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“The Future of African Poetry Fills Me With So Much Urgency…“ | A CỌ́N-SCÌÒ Magazine Interview with Adedayo Agarau

<body><div class&equals;"booster-block booster-read-block">&NewLine; <div class&equals;"twp-read-time">&NewLine; &Tab;<i class&equals;"booster-icon twp-clock"><&sol;i> <span>Read Time&colon;<&sol;span>16 Minute&comma; 29 Second <&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine;<h4 class&equals;"wp-block-heading has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-9432fdf8c1d78cfe5c0c085030e23f1f">Adedayo Agarau is a Nigerian poet&comma; editor&comma; and educator whose work explores themes of identity&comma; loss&comma; and resilience within the African experience&period; A Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University&comma; he holds an MFA in Poetry from the University of Iowa&comma; where he was awarded the Deena Davidson Friedman Scholarship&comma; the John C&period; Shupe Scholarship&comma; and the 2023 Summer Scholarship from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences&period; Agarau is the author of the chapbooks <em>For Boys Who Went<&sol;em> &lpar;Words Rhymes &amp&semi; Rhythm&comma; 2017&rpar;&comma; <em>Origin of Names<&sol;em> &lpar;African Poetry Book Fund&comma; 2020&rpar;&comma; <em>The Arrival of Rain<&sol;em> &lpar;Vegetarian Alcoholic Press&comma; 2020&rpar;&comma; and the forthcoming <em>The Year of Blood<&sol;em> &lpar;Fordham University Press&comma; 2025&rpar;&period; His works have been featured in <em>Poetry Magazine<&sol;em>&comma; the <em>Poetry Foundation<&sol;em>&comma; the <em>Poetry Society of America<&sol;em>&comma; <em>World Literature Today<&sol;em>&comma; and other esteemed publications&period; He has received numerous accolades&comma; including the Poetic Justice Institute Book Prize for <em>The Year of Blood<&sol;em>&comma; and was a finalist for the 2024 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship&period; Agarau serves as the Editor-in-Chief of <em>Agbowo Magazine<&sol;em> and has edited for publications such as <em>The Rumpus<&sol;em>&period; He is also dedicated to teaching and mentoring aspiring writers&comma; fostering the growth of the next generation of African literature&period;<&sol;h4>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-ee93e4468bf4bb4e11b62ed71a9253a3"><strong><em>KIS&colon; You began your journey as a nutritionist but have since developed an impressive creative career&comma; supported by renowned publications and academic achievements&comma; including an MFA in Poetry from the University of Iowa and a Wallace Stegner Fellowship at Stanford&period; How have these diverse experiences influenced your growth and perspective as a poet&quest;<&sol;em><&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-460b74585998eea5c46597e5a82fb02e"><strong>AA&colon; <&sol;strong>I have been thinking&comma; more recently&comma; about the science of the liminal—how we can move from space to space&comma; threading through difficulties or uncertainty&comma; searching for answers to the questions the world presents&period; As Solnit reflects in <em>A Field Guide to Getting Lost<&sol;em>&comma; <em>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The things we want are transformative&comma; and we don’t know or only think we know what is on the other side of that transformation&period;”<&sol;em> Starting as a nutritionist provided the basin for critical analysis and enriched my pedagogy&period; I am not entirely sure when the switch happened or when I decided that this was what I was going to do for the rest of my life&comma; but it didn’t truly sink in until my father&comma; and I arrived in front of Dey House on an August morning&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-large"><img src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;wrr&period;ng&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2025&sol;01&sol;IN-THE-SPOTLIGHT-Adedayo-Agarau-6&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" class&equals;"wp-image-41922" loading&equals;"lazy"><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-96b8342ff0a1b9f35f80534a576b3a92">I am most grateful to everyone who has held the doors open for us—how the dream persists because people have dreamed and lived the dream&comma; our dreams&period; From the large classrooms in Federal Polytechnic Ede during my Pre-ND program in 2011 to the political struggles I experienced as a student leader to the cult clashes in Owo where I witnessed men beheading a student&comma; Nigeria has informed my language of grief&period; Our life experiences workshop our language&comma; our syntaxes&period; Our small lives have been workshopping our works&comma; preparing us to tell our stories even more succinctly before arriving in Iowa&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-45810c954f22d9550dcee94e9f3bd63d">I have enjoyed tremendous support from faculty members in Iowa—Elizabeth Willis&comma; Mark Levine&comma; Margaret Ross&comma; Jim Galvin&comma; and Tracie Morris—who believed in my stories&comma; cried together with us in the workshop&comma; and encouraged us to use curiosity to find answers to the questions the work requires&period; At Stanford&comma; I found further guidance and inspiration in Patrick Phillips&comma; Aracelis Girmay&comma; Aaron Van Jordan&comma; and Lamar Wilson&period; Both in the workshop and outside of it&comma; I have experienced the most growth and gained the audacity to speak&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-505edf6dc066bbb68ebf29ee9d5b9c4a">As Junot Díaz notes&comma; <em>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The workshop is where the alchemy of voice and experience transforms into story&comma; where we learn not just to write&comma; but to see each other’s worlds&period;”<&sol;em> That alchemy—the transformation of voice and experience—has defined my journey&comma; teaching me how to craft stories that answer&comma; interrogate&comma; and embrace the questions and silences of the world&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-e0fa91cbba031b33535960c934c9205f"><strong><em>KIS&colon; Your first chapbook&comma; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;wrr&period;ng&sol;download&sol;for-boys-who-went-by-adedayo-adeyemi-agarau-free-download&sol;" data-type&equals;"link" data-id&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;wrr&period;ng&sol;download&sol;for-boys-who-went-by-adedayo-adeyemi-agarau-free-download&sol;">&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;For Boys Who Went&comma;” <&sol;a>published by Authorpedia Publishers&comma; was pivotal in launching your career and became one of the most widely read Nigerian chapbooks in 2016&sol;2017&period; Looking back&comma; how did the success of this chapbook influence your path as a poet&comma; and what impact did it have on your subsequent works&quest;<&sol;em><&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-51cbd66197dd99a2020cc41606b35145"><strong>AA&colon; <&sol;strong>I think the success of <em>For Boys Who Went<&sol;em> was both affirming and transformative—especially since it was published at a time when young Nigerian writers were also experiencing attention that was timely and important&period; At the time of its publication&comma; I was still grappling with the idea of myself as a poet&comma; unsure of how my work might resonate beyond my immediate circle&comma; so it was surprising how many people read the work—and how many people it inspired&period; Its reception was an awakening—proof that the stories I carried&comma; the themes I explored&comma; and the language I laboured over could find a home in readers’ lives&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-full"><img sizes&equals;"&lpar;max-width&colon; 750px&rpar; 100vw&comma; 750px" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;wrr&period;ng&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;12&sol;For-Boys-Who-Went-by-Adedayo-Adeyemi-Agarau-front&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" class&equals;"wp-image-34163" loading&equals;"lazy"><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-23f689559b4bc5393c7bc1ba0e343248">I was in Ijebu Igbo this weekend&comma; and most of my uncles called me <em>For Boys Who Went&period; <&sol;em>Until the publication&comma; my uncles had no interest in literature&period; The popularity gave me a sense of responsibility to my audience and the work itself&period; It encouraged me to think more deeply about the narratives I wanted to tell about fathers&comma; absences&comma; and loss and the voices of sons and boys I wanted to center&period; It also sharpened my sense of what it means to write from and for a place of cultural specificity&period; Because I was in Nigeria&comma; I didn’t think of the universality of my work&comma; and I wasn’t concerned with it&period; I just wanted to write a collection that mirrors us as children&period; The poems in <em>For Boys Who Went<&sol;em> also dealt with grief&comma; familial memory&comma; and childhood—themes that have since become central to my practice&comma; which I now explore in increasingly complex ways in my subsequent work&comma; especially in my forthcoming debut collection&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The Years of Blood&period;” More practically&comma; the success of the <em>For Boys Who Went <&sol;em>opened doors&period; It connected me to a network of other writers&comma; publishers&comma; and readers who have been integral to my growth&period; I am also sure it put my writing on the universal radar&comma; although at that time&comma; I didn’t know what that meant or looked like&period; It provided the visibility and confidence to pursue larger projects and take creative risks&period; Each poem I write now is still in conversation with those early works&comma; and they have evolved from the foundation they laid&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-985079643ae530e8a21486cf9cdf7d93"><strong><em>KIS&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The Years of Blood&comma;” your forthcoming book with Fordham University Press&comma; explores deeply resonant themes&period; Could you tell us about the inspiration behind this work and what readers might expect&quest;<&sol;em><&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-5c42eb4a55dd6ef540144a82dd48c55f"><strong>AA&colon; <&sol;strong>In a recent NBS report&comma; Nigerians paid over N2&period;23 trillion as ransom to kidnappers in 12 months&period; Every day&comma; someone is missing on Twitter&period; Human trafficking in Africa is grossly underreported&period; I grew up in Ibadan&comma; on Ogunleye Street&comma; near Liberty Stadium&comma; which is a hub for child kidnaps in Ibadan&period; Taofeek came to school on Thursday&comma; and that was the last time we saw him&period; When they found what was left of his body&comma; it was near a bush near his father’s house on Joyce &OpenCurlyQuote;B’ Road in Ibadan&period; I was kidnapped&comma; too&comma; as a child&period; The hysteria of loss moved through my childhood like a heavy hand touching every house&period; Our fathers took shifts protecting the street&comma; burning tires&period; I document in <em>The Years of Blood <&sol;em>how all of these losses were happening in the backdrop of political restructuring&comma; linking the desire for power and money to the need for body parts and ritualism&period; We have seen people get hacked in real life&period; We’ve heard news of women whose body parts were harvested and left on the street&period; I also grounded in the collection that what the West considers as speculative is everyday African life&period; I moved through collective grief&comma; established that I am Yoruba and that my poetry thinks first in my mother tongue&comma; the language in which I grieve and dream&period;  <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-5567c5018c4f8f164871cf3cda3a396e"><strong><em>KIS&colon; What drives the themes in your poetry&comma; and how do you choose the focus for each collection&quest;<&sol;em><&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-e86c9b44b9a16d32e453a15c2ccd55d4"><strong>AA&colon; <&sol;strong>I may have mentioned this too many times&comma; but my writing is heavily influenced by Carolyne Forche’s country language and Richard Siken’s iconographies&comma; especially how his poems engage with his own painting and life&period; His obsession and depression&comma; the plain of the field&comma; the depth and the silence&period; Like Siken&comma; I am interested in spaces and what comes and goes into and out—what goes through&comma; what passage&comma; what medium&quest; In &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;For Boys Who Went&comma;” for instance&comma; I am thinking through family and absent fathers&period; In &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The Year of Blood&comma;” dead friends&period; In my two-time Sillerman finalist manuscript&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The Morning The Birds Died&comma;” I am considering the space my grandmother left and how it opened a portal of dreams through which we communicated after her passing&period; My work engages with the fearful&comma; precise&comma; and spiritual and considers land empires of the body and physical geographies&period; In a developing manuscript&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The Book of Cain&comma;” I am questioning empire&comma; the creation and the destruction&comma; and the concept of predestination and purity&comma; which seeks to address colonial ideologies empowered by religion&period; See how all of my manuscripts are in conversation with one another&quest; Even the titles and themes&comma; although some take more world view than others&comma; <strong>I am writing the same poems over and over&comma; hoping to arrive at what seems like the shadow of an answer&period;<&sol;strong> The shadow&comma; like Elijah&comma; is all I need&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-57cc01b52ff5ec690b7b5fa1cc6dad9e"><strong><em>KIS&colon; Many of your chapbooks&comma; including &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The Origin of Name” and &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The Arrival of Rain&comma;” have been widely recognized&period; How do your Nigerian roots influence the imagery&comma; themes&comma; or language in your poetry&quest; Are there specific cultural elements that you feel compelled to explore&quest;<&sol;em><&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-832f9b1bae711b92beaae7492fbfcf34"><strong>AA&colon; <&sol;strong>Yoruba impresses itself on you&period; If you once lived the language&comma; you live the language forever&period; I cannot think of myself without my mother tongue and it was only normal I centered the language in &OpenCurlyQuote;The Years of Blood’ because my Nigerian root is my only root&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<blockquote class&equals;"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">&NewLine;<p class&equals;"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-45447d9d8230ec0f90fb785365867df5">I cannot thrive without the language of the cities that brought me up&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-e725f4cd5148984591b3640938f6663c">As Ng&utilde;g&itilde; wa Thiong’o reflects in &OpenCurlyQuote;Decolonising the Mind&comma;’ language carries the weight of our culture&comma; our memory&comma; our entire way of being&period; The Yoruba language shapes how I speak&comma; and how I see—each metaphor carries centuries of wisdom&comma; each proverb a universe of meaning&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-e61cfd2a8e9d34f53f1e7c87c26484bd">In my work&comma; particularly in &OpenCurlyQuote;The Years of Blood&comma;’ I find myself echoing what Gloria Anzaldúa calls &OpenCurlyQuote;linguistic terrorism’—that profound act of reclaiming one’s mother tongue in a world that often demands its silence&period; The imagery in my poetry emerges from what Édouard Glissant would call the &OpenCurlyQuote;poetics of relation’—where the rhythms of Yoruba oral traditions meet contemporary forms&comma; creating what Homi Bhabha describes as a &OpenCurlyQuote;third space’ of cultural translation&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-full"><img sizes&equals;"&lpar;max-width&colon; 750px&rpar; 100vw&comma; 750px" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;wrr&period;ng&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2025&sol;01&sol;IN-THE-SPOTLIGHT-Adedayo-Agarau-1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" class&equals;"wp-image-41920" loading&equals;"lazy"><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-2f033e6de00193374846aa093abadbd1">When I write of rain &lpar;in all the forms that appear—physically or in the third space&rpar;&comma; it’s not just precipitation—it carries the weight of what Wole Soyinka calls &OpenCurlyQuote;the fourth stage&comma;’ that liminal space where memory and myth converge&period; The cities that raised me—Lagos&comma; Ibadan&comma; Owo&comma; Ede&comma; Ijebu Igbo—speak through my lines as what Walter Benjamin would call &OpenCurlyQuote;constellations’ of meaning&comma; where each image is anchored in both personal memory and collective history&period; As Chinua Achebe once said&comma; &OpenCurlyQuote;Until the lions have their own historians&comma; the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter&period;’ In my chapbooks&comma; I strive to be both lion and historian&comma; letting Yoruba take the grandness&comma; letting the poet think first in the language of his father&comma; and centering Yoruba’s profound philosophical understanding of existence&comma; its ways of naming and knowing the world&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-09260e3cd4fc1cc1fa5d2b9ba7664508"><em><strong>KIS&colon; As Editor-in-Chief of Agbowo Magazine&comma; you have a significant role in amplifying African literature&period; How has this editorial experience influenced your own writing journey&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-bde17ddafea9fb4fcd176f67d09757a7"><strong>AA&colon;<&sol;strong> Agbowo serves as a prism through which African literary consciousness refracts in countless directions&period; Reading submissions illuminates how language carries cultural memory&comma; political resistance&comma; and personal transformation&period; In several of our past issues&comma; we have tilted towards considering how the ephemeral is also eternal&comma; the doorway between now and beyond&comma; and how things transcend&period; What emerges through this work transcends individual narratives—we witness the emergence of a collective literary cartography&comma; mapping experiences across the continent and diaspora&period; As Kwame Anthony Appiah theorizes in &OpenCurlyQuote;In My Father’s House&comma;’ African identities exist in constant dialogue with each other&period; Through editorial work&comma; I’ve observed how writers from Nigeria to Kenya&comma; South Africa and Botswana intersperse distinct local traditions into contemporary forms&comma; whether prose or poetry&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-2d24c1de4794b74dd6b0feb0a023a2c9">Beyond my work&comma; which I obviously care so much about&comma; I think of the quality of works that move through the many portals of journals today&period; The drafts that cross my desk reveal both the vitality and the gaps in our literary ecosystem&period; While talent abounds&comma; institutional support remains concentrated in particular regions and demographics&period; The profound work happening in places like Kampala or Dakar often struggles to find wider platforms&period; Writers in Zambia curate powerful narratives about urban transformation&comma; while voices from Ouagadougou paint intricate portraits of social change&period; Yet&comma; these stories frequently remain confined within national or linguistic boundaries&period; Africa is telling a single story and introducing the languages to tell it&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<div class&equals;'w3eden'><&excl;-- WPDM Link Template&colon; Default Template -->&NewLine;&NewLine;<div class&equals;"link-template-default card mb-2">&NewLine; <div class&equals;"card-body">&NewLine; <div class&equals;"media">&NewLine; <div class&equals;"mr-3 img-48"><img class&equals;"wpdm&lowbar;icon" alt&equals;"Icon" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;wrr&period;ng&sol;wp-content&sol;plugins&sol;download-manager&sol;assets&sol;file-type-icons&sol;pdf&period;svg" &sol;><&sol;div>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"media-body">&NewLine; <h3 class&equals;"package-title"><a href&equals;'https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;wrr&period;ng&sol;download&sol;con-scio-magazine-exsolvo-issue-4-vol-2-dec-2024&sol;'>CỌ́N-SCÌÒ MAGAZINE&colon; &OpenCurlyQuote;EXSOLVO’ &lbrack;ISSUE 4&comma; VOL&period; 2 &vert; DEC&comma; 2024&rsqb;<&sol;a><&sol;h3>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"text-muted text-small"><i class&equals;"fas fa-copy"><&sol;i> 1 file&lpar;s&rpar; <i class&equals;"fas fa-hdd ml-3"><&sol;i> 20&period;00 KB<&sol;div>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"ml-3">&NewLine; <a class&equals;'wpdm-download-link download-on-click btn btn-primary ' rel&equals;'nofollow' href&equals;'&num;' data-downloadurl&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;wrr&period;ng&sol;download&sol;con-scio-magazine-exsolvo-issue-4-vol-2-dec-2024&sol;&quest;wpdmdl&equals;42062&refresh&equals;69324140412f71764901184">Download<&sol;a>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine; <&sol;div>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-95a05288b0cdff6012965db396b5ffbc">The question of access and visibility becomes particularly pressing when considering writers working in indigenous African languages&period; Our works offer unique perspectives on contemporary experience&comma; filtered through linguistic frameworks that carry centuries of philosophical and cultural knowledge&period; The stories and poems we receive at Agbowo reveal how these linguistic traditions can enrich contemporary literary discourse that offers alternative ways of seeing and describing the world&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-491de20232a97328d44edc94ddb5045e">Digital platforms have begun to bridge some of these gaps&comma; creating virtual spaces where writers from different regions can engage with each other’s work&period; However&comma; the digital divide across the continent means these opportunities remain unevenly distributed&period; Some of the most innovative writing emerges from areas with limited internet connectivity&comma; reminding us that technological solutions alone cannot address the structural inequalities in our literary landscape&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-5fcce7568b6cef1b383af6d87fde57c2">We must create infrastructures that connect writers from different regions&comma; languages&comma; and traditions&period; This means establishing more pan-African literary initiatives&comma; translation projects&comma; and mentorship programs&period; Regional writing workshops could be linked through travelling fellowships&comma; creating circuits of exchange between literary communities&period; Publishing cooperatives could pool resources to increase the visibility of work from underrepresented regions&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-91d4201abcd6477b406d8cd07042f0be">The future of African literature lurks in fostering these connections— between emerging and established voices across linguistic boundaries and beyond geographic borders&period; Through such collaborative frameworks&comma; we can facilitate a more inclusive and dynamic literary landscape that reflects the continent’s multiplicity of voices&period; The work ahead involves institutional building and imaginative leaps as we envision new ways of creating a literary community across expansive distances and diverse traditions&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-71986240e397d018a77b4f4b0ff6ba53"><em><strong>KIS&colon; As someone who has both taught and mentored emerging poets&comma; how do you perceive the importance of mentorship in the arts&quest; What do you aim to impart to your students&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-900e6652ce144dc8cb2cbada5ca4518e"><strong>AA&colon; <&sol;strong>When I saw this question&comma; I immediately thought of Audre Lorde’s position that poetry is not merely luxury but survival – it’s the scaffolding that holds our dreams together&period; My journey as a mentor began with this understanding&period; Each time I step into a classroom or sit down with a student&comma; I carry Lorde’s wisdom about how poetry becomes a bridge between silence and articulation&period; Teaching has taught me that every emerging voice carries its light&period; I remember a student who brought a poem about her grandmother’s hands braiding her hair – how that simple image opened a larger conversation about inheritance&comma; memory&comma; and love&period; Another wrote about watching his father pray&comma; and through revision&comma; we discovered layers of meaning he hadn’t known were there&period; These moments remind me of what Sonia Sanchez calls &OpenCurlyQuote;the living room of possibilities’—where poetry becomes a space of shared discovery&period; The mentor’s role shapes itself around each student’s needs&period; Sometimes&comma; it means sitting in silence while they find their way to difficult truths&period; Other times&comma; it requires gentle pushing – asking the questions that help them dig deeper into their experience&period; I’ve learned to listen not just to what’s on the page&comma; but to what trembles beneath it&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"wp-block-image size-full"><img sizes&equals;"&lpar;max-width&colon; 750px&rpar; 100vw&comma; 750px" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;wrr&period;ng&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2025&sol;01&sol;IN-THE-SPOTLIGHT-Adedayo-Agarau-1&period;png" alt&equals;"" class&equals;"wp-image-41923" loading&equals;"lazy"><&sol;figure>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-1114dd9229c37c2eea31a19d743cb778">As you know&comma; I am a child of many parents&period; My career as a writer gives so much credit to writers who helped&comma; devoted time to telling me I had something and edited me&period; I remember my dear aunty&comma; Jumoke Verissimo&comma; while editing my packet for the Brunel Prize in 2016&comma; told me that I wasn’t writing for an African audience&semi; how that helped me reevaluate my writing&comma; ideologies&comma; and philosophies&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<blockquote class&equals;"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">&NewLine;<p class&equals;"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-77574d2355810d093e8c867944c1cb70">My mentors showed me how criticism can be an act of love&period; They taught me that feedback isn’t about imposing a voice but helping writers locate their power&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-1edfb38785a7845948a800a5ddad9ad7">Now&comma; when I work with students&comma; I think about how June Jordan emphasized the importance of technical excellence without sacrificing emotional truth&period; We spend hours discussing how line breaks can carry the weight of unspoken feelings&comma; how metaphor can bridge the gap between personal and political&comma; and how rhythm can echo the heartbeat of memory&period; But&comma; perhaps the most profound aspect of mentorship is its cyclical nature&period; Yesterday’s students become today’s teachers&comma; carrying forward what they’ve learned while adding their wisdom&period; I see them starting writing circles&comma; founding literary magazines&comma; and creating spaces for other voices to emerge&period; This ongoing cycle of nurture and growth reminds me that we’re all part of what Toni Morrison calls &OpenCurlyQuote;the dance of an open mind’ —each generation teaching the next how to move to their own rhythm&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-7c540cae05857c3b7a93055d72295998"><em><strong>KIS&colon; Looking ahead&comma; what themes or issues do you envision exploring in future works&quest; Are there specific ideas you’re currently passionate about&quest;<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-84374f0c004096e2f4511eed14a366e0">I am currently at work on multiple things&period; A novel&comma; maybe&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-c350a24098324b2b83acee0c87ad489c"><strong><em>KIS&colon; Your poetry often intertwines the personal with the political&period; How do you approach balancing these two dimensions in your writing&quest;<&sol;em><&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-9e9262a680f89c6a374e97ce7ada9c89"><strong>AA&colon;<&sol;strong> One of my philosophies is that the personal is political&comma; so it is hard to think of dead people on the side of the road in Kogi and not think of the governor who embezzled at least 80 billion naira&period; The Years of Blood&comma; although it does not give so much credit to the collective politics underway in the late 90s&comma; is set in the backdrop of the chaos created&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-801ddc8bbb92eb9eb2034ee105296c38"><strong><em>KIS&colon; Finally&comma; as someone engaged in both Nigerian and international literary scenes&comma; what are your hopes for the future of African poetry&comma; both within the continent and globally&quest;<&sol;em><&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-b6d15585f2ad98bc3875e8cd74ec7da7"><strong><em>AA&colon;<&sol;em><&sol;strong> The future of African poetry fills me with so much urgency&period; I see extraordinary voices emerging across the continent—from spoken word artists in Nigeria to experimental poets everywhere else&period; Yet we need to build stronger bridges between these creative hubs&period; Our poetry is transforming&period; They are embracing both traditional forms and digital innovations and young writers are crafting verses in their mother tongues while engaging with global conversations&period; And I agree with Achille Mbembe who suggests that this isn’t about choosing between local and global—it’s about creating new forms that honour both&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<blockquote class&equals;"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">&NewLine;<p class&equals;"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color has-medium-font-size wp-elements-fcbca8921e8c068102b8c17838dfc417">My vision for the future is practical&colon; more African-led publishing houses&comma; more translation projects between African languages&comma; and more platforms for critical dialogue&period; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;blockquote>&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;&NewLine;<p class&equals;"has-black-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-0bc50d8185c5b957efae6825f06793a6"> We need poetry festivals that travel between cities&comma; residencies that connect writers across regions&comma; and digital spaces that make our work accessible to each other&period; The work has begun&period; Literary collectives are forming&comma; new prizes are celebrating African languages&comma; and translation initiatives are growing&period; Now 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