Senator Iyere Ihenyen is a young writer who, through his works, speaks against the ills of the society. In this interview, he highlights the challenges facing young writers, and what could be done towards solving such problems. EXCERPTS: FIRST and foremost, are you really a Senator, or how did you come about the name? I knew you were going to come to that sooner or later! I understand that my first name suggests a Federal lawmaker with a constituency. But I’m not really a Senator of the Republic. I am the Senator without a constituency, except my convictions. I am called Senator simply because I was born on the day of a Senatorial election in the country. Senator is my real name. When and how did you start writing? As common with creativity, it’s something that has always been there waiting to be discovered, sharpened and projected. At a very tender age, it had always been drawing and painting for me, say 10, but I started writing in my teenage years. Some of the poems in my new collection are a decade old, while some others are very fresh. The process of drafting and redrafting, editing and re- editing is usually continual until the manuscript gets to the prints. This is what the writing process has been for me. To a large extent, my early exposure to the literary works of Leopold Senghor, Wole Soyinka, Gabriel Okara, J. P. Clark, Niyi Osundare and many others stimulated my interest in writing. The more I read their works, the more I scribbled pieces of my own poetry. The Internet has also been a great resource to me in terms of a medium of expression. I started professional writing in 2006, but I have been learning the ropes and growing in the literary community close to a decade now. What actually inspired you into writing? That question is not as simple as it appears. I wish I could simply say that I was inspired into writing by a mentor. Perhaps, that I shared the same room with Wole Soyinka or Niyi Osundare in Ibadan (laughs). It is different for me. I have discovered over the years that I have a highly creative mind. Sometimes, the nature and number of ideas that run through my mind on a daily basis is something a curious Psychiatrist may find interesting. Ideas are what my mind is made of, and any mode that provides me a vibrant medium of expression of these inner ideas equally fascinates me. I am fascinated with the expression of original and fresh thoughts, beauty and emotions. Poetry happens to be one of those creative modes of expression. Also, my childhood innocence of wanting to change the world is one great inspiration that I am still inclined to as a young Nigerian writer today. With creative writing, I don’t expect my works to re-enchant the world but that with what I portray in my works, that man could re-enchant himself. Your poetry, Colourless Rainbow, could be described as a very imaginative work of art. What inspired you into writing the collection? Without mincing words, Colourless Rainbow was inspired by my disenchantment with the ugly state of the country, which has continued till date. The collection is an imaginative expression of my thoughts and emotions flowing from experiences fresh from the pages of a troubled nation, against the dreams of childhood. In seven sections, I attempted to symbolise the statelessness of the nation from the military era down to our current democratic dispensation with the image of a colourless rainbow using the paintbrush of childhood. In some of the poems, you sound really angry. Do you think this is an effective way of changing the political mess the country? That is a very interesting question. The mood and tone of a speaker or voice in a poem largely determines the atmosphere of a work of poetry. Being the author who is god to these speakers and voices in my work, I expressed my anger with the state of the nation-state through them. Yes, I am an angry Nigerian youth. Very angry! I am extremely angry over the wasted generations after wasted generations. My generation has been the worst hit, and sometimes you feel you just can’t take the heat any longer. Colourless Rainbow bottles-up all that anger for wasted lives, wasted years and wasted opportunities. Like you rightly put it, it is indeed a political mess. Now, to the question whether I think venting my anger through my poems is an effective way of changing the political mess the country is in, the answer is in the negative. I am not that naïve to think that the anger of a seemingly frustrated poet can change anything in this country. With the poor reading culture in the society, who cares about poems such as mine. How would you describe your experience as a young writer? I believe I will not be doing justice to that question if I fail to approach it from the angle of publishing as one of the greatest challenges to a young and new writer. Anywhere in the world, publishing one’s book, particularly a collection of poetry, is indeed a great hurdle! But in this peculiar part of the world, it is more than a hurdle! Talent is not enough. You must be professional in handling your own work. You must keep writing, but never stop pushing your work. Who is Senator Ihenyen? I was born in Lagos in the 80s. By origin, I hail from Esan-West LGA, Ekpoma, Edo State. I attended Lagos City College, Yaba, where I learnt the values of how to “to live, to learn and to create.” I am a graduate of Law from the University of Benin, Benin City, Edo State, and went on to the Nigerian Law School, Kano. By God’s grace, in a matter of months, you could correctly call me Barr. Senator Ihenyen after my call to Bar before the end of the year. A young Nigerian writer, I am the author of “Colourless Rainbow”, a collection of poems published in 2011 by Coast2Coast. The book got an honourable mention in the ANA NDDC/ Gabriel Okara Prize for Poetry in the same year. I like to think of myself as an aspiring Lawyer and writer. Not even the works of most established poets and writers have significantly changed anything today, if at all. Even journalists struggle with this challenge. Christopher Okigbo and Saro-Wiwa wrote angry works during their time, but nothing seems to have changed. Ojukwu died at a time when Boko Haram was and still is threatening the unity of this country, and Henry Okah would tell you that the Niger Delta under the Jonathan administration is a time bomb waiting to explode if nothing concrete is done sooner or later. The tone in my poems is angry because I am angry, and the Nigerian people are angry. There is no time to beautify ugliness. We cannot at this time afford to miss the message. The message must be communicated in a clear and unembellished manner. Anger when expressed has a way of getting attention. Some of my readers tell me that there so much blood in my work. I simply tell them it is not my story. It is the blood from wasted lives in our nation that has soaked the pages of Colourless Rainbow, not a product of the figment of the imagination of a blood-thirsty poet. Dennis Brutus may have had all the time in the world to write sonnets and subtle satires against racism in South Africa. Leopold Senghor may have had all the time in the world to worship Africa with his Negritude poetry. But at a time like this when Nigeria is nearing the point of a completely failed state, Senator Ihenyen does not have that luxury. Colourless Rainbow is an urgent response in a state of emergency. In my last public presentation at the Abuja Writers Forum in Abuja, the audience greatly appreciated this point. Can protest writing really change the Nigerian society, considering the fact that writers like Soyinka and Iyayi seem to have tried it in vain? Protest literature has existed throughout literary history. Some of the greatest writers in history have employed their talents toward sensitising and awakening people to injustices locally and globally. There are writers who have won the Nobel Laureate based on their contributions to literature and national development. Others have also won same including national awards because they chose to stand against bad governance. From that angle, protest writing could be very rewarding. However, whether such protest literature actually influence decision makers is absolutely a different ball game. It was Chinua Achebe himself who once said that he is a ‘protest writer’ and any good story should have a message. Has his most celebrated work, ‘Things Fall Apart’ changed the Nigerian society beyond being a great novel? Again, considered by many to be the greatest living Somali poet, has the protest works by Hadrawi (Mohamed Warsame) changed the Somali society? From my experience therefore, the answer to the question whether protest writing really changes societies is neither yes nor no. It is somewhere in-between. Personally, I really don’t mind joining the Soyinkas and the Iyayis in the roll call of Nigerian writers who seemingly engage in protest writing ‘in vain.’ Tell us about yourself. I am Senator Iyere Ihenyen, born in Lagos in the 80s. By origin, I hail from Esan-West LGA, Ekpoma, Edo State. I attended Lagos City College, Yaba, where I learnt the values of how to “to live, to learn and to create”. I am a graduate of Law from the University of Benin, Benin City, Edo State, and went on to the Nigerian Law School, Kano. By God’s grace, in a matter of months, you could correctly call me Barr. Senator Ihenyen after my call to Bar before the end of the year. A young Nigerian writer, I am the author of “Colourless Rainbow”, a collection of poems published in 2011 by Coast2Coast. The book got an honourable mention in the ANA NDDC/ Gabriel Okara Prize for Poetry in the same year. I like to think of myself as an aspiring Lawyer and writer.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Nov 2014 07:57:43 +0000
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