Jeff Unaegbu

Jephthah Elochukwu Unaegbu (born on 1 October 1979) is a Nigerian writer, publisher, researcher, freelance journalist, actor, and documentary film maker. Quotes I haven’t written poetry in ages. I am also very wary of prescribing what a writer should or shouldn’t do. Different kinds of poems appeal to different readers. There is a Belgian poet who combines poetry with Rock’n Roll. He claims it makes it more accessible to people who would otherwise not listen to poetry. Some people agree with him, others don’t. My being married to a Belgian has had less of an effect on my writings than my having moved to Belgium. When you move you experience things differently, experience different cultures, and since our writing mostly comes from within, you are influenced by all these. Other themes might have chosen me to write on them had I lived elsewhere. Prof. Ossie Enekwe started a creative writing Course in my second year at Nsukka and one of the most enduring lessons he taught me was the art of observing. I remember submitting a story to him and he told me, I want to see the ants on that log of wood move. I’ve never forgotten that. Born in Nigeria was a short pamphlet I wrote as an undergraduate disillusioned with Nigeria, And it was only published because my dad was willing to pay for it. Its theme is completely different from that of OBSS. I had a regular happy childhood: two parents who never had a disagreement in our presence; brothers and sisters; a Raleigh bike; holidays in the village; a summer vacation in London thrown in. None of these experiences I’d describe as painful. I was very lucky in the sense that I was “discovered”. I took part in a writing competition, and was called up and asked if I had more works to show. And then at the time I started looking for an agent. And at a Caine event in Oxford, I fortuitously sat at the same dinner table with a man who eventually became my agent, David Godwin. We had a good chat, I sent him my works and the rest as they say is history. Same advice I’d give to any budding writer, and the same I got: Read a lot, be open to constructive criticism, join reputable online critique groups, write a lot.