E. C. Osondu

Epaphras Chukwuenweniwe Osondu predominantly known as E. C. Osondu, is a Nigerian writer known for his short stories. His story Waiting won the 2009 Caine Prize for African Writing, for which he had been a finalist in 2007 with his story Jimmy Carter's Eyes. Osondu had previously won the Allen and Nirelle Galso Prize for Fiction and his story A Letter from Home was judged one of "The Top Ten Stories on the Internet" in 2006. Osondu's writing has been published in Agni, Guernica, Vice, Fiction, and The Atlantic. His debut collection of short stories, Voice of America, was published in 2010. Quotes People will urge you to go to school. They’ll tell you an American education is useful. That is not true. That is 80’s. You are here to hustle. There was no internet in my formative years so you had to submit work by snail-mail. There were not as many venues to publish as there is nowadays. Regardless, writers no matter what time they live in must perpetually deal with the three sisters known as Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. Talking about the challenges he faced in the formative years of his career. A life of relentless horror is another definition of hell. Humor is the elixir for survival. To quote a poet –the world is too much with us, but as Samuel Beckett reminds us, we must go on. On balancing tragedy with relief in his stories. Every story is unique. Every story determines how it should be told. Some come like the rain and is poured out in one fell swoop, some come in drips and some come squeaking like an ungreased piece of metal. Sharing the source of his stories. I have a story that I have been working on over the past three years. I have written the first draft of a story over one week. I write the way I read. I like to have lots of writing irons in the fire same way I usually read two or three books at a time. On how long it takes him to write a short story. Sourcing for blurbs/endorsements for your book is a hard and energy sapping process and you have to do the sourcing yourself. Revealing what he learnt about the writing life. I think it is a blessing to write and get your work published and out there and have people buy and read your book and love or hate it. Think of the number of immensely talented people who have not been blessed in this way The least enjoyable thing about being a published writer Humour is indispensable in life. We need it to survive both in the writing life and other lives as well. On how essential is humour to writing life. Any writer who is waiting on Western agents and editors to give them a direction/directive on what themes to explore in their work is a non-starter — in short the person still dey learn work. I can tell you this for free, though — I think editors and agents are looking for the next big writer from Africa/Nigeria. You see, we have only one major slot, and they can only crown one writer at a time. Good writers have their own unique way of looking at the world — more of a solo than an orchestra but a solo that sounds like an orchestra. On where Nigerian literature is in the context of global literature, in particular, American literature. Literature is a magical and amazing land that has laid out a table to which all are invited to bring a plate. No matter their nationality or ethnic origin or orientation, all are welcome. Sadly, there appears to be a lot of gate-keeping and denial of access, and outright curtailment and banning these days. I hope we don’t lose that ideal. [On his primary philosophy about literature and writing. Memory is such an interesting thing. It is the only thing we bring along with us when we are stripped of all we have. Interestingly, memory is also a malleable thing. Oftentimes we hang on to the version of memory that suits us best. For us immigrants, we carry our memories the way a tortoise carries its carapace, the snail its shell, and a camel its hump. So selling this is a form of betrayal, but what is the immigrant narrative if not a form of betrayal—revealing ourselves and explaining ourselves to others and to strangers and oftentimes the selling of memories? On how he arrived at the story, “Memory Store”. I love short stories a lot, they open my eyes to a lot of possibilities. I like reading short stories and knowing what happens in the end and how the writer manages the characters and the plots and the theme. Besides, I love to read poetry, to see how words are contrived in limited space to give meaning to the world. Poetry has discipline in terms of the usage of language. But then, I love novels, I read novels a lot too. These are forms that transport you into the world of reality and make-believe. On what genre of literature he prefers. External links Category:living people