10 Questions For G'Ebinyo Ogbowei

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

Ogbowei: 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.


2. Do you have previous commendations and awards?

Ogbowei: My first collection, let the honey run and other poems, made the NLNG Prize shortlist 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.


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

Ogbowei: 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).


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

Ogbowei: 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 beauiful, elegant. But, you see, I'm primarily a poet and not a critic, so won't want to talk about this.


5. When did you start writing poems?

Ogbowei: Actually, I started writing in Higher School in the mid 70s.


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

Ogbowei: Technically, no. What I'm working on now, aside my forthcoming collection, isn't literary. It's a Christian book.


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

Ogbowei: 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.


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

Ogbowei: 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 boholden to Osundare and Ojaide.


9. Outline your daily activities.

Ogbowei: 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.


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

Ogbowei: Writing is an art. An artist is a man with certain inate 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.