Interview with Chinelo Okparanta at Munyori Lit Journal

Chinelo Okparanta

I just interviewed one of the writers shortlisted on the 2013 Caine Prize, Chinelo Okparanta. Here is the interview in part.

Emmanuel Sigauke (ES): Congratulations for being shortlisted on the 2013 Caine Prize for African Writing. Tell us how you felt when you found out that you were on this list.

Chinelo Okparanta (CO): Thank you, Emmanuel. When I heard the news I was happy and grateful. But nervous too. We write with the hope that our stories will be read, and prior to the Caine shortlist, my story “America” was certainly read. But the Caine Prize nomination has meant that the story has become accessible to a much wider audience than previously anticipated, which in turn means greater responsibility on my part. Also, a greater sense of vulnerability.

ES: Port Harcourt features prominently as setting in your collection Happiness, Like Water. How has this place shaped your writing? As a writer, where are you most at home, United States or Nigeria?

CO: Nigeria is my place of birth, the place in which I learned personal and cultural values such as respect, dignity, honesty, integrity, altruism, patriotism, etc. The United States nurtured these values, but without Nigeria I might not have learned them at all. And so, even though I am no longer based there, it is Nigeria that I will always consider home. As for my sense of belonging, there is a wonderful quote by Marilynne Robinson from her book Housekeeping:

"To crave and to have are as like as a thing and its shadow. For when does a berry break upon the tongue as sweetly as when one longs to taste it . . . and when do our senses know any thing so utterly as when we lack it? And here again is a foreshadowing—the world will be made whole."

Which is all to say that it is those times when I am away that I feel I belong in Nigeria the most. It is those times that I feel my strongest connection to the place.

ES: In a recent interview, you revealed that you didn’t have a hard time finding publishers because they came to you (at
the Iowa Writers’ Workshop) and they fell in love with your work immediately. Since for most writers, finding agents or publishers is the hardest aspect of their career, what do you think contributed to the ease with which publishers
found you? What is it about your writing that won the hearts of these first readers of your work?

CO: I should clarify that these agents did not come just to me. They came to all the students at the Workshop. I should also clarify that I had had a few agent rejections before this agent came along and signed me. I point out the
latter because, even in cases where the process is rather smooth, there are still rejections to be endured. As for the editor, he was indeed the first editor I met with, and I was very lucky that he liked the stories (I’m not sure I would say that he fell in love with my work. That’s a bit strong. I would say he liked my work fine enough to publish it).

As for why he chose to publish these stories, he has said that he was looking for a new voice, a new story that had not already been told, or at least not in this specific way.

ES: What’s your process? Are you, for instance, a heavy reviser? At what stage do you consider your story done?

CO: I don’t generally have a process. I write when I can. Mornings generally work best for me. As far as revisions go, many of my short stories come out fluidly where the plotline is concerned. Often these stories require editing, but generally they require little or no revision. Of course, there are exceptions. I don’t ever consider a story done. I’d still like to go back and tinker with the stories in HLW.

ES: What are your thoughts on the teaching of creative writing? Should every writer nowadays go through formal  writing training? What is the role of writers’ fellowships and residencies?  READ the rest of the interview on Munyori...