Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Meet Ifelanwa Osundolire

Three words that describe you Happy, dreamy, content

Which talent would you most like to have? Clairvoyance … If that does not pass as a talent, then I will go with being a ‘Virtuoso violin performer’

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? Procrastination

What will a book about your life be called? He lived

When did you start writing On a Lot of Things? September, 2008

How did you come by the title of the book? It started off as a magpie collection of musings, poems and shorts stories, and that appeared to be the best suited title

What is the last thing you read that made you laugh? The Puritan Gift by Kenneth Hopper and William Hopper

Who is your perfect audience? The young and the restless

You are an architect; where does architecture merge with literature? The creative process is the same: Both start off as an idea; and the conceiver has to decide from a range of options, how best to bring the idea to life; hoping to lead the reader or the observer back to the original thought – whether it is a building or a story

What is the worth of a book? Its ability to touch a core part of its reader and become part of their life’s experience

How does being a Nigerian influence your writing? It gives me a wealth of cultural experiences to draw from and that is invaluable to the kind of books I long to write

When is the best time to write for you? 4 a.m. in the morning. 4 a.m. precisely

Why short stories? It aligns with my attention span

What is the book that changed your life? Many … but the ones I can remember now are. Future Shock – Alvin Toffler; Brave New World – Aldous Huxley; 1984 – George Orwell; Ake – Wole Soyinka; ati bee bee lo

What inspires your writing? Anything and everything

Define literature in a sentence An expression in words, of our innermost desires

What do you think about the reading culture and publishing industry in Nigeria now? The publishing industry, in my opinion, is latent with capacity to rival any other publishing industry but the reading culture is still nowhere near par. 

How will you introduce your child to writing? Make him or her love to read first

What part of the process of writing do you enjoy most? Rearranging the thoughts to create a structure for the story or article

What is the hardest thing to write about? Politics – I’ve never been able to strike it out with that topic

What is your greatest fear? Not waking up

Who are your favourite writers? Why? Sydney Sheldon and Enid Blyton who illuminated my childhood with so much fantasy, I’ve still not run out of all I gained reading their work.

What wise saying/words/advice keeps you going? There is no such thing as, ‘Impossible’

Read Ifelanwa's stories and review of "On a Lot of Things" here

3 comments:

  1. I remember Ifelanwa... interviewed him last year. I love the title of his work: On a Lot of Things... so apt

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  2. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Ife's collection. It shows we have many young and talented writers in this country. Thumbs up!!

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  3. I like his pithy answers to these questions. I know there's more to come from him.

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