Arinze Ifeakandu

Arinze Ifeakandu is a Nigerians Nigerian writer known for the collection of his short stories, God's Children Are Little Broken Things, which won the Dylan Thomas Prize and the Republic of Consciousness Prize US and Canada, and was shortlisted for the Kirkus Prize, the Lambda Liteary Awards Lambda Awards, and received the The Story Prize Story Prize's Spotlight Award. Quotes I like to remove myself, but also want to be able to be in the midst of people after that removal. I watch people, I stay in my head, I have conversations, listen to music, and when I’m at my desk, I want that excitement to be the driving force. Language is an aspect of characterization, I think. We code-switch in order to feel safe or to communicate more effectively or to flex, or intimidate. The PEN Ten: An Interview with Arinze Ifeakandu Queer love would naturally be central in my work because I am gay, and because I long. In primary school, my classmates would buy notebooks and ask me to fill them up with stories and illustrations, which I did happily—the pleasure on their faces as they read what I’d written and drawn, their excited prattling about what they’d read, made me feel warm all over, and I knew I wanted to do this forever. Coming out is a very powerful act of asserting oneself, and very necessary. We should not have to come out, but to get to that place, more people will have to: it’s absurd and true. But it’s an act that requires compassion, for others and for oneself, as it can be a very dangerous act for many, especially for the poorest among us. Interview with Arinze Ifeakandu by Adaeze M. Nwadike In Nigeria, I dreamed of my future free gay life in America, my writing a ticket to that life. In America, I experienced disappointment: Even here with the law on our side, I thought, homophobia continues to keep us lonely. Look Homeward, Angel: An Interview with Arinze Ifeakandu I believed that our ruling class was largely responsible, by entrenching such avoidable hardship, for much of the intimate fractures around us. My Writing Goal This Year Is to Follow My Creative Curiosities External Links Category:Fiction writers from Nigeria Category:Nigerian writers Category:Novelists from Nigeria Category:LGBT people Category:1970 births Category:Living people