Unusual excitement at CORA's book party for Literature Prize nominees

http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/arts/article01/Wednesday, September 23, 2009


By Anote Ajelurou



AT the CORA event held last Sunday, which was designed to acquaint Nigerians with the nine shortlisted writers out of which one is expected to win the prestigious $50,000 prize money as Nigeria's laureate, the turn out was simply explosive. Not for a while now have Nigerians shown so much interest in the arts, especially Literature with such huge number in attendance. For those in the rather obscure culture sector, it signaled a rekindling of hope that all was not yet lost.

Apparently impressed at the large crowd, one of the conveners of the event and, art and culture advocate, Mr. Jahman Anikulapo was so moved he asked the gathering to applaud "the creative enterprise of Nigerians, that staying power that never gives up; there is no Literature prize that the Nigerian has not won globally; we have to applaud that staying spirit of the Nigerian". The applause he sought, he said, was not for Nigeria as a country because she was a huge disappointment.

He then informed the gathering that as he was speaking, one of his colleagues at The Guardia, Mr. Bayo Ohu had been shot dead in his Lagos residence by unknown gunmen, who would apparently not be found in view of Nigeria's antecedent in tracking murderers. This news was greeted with sad sighs.

However, it was momentary as a festive mood soon prevailed all through the 4-hour event to celebrate Nigeria's nine star poets. Toyin Akinoso was the first to read an excerpt from The Yacouba Building, a novel by an Egyptian, Alaa Al Aswany.

Then star performing artist, teacher and self-styled 'Otunba' Tunji Sotimiri, set a sombre yet exhilarating tone to the event when he re-enacted the quintessential activist harangue of the establishment by the late civil rights campaigner and social critic Chief Gani Fawhehinmi. Sotimiri captured so vividly the mannerisms of late Gani as he was popularly called to the point of emotionally collapsing in tears as a way of emphasising the deep pain he shared with ordinary Nigerians for the travails they are made to undergo in the hands of those who claim to lead them. It was a tribute to a man, who, all through his life fiercely fought for ordinary folks and sharpened the sensibility of most Nigerian writers to literary activism through his outspokenness of the state's oppression and repression of Nigerians from attaining their God-given endowments.

Thereafter, three reviewers gave the audience firsthand knowledge about the contents of some of the works by the nine writers. Oke Ikeogwu reviewed Litany by Omo Uwaifo, Songs of Odamolugbe by Ademola Dasylva and Songs of a Dying River by G'Ebenyo Ogbowei. Ikeogwu said Litany is poetry of commitment as it lamented Nigerian woes during the civil war, and how the poet was personally catch up in it.

In Songs of Odamolugbe Ikeogwu finds a poet tracing the journey of Nigeria and Africa using mythological inferences. He describes it as experimental poetry composed in an unusual way that affords the reader a revolutionary way of seeing the world. There is beauty of lines in Songs of a Dying River, according to the critic, such that the devastation in the Niger Delta is vividly captured. The poems, he says, are lyrical as they show a poet with a good handle in lyrical enterprise to capture the suffering of the people.

For Akeem Akiniyi Dr. Hyginus Ekwauzi's Love Apart maintains a lyricism, which is mellifluous enough in singing about love. He praises the poet's ability to journey through phases with his poems that are sometimes about love and sometimes about problems encountered on this journey, which the poet embarks with, and for, his wife for whom he sings. In Fossils Akiniyi says there's controlled writing that is very academic and intellectual. The poet, he argues, employs diverse imageries to realise his various themes.

In Eaters of the Living Abidemi Alli-Odunsi sees a poet with a strong perception about his country, his society, which he portrays. It is poetry at the service of society as the poet is on a quest to better the decadence and absurdities in his society. And, in From a Poem to its Creator, Alli-Odunsi sees a shy poet, who would not be flashy, who wants to be silent about his statements; who chooses to be obscure rather than be noticed. According to the critic, the poet celebrates the beauty of creation in his work.

But before inviting the nine poets - eight were in attendance as Uwaifo was still away on holidays in London - moderator Deji Toye read 'Hurray for Thunder', an excerpt from Christopher Okigbo's collection The Passage. After the eight poets had sat down, Chief Frank Okonta remarked about women being 'marginalised' this year as there was no female poet amongst the shortlisted writers, saying that it did not make for the democratisation of literary writing.

Nevertheless, this issue was given due prominence later in the programme when a lady in the audience again raised it. Writer after writer stressed that they were not the judges that selected the nine works shortlisted and so could not provide explanation other than that no woman's work was considered worthy enough out of the over 160 entries. However, Lindsay Barrett consoled those concerned about the absence of female writers, saying that last year a woman, Kaine Agary won the prize with her Yellow Yellow, a novella.

The veteran journalist, critic and writer commended Nigerian women writers for the tremendous efforts they were making towards the growth of Nigerian writing. She singled out Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Seffi Ata and new entrant Bimbola Adelakun, whose Under the Brown Rusted Roofs, a novel about Ibdan, he considers one of the best novel to have come out of Nigeria in recent times from home-grown writers.

In responding to questions, Nengi Josef Ilagha, who has been a speech writer in government in his Bayelsa State, said though he was on the periphery in government, the experience gave him insight into how policies are articulated within government circles. He, however, disagreed that such endeavour had not served as a distraction to his creative sensibility as a writer. As he put it, "bubbles of poetry were still bubbling inside of me all the while", and he did not hesitate to vent them when he could.

Ilagha sees life as a sojourn, and as a sojourner, "one should be able to record the phases of the journey". He remarked that his current work for which he was shortlisted January Gestures was part of a larger literary, somewhat epical in nature, project as it is part of a 12-month calender where each month bears it own creative testament as an act and celebration of faith in God for opportunities life gives.

For Dr. Ekwuazi, one time director general of Nigeria Film Corporation, there is a "big similarity between film and poetry because film is about imagery just like poetry", which makes them seamless movements for him as he transits from one to the other. He also maintains that his new work is largely experimental and a departure from the normal.

Also as a lawyer, Ahmed Maiwada does not see his foray into Literature a strange one as most people will assume. So, he says, "if you don't know Literature you cannot practise Law". For him "it's just a natural marriage between Law and poetry". He also argues that it was writing that made a great lawyer as a lawyer that cannot write stood no chance at all.

Maiwada also sees his poetry as experimental as Fossils is delivered in the present tense "to heighten the drama", and as he insists, "I don't write surface poetry to be seen in literal form; I love symbolism".

Ogbowei sees writing as a natural inclination, an urge that needs to be fulfilled, pointing out that a writer does not set out with a view to win prizes but merely to express a creative consciousness. "One writes because it's natural to write like a musician can't help but sing, a painter but to paint. I write because I have to write", he says.

Barrett says he has never been one to seek prizes in his 40-year long career as a writer and would not submit his works for awards except his publisher does. He states that it was his wife that submitted A Memory of Rivers when she saw the advertisement and did not tell him until much later almost in passing because she knew he would have discouraged her. Then his son Igoni Barrett, also a writer, later called to inform him about the nomination.

He stated that some of his fellow shortisted writers were people who looked up to him as mentor, some he even taught at the University College, Ibadan in the 1960s. For him winning the prize would not be the high point as the shortlist showed a cross-generational divide of old and young writers. He said he would be happy if he won; but that he would still be a contented man if any one of those he mentored won the prize because he also would have won on both sides. He asserted that though he enjoyed writing, journalism was for him a job with which he fed his many wives while creative writing was a passion.

The Nigeria Literature Prize may have done something really tangible for poetry in putting it to the domain of public discourse rather than mere academic exercise. This was Dr. Ademola Dasylva's view as he responded to certain issues. He maintains that with the prize the "complaint about inaccessibility about poetry" was being effective erased just as it should be for poetry to properly play its role as an art form that people could relate to as a part of their daily lives.

He says, "poetry should be seen as something that can be used for public entertainment and for poet's knowledgeability to be used to impact to others to make a living". A member of Folklore Association of Nigeria, Dasylva (author of Songs of Odamolugbe) "the best I can discover myself is through poetry". His aim as a teacher and writer of poetry is how he can "make poetry more attractive" so that the generality of the people can derive satisfaction from it just as he affirms, "I identify with the masses".

Odoh Diego Okenyodo says his poetry is self-discovery as it is a trip through which he is just realising who he is as a writer, as a person. So that his collection From a Poem to its Creator is one long question mark about creator and the created. So, he asks, "Did we as creations of God behave in ways that pleases God? And, does not the created have the right to question his creator, why he is the way he is, the purpose for which he is created?"

These are questions that bother this poet who would not take creation's explanations as universal-given merely on their surface value. His work veers somewhat on irreverence just like the pottery asking its maker why it is the way it is made. But they make for a kind of sustained conversation on the motive for creation, why man is on this side on not somewhere else, the egotism of the creative process and why poets and writers alike feel swollen-headed about what they have created, and why they feel it is worth being inflicted on public sensibility.

For Musa Idris Opanachi (author of The Eaters of the Living), winner, ANA/Cadbury prize for poetry 2009, "things in the world are destinies and destinies are accidents", and so he publishes out of frustration. Opanachi sees writing as something that excites in him as "interest, hobby and to photograph my society".

One area that was almost a sour point of the intellectual and entertaining CORA outing was its stage manager, so to say. The moderator, Deji Toye, turned out the black sheep as every foot he took turned out a mis-foot. As a lawyer, he was so far from anything articulate. He literally stammered his way through the entire programme as he annoyingly belaboured his questions.

More than this, he also would not get any background information on virtually any of the writers right. For a moderator, it was clear he did not research his subjects and each time the poets had to correct one piece of his ignorance after another. CORA secretary Akinoso admitted his multiple errors and promised to rehearse future moderators for flawless delivery.

For the entertainment of the faithful audience, all the poets read or performed from their works for maximum effect. Ogbowei read 'Walking these starving streets', while Ilagha performed a piece from his collection. Barrett also read 'Old River' just as Opanachi read 'Crush me' and 'I want to marry'. Dasylva read 'Anthem for doomed youth' and 'Globalisation' from his collection.

However, Maiwada stirred the hornet's nest when he insisted on what he described as good poetry consisting of something fresh and devoid of local proverbs, which would amount to fraud on the part of the writer. He further went to declaim whatever was called 'African Literature', which he said was non-existent but rather a global literary narrative of consciousness. But he was roundly silenced by such well-informed and lettered men like Dr. Dasylva and Dr. Ekwuazi, who insisted to the effect that globalization was a new concept that does not preclude literary output from the African continent that is uniquely African and markedly different from, say European Literature.

He was referred to conferences in Africa on African Literature that had put paid to vague and uninformed speculations as he had engaged in. Mr. Barrett, an eminent resource fellow on African and world Literature also pointed out that there is a known consciousness or sensibility that is also uniquely African as to make possible the existence of a thing such as 'African Literature', which is acknowledged in global literary discourse.

On whether the rot, corruption and under-development in the country have not been over-thematised in literary outputs from her writers, Dr. Ekwuazi said perhaps. For him it would seem that the rot has had an overdose of attention from Nigerian writers. But on another level, the teacher of dramatic arts stated that writers could go beyond the rot to create something different but emphasised that the rot was what was most current in public consciousness, and so would continue to receive attention in the Literature being produced.

Opnanchi added that variety and polarity were constituent parts of the world, and that Literature would continue to reflect these polarity and variety otherwise the world would not be the way it is.




The ascendancy of Niger Delta literary consciousness


By Anote Ajeluorou


Like previous occasions literary consciousness from the Niger Delta region has shown remarkable strength as it continues on the ascendancy. Last year Kaine Agary's Yellow Yellow won the prestigious $50,000 prize money. It was a narrative from the Niger Delta. And, someone jokingly remarked that the region was not being marginalised in terms of Literature as it was in other areas of Nigerian life.

This year alone there are four writers from the region as co-contenders for the prize. However, while three writers espouse issues that have perennially been headaches in the region, one writer Omo Uwaifo does not. His area of concern predates current agitations in the region for development, justice and equity.

But the other three writers are not apologetic about their creative preoccupation. Nengi Josef Ilagha might appear somewhat muffled in his writing about the issue but not necessarily because he has been in government circles as he turns his literary consciousness on the gift of life as an act of faith from God. G'Ebenyo Ogbowei is vociferous in his literary militancy. Yet he is modest about it. The CORA outing gave him vintage outlet to vent his spleen on issues about the region.

Ogbowei insists he is not necessarily the voice or mouthpiece of the Niger Delta but the pains he feels are palpable as he speaks about the ills in the region. He points out that a lot of people forget that they are from the region for which he is so much troubled. Living as he is in the heart of the region, he has a rounded view of issues there and those fomenting trouble. For him government's complicity in the entire saga is a universal-given and need not be spoken about.

However, he says certain elements in the region, including the chiefs (he rejected being made a titled chief as a form of protest against the bastardisation of that once noble institution), whom he described as thieves in disguise. He insisted that for him, "poetry was more important than being a chief there. Chiefs foment trouble; youth foment trouble. We have a band of thieves from within and outside the Niger Delta. Until we fumigate the region and the entire Nigeria of these vermin, there will be no peace in Nigeria.

"We have abandoned our responsibility to our children. Our elders have been part of the problem. Federal Government is the enemy of the Niger Delta. Ken Saro-Wiwa was hanged based on a plan from the Federal Government. I'm not a spokesman of Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND); MEND is fighting for us but I'm not MEND."

For elder statesman Barrett, the Niger Delta evokes a different kind of emotions entirely. As a member of the Africa Diaspora, who had the guts to come down to the Motherland from the Caribbean in the 1960s to settle in a spiritual and physical reunion, the region's turmoil has a continuity rooted in history and so was a baffling one.

He says that the "Niger Delta was the gateway through which his ancestors were taken into slavery to form the Africa Diaspora. It has hardly changed from the gateway of exploitation through oil exploitation and the neglect of the people to result in suffering and multiple devastations. But people have been blinded to the beauty of the place. It has given life to so much."

Rise and rise of Niger Delta literary consciousness

(Courtesy http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/friday_review/article06)
(September 25, 2009


By Anote Ajeluorou

WITH the introduction of the Nigeria Prize for Literature by the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) company, literary consciousness from the Niger Delta region has continued to grow from strength to strength. At the awards ceremony last year, Kaine Agary's Yellow Yellow won the prestigious $50,000 prize money. It was a narrative about self-awareness from the Niger Delta. And, someone jokingly remarked that the region was not being marginalised in terms of Literature as it was in other areas of Nigerian life.

This year alone, there are four writers from the region as co-contenders for the star prize. However, while three of the writers espouse issues that have perennially been headaches in the region, one writer Omo Uwaifo does not. His area of concern predates current agitations in the region for development, justice and equity.

But the other three writers are not apologetic about their creative preoccupation. Nengi Josef Ilagha might appear somewhat muffled in his outing this year about the issues but not necessarily because he has been suckled into government circles. Rather, he turns his literary consciousness on the gift of life as an act of faith from God worth celebrating with his January Gestures.

However, G'Ebenyo Ogbowei is vociferous in his literary militancy. Yet he is modest about it as he uses it to reflect on universal issues about oppression and abuse of rights of peoples all over the world.

The book party organized by the Committee for Relevant Art CORA held on Sallah day at the lagoon-front premises of the German Cultural centre, Goethe Institut, gave him vintage outlet to vent his spleen on knotty issues about the region.

Ogbowei insists he is not necessarily the voice or mouthpiece of the Niger Delta but the pains he feels are palpable as he spoke about the multifaceted ills being perpetrated in the region. He pointed out that a lot of people forget that they are from the troubled region with their indifferent attitude to the region's plight. Living as he does in the heart of the region, he has a rounded view of the contending issues and those who have been fomenting trouble. For him, government's complicity in the entire saga is a universal-given and needed no further comment.

However, he said certain elements in the region, including the chiefs (he actually rejected being made a titled chief as a form of protest against the bastardisation of that once noble traditional institution), whom he described as thieves in disguise. He insisted that for him, "poetry was more important than being a chief there. Chiefs foment trouble; youth foment trouble. We have a band of thieves from within and outside the Niger Delta. Until we fumigate the region and the entire country of these vermin, there will be no peace in Nigeria.

"We have abandoned our responsibility to our children. Our elders have been part of the problem. Federal Government is the enemy of the Niger Delta. Ken Saro-Wiwa was hanged based on a plan from the Federal Government. I'm not a spokesman of Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND). MEND is fighting for us but I'm not MEND."

For elder statesman, writer, critic and journalist, Lindsay Barrett (author of A Memory of Rivers), the Niger Delta evokes a different kind of emotions entirely. As a member of the Africa Diaspora, who took the bold steps to come to settle down to the Motherland from the Caribbean in the 1960s in a spiritual and physical reunion, the region's turmoil has a continuity rooted in history, lamenting that nothing had been done to bring peace ever since.

He stated that the "Niger Delta was the gateway through which his ancestors were taken into slavery to form the Africa Diaspora. It has hardly changed from the gateway of exploitation. Now, it's through oil exploitation and the neglect of the people, which has resulted in suffering and multiple devastations. But people have been blinded to the beauty of the place. It has given life to so much."

Barrett argued that the region's dark slavery history has a correlation with current oppression but that its richness in other areas was being abysmally neglected. He stressed that the Niger Delta has given life to so much yet all that counted for so little in the nation's consciousness. He read 'Old River' from his collection. He also commented on the significance of the river as a 'living being, something that is alive' in just the same way Wole Soyinka sees 'the road' as a living being in one of his works. He urged people to look more at the river for its many manifestations as a living being capable of yielding more than can be imagined.

Clearly, just as the region's issues continue to dominate political discourse, what with militancy, the amnesty deal and all that, it has also been the preoccupation of literary consciousness. So that whether any of the three writers from the region with focus on issues about the region wins or not, it would still be credit both to the writers and the region that they are in the limelight. And that until the region's issues that now dominate Nigeria's political and literary discourse get satisfactorily resolved, the region will continue to be an open sour on the conscience of the Nigerian nation.

Partying with men of Words

(As appeared in The Guardian, Sunday, 27 September 2009)


As part of preparation for its 11th lagos Book and Art Festival, LABAF, 2009 9nov 12-15), leading art and culture advocate group, the Committee for Relevant Art (CORA), launched its two-month Book Season last Sunday with a near 6-hour Book Party, which served as a platform to acquaint Nigerians with the nine shortlists poets in the 2009 Nigeria Prize for Literature. Endowed by the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas, NLNG, the Prize is expected to produce one of the nine as the Nigeria Poet Laureate for the the 2009/2010 season. The winned will earn $50,000 prize money plus other incentives that would be unveiled at a grand award ceremony in Abuja next month.

Those present at the Goethe Institut, Lagos, venue of the event, had more than enough to chew from eight of the nine poets that attended. The turn out was massive. Perhaps, no literary event in recent times, in Lagos, has commanded so much enthusiastic audence who sat for almost half of the day listening to the poets give insight into ther creative efforts. For those in the rather obscure culture sector, it signaled a rekindling of hope that all was not yet lost.

The event was billed for between 2 and 6pm, but it ran late into about nearly 8pm. The Secretary General of CORA, Toyin Akinosho was the first to read an excerpt from The Yacouba Building, a novel by an Egyptian, Alaa Al Aswany.

But it was star performing artist, teacher and self-styled ‘Otunba’ Tunji Sotimiri, that set a sombre yet exhilarating tone to the event when he re-enacted the quintessential activist harangue of the establishment by the late civil rights campaigner and social critic Chief Gani Fawhehinmi. Members of the 2008 Star Quest- competition winning band, Diamond and the Spectrum were on the bandstand.

Thereafter, three reviewers gave the audience firsthand insight into the contents of some of the works by the nine writers. In responding to questions, Nengi Josef Ilagha, who had been a speech writer in government in his Bayelsa State, said though he was on the periphery in government, the experience gave him insight into how policies are articulated within government circles.

For Dr. Ekwuazi, one time director general of Nigeria Film Corporation, there is a “big similarity between film and poetry because film is about imagery just like poetry”, which makes them seamless movements for him as he transits from one to the other. He also maintains that his new work is largely experimental and a departure from the normal. Also as a lawyer, Ahmed Maiwada does not see his foray into Literature a strange one as most people will assume. So, he says, “if you don’t know Literature you cannot practise Law”. For him “it’s just a natural marriage between Law and poetry”.

Ogbowei sees writing as a natural inclination, an urge that needs to be fulfilled, pointing out that a writer does not set out with a view to win prizes but merely to express a creative consciousness. Barrett says he has never been one to seek prizes in his 40-year long career as a writer and would not submit his works for awards except his publisher does. He states that it was his wife that submitted A Memory of Rivers when she saw the advertisement and did not tell him until much later almost in passing because she knew he would have discouraged her. Then his son Igoni Barrett, also a writer, later called to inform him about the nomination.

The Nigeria Literature Prize may have done something really tangible for poetry in putting it to the domain of public discourse rather than mere academic exercise. This was Dr. Ademola Dasylva’s view as he responded to certain issues. He maintains that with the prize the “complaint about inaccessibility about poetry” was being effective erased just as it should be for poetry to properly play its role as an art form that people could relate to as a part of their daily lives. Odoh Diego Okenyodo says his poetry is self-discovery as it is a trip through which he is just realising who he is as a writer, as a person. So that his collection From a Poem to its Creator is one long question mark about creator and the created.

For Musa Idris Okpanachi (author of The Eaters of the Living), winner, ANA/Cadbury prize for poetry 2009, “things in the world are destinies and destinies are accidents”, and so he publishes out of frustration. Opanachi sees writing as something that excites in him as “interest, hobby and to photograph my society”. All the poets read or performed from their works for maximum effect. Ogbowei read ‘Walking these starving streets’, while Ilagha performed a piece from his collection. Barrett also read ‘Old River’ just as Okpanachi read ‘Crush me’ and ‘I want to marry’. Dasylva read ‘Anthem for doomed youth’ and ‘Globalisation’ from his collection. — CHUKS NWANNE


http://theguardianlifemagazine.blogspot.com/

My Poetry, My Art, By Nine Literature Prize Finalists

My Poetry, My Art, By Nine Literature Prize Finalists
The two-month Committe for Relevant Art, CORA's Book Season begins at the Goethe Institut, at 2pm. Themed Book Party, it will celebrate the nine poets on the long list (some say it is shortlist) for the Nigeria Prize for Literature sponsored by Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited. The event, says CORA is purely to generate public interest in an otherwise purely intellectual event, while drawing attention to the nominated works, which, "by merely making of the short-list, have registered their significance in the emerging body of literature of Nigeria", says the CORA. The party to be staged at the lagoon-front garden of the German Cultural Centre is the first in a series of programmes lined-up by the arts advocacy group aimed at sensitising Nigerians on the 11the edition of the yearly Lagos Book and Art Festival (LABAF) slated for November 13 to 15. The poets being celebrated today are all the finalists in the 2009 Prize competition, which attracted 163 entries. The finalists are: Omo Uwaifo (Litany); Ahmed Maiwada (Fossils); Lindsay Barrett (A Memory of Rivers); Odoh Diego Okenyodo (From a Poem to its Creator); Hyginus Ekwuazi (Love Apart); Musa Idris Okpanachi (The Eaters of the Living); Ademola Dasylva (Songs of Odamolugbe); Nengi Josef Ilagha (January Gestures) and G'ebinyo Ogbowei for Song of a Dying River. The event today will feature short reviews of each work, interspersed with performances, readings, photo-ops and writer-audience interactions. KAFAYAT QUADRI of Poetry Digest, who is part-coordinating the event of today with the CORA Collective conducted interviews with some of the poets through email. These are reproduced here:

1. AHMED MAIWADA: I Don't Read Poems... I Study Them'
What does it feel like to be on the long list for the Nigeria Prize for Literature? I felt very surprised indeed. Surprised in the sense that I thought my eclectic style and symbolism in Fossils might not find favour in the eyes of the judges. Besides, I thought only the connected gets rewarded in the Nigerian scheme of things. I am not connected. I don't seek favours. Besides, I come from a part of Nigeria not generally associated with excellence. Do you have previous commendations and awards? Not in Literature. I don't write for awards. I write to win hearts; and I have a barn full of hearts won by my writing. I think my peers think highly of my works. My publisher entered Fossils for the Nigeria Prize in Literature without my knowledge. I would have told him not to bother, especially because of my disenchantment with the Nigerian reward system. How many of your poetry collections have been published? I have only two poetry collections, namely, Saint of a Woman (Hybun 2004) and Fossils (Hybun 2008). In your opinion, what are the attributes of a good poem? A good poem is one with the right poetic ingredients, which are called tropes or figures of speech. Those figures of speech must not be tired; they must be fresh and original. Breaking it further down, a good poem must have new and original metaphors and sounds. It is a high poem that achieves a good balance of metaphors and anti-metaphors (or ironies); and that is very rare in Nigerian writing. And it is the highest poem that is elevated to the symbolic level. Poems loaded with proverbs have been celebrated in Nigeria for a long time; and I think that is the reason why we have remained stagnant in the comity of global poetry. Proverbs are worn-out imagery and unless a poet is able to defamiliarise them, to impose his personality on them, he has no business using them in his works for they are not his original creations. Using them amounts to cheating. When did you start writing poems? I started writing poems in 1988, or thereabout. I started with romantic poems in the style of William Wordsworth for my girlfriend that time. Do you write any other genre apart from poetry? Yes indeed. I write fiction and essays. I write short stories and novels. My first published novel shall be released shortly, entitled Musdoki. I have several manuscripts awaiting polish and release. Most of them are historical novels; and I think historical novels take the highest regards in fiction writing, just as symbolic poems in the poetry genre. Can you mention five foreign poets that you love to read? What makes them peculiar? I don't read poems; I study them. And I loved studying the following foreign poets: William Shakespeare, for his superhuman puns, metaphors and ironies; E. E. Cummings, for courage to take as much license with syntax as possible; and for his love to play with forms; Lord Byron, for the depth of his imagination and perfect control of diction; T. S. Eliot, for his innovative forms and deep imagination. He is mentioned in terms of modernist writings, and John Donne, for his revolutionary metaphysical works laced with lyrical brilliance. Can you mention five Nigerian poets that you love to read? I hope I can have up to that number. Let me try, though: Gabriel Okara, for his symbolism; J. P. Clarke, for his lyricism; Uche Nduka, for his avant-gardism; Ahmed Maiwada, for his eclecticism (apologies if I seem proud), and Mu'azu Maiwada, for his surrealism. What does your daily activities look like? I drive myself to work at Abuja Business District in the morning, around 9am. I attend to my clients either in my office or in theirs. Once in a while, I attend to my writings and browse the Internet. I have lunch sometimes, alone or with friends. I close from work by 6pm and then drive myself back home. Is the ability to write poetry innate in every human being? It is just like asking: Is the ability to sing or dance or manufacture cars innate in every human being? No! Poetry is a tradition of high art. It requires more than being a human being, even more than being a human being with talent. While many people may have the promise to be poets, very few achieve that status, because of the demand for originality and craft.

2. ADEMOLA DASYLVA: 'Poetry Gives Me Fulfillment' What does it feel like to be on the list? I feel fulfilled that, since I teach poetry, among others other courses in the university, I regard my being shortlisted among the best nine in the current NLNG assessment for the award as a proof of my success in poetry teaching and writing. I feel fulfilled that, at least, I have succeeded in reaching out to people, out there, who understand and appreciate my message and poetry. It is of no use, for example, if you speak in poetry and nobody comprehends your message. I feel fulfilled that as many people as care for meaning and beauty in poetry will want to read my poems, and as such the reach of my poems increases on daily basis in scope and horizon to conscientize the target-audience, especially, by means of the kernel of my message. I feel fulfilled that all my life I have appreciated good poetry and celebrated great poets, now, NLNG prize for literature has afforded me also, a place to be celebrated like the great poets before me. Award and commendations Yes, I do have previous commendations and awards. In 2006, my Songs of Odamolugbe won the ANA/CADBURY national poetry award. In March 2009, I won the 2009 Distinguished Africanist Award for Research Excellence, University of Texas at Austin, USA. It was a great thing that my academic contribution to knowledge and to poetry is appreciated and celebrated by colleagues and all patrons and beneficiaries of sound knowledge both at home and abroad. Only my Songs of Odamolugbe that has been published so far. I am working on another collection, but it is in my character not to be in a hurry on such things. The older the wine the better the taste. Songs of Odamolugbe has proved my approach right in a way. Attributes of a good poem Well, a good poem must communicate effectively by exploiting the resources of language and music; it must be well informed and, in turn, must be informing; it must by propelled by a conviction that is fundamental, a conviction that is foregrounded by a definite ideology; its topicality must engage issues associated with its immediate society, and must be relevant globally. When did you start witing poetry? I started writing poems well over 30 years ago. I have two plays I am a bit shy to publish. I am never satisfied with half measures. So I am still tinkering with the scripts. In the next couple of months, my first biographical fiction will be out. In the next twelve months I have two more biographical works to get published. I started them over five or so years ago. Favourite poets William Blake, John Keats, William Shakespeare, John Donne, Claude McKay while John P. Clark (-Bekederemo), Wole Soyinka, Niyi Osundare, Odia Ofeimun, Okinba Launko are my favourite Nigerian poets. Daily activities I wake up, 4.30am - personal meditation, 5.00 am-5.30am- family morning devotion that is where I draw my strength from; return to my bed to plan for the day; have my shower, dress up. As a rule, no breakfast for me. (I usually have two meals daily - lunch in the office and dinner at home at some odd hours). Then I go off to my office to attend to my students, lectures, meetings, or on a research field trip within or outside Ibadan. From evening to about mid-night, I engage myself with the various researches, including, at times, creative writing, or going through students' projects. Ability to write poetry, innate or what? No, I do not think so. The ability to write poetry is not innate in every humankind. Rather, I would say everybody has poetry in, and around, him or her. But it takes a tamed consciousness or awareness to discern and respond to it as appropriate. Writing is a skill acquired by some training, but poetry is a gift, poetry writing is a combination of both skill and gift.

3. LYNDSAY BARRETT: ‘Poetry Is Power To me’What does it look like being a poet? Ever since I first learnt to read as a very young child I have been fascinated by the mind's ability to create new worlds of vision and expectation out of the simple act of self-expression. I have always admired those who can manipulate this quality in life through the deployment of language whether in speech or on paper. This encouraged me to commence writing poetry in my late teens and to build a career out of both storytelling and reporting. I was fortunate to have incredible personal mentors beginning with my grandfather Joseph Barrett and my grandmother, Ella Barrett. Encounter with poetry Before I was eight years old, my grandfather had awakened an interest in my African heritage in me by narrating tales told to him by former slaves who he had known in childhood and who had been born in Africa. He encouraged me to regard the possibility of going to Africa as a mandate rather than a dream.
My grandmother was an irrepressible and captivating storyteller whose fund of Anancy tales seemed endless when we were children. She was also a very devout Christian who made me read the Holy Bible, not as a ritual guide, as many Christians regard it, but rather as a daily narrative whenever I stayed with her for holidays. I was encouraged to treat it as a storybook. I think this experience forged my approach to the use of the English language as a tool for expression from my earliest efforts at creating my own literary forms.
When I was an apprentice reporter in the Daily Gleaner and The Star I came under the influence of an incredible bunch of journalists the most remarkable of whom were the late Jack Anderson whose fine prose reporting of cricket fascinated me, and John Maxwell, a commentator who seemed able to produce a masterpiece of both commentary and literary elegance every single week. These influences combined with the disciplined practice of reading widely from the books available in local libraries, which was promoted by my Grenadian stepmother Ena Barrett, who encouraged me to decide to be a writer very early in life. I have believed in the power of the word all my life and have always wanted not only to deploy it myself but also to pass on the ability to deploy this power to younger people. The course of my life has been influenced by the memories of these.

4. DIEGO OKENYODO: 'Poetry Sets Us Thinking... It De-Familiarises Our Experiences' What does it feel like to be on the long list for the Nigeria Prize for Literature? For mine to be chosen among some body works... That feels like a vindication for me! You know, I have been committed to writing for a long time and I was even expelled from the university for doing it. I also am not practising pharmacy, which I studied, just for the same reason.
People ask you questions about the prestige in being a pharmacist and why you chose to abandon it for some rather uncertain future in literature and journalism - literary journalism, to be precise - and I always really labour to explain it, telling them that it gives one satisfaction, and blah blah. Again, you spend so much of your earnings trying to ensure that your writings are visible and packaged, and friends and family just tolerate that. Until it is announced that that little thing you always bothered about is now worthy of being considered for a huge amount of money. That is the feeling; vindication! Do you have previous commendations and awards? Not really. For some invisible contributions to the Association of Nigerian Authors' branches in Kano and Niger states, one has had some forms of commendations and an award, but not for the creative product itself. Collections of poetry Just one; From A Poem to Its Creator collection. I do not believe one should rush to publish. This collection had been almost in this form for near a decade, save for minor editorial changes. Attributes of a good poem A good poem should give the reader a new experience, either a new experience of words or a new experience of what live is or isn't. A good poem attempts to de-familiarise our experiences, and set us thinking, and reading it again. If you cannot want to read a piece of poetry again, it's likely to be failed poetry. It is not necessarily a complicated array of words; it is just that the way the poem either addresses its subject is such that you are led into a new hideout and shown what you never saw or knew. A good poem is some sort of tour guide. When did you start writing poems? I didn't start writing poems in the real sense of it; I have been very fascinated with words and how they are formed, so I have engaged in wordplay for a very long time. I come from a family of artists and we knew no bounds, creatively. We did (and still do) painting, music, playwriting, and so on. In secondary school, I remember a childhood friend of mine Andrew and I entering a literary competition with a poem. Do you write any other genre apart from poetry? I write for children. I love writing for children. The world of innocence and lack of boundaries is one experience I enjoy. I have one or two short stories for adults, but I can't call myself a short fiction writer for adults. Your five favourite foreign poets Well, is Jackie Kay Nigerian or British? She is not resident here, so I would call her British. She is one I love so much for humour hidden in her verses. Emm!...who else? I can't recall immediately now, truly, because I am being distracted and I do feel like finishing this response. Nigerian poets Aaah! Easy. My favourite Nigerian poets are people you do not know so much about: I love Ismail Bala Garba's poetry; same with the Maiwadas - Dr Mu'azu Maiwada, who is my literary mentor; and his brother, Ahmed Maiwada, who is my contemporary in a sense. Those are two, or three, right? I read Obi Nwakanma and love the works. I love Elnathan John's rhyme schemes, which are usually effortless. And then there are works by the masters like Okara, Osundare, Okigbo, and so on. In truth, I am one that feels that poetry is such an experimental art that you can only select among a person's works and say, "This one succeeded", not that this author always writes good poetry. The fact that the poet wrote a good one today is no guarantee of his tomorrow. Your daily activities Daily, I wake up late. Daily, I work till late in the night. Daily, I write proposals and poems, many of both unfinished, many of both on my phones or on my laptops, or online on Google Docs. Daily, I dream dreams of being everything. Daily, I remain me, misunderstood by even me! Is the ability to write poetry innate in every human being? No. We all have the raw materials for poetry, but not all of us have been blessed with the ability to capture it.

5. IDRIS OKPANACHI: 'Good Poetry Is A Map For The Audience' The nomination I feel grateful to Allah and happy. Commendations and awards I won Association of Nigerian Authors/Cadbuy Prize for poetry 2008. Published works Only few of my works were published Code of Silence was broadcast over the BBC London 1995; Crush Me was published in Presence Africaine, Paris, 1997; Map was in Kunapipi, in Denmark 1995 and The Eaters of the Living the theme poem was carried in 500 Nigerian Poets. The qualities of a 'good' poem are really simplicity; a good combination of expression and mystery of meaning, a map for the audience. Any other genre apart from poetry I write short stories, one of which was published in Gombak Review in Malaysia, another, by Calvacade is due. I'm currently writing a novel, From the Margins of Paradise. Foreign authors I love reading Matthew Arnold, Mahmud Darwish, Thomas Hardy, T.S. Elliot, and Gibran Khalil. In Nigeria, Ilagha Nengi, Ogaga Ifowodo, Femi Osofisan, Niyi Osundare, and Wole Soyinka. Well, I wake by 4am, pray by five, attend to family matters, go to work, do some reading, visit friends. Then write in the night till sleep comes and so on. Writing is not innate. No; it is for the sensitive.

6. Nengi Josef Ilagha: ‘POETRY mUST cOMMUNICATE tHE fEElingS’Nengi Josef Ilagha has worked as a journalist, broadcaster and public relations consultant. Born in Nembe, Bayelsa State, on December 18, 1963, he took a degree in English & Literary Studies from the University of Port Harcourt. A one-time editor of The Tide On Sunday in Port Harcourt, Nengi Josef Ilagha was Speech Writer to the Governor of Bayelsa State. He was later elevated to Special Adviser on Research & Documentation to the same government on account of his robust intellectual input to the resource control debate. His latest book, Goodluck To Bayelsa, a collection of speeches in honour of Dr Goodluck Jonathan, has been highly commended for putting the political records straight in Bayelsa and for speaking up eloquently for peace in the Niger Delta region. January Gestures, his new book of poems, is among the nine books in the race for the 2009 edition of the Nigeria Prize for Literature, sponsored by NLNG. In this revealing interview, the poet bares his mind to Kafayat Quadri at the CORA round table. What does it feel like to be shortlisted for the 2009 Nigeria Prize for Literature? I am suitably gratified to have made it through to this point. Without doubt, Nigeria is blessed with a good number of poets, and the evidence was there for the panel of judges to see. To be in the first nine out of 163 poets, therefore, is indeed a remarkable feat. I am grateful that professional judgement has been given fairly, and that I have not fallen foul of the rules of poetic engagement so far. My entry for the competition, January Gestures, begins with a word of faith to the effect that I feel obliged to God for the life I live, and that I would dedicate my breath to praising the almightiness of my Maker, from day to day, for as long as I live. To be named in the shortlist, therefore, is like receiving a word of endorsement from above that my fervent prayers are being answered. Do you have previous commendations and awards? Yes, indeed. Mantids, my first book of poems, won the Association of Nigerian Authors poetry prize in 1995, in manuscript. That was my opening glee, so to speak. That was the first time I received public confirmation that I was on the path of my true calling, and the assurance that I had not been wasting time scratching my feelings out on paper. After that, I took bolder steps towards poetry, and poetry practically took greater strides towards me. In 1998, I entered a collection of 54 fresh poems under the title, Apples & Serpents, and received honourable mention in the first edition of the Christopher Okigbo Prize for African Literature, endowed by Wole Soyinka. And then I went on a long sabbatical, writing speeches in the corridors of Creek Haven, and on the fringes of government. How many of your poetry collections have been published? Name them. So far, I have four collections of poetry in print. After Mantids, I went back to work on Apples & Serpents, to explore the subject to the fullest possible limits, before publishing it. Today, it's a much more sizeable book than it was in 1998, something far more satisfactory, and I'm proud to present it to the world the way it is. But I knew that I hadn't quite exhausted myself. As a matter of fact, I was just taking the first tentative steps, like a chicken caught in the passage, on one leg standing, contemplating the long odyssey into the labyrinth of poetry. With the dawn of 2007, I embarked upon a more ambitious project, determined to write a book of poems dedicated to each month of the year, a rigorous labour of love undertaken from day to day, week after week, from January to December, stretching out like an interminable diary of pain. That's how I began A Calendar of Faith, which is the composite title for the entire project. January Gestures is in print, and so is February Fabrics. The other ten months, March to December, are pending. That is to say, I have finished writing all twelve books of poetry, but I am awaiting funds from the IMF and the World Bank to have them published. In your opinion, what are the attributes of a good poem? In the first place, a good poem should be able to communicate the feelings embodied in it. A poem is a poem because it seeks to express the feelings of the poet, its primary composer. It seeks to convey a message, to pass on a felt experience in a special way. That special way by which the message is conveyed is your style. It is your individuality. It cannot be taken from you. Content is everyone's free party. It is how you say what everyone else can feel or say that marks you out from the crowd. The primary tool for doing that is imagery. Every good poem works with imagery, which is an all-embracing word for figures of speech. For me, a poem is dry and arid if it does not leave me with an image that impresses itself on my mind sufficiently for me to want to go back to see exactly how the poet put it. In other words, an image must insist on being reckoned with. Every good poem deserves a second reading, and yet another, until the experience becomes a part of me. If I think of J.P. Clark's "Ibadan," for instance, the overriding image that I'm left with is "broken china in the sun." Every other word in that poem builds up teasingly to that image. A truly gifted poet can harness a series of images in a single poem, line after line, without bungling his metaphors and without losing the admiration of the reader. I appreciate such poets. When did you start writing poems? I have always been fascinated by words for as long as I can remember. My venerable father, King Joseph Aye Ilagha, was widely recognised as the grammarian of the entire Nembe clan for several generations. He was fond of words, explosive in his use of words, and I was always ready to listen to him speak. As his first son, he took me everywhere he went, so I became his permanent audience. He also had a wonderful and majestic handwriting, and I wanted to be like him, so I started writing. But I consciously began crafting verse in form five, my last year at Nembe National Grammar School. That was in 1980. I was fascinated, in particular, by Shakespeare's Macbeth. It overwhelmed my senses with mental pictures whenever I flipped through the pages, and I had a great teacher at that time, a youth corps member named Hassan Hassan, who dramatized it all for me in class. So, before long, I set out to recreate my own experiences on paper, attempting to sound like Shakespeare. I failed woefully, of course, but I'm glad to say that I didn't give up. Thankfully, my love for words endures till this day, and this is just how far the excursion with my father has taken me. Do you write any other genre apart from poetry? Yes, I tried working with every genre that was introduced to me in class. I sketched some dialogue in the name of writing plays. I began a novel or two to test my capacity for endurance, and didn't get far enough. Now, I'm much more at home with the short fiction medium because I have to deal with just a slice of life at a time. A Birthday Delight, my first collection of short stories, is already in print, and so is I Want To Be A Senator, my first collection of essays gathered from my years in journalism. I find the essay useful as an art form because, like the short story, it captures my opinion and gives it amplitude within a short spell of time, so to speak. But my favourite medium for self expression is the poem. It enables me to condense so much into a few words, if I want to. I just roll from image to image, and do well to keep my roller-coaster ride under control. I am the driver in every one of my poems. I am always at the steering wheel, conscious of the fact that if I don't control my words, I stand the risk of crashing out of relevance, and I can't afford to do that. So, I grab the first word and let it lead me to the very last word. Can you mention five foreign poets that you love to read? What makes them peculiar? Frankly, I have never been comfortable with questions like this. I wish you would take one particular poet, one particular work, and ask my opinion. Then I would be more definite. I studied Literature in English at the University of Port Harcourt in the first half of the 80s, which is to say that I was obliged to read widely, and intensively too. And, in the course of that, I came across a whole lot of enchanting poets. To pick five of them is to be unfair to the lot who have had a composite influence on the body of world literature, through the ages and through time. I was engrossed with the narrative verse of Geoffrey Chaucer as with the sonnets of William Shakespeare. I identify with the lyrics of Lord George Gordon Byron as with the poems of Alexander Pushkin or Rabindranath Tagore or Jean-Joseph Rabiarivelo. I can locate common grounds in the poetry of Pablo Neruda or T.S. Eliot or Edgar Allan Poe in much the same way that I am at home with the poetry of Dennis Brutus or Augustino Neto. In all, I am grateful for every quirk of composition that I learnt from these poets, and I believe I have already counted beyond five. Well, can you mention five Nigerian poets that you love to read? Yes, I can. In 1986, I moulded my opinion on the poetry of Gabriel Okara into what turned out to be my undergraduate project, drawing a linguistic continuum between his poetry, as embodied in The Fisherman's Invocation and the quaint prose of his only novel, The Voice. I have come to the conclusion that it is not enough to say, for instance, that I like Okigbo's poetry and leave it at that. Indeed I love to read Christopher Okigbo for his delicate imagery, his winning lines, so much so that I am currently undertaking a written appreciation of his poetry in a long essay entitled "Tiger Mask & Nude Spear." Such an exhaustive study, self-imposed as it is and conducted outside of the ivory tower, would enable me to understand why I like Okigbo's poetry. I have to get to the root of the matter. Frankly, I should do that for every poet I enjoy reading. The poetry of Odia Ofeimun equally opened my soul to another kind of poetic temperament, namely the poet as a social warrior out to question every infelicity in governance, and I speak with particular reference to The Poet Lied. And then, of course, there is Niyi Osundare, the most prolific Nigerian poet to date, and the most daring in terms of sheer stylistic impetus. He parades a variegated sensibility that many of his admirers wish they could inherit. What's more, among my contemporaries, I admire the poetic talents of Esiaba Irobi, Afam Akeh, Chiedu Ezeanah, Ogaga Ifowodo and Chijioke Amu-Nnadi. These are poets who deserve to be studied in their own rights, poets with a high-grade sensitivity of their own. I believe it is high time we began an exhaustive critical appreciation of these poets for the sake of our national literature, and I have resolved to do my part of this large assignment. If there are no critics of current Nigerian literature, as Professor Charles Nnolim maintains, perhaps it will not be out of place for the writers themselves to become their own critics so long as it serves the end of literature. Outline your daily activities. I'm afraid I can't do that. I will not do that. No one day is the same as the other, and that's what I have tried to explore in A Calendar of Faith. Every day is a genuine gift from God. Between sleep and waking, so much happens that isn't the same, from day to day, week after week, month after month. It is my duty to take the lessons of each day in my stride, to consciously make the most of that gift, if I am to qualify as a better human being tomorrow, one aspiring to be worthy of redemption in the eyes of God. In short, I don't see life as routine. If it were so, it would be boring. There is always something unique about each day, and I always look out for that unique element, and do well to date it. For instance, if you were to give me this same assignment tomorrow, expecting me to outline my activities, I'm not likely to use these same words. So, I take every day as it comes, and do well to be in charge of it. The poem I write on the first day of the year cannot possibly be the same as the poem I write in the middle of the year or on the last day of the year, because each day comes with its own challenges, its own blessings, its own promises, its own disappointments, its own sheer variety. Is the ability to write poetry innate in every human being? I believe it is. We all have access to breath. Poetry is breath, free utterance captured on paper. You are at liberty to express yourself, or else to deny yourself self-expression by hiding the plain images, the unadorned words that come to you, under an obscurantist bushel. If you feel pain, do well to express it in your own words, in clear terms appreciable to your neighbour. If you fall in love, nobody expresses it for you. It is up to you to dig deep into yourself to shore up the best possible choice of words that can tell the listening ear that you are in love. Isn't it? In short, you can be a poet if you want to. All you need do is summon the required presence of mind, pull up a chair, sit your butt down before a desk, place a blank sheet of paper before you, hold a pen, and write out the next poem that comes to your mind to the best of your ability. The duty of a writer is to write. I believe that's what you call discipline. If you can take that position when you set out to write a letter, you can do the same for a poem. Or, this being the age of the computer, type out your feelings on your laptop. To a large extent, a poem is a letter you write to yourself, a personal experience you share with yourself, and if someone gets to read it and is affected by it, you have scored a bull's eye. I suppose that's what William Wordsworth meant when he defined poetry as an act of self confession, confessing yourself to yourself. In much the same way, I believe that's what Niyi Osundare meant when he defined a poem as "man meaning to man." So long as you employ the tools of poetry, the figurative use of language to express your feelings, you can persuade the reader to relate with that experience from your own point of view. To varying degrees, therefore, every human being is a poet. As Vincent Egbuson would put it, "a poet is a man." By extension, for that matter, a poet may jolly well be a woman. If you were to win the coveted NLNG poetry prize for 2009, what would you invest in? I doubt if I would have problems with investing the prize money wisely. I have seen enough of this wicked world to know that there is an open market out there, waiting for the best ideas to transform lives. There is a whole range of hungry commitments just waiting for funds to meet them. Beyond the immediate celebration, however, I am consumed by the idea of setting up a credible private media outfit that would help to streamline the thinking of the militants in the Niger Delta for the best. As Obasanjo would say, the problem with Nigeria is the problem of the Niger Delta. Yet, after serving three terms as the number one citizen of Nigeria, first as military Head of State, and twice as civilian President within a twenty-year period, he failed to resolve the problem. If you were to ask Obasanjo afresh what the problem with Nigeria is today, he would probably say the same thing. Blame it on the Niger Delta. In my humble opinion, as a creative writer and as an illustrious son of the Niger Delta, the militants in question have not been able to express themselves fully, in intellectual terms, to the understanding of their neighbours in other parts of the country. And I say this advisedly. They are yet to compel the attention of the world with graphic descriptions of conditions in the swamp. They are yet to evoke the sympathy of the men and women of good conscience with the kind of rousing rhetoric typical of an Obama. Ultimately, I don't think the option of the gun and the bayonet is the best. It only depletes our ranks. It only ends up wasting our useable manpower. It was an option that Isaac Boro himself had already jettisoned, as anyone familiar with his book, The 12-Day Revolution, will attest to. If Boro were alive today, he would be a man of peace, not a man of war. To resort to violence in this day and age is to suffer from what Wole Soyinka calls "idiom closure," the inability to develop an argument beyond the moment. I dare say that dialogue answers all things. A well-reasoned response is the best answer to a foolish question. Put simply, peace is the answer to all the problems of Nigeria. Ask Jesus Christ. In short, the pen is mightier than the gun. So, I would like to invest in the pen. I would rather start a writing school, so that every militant in the Niger Delta will be sufficiently equipped to express themselves. I would reach out to every militant worth his name, and give each one of them ample space to explain why they felt compelled to carry a gun and to cover their faces like Mau Mau photographers until President Umar Yar'Adua persuaded them to lay down their weapons, and Governor Timipre Sylva brought them out into the open, on national television. On my honour, I would do well to let them know from the start how forbidden it is to shed blood in the open sight of God. These are the concerns of my forthcoming book entitled, The Militant Writes Back, a body of poems expressing what it feels like to live in a militant environment such as the Niger Delta. Take note. I am a militant in my own right, but nobody is negotiating with me. And that is because the pen is my weapon. When you say you want to establish a private press that would put the Niger Delta struggle in better perspective, what do you mean? And what's this talk of a writing school? Could you please explain further? Sure. What I mean is this. I have worked as a journalist for the better part of my adult life. I have been a reporter in the best sense of the word, a foot-soldier in the news gathering business. I also served as editor of a state newspaper for four years, and I am a tried and tested broadcaster, on radio and television. It doesn't quite matter that, today, I am banned from practising journalism in my own state. I am banned from the state radio, banned from the state television, banned from revamping the state newspaper, even in my capacity as General Manager. And all this because I told the incumbent head of the media machinery in the state, the Commissioner for Information, no less, that he was the wrong man for the job, because he doesn't know what it means to harness all three arms of the media to work in the larger interest of the state and of the Sylva government. I told him at point-blank range that nobody knows Asara A. Asara in the Nigerian media industry, even if he parades three As in his name, and that he would be better off as a manager of his hotel business or simply remain a professional fisherman. Rather than reason with me in a mature and civilized manner, the man took offence and opted to send my pen on suspension. But, as Esiaba Irobi would ask, how do you pin down a cloud? But all that is just by the way. In December 2006, I made a public presentation of my first four books all at once to mark my 43rd birthday, and the Bayelsa State Government (under Dr Goodluck Jonathan at that time) made a heart-warming promise to provide me with a digital press on account of the commendable feat I had accomplished, so that I would be even more productive. The four books in question are Mantids, A Birthday Delight, I Want To Be A Senator, and Apples & Serpents. As may be expected, I was overjoyed at that public pronouncement. It's a good sign when a prophet is accepted in his own backyard. But three years after that event, the promise is yet to be redeemed. So, in the light of all this, I would like to set up a press that would serve the public interest, a medium that would specifically help to correct the erroneous impressions held by some people about the Niger Delta, if I have the wherewithal so to do. That is because, to quote Obasanjo again, if the problem of the Niger Delta region is resolved, then the problem of Nigeria is as good as solved. Now, to the last part of your question. Once upon a time, I conceived the idea of establishing a writing school with the modest funds at my disposal. It is called Shalom School of Scripture, SSS. It advocates peace as its motto. I actually bought a small parcel of land in Yenagoa, laid the foundation stone on December 2, 2004, with a few close friends as witness, and built it up to a certain point. It is still awaiting completion. That is a project idea that I consider worthwhile, and I don't mind going back to it, if I have funds. As you know, there is no formal school of writing in Nigeria. Mamman Vatsa's dream is yet to materialize, in Abuja or outside Abuja. This private initiative would admit Nigerian writers into a residency programme for as long as they see fit, in the heart of the Niger Delta, in Bayelsa precisely, so that our creative writers can be better enlightened about the motives that led the ex-militants to become militants in the first place. Take it from me. Bayelsa is a nice, quiet and peaceful land where any writer in the world can concentrate his talents and write twelve books in one year, just as I have done. Bayelsa is the glory of all lands. There is no disputing that. If Jesus Christ is to come suddenly upon the world, he would arise from Bayelsa, and step out like a tell-tale thief in the deep night of the world's ignorance, like a weaverbird spelling judgement upon the sins of the world with the very breath of poetry. I hope that answers your question.

7. HYGINUS EKWUAZI: ‘Poetry Paints, Warts, Idealises…’What it feels like to be shortlisted for the NLNG Prize for Literature? Exciting...VERY exciting. Previous commendations & awards? I have had three: "Love Apart" won two awards: the 207 ANA-Cadbury Prize for poetry and also the ANA/NNDC-Gabriel Okara Prize for poetry; "Dawn into Moonlight" won the 2008 ANA-Cadbury Prize for poetry. How many poetry collections have been published? Three on the whole: the third one, "The Monkey's Eyes" was published this year. The attributes of a good poem? To my mind, a good poem works in binary opposites: It is socially rooted; but it is also rooted in the imagination. It paints, warts and all; but it also idealises the real and realises the ideal. It makes the mind light; but it also makes the mind heavy. In one line, it serenades; in another line it ululates. A poem is short; but it takes you on the longest journey: the journey from the head to the heart... When I started writing poems? In the secondary school..At any rate, I regarded them as poetry--I mean, what I wrote at that time. Any other genre apart from poetry? Yes. I have three published plays. I should add that I have also earned a number of screen credits for scriptwriting. Five foreign poets that I read and why? Dylan Thomas. Wilfred Owens. Robert Frost. Walt Whiteman. T S Eliot. They all talk about man, the heart of man and human life.... I mean they sing the kind of 'songs' that I can sink my teeth into and chew the way a goat chews the curd. Five Nigerian poets that I love to read? Okigbo. Soyinka. Odia Ofeimun. Niyi Osundare. Ezenwa Ohaeto. An outline of my daily activities? by inclination and by choice--but more by the former than the latter--I dont have any specific time for doing anything: one day you could find me eating breakfast at 6am; another day, it could be 6pm. Perhaps, the best way to put it is this: I am like a man under command-- when the spirit says "Go!" I go; and when the spirit says "Come!" I come....I hardly know which will be which or when -- and whatever the routine of the workplace has imposed on me, no two days are alike. Is the ability to write poetry innate? I daresay, poets are born to be made...by their environment.

8. G'ENINYO OGBOWE: ‘Good Poetry Must Appeal To Feelings’What does it feel like to be on the list? What does it feel like to be shortlisted for the NLNG Prize for Literature? As a Christian, I say, "Thank you, Lord". It's all His doing, and I give Him thanks. Do you have previous commendations and awards? My first collection, Let the honey run and other poems, was shortlisted in 2005. My third collection, The Heedless Ballot Box, was joint winner of the ANA Bayelsa Isaac Boro Prize for Niger Delta Literature in 2008. How many of your poetry collections have been published? I have four published collections: let the honey run and other poems (2001, 2005), the towncrier's song (2003, 2009), the heedless ballot box (2006) and song of a dying river (2009). In your opinion, what are the attributes of a good poem? The attributes of a good poem? That would depend on your training and taste. Vivid, musical and appealing to the emotions and the rational faculty at the same time, I'd say, but some other reader might have other parameters to judge a work of art. And that's what a poem is - a work of art. If so, it must be beautiful, elegant. But, you see, I'm primarily a poet and not a critic, so won't want to talk about this. When did you start writing poems? Actually, I started writing in Higher School in the mid 70s. Do you write any other genre apart from poetry? Technically, no. What I'm working on now, aside my forthcoming collection, isn't literary. It's a Christian book. Mention five foreign poets that you love to read. What makes them peculiar? T S Eliot, W B Yeats, Walt Whitman, Langston Hughes and L S Senghor. They all are poets concerned with capturing the spirit of their age. Reading their poetry, you find language that is vivid and lyrical; poetry that appeals to your emotion and compels you to make some critical assessments. With Yeats, Senghor and Langston Hughes, you come face to face with great art put to the service of a nation or an oppressed race. Senghor's beautiful poetry, which is propagandistic, entertains and educates. In spite of all Soyinka said, Senghor's is poetry at its best. Five Nigerian poets that you love to read Five Nigerian poets I love to read? First is Christopher Okigbo. If he'd lived long enough, I believe we'd have had a harvest. He's yet to be surpassed. As an Ijaw, I've learnt a lot from J P Clark-Bekederemo and Gabriel Okara. Then, of course, there's Tanure Ojaide, Ogaga Ifowodo, Remi Raji and Niyi Osundare. Some critics insist after Osundare and Ojaide, nothing new has happened. They're mistaken, because a lot of writing is taking place today that these critics aren't aware of. Not everybody is beholden to Osundare and Ojaide. Outline your daily activities My daily activities? Apart from my prayers and Bible study in the morning, my day is fluid. I love freedom and won't be regimented. Is the ability to write poetry innate in every human being? Writing is an art. An artist is a man with certain innate abilities. He's a man endowed with certain rare gifts, which he spends long hours honing. He's a man with a vision; one whose eyes and ears have been opened.

Nigeria Prize For Literature: Book Party for Nigeria Poetry Awardees

Nigeria Prize for Literature: Book party for nine poetry awardees

(http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/friday_review/article01)

By Anote Ajeluorou and Kafayat Quadri
THIS Sunday at the waterfront garden of the Goethe Institut on Victoria Island, Lagos at 2pm, Nigerians, especially the literary and culture community will have an opportunity to meet and interact with the nine short-listed writers for the Nigeria Prize for Literature. It is at the instance of the Committee for Relevant Art (CORA), which branded itself as Culture Landscapists, and has always been facilitating emergence of a vibrant environment for the flowering of the arts and cultural tradition of the country.
In setting up this Sunday programme, the CORA said it recognizes that the mere fact of being long-listed not to mention being short-listed is as good as winning in other climes, where literary, artistic achievements count for something.
Until now, both the short-listed and would-be winners were usually hidden from the public. Well, perhaps not hidden; but they hardly had opportunity to hug the limelight through a programmed event that would enable them enjoy deserved public exposure as celebrated laureates. And on occasion of the ceremony unveiling winner of the coveted prize, usually the winner, and perhaps the first and second runners-up get maximum exposure through media coverage.
Previous winners of the award, and all such similar prize-winners in other fields of creative endeavour hardly get a mention beyond the day of award. This rather obscures the significance of such award as winners do not get celebrated as the stars that they are. Very little is heard of Kaine Agary, the winner of the same award last year with her Yellow Yellow.
And, to think that the Nigeria Prize for Literature is worth a whooping sum of $50,000 makes the relative obscurity the writers sink into inexplicable, and sad. The world famous Man Booker Prize is worth the same amount as LNG prize but attracts world attention and acclaim. This makes the Man Booker the second acclaimed prize after the Nobel Prize.
The CORA said it intends to use the BOOK PARTY - as it has tagged Sunday event - to see how the competitors can be put in the public domain for proper appreciation before the main awards ceremony.
In same spirit of putting the short-listed poets in public court, The Guardian spoke with six of the nine writers to gauge their pulse on being nominated, what their feelings were and what inform their individual creative endeavours among other isues.
For Ahmed Maiwada, author of Fossils (published by Hyburn), he was surprised to receive the news of his being short-listed. He never thought that his eclectic style and the symbolism in his work Fossils would find favour with the judges. But it did, and he is on his way to winning the $50,000 prize. He, however, highlighted a typical Nigerian problem that usually coloured everything black or sour. He said, "Besides, I thought only the connected get rewarded in the Nigerian scheme of things. I am not connected. I don't seek favours. Besides, I come from a part of Nigeria not generally associated with excellence".
However, poetry is not the only kind of writing that Maiwada does. Fiction and essays also feature in his writing enterprise. He has other works waiting to gain public space, which might benefit greatly from this nomination. He stated, "Yes, I write fiction and essays. I write short stories and novels. My first published novel shall be released shortly, entitled Musdoki. I have several manuscripts awaiting publication. Most of them are historical novels; and I think historical novels take the highest regards in fiction writing, just as symbolic poems in the poetry genre."
Maiwada's passion for poetry is rather intellectual in nature. He confessed, "I don't read poems; I study them. And I love foreign poets for their polish and release".
For Maiwada, who started writing poetry in 1988 in the style of William Wordsworth for his Igbo girlfriend at the time, anybody just can't write poetry because it is an art form on its own. He emphasised, in reaction to a question whether poetry is innate in every human being: "It is just like asking: Is the ability to sing or dance or manufacture cars innate in every human being? No! Poetry is a tradition of high art. It requires more than being a human being, even more than being a human being with talent. While many people may have the promise to be poets, very few achieve that status because of the demand for originality and craft".
Odoh Diego Okenyodo thinks and feels differently though. For considering his From a Poem to its Creator (also on Hyburn stable) worthy for nomination, he feels a sense of vindication. This is not surprising for a Pharmacist whose foray into the uncertain waters of journalism and creative writing caused a few of his close friends and family some anxiety. Now perhaps, he says he can silence a few and possibly win the admiration of others with this nomination.
He is full of rhapsody, "Mine to be chosen among some body works... That feels like a vindication for me! You know, I have been committed to writing for a long time and I was even expelled from the university for doing it. I'm also not practising pharmacy, which I studied, just for the same reason.
"People ask you questions about the prestige in being a pharmacist and why you chose to abandon it for some rather uncertain future in literature and journalism - literary journalism, to be precise - and I always really labour to explain it; telling them that it gives one satisfaction, and blah-blah. Again, you spend so much of your earnings trying to ensure that your writings are visible and packaged, and friends and family just tolerate that. Until it is announced that that little thing you always bothered about is now worthy of being considered for a huge amount of money. That is the feeling; vindication!"
While Musa Idris Opanachi (The Eaters of the Living) feels grateful to Allah and is happy, G'Ebenyo Ogbowei (Songs of a Dying River) (Kraftbooks) simply says,
"'Thank you, Lord'; it's all His doing, and I give Him thanks". But Omo Uwaifo (currently holidaying in the UK), who with two others, shared the first NLNG Prize for Literature in 2004 with his second novel Fattening House, feels 'exhilarated and flattered' at being nominated again this year. So, he says, "I did not expect to be on the list. Whatever happens now, I must celebrate with a goat to be brought in from Benin City". And, he is giving open invitation to everyone to the promised feast.
Nevertheless, it is not all backslapping for these poets and writers who have been thrown up to be flag-bearers of Nigerian Literature. What makes their writings tick? What qualifies as a good poem? In other words, if they were to be the judges of the Nigeria Prize for Literature, what would they be looking for in each of the entries submitted?
Invariably, their responses are as interesting as their varied creative minds - the hallmark of creative imagination. Although Maiwada says he does not write for rewards, he is convinced a good poem should have the right poetic ingredients like trophes or figures of speech, which must be original.
He argues, "Those figures of speech must be fresh and original, new and original metaphors and sounds. It is a high poem that achieves a good balance of metaphors and anti-metaphors (or ironies); and that is very rare in Nigerian writing. And it is the highest poem that is elevated to the symbolic level.
"Poems loaded with proverbs have been celebrated in Nigeria for a long time; and I think that is the reason why we have remained stagnant in the comity of global poetry. Proverbs are worn-out imagery and unless a poet is able to de-familiarise them, to impose his personality on them, he has no business using them in his works for they are not his original creations. Using them amounts to cheating".
It is for these reasons that William Shakespeare (for his superhuman puns, metaphors and ironies), E. E. Cummings (for courage to take as much license with syntax as possible; and for his love to play with forms), Lord Byron (for the depth of his imagination and perfect control of diction), T. S. Eliot (for his innovative forms and deep imagination; for being mentioned in terms of modernist writings), and John Donne (for his revolutionary metaphysical works laced with lyrical brilliance) are his favourite non-African writers.
But Gabriel Okara (for his symbolism), J. P. Clark (for his lyricism), Uche Nduka (for his avant-gardism), Ahmed Maiwada (for his eclectism - apologies if I seem proud), and Mu'azu Maiwada (for his surrealism) are Maiwada's all time Nigerian favourite writers.
For Okpanachi, who is not new to winning prizes (won ANA/Cadbury prize in 2008) a good poem should have reality, simplicity and a good combination of expression and mystery of meaning as defining qualities. However, Okenyodo would rather a good poem give the reader a new experience, "either a new experience of words or a new experience of what life is or isn't.
"A good poem attempts to de-familiarise our experiences, and to set us thinking, and then reading it again. If you cannot want to read a piece of poetry again, it's likely to be failed poetry. It is not necessarily a complicated array of words; the way the poem addresses his subject should be such that you are led into a new hideout and shown what you never saw or knew. A good poem is some sort of tour guide".
Okpanachi writes short stories besides poetry and he has some ready for publication while some had been published in review magazines abroad. He says, "I'm currently writing a novel, From the Margins of Paradise. So, Matthew Arnold, Mahmud Darwish, Thomas Hardy, T.S. Elliot, and Gibran Khalil_are some foreign writers he loves to read; while Ilagha Nengi, Ogaga Ifewodo, Femi Osofisan, Niyi Osundare and Wole Soyinka are his Nigerian favourites. Not everyone can write poetry because of poetry's peculiar nature. So, he says, poetry "is for the sensitive."
Also for Ogbowei, writing is an art that does not lend itself easily to all. He stressed, "An artist is a man with certain innate abilities. He's a man endowed with certain rare gifts, which he spends long hours honing. He's a man with a vision; one whose eyes and ears have been opened".
Also, training and taste buds are Ogbowei's defining characteristics of a good poem. So, a poem has to be "vivid, musical and appealing to the emotions and the rational faculty at the same time. But some other readers might have other parameters to judge a work of art. And that's what a poem is - a work of art. If so, it must be beautiful, elegant. But, you see, I'm primarily a poet and not a critic, so I won't want to talk about this".
Uwaifo believes a good poem must be "perceptive of its subject and uncluttered; it must be respectful of the reader and of the unbridled freedom of modern verse". For Uwaifo, Ted Hughes, Seamus Heaney, Derek Walcot, William Wordsworth, Paul Muldoon and a selection of great exponents of poetry - ancient and modern are his non-African writers. But Odia Ofeimun and Niyi Osundare are the only serious Nigerian poets he knows and reads.
The chairman of Benin Moat Foundation and retired engineer with former NEPA, Uwaifo believes everybody has the ability to write poetry, "Yes; to the extent that languages are spoken and every language has its innate beauty - lyricism, allegories, similes et al".
Just like the others, Dr. Ademola Omobewaji Dasylva, Reader and Associate Professor at the_Department of English,_University of Ibadan (Songs of Odamolugbe by Kraftbooks) believes the ability to write poetry is not an innate quality but one that has to be developed and cultivated. "No, I do not think so," he stressed. "The ability to write poetry is not innate in every humankind. Rather, I would say everybody has poetry in, and around, him or her. But it takes a tamed consciousness or awareness to discern and respond to it as appropriate. Writing is a skill acquired by some training, but poetry is a gift; poetry writing is a combination of both skill and gift".
For being nominated, Ademola says, "I feel fulfilled and since I teach poetry in the university, I regard my being short-listed among the best nine in the current Nigerian Prize for Literature assessment for the award as a proof of my success in poetry teaching and writing. I feel fulfilled that, at least, I have succeeded in reaching out to people out there, who understand and appreciate my message and poetry.
"I feel fulfilled that all my life I have appreciated good poetry and celebrated great poets. Now, the Nigeria Prize for Literature has afforded me also a place to be celebrated like the great poets before me".
The teacher of poetry will likely be caught reading such foreign poets as William Blake, John Keats, William Shakespeare, John Donne and Claude McKay. But John P. Clark (-Bekederemo), Wole Soyinka, Niyi Osundare, Odia Ofeimun and Okinba Launko are his Nigerian favourite poets.
For him, a good poem "must communicate effectively by exploiting the resources of language and music; it must be well informed and, in turn, must be informing; it must be propelled by a conviction that is fundamental, a conviction that is fore-grounded by a definite ideology; its topicality must engage issues associated with its immediate society, and must be relevant globally".
Okenyodo, however, is one poet that does not read what the crowd is reading. He believes in the experimental element of poetry, and so forages into alien or obscure corners to find his enjoyment. For instance, his favourite Nigerian poets are not the usual ones on the reading list of most people, not the ones that succeed in catching the popular imagination because, for him, they poets or writers don't always catch the imagination or succeed.
"My favourite Nigerian poets are people you do not know so much about," he says. "I love Ismail Bala Garba's poetry; same with the Maiwadas - Dr. Mu'azu Maiwada, who is my literary mentor; and his brother Ahmed Maiwada, who is my contemporary in a sense. Those are two, or three, right?
"I read Obi Nwakanma and love his works. I love Elnathan John's rhyme schemes, which are usually effortless. And then there are works by the masters like Okara, Osundare, Okigbo, and so on. In truth, I am one that feels that poetry is such an experimental art that you can only select among a person's works and say, "This one succeeded", not that this author always writes good poetry. The fact that the poet wrote a good one today is no guarantee of his tomorrow."
Ogbowei's reading list and the reasons for it is an impressive one. His favourite foreign writers include T S Eliot, W B Yeats, Walt Whitman, Langston Hughes and L S Senghor. "They all are poets concerned with capturing the spirit of their age," he argues. "Reading their poetry you find language that is vivid and lyrical; it's poetry that appeals to your emotion and compels you to make some critical assessments.
"With Yeats, Senghor and Langston Hughes, you come face to face with great art put to the service of a nation or an oppressed race. Senghor's beautiful poetry, which is propagandistic, entertains and educates. In spite of all Soyinka said, Senghor's poetry is at its best."
Christopher Okigbo is the first on his Nigerian reading list. Of him, he says, "If he'd lived long enough, I believe we'd have had a harvest. He's yet to be surpassed. As an Ijaw, I've learnt a lot from J P Clark-Bekederemo and Gabriel Okara. Then, of course, there's Tanure Ojaide, Ogaga Ifowodo, Remi Raji and Niyi Osundare.
"Some critics insist that after Osundare and Ojaide, nothing new has happened. They're mistaken, because a lot of writing is taking place today that these critics aren't aware of. Not everybody is beholden to Osundare and Ojaide".
For Carlton Lindsay Barrett (A Memory of Rivers), elder statesman, writer, journalist, essayist, playwright, poet and novelist, originally from the Caribbean, "memories of the historical event that was the slave trade that seems to surge through my very veins and the evidence that the human spirit is indomitable and can overcome all challenges" is great influence in his writings. And he says, "My decision to live and work in Africa was a conscious act of rebellion at first that has metamorphosed into a spiritual desire for renewal and peace for all African peoples through cultural understanding. This is the major force that continues to drive my professional and creative purpose in life and it is the basis on which I expect my legacy as a writer to be judged when I am gone.
"Ever since I first learnt to read as a very young child I have been fascinated by the mind's ability to create new worlds of vision and expectation out of the simple act of self-expression. I have always admired those who can manipulate this quality in life through the deployment of language whether in speech or on paper. This encouraged me to commence writing poetry in my late teens and to build a career out of both storytelling and reporting".
The other writers in the Nigeria Prize for Literature are Hyginus Ekwuazi (Love Apart) (Kraftbooks) and Nengi Josef Ilagha (January Gestures) (Treasure Books).

CORA Poetry Party On Sallah Day

CORA’s Book party for the nine poets shortlisted for the NLNG award, is a Sallah Day party with suya, drinks and music. The feast is scheduled to hold Sunday September 20 at the Goethe Institut, at 2pm. The choice of a Book Party at this point is to generate public interest in an otherwise purely intellectual event, while drawing attention to the nominated works, which, by merely making of the Short-list, have registered their significance in the emerging body of literature of Nigeria. The event, a garden- lagoon-front affair, will feature short reviews of each work, interspersed with performances, readings, photo-ops and writer-audience interactions.
“The interactive sessions, we envisage, will allow the public to engage the writers at several levels – from the elevated, such as gaining a peep into motive and motivations of the poets, to the mundane, such as finding out any plans for the prize money”, according to Deji Toye, CORA’s advisor on strategy.
TOYIN AKINOSHO, ARTSVILLE, (THE GUARDIAN) SEPT 13, 2009

CORA Book Party For Nigeria literature Prize shortlist Poets

THE COMMITTEE FOR RELEVANT ART, CORA,

PRESS RELEASE

The Book Party in honour of the recently announced 9 shortlisted writers for the Nigeria Literature Prize holds on SUNDAY September 20 at the Goethe Institut, 10 Ozumba Mbadiwe Street, Victoria Island, Lagos; at 2pm.

The Book Party heralds the Committee For Relevant Art's two month-long "Book Season", which is designed as a foretaste to the Lagos Book and Art Festival, LABAF, in November.

The season involves a series of events that would generate a buzz and raise public awareness for the festival.
The first in the series of events is a BOOK PARTY, designed to host all the Nine nominees on the shortlist list of the 2009 Nigeria Literature Prize as endowed by the NLNG.

CORA intends to play host to the nine Poets in the short-list for the Award, which ceremony comes up in October.

The choice of a Book Party at this point is to generate public interest in an otherwise purely intellectual event, while drawing attention to the nominated works, which, by merely making of the Short-list, have registered their significance in the emerging body of literature of Nigeria.

The event, a garden- lagoon-front affair, will feature short reviews of each work, interspersed with performances, readings, photo-ops and writer-audience interactions.

The interactive sessions, we envisage, will allow the public to engage the writers at several levels – from the elevated, such as gaining a peep into motive and motivations of the poets, to the mundane, such as finding out any plans for the prize money

Further enquiries can be referred to KAFAYAT QUADRI, 07029025583.
stampedecorang@gmail.com
C/O CORA HOUSE,
PLOT 95 BODE THOMAS STREET, SURULERE, LAGOS,

Or Toyin Akinosho (08057622415); Jahman Anikulapo (08022016495); and Deji Toye (08023624647)

TimeOut with Diego

Odoh Diego Okenyodo is one of the 9 poets shortlisted for the Nigerian Prize For Literature. His collection of poems called 'A Poem to Its Creator' is Odoh Diego Okenyodo’s first book in Poetry. A member of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA), he has worked for “about a decade” as a journalist with the Weekly Trust. He holds a Bachelor of Pharmacy from the Ahmadu Bello University.
He took time out with us.

1. what does it feel like to be shortlisted for the NLNG Prize for Literature?

Mine to be chosen among some body works... That feels like a vindication for me! You know, I have been committed to writing for a long time and I was even expelled from the university for doing it. I also am not practising pharmacy, which I studied, just for the same reason.

People ask you questions about the prestige in being a pharmacist and why you chose to abandon it for some rather uncertain future in literature and journalism--literary journalism, to be precise--and I always really labour to explain it, telling them that it gives one satisfaction, and blah-blah. Again, you spend so much of your earnings trying to ensure that your writings are visible and packaged, and friends and family just tolerate that. Until it is announced that that little thing you always bothered about is now worthy of being considered for a huge amount of money. That is the feeling; vindication!

2. Do you have previous commendations and awards?

Not really. For some invisible contributions to the Association of Nigerian Authors' branches in Kano State and Niger State, one has had some forms of commendations and an award, but not for the creative product itself.

3. How many of your poetry collections have been published? Name them.

Just one, the From A Poem to Its Creator collection. I do not believe one should rush to publish. This collection had been almost in this form for near a decade, save for minor editorial changes

4. In your opinion, what are the attributes of a good poem?

A good poem should give the reader a new experience, either a new experience of words or a new experience of what live is or isn't. A good poem attempts to de-familiarise our experiences, and set us thinking, and reading it again. If you cannot want to read a piece of poetry again, it's likely to be failed poetry. It is not necessarily a complicated array of words; it is just that the way the poem either addresses its subject is such that you are led into a new hideout and shown what you never saw or knew. A good poem is some sort of tour guide.

5. When did you start writing poems?

I didn't start writing poems in the real sense of it; I have been very fascinated with words and how they are formed, so I have engaged in wordplay for a very long time. I come from a family of artists and we knew no bounds, creatively. We did (and still do) painting, music, play writing, and so on. In secondary school, I remember a childhood friend of mine Andrew and I entering a literary competition with a poem that

6. Do you write any other genre apart from poetry?

I write for children. I love writing for children. The world of innocence and lack of boundaries is one experience I enjoy. I have one or two short stories for adults, but I can't call myself a short fiction writer for adults.

7. Can you mention 5 foreign poets that you love to read. What makes them peculiar?

Well, is Jackie Kay Nigerian or British? She is not resident here, so I would call her British. She is one I love so much for humour hidden in her verses. Emm....who else? I can't recall immediately now, truly, because I am being distracted and I do feel like finishing this response.

8. Can you mention 5 Nigerian poets that you love to read.

Aaah! Easy. My favourite Nigerian poets are people you do not know so much about: I love Ismail Bala Garba's poetry; same with the Maiwadas--Dr Mu'azu Maiwada, who is my literary mentor; and his brother Ahmed Maiwada, who is my contemporary in a sense. Those are two, or three, right?

I read Obi Nwakanma and love the works. I love Elnathan John's rhyme schemes, which are usually effortless. And then there are works by the masters like Okara, Osundare, Okigbo, and so on. In truth, I am one that feels that poetry is such an experimental art that you can only select among a person's works and say, "This one succeeded", not that this author always writes good poetry. The fact that the poet wrote a good one today is no guarantee of his tomorrow.

9. Outline your daily activities.

Daily, I wake up late. Daily, I work till late in the night. Daily, I write proposals and poems, many of both unfinished, many of both on my phones or on my laptops, or online on Google Docs. Daily, I dream dreams of being everything. Daily, I remain me, misunderstood by even me!

10. Is the ability to write poetry innate in every human being?

No. We all have the raw materials for poetry, but not all of us have been blessed with the ability to capture it.