In continuation of our exclusive interview with Ifeanyi Prosper, he goes in-depth on the nature of poetry in Nigeria; as well as the nitty-gritty of poetry writing and journal submission ecosystem for poets.
How likely are you to venture into any other field?
I would get to the movie part where I don’t write only poems but I have to write fiction too.
I write speculative fiction, that is fiction that has to do with science, fantasies and philosophy in
nature.
There’s a story I wrote, titled “The Factory” published in the University of Alabama’s black warrior
review that is their English department’s journal.
There’s another you could get online, it would tell you about me because I put myself into
that story a lot.
It was published in a journal “New Delta Review” in the Louisiana State University in the US,
you can check it out online and the story is titled “Flower Boy”.
For screenwriting, normally, I have this dream of writing a movie that would be directed. There’s
nothing concrete now because I understand the kind of manpower and resources that go into movies.
For that kind of thing, I need a commission from an organisation to write it. It’s a process.
Are there any specific books, authors or any sources that have influenced your writing?
I would just share a few fiction writers that I read, I read Peter Handke; he won the Nobel prize in 2019, and there’s one I am currently reading now titled “Stonner” by John Williams.
I read writers based on what they offer me as a writer, for example, I read Ottesa Mushfegh because the kind of novels she writes usually contain mundane things, especially about female folks.
I read those works of writers that say things you won’t find outside.
Do you have any Nigerian authors up your sleeve?
Yeah, I do. The Nigerian authors I read mostly are usually very old. I can say I have read, Buchi Emecheta, I have read her second-class citizen, joys of Motherhood.
I read Chimamanda, I love her work. But, I don’t try to get too engrossed with her work because she can change the way I see things.
For the male folks, I read Chigozie Obioma, I think he has been crowned the heir to Chinua
Achebe. I read Chinua Achebe, I read Wole Soyinka, I read his plays mostly, and I am still struggling with one of his novels, “The Interpreter”.
Those are the few people I read.
Have you ever seen other people’s works and be like, “What am I doing with my life?” And how do you deal with that?
Those feelings are present and I cannot even deny it. As a writer, you will face constant dejections and rejections.
You submit your work to a particular journal or a university, you find your mates and contemporaries submitting their works too. And, one of them could end up being picked and you would be like, what did he do that I didn’t do?
I think there’s a consolation in reading the work of people who get picked over you. You just have to be humble and courageous. I have gotten where I am as a writer today because someone has recommended me or said something about my work.
Just ordinary, “he’s willing to learn” will go a long way in your career. I know I have sent my manuscripts and people bash me, one said I was writing like a 2-year-old, you would meet people like that constantly.
I submitted a work in 2021, but the editor didn’t bother looking at it, it was early 2024 that he got back to me. You would see those kinds of things but since you know where you are coming from and where you are headed, trust me, you just have to learn.
You would see people better than you, you cannot deny it. At times, you would read works and
be like “Wow!”.
This cannot be me or I cannot do this. You just have to appreciate what’s in front of you and learn from it by being humble.
What do you think the Nigerian education sector could do for people who aspire to write?
In the US and some parts of Canada, there’s something called an MFA ( Master of Fine Arts).
Literally, it’s for people who have an interest in poetry, fiction or nonfiction; they go there to
gain a master’s degree.
It’s not just a class, it’s a studio workshop. Whereby you would take your work to class and see other students like you specializing in different genres.
They take you to a doctor or professor and you are being taught how to better your writing, how to make use of figures of speech, how to make literary devices, and how to develop your characters.
You might have this doubt that a character is not saying what you want it to say, as a writer, sometimes you can’t imbue in your characters what you want it to say, you need a second eye.
So the MFA would afford you the luxury of seeing people who can critique your work and give you feedback, in doing that you can work your way up to the top, and you would gain a degree where you join fellowships and win prizes.
It will boost your morale while doing it formally. You could even gain scholarships.
In the Nigerian Literary scene, I won’t say we are trying per say, because I published a poem in the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, The Muse journal. Normally, when they publish your work, they are expected to send you a printed copy to wherever you are in Nigeria.
I am a contributor and I stay in Lagos and UNN is in Enough, for example. When I send out my work and they publish it, they are expected to send me contributor copies to Lagos and the school so supposed to cover the expenses.
But, it’s not like that here. I have had my works published in Canada and my copies were sent to me all the way from there to Lagos and it comes smoothly.
There’s this Nigerian magazine, name withheld, but I published my work there. In fact, two Nigerian magazines have done that to me and that made me lose hope.
There’s a way they do it there, once your article has been accepted, you would be immediately irrespective of the amount in dollars, where $100, $200 or $50.
But, in Nigeria here, they would accept your work, publish your work and wait for months before paying you.
You would just end up being dejected because your work is already in circulation but you have not been paid.
So, as a creative, I see people who write every day and they can write stories, poems and nonfictional pieces.
But, what they need is a formal structure, not just courses that can cater for the need of creative writing.
Like when I was in university, we had a course called ELS 303, which was mainly creative writing.
It’s good to have a course that caters for creative writing, but what I am trying to tell you is that, it’s not enough. You need a program that can equip these students with books on crafts not just lecturers that will tell you to come up with a poem and recite it at the front of a class, no, no, no.
You need something sufficient that can help students or people who do not have enough ability to put their work forward or need a second eye.
I would advise Nigerian universities to adopt the MFA system, once the MFA system can be adopted, I believe up-and-coming writers can thrive.
How do you develop the characters in your work? Are they based on real people or entirely fictional?
If you hurt me as a person I would put you in my work.
Most of the time, the characters I situate in my work are mostly people that I find repulsive or maybe I feel there’s something I have to say about you that I cannot say to you.
I would say it in my works and I would say it anyhow I like.
So, I feel the characters I portray in my work are people that I know, they might not know it’s them. Like I said earlier, a writer cannot exist in a vacuum. Somebody or someone has to influence why you are writing.
I can see someone in the streets smoking and I would decide to write about that person. My characters are people I have come in contact with one way or the other and I write about them.
Is poetry a skill or talent?
This has been one of the biggest debates ever. We did it in a course called ELS 303.
Poetry, there’s this book “On the Sublime” by a Roman writer called “Longinus”.
In that book, he talked about how poetry is a thing gifted to man by God or someone divine.
While, T.S Elliot another poet, argues in his essay, “Tradition and individual talents”, that poetry is a talent and ta the same time, poetry can be learnt.
I feel you should strike a balance, you cannot just say it’s a talent or a skill, you have to merge
them together.
In that essay published in 1919, T.S Elliot gives in-depth knowledge about what it is. Fine, you have to have an idea and be in touch with emotions, that would be tag talent.
But, now actually learning it is one thing. You have to learn the figure of speech, you have to learn those rudimentary techniques that would help you keep in touch with your emotions.
I prefer to strike a balance, saying that, yes it can be taught and at the same time can be inborn.
Any Upcoming Projects?
I am working on a book-length poetry manuscript, “ Entitled Tremor”.
I am just trying to create an archive about the Biafran Civil War through poetry. I am using the family as a touchstone, because growing up, I heard stories from my grandma telling me about the Biafran Civil War and how it affected them during that time, the people they lost in the war and how fathers went and never came back.
I am trying to reach those experiences, however, brutal or mundane they might have been.
I am trying to classify them on the page, a poetry archive, that someone can pick up maybe in a few years and know that this thing happened in a particular time and I am trying to make it from the point of view of my grandma.
Aside from that, I still write little, little poems that are publishable, not for a project or anything.
What’s The Future of Poetry and Literary Journals?
I feel the place of Literary Journals cannot be over-emphasized because like It or not, we could
trace our history or literary tradition.
For example, I know that journals such as Doic Tradition Magazine, The Horn, The Flute. These are journals dating back to 1960/1965 created by Woke Soyinka, and Chimamanda JP Clarke. Even The Muse of UNN was created by Chinua Achebe.
As a body or group of people into poetry, we always have this recall to fall back to our forefathers or people who have created this platform for us to air our literary expressions, views and whatnot.
So, the place of journals cannot be over-emphasized. So, what we can do is to develop these journals into e-journals or online journals, so that everyone can have access to it. Because, now writing is no longer a skill. It’s not a thing that’s meant for a particular elitist group, even the layman can write.
I feel the direction of Nigerian poetry is going toward the line of technological advancement, in the sense that technological tools and whatnot have been used to archive some of the best poems we have created in this 21st century.
So, you can read a poem by D.M Aderibigbe for example, and you see that if D.M was writing in 1960, you as a reader cannot have access to his works except if you belong to a University of Ibadan or Nsukka, having a university membership.
But, now you could easily just search for D.M.’s work and you would see the bulk of works he has written.
I would say we are on the right path based on technological advancement and how we can use
tools to document or archive our work.
Did you have a specific routine that helped you excel in both writing and academics?
I always tell people, I am a creature of habits. I do things habitually, a lot.
What I am trying to say is, that while I was in school, I was a very carefree person and I do not read 24\7. I loved being in contact with people and observing people.
When you observe people, you wonder how the person thinks this way or why did this person say this.
When I was in school, I was not much of a talker, I was not an overly righteous person who reads a lot.
In short, for my academic writing, I read when it’s close to the exam period. That was what I did. I could devote a whole day to a particular course without moving from where I am sitting.
For literary writing, I feel trying or wanting to create something that people like. And these days, I have discovered that people like LGBTQ+ things, that kind of stuff.
In as much as you want to maintain a level of authenticity and be true to yourself, you cannot undermine the pool of what is in vogue. You have to read and keep track of what is in vogue.
While I would say in my academic life, I didn’t read much. In my creative writing, poetry, I read a
lot.
What do you hope readers take away from your book?
It’s just enough for me when someone comes in contact with my work and says, “I was going through a tough time and when I read through your words I felt relieved”.
I have been here in Imo State and I have received a random call from someone in Port Harcourt, he said his mum is sick and he felt better reading my work.
Those kinds of things are more valuable than any amount of dollars a journal would pay me. Merely having a readership and having people share your work through Facebook, Instagram etcetera, is a blessing.
Advice to Aspiring Writers?
Let me be honest with you, there would be lots of rejections. Wherever you think you know, just have a mentality that you do not know it.
You would meet editors who would lambast your work, some would say you write like a jellyfish, and they would say different kinds of things about your work, but you have to be determined in the long run.
And yes, always have a mentor, I am talking about having a mentor in a space you cannot touch. For example, it’s good having Wole Soyinka as a mentor but is he accessible to you now? No.
You have to create mentorship with someone you have access to. You could be someone who writes essentially well, but you could have access to the person physically or someone you can talk to. I have discovered that that kind of connection helps.
You need someone who can create this nexus for you and your work, someone who can devote time, educate and guide you while you are at it.
Don’t create a mentorship that has a very wide spectrum. Try to narrow it down to someone you
have access to.
Even if it’s by writing emails and the person replies, you must not see them physically.
