Professor Nduka Otiono’s interview with Open Book.Ca where he discusses his poetic journey and how his life has shaped his process and work is out. He talked about the surprising inspiration he found in a timeless nursery rhyme, the poem his wife recited on their first date that hooked him, and how some poems are only children and others have siblings.
DisPlace: The Poetry of Nduka Otiono (Wilfrid Laurier University Press, edited by Peter Midgley with an afterword by Chris Dunton) gathers powerhouse poems from one of Canada’s most insightful and timely poets.
Nduka Otiono is the author of two previously published collections (Voices in the Rainbow and Love in a Time of Nightmares), and has established himself as an essential voice in discussions of diasporic life and identity.
Engaging with experiences of Canada and Nigeria, Otiono plays with movement and form, weaving together multiple poetic traditions to explore identity, trauma, language, and the nature—and limits—of poetry to uncover the self and the collective. Political, wise, and impactful, the poems both new and old are contextualized in an interview between Otiono and Chris Dunton.
Read full interview on OpenBook.Ca