We have to find a new way into the future or perish, says Ben Okri, Nigerian-born poet, novelist, essayist, and cultural activist. He moved to England as a child, returning to Nigeria before the Civil War, which profoundly impacted him. After returning to London in 1978, Okri studied Comparative Literature at Essex University. His first novel, "Flowers and Shadows", was published in 1980. The "Landscapes Within" and the Booker Prize-winning "The Famished Road" established his international reputation.
"With each book I am different and yet most myself. To refine the capture of reality, to create a new way of telling stories, to make life out of myth and myth out of life", says Ben Okri.
Ben Okri is coming to the Unfinished Festival, which will be held in Bucharest, from September 27 to 29. This year's theme of the festival is Praxis: connecting theory with practice and how we can transform ourselves from receivers to creators.
We spoke with Ben Okri about poetry, the power of words, alternative truths and the responsibility of creators in 2024.
The most important thing people should know about you
That I am more than what I seem.
If your life were divided into chapters
The ages of magic and truth.
The trigger moment
I began with writing about poor conditions in the ghetto in Lagos. Then I turned what I saw into stories. One story grew and became my first novel. That was Flowers and Shadows. Before that I wrote poems. I am essentially a poet.
How has your relationship with words changed over time
Radically and not at all. With each book I am different and yet most myself. To refine the capture of reality, to create a new way of telling stories, to make life out of myth and myth out of life. To catch the unpredictable truth of the world.
What does writing mean to you
Writing is as essential to me as breathing. The need to live drives me to write, for existence, dreaming and writing are all one. The environmental crisis is one of the things that also drives me to write. We have to find a new way into the future or perish.
Your writing process
I live with an idea and when saturated I write.
Themes you are obsessed with
Power, reality, climate change, spirituality, play, Africa, transcendence, imagination, justice…
Unfinished. Thoughts and Expectations
Conversation. Exchange of ideas. Listening.
#Praxis
Life is vision, theory and praxis. We need all three. Praxis is only as good as the vision. It ought to be guided by our sense of the best future for all.
How powerful are words in 2024?
More powerful than ever. Truth has been blurred and words rendered ineffective with lies and relativism and alternative truths. Against the relentless fabrication we need precision and clarity, words with hard edges to reinstate the primacy of truth.
A survival guide for a poet
To be the best human being you can be so you can be the best poet you can be. Live. Find a way to earn a living. Being a poet is a financial and artistic equation. It is best if poets don’t earn their living from poetry. Financial pressure should never be put on poetry. One must win the freedom for poetry. In that sense poetry requires the strategy of a warrior. For poetry is also warfare. It is the warfare of beauty and truth.
Your responsibilities as a creator
To write well. To write truthfully. To express the underlying truth of the times. To see clearly. To get oneself to a place were we can speak powerfully to the world when such a speaking is needed.
A name for this period we’re living
The age of rage and darkness and intermittent light.
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