A month ago, Divine Inyang Titus won the 2nd prize of the Nigerian Students Poetry Prize (NSPP) with his poem, ‘A Naira Shy of Rebirth’. Here, he is drawn into a lively and revealing interview by Semilore Kilaso, moderator of PIN Literary Interviews. They explore a wide range of topics including writing, literary competitions, Nigerian poetry and the interviewee’s participation in the NSPP.
Divine Inyang Titus is a writer, performance poet, and songwriter, keen on exploring the nuances of the human experience through art. He is the 1st Runner-up Nigerian Students Poetry Prize (NSPP) 2021, the winner of the STCW Future Folklore Climate Fiction Contest, 2021, and a winner of Shuzia Poetry Prize, and Poetry Column-NND Weekly Poetry Contest. He is the author of the chapbook “A Beautiful Place To Be Born”. His works have appeared or are forthcoming in Brittle Paper, The Parliament Literary Journal, The Puritan Literary Magazine, The Kalahari Review, and elsewhere. He deeply enjoys reading, making music, and observing the rudiments of excellence.
PLI: Congratulations on winning second prize of the Nigerian Students Poetry Prize (NSPP) 2021. Tell me more about yourself.
DIVINE INYANG: Thanks a lot, it’s a real honour to be a winner of such prestigious prize. I’m Divine Inyang Titus, last child of my parents, and I write stories, poems, essays and songs. I also sing, play the guitar, teach and do research work. I’m a student of Fisheries & Aquatic Environmental Management in the University of Uyo, about to wrap up a 5-year (turned 6 due to the pandemic) academic program hopefully in the brightest colours possible (Lord knows I’ve worked hard for it). I consider myself a lover: of knowledge, good books, people, beans & potatoes, coke and shawarma. Besides writing, reading, music and teaching, I really enjoy debates, some movies, conversations – mostly intellectual ones, things that make me laugh, and, of course, football. My favourite teams are Tottenham Hotspur (foremost) and Messi (that’s not a mistake; he’s literally larger than many clubs).
PLI: How did you learn of Poets in Nigeria and NSPP?
DIVINE INYANG: I learned about Poets in Nigeria a few years ago. Perhaps 2019 would be a fair estimate. My friend had talked about entering for the NSPP. She did enter and made the Longlist with a fine poem “what were you thinking when you named this place”. I thought the title was really bold and the content beautifully audacious. Later, I heard about a few other PIN initiatives including Festival Poetry Calabar – of which my good friend Eromosele is a great proponent – and Poetically Written Prose.
PLI: Is this your first time entering for NSPP?
DIVINE INYANG: It is. How fortunate for me.
PLI: How did you feel about writing with a theme for NSPP. How long did it take to write the winning poem “A Naira Shy of Rebirth?”
DIVINE INYANG: Writing for a theme is always a challenging endeavour for me, especially in the first two to three days when I drew blanks from my brain – and that can be frustrating sometimes. But it’s something I relish deeply, because it leads me to push my mind and dig into spaces, to unearth the kind of gold I wouldn’t normally lead myself to unearthing. So, when NSPP came out with a themed call, though I knew it’d be tougher for me, I looked forward to it.
“A Naira Shy of Rebirth” took about two weeks to write. Some of that time was spent in my head trying to decide which among the given themes bore the hill I’d be willing to die on. And then perhaps the largest portion of that time went to carving out a narrative. I wrote on Identity: Faces and Phases, and for me, there needed to be a narrative, a movement across stories like a sonata. I had scattered lines here and there, insights of my own from how I personally navigated my identity, etc. In the end, the greatest difficulty laid in fitting those together in a movement that satisfied both my aesthetic and philosophical aims.
PLI: Do you agree that competitions are important and healthy in the creative space?
DIVINE INYANG: Oh yes I do. I really do. I think most writers will, once they make their piece with the inevitability of defeat at one time or the other, and the possibility of victory too. Competitions motivate like little else I know. And sometimes, it’s that push we really need as creatives to leave our comfort zones and explore novel territories and shake some new meaning out of ourselves. It doesn’t have to be our best work. But the fact that we get to create is a great plus for us. So it’s really important, also as a grading tool. The creative works sent to different platforms pit them against an astonishing range of competencies and skills. In the end, you’re acquainted with a standard of some sort. You know where the bar is. And that’s healthy for any up-and-coming creative.
PLI: As poets, some of us tend to look at stylistics. How would you describe poetry in relation to your style?
DIVINE INYANG: Many times, my poems are a result of some form of meditation or the other. Hence, sometimes, I like to think of poetry itself as a meditation; a concise, artistic meditation. But poetry can also be pleasing and liberating. And sometimes too, I’ve tried to achieve that in my poems.
I try to write with words that say exactly what I want to say, so my word choices – and placement – are quite intentional. My diction (or just the way I put words together) tends to veer off the commonplace register at times because of this proclivity. But I do try to strike a balance. Poetry has been a great avenue for me to learn both the essential and the more complex faces of language. And poets are, quite simply, people who are obsessed with language. That is why, sometimes, I like to not rob my readers of an opportunity to grapple with complex language just for extra points of simplicity.
I’d also say I have a very graphic sensibility (as many writers do), and I think that reflects in most of my work in that I tend to describe things I ‘see’ through my mind’s eye. So when I conceive of a narrative movement in poetry, I have to see that movement happen and then represent that poetically. This, I do particularly when I have a theme or a philosophical mission to accomplish in a poem. It takes a lot of going back and forth editing my works to achieve the kind of poetry I deem complete.
PLI: Do you have any interesting writing habit such as when and how you write?
DIVINE INYANG: Lol, no. Not really. I’d say I write when I’m settled, where it is mostly quiet and I have some solitude (my closest friends don’t count in this case, lol). I should also say early mornings, late evenings, and ungodly hours of the night and my more preferred times to write – perhaps because I’m more likely to achieve favourable writing conditions at that time. But I do know I’ve written in all kinds of scenarios and at diverse hours, so I’m not so sure these preferences have any significant bearing on what I produce.
As to how I write; whoosh, that’s a tough one. I don’t think there’s anything interesting there too. I just have a few things that help me (sometimes) to get a groove going. Sometimes, lines fall to me (as I’m sure they do every other poet). Other times, I look for them. I really dig in for them. And sometimes what I find is ore that needs a lot of refining. So most of the time, the magic is actually in the tenacity to dig and keep digging. And rest after I get exhausted, then keep digging when my strength is renewed.
When I get stuck, there are times I let my mind do a kind of unfettered freestyle. A gem or two may fall. Or just a lead. Or just what ‘sounds’ like one. These I follow and develop, and they sometimes birth truly marvellous lines of poetry.
PLI: There is a paradigm shift in Nigeria literature. What is contemporary poetry to you?
DIVINE INYANG: The poetry of deep feeling, audacity and contemplation. You could say that’s what poetry has always been, but this is the only movement in poetry that I’ve ever been a part of, and it’s the only one I truly know. And what I know of it is that it lets itself “feel” more than most, is more vulnerable than most, demystifies both language and structure, then with a keen sense of responsibility, it protests and celebrates in truly breathtaking ways.
There are those who would say Contemporary poetry is an offspring of the American confessional style of writing. Perhaps they’re right. You can think of contemporary poetry as a series of poeticized confessions; of things seen, heard, felt, experienced, unseen, unheard, unfelt, etc. Perhaps, this is what is responsible for that intimate sensibility that accompanies most contemporary poems – that feeling that you can crumble into the poet-persona’s perspective, and dissolve into their story.
PLI: Which Nigerian poets have influenced you and your writing?
DIVINE INYANG: Oh, there’s a lot of them, starting from the fathers. I’m an Achebean, so his person and poetry live very much in me. I read and adored the works of Soyinka (even the ones I couldn’t understand), Pepper Clark, Niyi Osundare, Christopher Okigbo (whom I think is better described as an incantator rather than poet), and many more.
Of the poets of my day, there are quite a few. Martins Deep is one of those people (one of my absolute favourites) and also Nnadi Samuel Samba, both supernaturally good poets. I read a lot of Romeo Oriogun, whose poetry taught me the art of surrender. I listen to Titilope Sonuga, and I love Samuel A. Adeyemi’s poetry too. There’s also my good friend Michael Immosan, who’s my editor, critic and with whom I have the most conversations about poetry, and then my poetry group, Poetic Nest – a collective of poets where we learn and nurture the art of writing. The amazing poets in there have influenced me and my writing in more ways that I can mention.
PLI: What in your opinion is the place of poetry as a genre of literature in Nigeria? What future? What opportunities for poets?
DIVINE INYANG: Anyone who’s paid enough attention to the Nigerian poetry scene in recent years would easily observe what seems like an explosion of talents and visibility of Nigerian poetry on the continental and global scene. That, I think, bodes very well for poetry and for poets in general and is a testament to the rising relevance of poetry everywhere around the world. Future? More of that. More and more of that. Picture when poetry kick-starts a national event like it does in America now. I think the future is big, bold and bright. The opportunity most poets seek is mainly a platform to showcase their works, and there are a lot of magazines now asking for pieces of all their goodness. And Nigerian poets are giving it to them without mercy. And it’s reflecting in our continental and global literary image. I hope that continues to happen for a long time.
PLI: What is your opinion about Poets in Nigeria as a vanguard of poetry renaissance in our country?
DIVINE INYANG: One of the most important organizations for poets in Nigeria, hands down. It’s the dedication that beats me. It’s like: we’re going to marshal hundreds of poets into one massive literary army, and together, we’ll take over the world! What a statement! I’m deeply grateful for PIN. The initiatives are spot-on, the people are beautiful, the belief riles your soul, the sacrifices are humbling. It’s literally one of the best things that’s ever happened to Nigerian poetry.
PLI: Thank you for your time. How would you like to round off this interview?
DIVINE INYANG: I’d love to round off by saying a big, big thank you to Poets in Nigeria, to Mr. Kolade for bold and buoyant service, to Sir Eriata for his selfless service and dedication to the art, and to you Semilore for this amazing interview. I don’t know if I’ve expressed enough how wonderful it feels to be honoured in this manner by a body of such lofty repute. But it really is a wonderful feeling. I’m a relatively new writer, so this is gold to me right now. And will forever be. I’d love to thank my mother, Mrs. Regina. She prayed her eyes out for me as I set out to Ibadan abruptly on a bright, Thursday morning, and stood by me through the numerous trials I faced on my way home. Then she danced a dazzling victory dance when I won and threw a small feast for me. She’s the ultimate. And I wouldn’t be anything at all without her. My whole family stood by me 200%. Sometimes, I imagine myself without the kind, understanding family I have, and I know I wouldn’t be where I am today. So I’m grateful. I’d love to thank my soul brothers and friends: they support and believe in me so thoroughly that it can get intimidating, even to my own self. They’ve never wavered, they’ve never slacked. I’m humbled by their love, and inspired by their spirit. They are most of them writers, and I hope to see them all succeed as I have, so I too can be described as a supportive friend in an interview (LOL). I’d also love to thank every poet who wrote for this year’s NSPP. It isn’t easy to do this, I know. Big congratulations to both the Longlisted and shortlisted entrants. To those who didn’t get in, I’d like to say, I know it can be daunting. But I’ve been there before, many times, and I know that efforts count a lot. Every time we try and fail, we cool off and go back to the drawing board, and keep learning till the next test. Let’s keep growing, and building ourselves till we really get to where we want to get to. For me, that’s still a long way off. We’ll see each other at the top.
Thank you so much.
This is eye opening, engaging and evidently gave the writer an opportunity to explore himself in relation to his craft. Very revealing and beautiful.