Don’t take rejections personally —Umukoro, 2021 African Poetry prize winner

After three unsuccesful attempts, Othuke Umukoro, a Nigerian poet and Theatre Arts graduate, has won the 2021 Brunel International African Poetry Prize which is aimed at the development, celebration and promotion of poetry from Africa. In this interview by TEMIDIRE BADA, he discusses himself, his magic words and how he started his journey as a writer, among others.

 

FOR many who don’t know you, who is Othuke Umukoro?

Othuke Umukoro was born in Olomoro, Delta State, into a Christian home. My father, a fisherman and a driver was a disciplinarian who understood the power of a sound education. As a child, I loved fishing and swimming. Olomoro is a small town in Isoko South with really nice folks. I attended primary school there until I moved to Ibadan to live with my elder brother. I studied Theatre Arts at the University of Ibadan with a major in playwriting. I come from a pretty large family. I have six sisters and a brother.

 

How did you get your journey started as a poet?

I didn’t set out to be a poet. As children, my mother, who is still a committed chorister at the old Anglican church I attended as a child, would sing church hymns to us in our local language. Her melodious voice was poetry to me. It still is whenever hear her sing. In secondary school, I started writing short stories partly because I was a member of the press club. I took a poetry course at the university and I remember failing it. But I wasn’t discouraged because the nice lecturer who taught the course stirred something creative on my inside.

I wrote poems as a way of documenting my feelings and the things happening around my world, but my poetry writing journey started after I saw a ‘Christopher Okigbo Poetry Contest’ poster in my first year at the university. It’s an annual contest that’s highly competitive among students of the school. I wrote a poem for the competition but it never made the shortlist. I won the competition in my final year at the university after several attempts. Patience is the mother of poetry.

 

What writers did you enjoy reading as a child?

Like I said, I grew up in a Christian home so I was exposed to Bible stories at a very young age. I particularly enjoyed the story of how David, a small boy from the sheepfold, took on Goliath, the giant and arrogant Philistine. I didn’t have a lot of storybooks to read as a child. We would gather under the canopy of the moon at night to hear our grandmothers tell us amazing stories about the wise tortoise and its many escapades. These hoary women, who had vast wisdom planted in their mouths, were the writers and storytellers that shaped my childhood. When I moved to Ibadan, I registered at the Oyo State Library in Dugbe, near Cocoa House. There, I was introduced to the wonderful worlds of Chinua Achebe, the brilliant Zulu Sofola, the intelligent satirist who goes by the name Segun Mabel, the negritude poet Léopold Sédar Senghor, the elegant Kofi Awoonor and many others.

 

You just won the prize for one of the biggest African poetry competition in the world. How do you feel about this?

I feel humbled. This is huge and I am happy to have won this year. I went wild when I saw the mail. I remember I had just finished a class when I saw the ‘WINNER!!!’ mail in my inbox. The other day I was talking to an interviewer from the BBC about the calibre of poets who have won this prize in the past and I am honoured. The glory of this calls for more work. I hope my win draws attention to the amazing works contemporary African poets are doing in and outside the continent.

 

In addition to your poetry, you have written numerous works. Is there any form you enjoy writing more than others?

I have one published play and a couple of short stories. But as to which form I enjoy the most, I would say poetry. Poetry, because of its heavy reliance on carefully chosen words, hits at the soul of everything it touches.

 

What inspires your writings?

Humanity, the very heart of it, is my inspiration. That’s the soul of good poetry in my opinion. I always try to be relatable in my poems and incorporate the burden and beauty of our universal experiences.

 

How many times have you had your works rejected? How do you take such rejections?

Many times. I think rejections are very important in this art; they build your creative muscles. The first time I entered for this prize was in 2017. I never made the shortlist. It was the same thing in 2018 and 2019. For the 2020 prize, I told myself I wasn’t going to send an entry and I didn’t. I spent the year writing fresh poems, revising, reading and rewriting and here we are! I see a room, a quiet room, in every rejection letter I receive. When all is said and done, I will enter this room and play some music in it and tell myself that I’m gonna try again. Don’t take rejections personally. If you do, you’ll never go far in this journey of words. Learn to see the good in every rejection letter. Look on the bright side. Believe in your work, too. I have had works rejected by some magazines that were later accepted and nominated for major prizes by others, so have faith in your work. It’s a journey and you will get there one day.

 

What is next for you? With life, with poetry?

I am currently working on my first chapbook of poems. It’s gradually turning into a full manuscript. I have some MFA plans dancing in the corner, too.

 

How do you advise those wanting to write and publish poetry?

Poetry is patience. Lots of it. Do a lot of reading. Read quality works. POETRY and the New Yorker is a good place to start. Have faith in your work. Pray, too. But most importantly, write. Write as your life depends on it. Support other writers. You’re not in a competition, it’s about community. Send your works to online literary magazines. There’s a host of them out there. Some will be rejected. Some will be accepted. It’s how the universe works. Read, read, write, edit, edit, write, submit and repeat. That’s the formula. And may light and love to find you.

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