca.
Chisom you are the real deal
ReplyDeleteSo original 🙌 Thank you for sharing
ReplyDeleteWith this little I have seen, it is evident you are there finally. ..
ReplyDeleteDike anaebuli elu. .......