Ask the Author: Chika Unigwe
Answered Questions (12)
Chika Unigwe
Umuofia from Things Fall Apart. I would hang out with Okonkwo's daughters east excellent, organic food and collect lots of stories :)
Chika Unigwe
This is a difficult one and depends on the criteria. There are books I like for sentimental reasons, and I keep discovering new, wonderful writing. Probably easier to answer my top 10 contemporary poets as I read less poetry than fiction: Jo Shapcott (who else can write about ordinary things and infuse them with such extraordinary grace?) ; Chris Abani; Saddiq Dzukogi; Gabeba Baderoon; Warsan Shire (some of her poems haunt me for days) ; Laura Newbern; Romeo Oriogun (has some amazing poems); Uche Nduka; Geoffrey Philp; Claudia Rankine; Kerry James Evans
Chika Unigwe
why I am scared of water. Illogically so
Chika Unigwe
From everywhere: stories I heard, things I saw, conversations I overheard on trains
Chika Unigwe
I eavesdrop on conversations in public spaces; I read the news; I listen to people; I live :)
Chika Unigwe
The phone rang at 3.15 this morning, and he'd grumbled, wondered who'd be calling at such unholy hour, but he'd picked up on the third ring, wondering if it was an emergency. "Hello?" he said through the fog of sleep and from the other end, he heard his own voice answer him.
Chika Unigwe
The phone rang at 3.15 this morning, and he'd grumbled, wondered who'd be calling at such unholy hour, but he'd picked up on the third ring, wondering if it was an emergency. "Hello?" he said through the fog of sleep and from the other end, he heard his own voice answer him.
Chika Unigwe
Keep reading, keep writing. Persistence is key
Chika Unigwe
Thanks for reading both. With OBSS, particularly, I had days I was almost overwhelmed into paralysis by the things I had written ( I had also done research in the red light district for the novel , so my characters seemed very real to me). I learned to take breaks when that happened: I hugged my boys; I walked into the city centre and looked at beautiful things (shoes, clothes, architecture); I watched comedy, read poetry, went to cafes and had hot chocolate and delicious cakes. I live in the US now (so walking into the city centre isn't an option, but Iuckily, there are malls to get lost in ; TV shows to watch; podcasts to listen to and my boys still give the best hugs, when they are around :))
Chika Unigwe
I have a collection of short stories, Better Never than Late, out in September. It's set in Nigeria and Belgium, and deals with the stories of people displaced . It is an expansion, in many ways of my most personal essay: https://aeon.co/essays/those-first-fe...
I am also working on a contemporary re-imagination of the myth of Hades and Persephone (set in Nigeria)
I am also working on a contemporary re-imagination of the myth of Hades and Persephone (set in Nigeria)
Chika Unigwe
I get to create new worlds
Chika Unigwe
I read. Mostly poetry or short stories
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