Ghana Writes interviews Romeo Oriogun, 2017 winner of the Brunel International African Poetry Prize.

By Ekuwa Saighoe

Oluwasegun Romeo Oriogun is a recognized contemporary Nigerian poet who has found his world in poetry. He recently won the Brunel African Poetry Prize for his chapbook, Burnt Men. Oriogun describes his background as a tough one as he grew up in Benin City, a place in Nigeria which makes men out of boys. Touching on how he got interested in poetry, Romeo lost his parents one after the other at an early age. This situation left him with no choice than to search for his purpose in life and work hard to achieve it by hook or by crook. Through these changing scenes in his life, he found solace, hope, and home in poetry and he grabbed it with both hands. Although pursuing poetry comes with its own hills and valleys, he tries to make the best out of it, perfect his craft and live life to the fullest.

The significance of the Brunel African Poetry Competition to contemporary African poetry facilitates the cementing of the place of modern poetry by young African poets. According to Oluwasegun Romeo Oriogun, he had developed a keen interest in the Brunel International African Poetry Prize for a while and was drawn to it when he read Warsan Shire’s poems. Shire’s poems inspired Romeo to address delicate issues confronting the society, through poetry. Romeo participated in the competition because the competition offered him a voice and he used this opportunity to work on poems that interrogated discrimination against lesbians and homosexuals. Commenting on the reason why he decided to speak on issues concerning LGBT, Romeo articulated that during the previous year, a gay man was lynched to death and there have been countless cases of the humiliation of homosexuals and lesbians. In view of this, he found it essential to confront this situation through his poems. Unfortunately, after winning the prize, Romeo has received attacks, hate messages and threats due to the portrayal of LGBT themes in his poems.

Regarding his next project, Romeo is working on his first full collection of poetry and the collection will cover themes concerning memories, migration, and homosexuality. He advises budding writers to cultivate the habit of doing a lot of reading. He also added that up and coming writers should experiment on varying topics and issues and never be afraid to express their voice.