INTERVIEW SERIES - NGOZI OLIVIA OSUOHA

INTERVIEW WITH NGOZI OLIVIA OSUOHA

Ngozi Olivia Osuoha is a young Nigerian poet/ writer and a graduate of Estate Management. She has some experience in banking and broadcasting. She has published some works abroad in some foreign magazines in Ghana, Liberia, India and Canada, among others. She enjoys writing.

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Welcome to Scarlet Leaf Review!
 
Q1: Tell us a little about yourself and your background?
 
Born and bred in my hometown Nkwerre. Raised by great teachers, i have three male and two female siblings. The fourth child but second daughter of my parents. A Nigerian and a Christian. I have been writing for more than fifteen years. My home is about ink.
I love, respect and salute teachers, especially the old school ones. Those who heard and had it tough and rough, harnessing heavy heads and handling harzardious hands.
I want people to love and admire the teaching profession again.
 
 
Q: Do you think that your school years have had an impact in your writing career? If so, what were you like at school?
 
Yes. My School years really impacted on my writing carreer. I finished from the Federal Polytechnic Nekede Owerri, Imo State where i obtained an HND in Estate Management.
Then, i was once the vice president for my local government students association,
I was once my departmental vice president,
I was the vice chairman for Departmental Vice Presidents Association (DEVA) a new body we nearly hatched,
I was a poet/presenter at the mass communication studio, polynek fm
I anchored the swearing in programme of the Students'Union Government behind my set,
I paired with the School Orator Dr. Nnamdi Anumihe at some occasions,
I did a pamphlet for the Rector, Engr. O. I. Nwankwo,
I interviewed a Dr. Mrs. Ngozi Osuagwu on air, a representive of the then Education Minister, Dr. Igwe Ajah Nwachukwu, at NACOSTE
I took the citation for a black American Miss Claudia Remy Thompson who came for ICT training,
I presented a lecture on DREAMS at a departmental picnic and crowned the pioneer Miss Estate Management,
At the NYSC Orientation Camp, i was the OBS major writer and newscaster,
And a few other things. I think my school years really helped me.
 
 
Q: Were you good at English or like Einstein you excel now in a field that was a nightmare for you as a student?

I was not "good" in English. In fact, till now i am not "good". I want to be excellent, i wish to be an amazing polyglot, not just being good at English language.
 
 
Q: What are your future ambitions for your writing career?

I want to be read by everyone. I want to be a household poet/writer. I want to leave a footprint that no one can ever  duplicate.
 
Q: Which poets have inspired you and how? What was their impact on your work or your literary perspective?
 
As an Anglican, the hymn book ministers to me. I do not know those poets and hymnists but they always inspire me. I understand hymns in a crazily different way.
However, the social media has a bunch of great talents.
 
 
Q: Now, what about the easiest thing about writing?

The easiest thing about writing is picking up my pen and the hardest is dropping it.
 
Q: Do you read much and if so who are your favorite authors? For your own reading, do you prefer eBooks or traditional paper/hard back books?
 
I do not really read. But i like Chinua Achebe, Abraham Lincoln, Nelson Mandela, William Shakespeare and others.
 
 
Q: Do you proofread/edit all your own books or do you get someone to do that for you?
 
I proofread my works by myself and edit them, for now.
 
 
Q: Where do your ideas come from? Or is it just the spur of the moment, a special feeling you experience or a specific conjuncture that offers you inspiration?

Ideas come from everywhere and everything but the primary source is God.
 
 
I love poetry. I have written countless works like...
Letter to my teacher
Letter to Mandela
Politics, my wayward brother
Politics, a tetra-headed dragon
Rape a desecrating monster
Religion angel lucifer
Ink and root
Come home beloved Chibok
Extravagant epistle to my purple mum
Mum my golden dove
The stinking holiday
Kinsmen
July 19th
Feeling like a celebrity
Africa recounts
................just the few i can recall now.
 
THE TRANSFORMATION TRAIN AND LETTER TO MY UNBORN.....two pieces though unpublished, my longest rhymes so far....358 and 560 verses respectively.
A whole lot of unpublished works. Writing is life. Life is writing. Living is a book.
 
Thank you very much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to take part in this interview.