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10 Questions for Chinua Ezenwa-Ohaeto


I am singing about the undone things cited on buried bones.
I am singing them because I like to imagine a valley with a library on it.
A library with catalogues that don’t always read, sorry for the losses.
I like to imagine a lot of things but death.
I am familiar with how each moment
outweighs the knowledge that appears close by.
—from “Monochrome Photo with Fragments in a Closet,” Volume 62, Issue 2 (Summer 2021)

Tell us about one of the first pieces you wrote.
It’s years ago now, but I first began as a short story writer. And the first piece I wrote, I remember, was a story after Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan. I laugh anytime I remember it. This is because, then, I believed the idea of a Whiteman showing up as a messiah in any of the country’s in Africa. This idea was shown in the movies I watched as a child, especially the story of a Whiteman coming to a village and convincing the villagers with the bible and gifts to burn down their shrines and customs. Back to Tarzan, he lived in a jungle somewhere in Africa and mastered communication with the animals, but the people who had been there for so long couldn’t. Well, I read all the Tarzan series. Thereafter, I read Leslie Charteris’ The Saint series. That reminds me, I must say that while growing up, my mother was so present in my life that she made me understand where I come from and what it means to represent and tell stories about my place and my family and my people.

What writer(s) or works have influenced the way you write now?
They are so many, but I will name a few and they include: Chinua Achebe, Ezenwa-Ohaeto, Charles Bukowski, Chinelo Okparanta, Teju Cole, Ayobami Adebayo, Odafe Atogun, Molara Wood, Lola Shoneyin, Jowher Ile, Helon Habila, Tendai Huchu, Elnathan John, E.C Osondu, Chris Abani, Igoni Barrett, Akwaeke Emezi, Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, Adedayo Agarau, Kwei Quartey, NoViolet Bulawayo, Warsan Shire, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, Mahmoud Darwish, Sylvia Plath, Audre Lorde, Terrance Hayes, Allen Grossman, Jane Hirshfield, Kwame Dawes, IIya Kaminsky, Warsan Shire, Heather Christie, Saeed Jones, Sam Sax, Monica Youn, Ocean Vuong, Adrienne Rich, Denise Levertov, Lucille Clifton, Romeo Oriogun, Gbenga Adesina, Saddiq Dzukogi, Danez Smith, Chen Chen, Nome Patrick Emeka, etc.

What other professions have you worked in?
I have been writing, that’s my profession all the while. And it’s not easy making money with writing and pushing the writings to the public or even securing a publisher. And I wish I can talk more on this and my predicaments.

What did you want to be when you were young?
I first wanted to be an inventor. So that people would associate my name with an invention. Later, I decided to be an artist. Later, writing happened and here I am writing and living.

What inspired you to write this pieces?
A lot of things inspire me. But I like to mention that my writings question the experiences of body, I mean showing both literally and physically the excesses and extremeness of existing at a particular time and relating it to its immediate environment because there is so much violence that lives inside people’s bodies and memories: the body reacts to the internal and external forces, which may vary, and changes and transforms. Also, my writings point to other subtexts, like home (identity) and longing and history, to show the need for inquiry into the known and unknown; as something I need to give outline so not to forget; and also show the necessity and possibilities for questioning the political and socio-political instabilities.

Is there a city or place, real or imagined, which influences your writing?
My country influences my writings as well. There are so many evil things happening in it. I want to be in my country, but my country is fighting everyday not to be in me. It has done evil things to me and my rights and my pockets. Most especially, it is becoming unsafe.

Who typically gets the first read of your work?
My friends, including Mmesomma Okeke, Olisa Eloka, Chidimma Okoye, Nome Patrick Emeka, Adedayo Agarau and my friends who view my Whatsapp statuses.

If you could work in another art form what would it be?
That’s very simple. It’s prose, especially short stories. Then drawing.

What are you working on currently?
I am working on my two poetry manuscripts which I have been on for the past 6 years now.

What are you reading right now?
At the moment, I am reading Welcome to Lagos by Chibundu Onuzo.

CHINUA EZENWA-OHAETO (Twitter: @ChinuaEzenwa) is from Owerri-Nkworji in Nkwerre, Imo state, Nigeria, and grew up in Germany and Nigeria. His chapbook The Teenager Who Became My Mother is from Sevhage Publishers. He was a runner-up for the Etisalat Prize for Literature, flash fiction, in 2014. He won the Castello di Duino Poesia Prize for an unpublished poem in 2018, which took him to Italy. He was the recipient of the New Hampshire Institute of Art’s 2018 Writing Award and its 2018 MFA program scholarship. In 2019 he won the Sevhage/Angus Poetry Prize and was second runner-up in the 5th Singapore Poetry Contest. He won first prize in the 2020 Creators of Justice Literary Award, poetry category, organized by the International Human Rights Art Festival, New York. His works have appeared in Lunaris Review, AFREADA, Poet Lore, Rush Magazine, Frontier, Palette, Malahat Review, Southword Magazine, Vallum, Mud Season Review, Salamander, Strange Horizons, One, Ake Review, Crannòg, The Question Marker, and elsewhere.


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