Igba Ogbole is a novelist, poet and journalist. He is also Director of News, Benue State Radio. In this interview with Edozie Udeze talks about how Okonkwo made him to become a writer
WHAT triggers your muse?
Oh, my environment; what happens around me, around my environment. Each day you wake up, when you pay keen attention to what happens around you, you discover you have so much to write about, so much to commute to memory, to put down for the sake of posterity. There are so many things to write about, particularly on issues of injustices in the society. For instance, when you see how people treat their fellow humans. Take for instance the hotel I checked in when I came to Enugu. The hotel manager got angered by the attitude of one of his staffs. And he raised his hand and slapped him. The sound of his hand alone was so resounding, it reverberated and re-echoed in the hall. It was so loud I didn’t know when I held his hand. No matter the level of wrong the boy had committed, you didn’t need to treat him so cruelly and so brutish in the presence of visitors. It was not the best way to treat him. You demean him, you reduce his self-esteem and worth before your visitors. Each time something that is not going the right way, it creates the anxiety to write, to talk about it. It helps me to see how I can write to make for a better society.
When you read a book, what are the salient things you look out for?
First of all, the message. What is it that the book is talking about? Secondly, the language, the construction, the flow in terms of sentence structure. Then in terms of the message and what it intends to achieve. Each time you read a book, you’re supposed to go away with something, particularly something positive. So, those are the sort of things I look out for when I read a book.
You started writing fiction at a point in your life. What book in particular aroused your interest?
Oh, Things Fall Apart by Professor Chinua Achebe. I read Things Fall Apart right from when I was in secondary school and I can tell you I’ve read it up to ten times. And each time you pick it, perhaps because of my background and where I come from, you get to see, to encounter bits and bits of your own culture in the book. And like I said, where I come from in Benue is not far from Obolo Afor in Enugu State. So, the background, the scenary, the pictorial background of the book itself, somewhat reflect our own culture in my locality. The book tells me that this could as well be my own background. And another striking feature of the book is the way Okonkwo wanted to fight the coming of imperialism, colonialism. But because his people did not support him, so to speak, or because of the wild and craftiness of the white people, he couldn’t achieve his aim. But he remains my hero. This is so, because a lot of problems we are having in the society today, if we have had many Okonkwos in those days who stood their grounds for the people, at least to a large extent the level of penetration, particularly in the area of our culture, of our values, wouldn’t have got to the level it is today. Yes, that is true.
At what age did you begin to nurse the idea of becoming a writer?
Well, from my secondary school days, Literature was one of my best subjects. And I had also thought that I’d become an Okonkwo one day. Yes, that was the original idea. But somewhere along the line challenges of life and if you are coming from a background you do not have much to fall back on visions hardly get materialized. So right from my secondary school days, I thought I’d become a Chinua Achebe. But I have not given up hope, it will happen one day.
What genre of literature captures your fancy more?
Fiction, yes fiction, then poetry. Fiction, oh yes, in every good fiction, you discover you are passing a message, teaching a lesson, instructing readers. Your type of writing, will keep the readers interested and like they say, when you read fiction you can travel the whole world. My work that just came out entitled Arrows of Anguish, for those reading it, they will see and encounter a lot about my village in it. That’s the setting. But for poems, in a way, you pass messages across in a gentle, in a subtle manner. Even then a lot of people complain that they do not understand poetry, yet my style of poetry is not the Professor Wole Soyinka type that you have to keep a dictionary by your side or look for an interpreter to grasp the real meaning of what you are reading. Mine is straightforward, usually dealing with current issues; issues that are affecting the society. So, I use my poems to pass messages; messages of positive change, messages of encouragement, of enlightenment and things being done to ensure people are happy.
Where and when do you like to write or read?
Well, as we are here in Enugu at the moment, I have my phonebook. I do not limit myself to any particular place or time or space. Anywhere ideas come to me, I note them down, I write about them. But for a continuous stretch of writing for one hour or more, I normally do it when I travel to my village. There the environment is serene, it is quiet, it is appealing, it is conducive. This is not only cool, there people will not disturb me, there is minimal distraction and it helps the muse to flow. My village environment is indeed inviting, friendly for me to exploit and explore the ideas in my head, in my subconscious. So, for reading there is no time limit or frame. Anytime I get to see or hold something to read, I get to work quickly. I may not read from page one to the end, but I’ll begin to show interest at least. I have been to read two to three pages of some of the books that are here now; some I bought at this convention here in Enugu. Some of them I have not even bought. This morning, for instance, I have picked newspapers to read. There are some you read online. So there are no limits as to where, when, and how I read.
Of all the books you have read, which character or characters struck you most?
Oh, Okonkwo. Okonkwo in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. He remains my best and most adorable character in Things Fall Apart. Yes, this is so because of the man he was. And also because ties were the bullwalk of societies in those days and Okonkwo intended those were not broken or shatterd or disorganized. These are no more. So, he remains a reference point for me.
Who are your favourite authors in the world today?
In Africa first and foremost. You have Chinua Achebe, Cyprian Ekwensi, in present days, you have Ngozi Chimamanda Adichie; There’s one young man in Bayelsa State by name Nengi Illah. He is also good, fantastic writer too. I like his works a lot, particularly the way he uses satire to embellish his ideas and attacking some of the problems of his region. His approach is good and different. In Africa and beyond, James Hardley Chase has had a lot of influence on me, on my mode of the appreciation of the work of art. His mode of storytelling is inspiring. Also Fredrick Foresight, a storyteller also. Then Ngugi Wa Thiong’o and of Late the works of Salman Rushdie have begun to interest me a lot. So very many of them indeed.
So, if you meet any of them, what will be your first question to him or her?
If I meet Chinua Achebe today, I will ask him, Oga how were you able at that age and time, to write such a fantastic story of your people; of the African peoples? How were you able to write this book that has remained ageless, relevant and poignant? The book is timeless, borderless, oh, that will be my first question.
How do you arrange your library both at home and in the office?
My home, at home… There’s a room dedicated specially for my books. I have a shelf of four compartments where I have stored or arranged my books in order of sequence. I put fictions in one and others in different places. I have academic books in one place, then drama in another place. It helps me. Indeed, I separate them according to their genres. That’s how the library looks, despite pressures from my family members, I always make sure the place is not choked. It is only my table that is there. I always insist on that. And if you have to make use of the library, you use the table when I am not there. Do not begin to choke the place with other items that would limit the space in the library. But for me, I am planning a project to come out a separate library for the children, so that I can have my space, my space to myself.
What book are you reading now?
Oh, my book, my prose fiction. The title is Arrows of Anguish. After writing it and getting it published, I sat back I began to read it once more. I had to read again to reassess myself to see whether the presentation was properly done, to see a few areas I knew I would have done better. I started reading it on my way to Enugu and it has been quite exciting to see how it finally came out.
What is Arrows of Anguish in summary?
Oh, it is about a kingdom which through the book expresses its problems, its eagerness to see modernity in the society. The book underscores the level of neglect in the kingdom, in the entire community. It shows the invasion of elders, elders who used to be friendly, but all of a sudden they have become terrors, and betrayers of the people. The elders, who are supposed to protect the values of the society now going into alliance with enemies of the kingdom, destroying the kingdom for their selfish interests. There’s another form of betrayal in the person of the hero of the book called Adache. That, in a nutshell, is the summary of the book.
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