Interview with Chinedu Achebe

A month ago I reviewed a novel Blunted On Reality by Chinedu Achebe ***. Please click here to read my review.

Chinedu Achebe is a writer of Nigerian origin, born and raised in the United States of America. Studied Economics in the University of Houston, Texas and currently working in the accounting sector. Blunted On Reality is his debut novel, self-published in 2012.

Mary Okeke: Why the title "Blunted On Reality"?
Chinedu Achebe: The title comes from the hip-hop group, The Fugees, thier first album. For me the title, correlated with narrative I was trying to portray in the book.

MO: Have you always been a writer or wanted to be one?

CA: I feel that I have always wanted to write a book, but I never felt that I had a compelling story to tell. 

MO: What inspired you to write the story?

CA: The 2008 presidential election, victory of Barack Obama is what inspired me to write this book. I wanted to give an African perspective to the first year of his presidency, since I felt there was a lack of commentary of how Africans in the U.S. and around the globe felt about this historic moment.

MO: Is there any resemblance between your life and that of Obi (the main character)?

CA: Laughs, there are some similarities with me and Obi. I think we both are looking foward to finding what our purpose is on Earth and along with trying to find the right woman to share our hopes and dreams with. Also, both of us are very passionate about politics.

MO: Have you previously written and/or published any book, novels, writings for magazine, etc?

CA: This is the first writing of any kind that I have published. I tried to start a blog a couple of years back, but it didn't go anyway.

MO: Why did you decide to self-publish "Blunted On Reality"?

CA: I decided to self publish because I wanted to have full control of my story. I didn't want anyone to tell me what I should or shouldn't put in the book. Also, I wanted to have free reign to market and promote my book to Africans all over the diaspora.

MO: What message do you intend to send with this novel?

CA: The message I wanted to send is that we all have to make tough choices in our personal and professional lives and those decisions aren't always black and white. Most times we are operating in a grey area. 

MO: Did you have to do some previous research?

CA: Not really. Most of everything in the book came from experiences in my life, along with discussions with family and friends about a variety of topics. 

MO: Working on another book? If yes what is it about? And who are your target audience?

CA: That is a good question. I am in the preliminary stages of working on the next book. Once I have something concrete I will let you and your audiences know about it.

MO: What did you enjoy most about writing this book?

CA: I think being able to document the lives of the characters on the backdrop of the Obama presidency. You get to see how the characters balance their own personal hopes and concerns alongside with what they feel Obama presidency will mean for people in America along with Africans across the globe.

MO: Reading any book at the moment?

CA: I am reading, Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention by the late Manning Marable (2011)

MO: Where can your book be purchased?

CA: www.amazon.com/author/chineduachebe, your readers can also read Chpt 1 as well on amazon.

MO: How can your readers contact you?

CA: Facebook, Chinedu Achebe. Twitter @ChineduAchebe, you can email me atwcachebe@hotmail.com

Never Again, 1975, by Flora Nwapa ****

Flora Nwapa (full name: Florence Nwanzuruahu Nkiru Nwapa) was a female Nigerian writer, born in Oguata, Eastern Nigeria on the 13th of January 1931, and died on the 16th of October (Chinua Achebe's birthday) 1993. I wonder what she died of. She was actually of Chinua Achebe's generation. They both attended University of Ibadan, an appendix of London University then, it became a fully fledged Nigerian University after the Independence of Nigeria from the British in 1960. She later on travelled to England where she obtained a degree in Education from the University of Edinburgh. With her first novel Efuru published in 1966, which I am yet to read, she was proclaimed the first female African writer to publish in English. She is also credited with being the first African woman to establish two publishing houses, one specialised in Adult Fiction and the other in Children's Fiction. If Chinua Achebe is widely known as the father of African Literature, Flora Nwapa is considered to be the mother, as well as a feminist. Although, the latter she denied. Nonetheless, she once said in an interview that her interests lies on the rural and urban women on their quest for survival in a fast changing world dominated by men.

Never Again is what you could regard as a novella, it consists of eighty-five pages. Its brevity is no deterrent to peruse it. As a matter of fact, it is an engaging and a voracious read, and certainly not brief in content. The story was told in a first person singular, which I utterly enjoyed because I connected with the narrator at once.

Kate, an upper middle class Nigerian Citizen, married, with five children, and her housemaid had to flee from one place to another in search of safety in 1967 when the Biafran War erupted. Their run off started from Enugu, Onitsha, Port Harcourt, Elele and at last Ugwuta their home town. In fact, they were in the throes of a conflict break out on account of post colonialism, however, Kate was determined to survive with all her household members.

Did the war finally found them in their home town? In what condition? This novella tells the story of the war through the eyes of Kate. Do not expect a detailed description of the conflict, as I said earlier it is eighty-five pages novella.

To put it differently, Never Again is an entertaining, heart-rending short novel, of which, I recommend to all and sundry. It is an easy read.

The African Trilogy: Part 3; Arrow Of God, 1965, by Chinua Achebe ***

Amazingly, at last I am done with the African Trilogy. On the post face of the novel was written that "Arrow Of God" is a continuation of the epic saga of the community in Things Fall Apart, second volume of Achebe's African trilogy and is followed by No Longer At Ease. I was for a moment bewildered because I thought I was reading the saga the wrong way round. Nonetheless, in many official book website it was clearly indicated that this novel is the last part of the saga. It made sense because it was published five years after "No Longer At Ease". Anyhow, you do not need to read these novel in a sequel in order to understand and therefore enjoy them.

To start with, Arrow of God is my least favourite of them all. At a point I doubted if I was reading a story or perhaps a narrative of the Igbo Culture (of which I am proud of). Do not get me wrong. To my way of thinking, this part of the trilogy was unattractive compared to the previous ones. I somewhat felt it was a sequence of events whence you need to grab the information however it pleases you. Moreover, most of the conversations were held in proverbs. In fact, if you want to insight yourself on Igbo proverbs this is the book to read. At the same time, I have to admit I enjoyed most of the proverbs because I grew up hearing them from my relatives (in Igbo of course). Albeit, until present I still do not understand the meaning of some of them. For instance "A toad does not run in the day unless something is after it", I can recall exactly the way it is said in Igbo, even so, this is a proverb I am yet to comprehend. Why shouldn't a toad run in the day time? In any case, I do not want to divert so much from my book review.

Chinua once more wrote about the changes suffered in Eastern Nigeria due to the influence of the white man. The story is about Ezeulu a chief priest of the God of six villages who, with the presence of the European was finding it difficult to demonstrate the power and relevance of the god of the land. He was accused of desecrating the land by sending his son to  the Christian school in his village and to church to worship the European god (another god).

Certainly, the ending of this book was quite unlooked-for and appalling, typical of Chinua Achebe's. I felt a little distressed.

Finally, I understood and learnt that changes are persistent and preordained. The Igbo Culture is no exception, with or without an outside effect, it would have surely gone through transition indeed.

Do I recommend this book? Well, yes! Especially if you are reading it as part of The African Trilogy.

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Interview with Ayo Oyeku

Last September, I reviewed a book Tears of the Lonely *** by Ayo Oyeku. Please click here to read review.

Ayo Oyeku is a young Nigerian writer born in 1985 in Ibadan, south-west of Nigeria. He studied physics with electronics in University. He wrote two children story books published in 2004, First Among Equals and Nobel Ambition. His latest work so far is Tears Of The Lonely published in 2011.

Mary Okeke: Why the title "Tears of the Lonely"?

Ayo Oyeku: The way every budding thought springs into words is quite a marvelous experience. Every writer carefully knits his/her words together in order to etch out a beautiful story. At the end, it’s often difficult for the writer to capture the whole manuscript with a phrase, and often times the Editor or publishing team eventually decides.

But in the case of Tears of the Lonely, the title had stuck in my mind right from the start, and it eventually found its way to the cover of this beautiful book. The inspiration came with the title, and they matched perfectly.

This title actually captures what the book is all about. It's witty, simple and memorable.

MO: What inspired you to write the story?

AO: (Sighs) At the beginning of my writing career, I often wrote to burn out my loneliness. But loneliness wasn't it for me when it came to this novel. This work was inspired by the daily living of Africans: Most families live in penury, the future of African children are threatened and choked. People need hope!

And that's why I felt I needed to put up a work that could paint up a picture every lonely heart and aspiring dreamer could relate to, especially the young African child, who deserves a hope - and this book could truly be their mantle.

MO: Is there any resemblance between your life and that of Okiki (the main character)?

AO: (Laughs) Okiki could be me, you or anyone who relates with this novel. As long as you have dark tunnels you have passed through (or passing through), and a burning desire to fulfill your aspirations, you certainly share a resemblance with Okiki too.

As for me, the character Okiki came out from me, and that's the resemblance we share.

MO: You previously wrote 2 children's book. With tears of the lonely who are your target audience?

AO: Tears of the Lonely happens to be my first novel. It's written in a soft, non-didactic and unconventional style, with its message appealing to readers of all age. But this novel is targeted at teenagers and Young Adults.

MO: What message do you intend to send with this novel?

AO: Tears of the Lonely aims to tell everyone that with every flicker of hope, we can overcome our adversities and make our lives a lasting epitaph.

It's a story of hope, love, forgiveness, endurance and life.

MO: Did you have to do some previous research? Workshop?

AO: Certainly yes! Since this novel was plotted around the early '60s, so I had to do a detailed research on what was obtainable in the Nigerian society at that time, in terms of education, infrastructure and human mindset. I also had to do some research on the epilepsy disorder.

Even though you might hardly notice this in the novel, but all those facts and figures helped in plotting the story, working on the utterances and reactions of my characters, and a whole lot of salient decisions that helped in looking backwards and drawing a final conclusion for the novel.

MO: How long did it take you to write this book?

AO: I was inspired to write this book in 2005. But being my first novel, I had to take my time in not just writing and researching on the work. But I also needed time to improve my writing skills, and building my literary confidence in order to be certain that I could stand the test of time in the literature scene (because writing in Nigeria can be quite discouraging).

And so, I began the first draft of Tears of the Lonely in 2005, and finished it in approximately two years. I later left it and allowed it to simmer down, before picking it up again years after, and had to rewrite the story again. And finally in 2011, it was self-published internationally. So it took me precisely six years.

MO: Working on another book? if yes what is it about? and who are your target audience?

AO: That's an interesting question. Virtually every writer who takes his career seriously would begin his/her next work after publishing the previous one. I also belong to this category of writers.

My second novel takes a deeper look into the socio-political milieu of the Nigerian society, and I would be reeling out social and political events from the year of my birth till the current democratic dispensation - A first-person narrative. The story would be plotted around these events, and the mind of the typical Nigerian would be bore through this novel. This novel would be peeling scabs off old wounds, and a true consciousness would be stirred in the mind of every beacon of hope, and lover of truth.

It’s a book on fate, religion and politics - an expected African classic.

This novel is targeted at adult readers, but every intuitive reader and lover of my writings won't regret reading it. This work is still in the pipeline, and my anticipating fans might have to wait till late 2013/2014.

MO: What did you enjoy most about writing this book?

AO: Firstly, I must say that the reward I get from my writings cannot be financially contained, but through the writing process. That understood, what I enjoyed most was when the novel was completed. It was such an unspeakable joy for me.

MO: Reading any book at the moment?

AO: Interestingly enough, I have been reading short stories by African writers lately. Elnathan John, Brian Chikwava, Monica Arac de Nyeko, Sefi Atta, Chika Unigwe, Helon Habila, Rotimi Babatunde,  and other fresh writers. The creativity and dynamism of African writers really comes out in their short stories. Some of my short stories would also be appearing in magazines soon.

And so, currently, I am reading Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's The Thing Around Your Neck (2009) all over again. I enjoy the short story collection.

MO: Where can your book be purchased?

AO: Tears of the Lonely is available worldwide for sale in both Paperback and Ebook (including Amazon Kindle and Nook Reader) format on all major bookstores online. You can visit the Amazon page to place an order automatically:

And you can also visit the book'swebsite, for other links where you can purchase the novel.

MO: How can your readers contact you?

Readers can visit www.tearsofthelonely.com to know more about my book, and also drop a message for me via the Contact Page.

They can also join my facebook fan page www.facebook.com/TearsOfTheLonely

My twitter handle is @eigthsense