Twelve days after the shortlist was launched, Chinaza James-Ibe was named the 2024 Awele Artistic Belief Award winner for her story, Fly and Corpse. Described on the award’s social media web page as “a haunting exploration of grief, denial, the supernatural, & the risks of holding on too tightly to what has been misplaced,” the story was celebrated for its masterful storytelling, exact prose, and putting imagery in capturing the unsettling.
Chinaza James-Ibe captures moments and dilemmas via her writing and images in Nigeria. Her work has been featured on Poetry Sango-Ota, Akewi, Isele Journal, Lolwe, The Shallow Tales Evaluation, Agbowo, Brittle Paper, and elsewhere. As well as, she serves as an editorial member and reviewer right here at Artistic Writing Information. We had the pleasure of sitting down with Chinaza to debate her distinctive writing type, her award-winning story, and the influences that form her storytelling.
Learn A Evaluation by Chinaza James-Ibe of This Motherless Land by Nikki Could
Congratulations on profitable the Awele Artistic Belief Award. Did you see it coming whenever you determined to submit for the Award?
Chinaza: Thanks a lot. I strive not to consider awards I’ve submitted to, so I wasn’t actually eager about it after I submitted. When making submissions, there’s at all times part of me who needs all of it and the a part of me that thinks I can’t get it. I wished to win, however I didn’t consider it a lot.
Studying your profitable story, I can see that it’s a speculative fiction with highlights of Igbo mythology. How did you develop the storyline, and was the writing course of difficult?
Chinaza: I used to be pondering of reincarnation and I wished so badly to mess around with it. Reincarnation is usually regarded as a optimistic phenomenon—My father used to say I used to be the reincarnation of his grandmother, and my grandmother would inform my brother was her husband returned to her. ‘Fly and Corpse’ is a product of my probing the doable darkish alleys of it. Within the story, I used to be asking “what occurs when an individual who doesn’t love life or the residing—somebody inconsolable—is reincarnated?”
When creating ‘Fly and Corpse,’ was there a specific message or emotion you hoped readers would take away from it?
Chinaza: The story attracts from two Igbo proverbs that I discover unsettling. ‘Fly and Corpse’ alludes to the proverb concerning the cussed fly that follows the corpse into its grave. The second proverb says, ‘Whom the gods want to destroy, they inflict with insanity.’ Each gods and people are complicit, and hamartia turns into inescapable. I discover all of it very unsettling, which is what I wished to convey.
Writers typically speak concerning the significance of place and tradition of their tales. How does your background affect your writing basically?
Chinaza: It influences my writing in immeasurable methods as a result of I write from the place I’m from. If I had been to go wherever else, I must take off from right here. Robotically, I’m at all times watching the women and men round me—I scour for the proverbs they use to admonish a toddler, the curses they rain on one another amidst a brawl, the exclamations they blurt once they hit a foot towards a stone, the sarcasm, and the laughter. Each time I cool down to put in writing, residence comes dashing to me; all I’ve to do is choose part of this actuality and proliferate it.
There was an increase within the variety of speculative fiction works written by younger Nigerian writers, notably these rooted in indigenous cosmologies and our tribal myths. What do you concentrate on that? And are there writers you see your self in dialog with?
Chinaza: Nigeria has at all times been in contact with the supernatural. Rising up, there was at all times God, and there was at all times the satan and his angels. A dream was a prophecy. We’ve additionally at all times been surrounded by the ridiculous, too—actuality distorted and disproportionate. Nigeria is already an unbelievable place. Younger Nigerian writers are taking all this materials and breaking boundaries we didn’t even know existed years in the past. It’s an thrilling path to comply with. I’m at all times in awe of the works of Naomi Eselojor, Somto Ihezue, Gabrielle Emem Harry, and…there are various extra that I can’t recall for the time being.
Have been there any elements of ‘Fly and Corpse’ that you simply struggled with or rewrote a number of instances earlier than you felt it was prepared?
Chinaza: Oh, sure. That will be the title. I used to be very unhappy with it, and in a approach, I nonetheless am.
Once I noticed the title, I had no concept what the story would include. You defined in your earlier response why you selected it. What title would you’ve gotten most popular?
Chinaza: Truthfully, I don’t have the faintest inkling, and I’m okay with that.
Past this story, are there different genres or themes you might be excited to discover sooner or later?
Chinaza: After all, I’m an adventurer. I’m engaged on writing photo-essays that aren’t abominable and performs. I believe drama is one style that deserves extra traction than it’s getting. Discovering a literary magazine that publishes one-act performs lately requires black magic. I don’t take into consideration themes an excessive amount of.
That is fascinating, and I sit up for seeing your picture essays. As an everyday Twitter person, I’ve come throughout a number of the photos you’ve gotten taken. Do you intend on submitting to magazines and competitions? And for the drama, do you’ve gotten writers who encourage you?
Chinaza: Sure, sure. I’m contemplating that. Ama Ata Aidoo, Tewfik Al-Hakim, Wole Soyinka, J.P. Clark, and Cheta Igbokwe are some playwrights I like.
Profitable an award like this is usually a important milestone. How will it form your writing journey going ahead?
Chinaza: My agenda is to put in writing higher and attain increased. I need to win, and I need to deserve what I get.
Lastly, the place can folks discover you and your tales?
Chinaza: Thanks for having me. I tweet @Umami_kun. Right here’s my linktree: https://linktr.ee/james_ibe_chinaza
