Otosirieze Obi-Young

Otosirieze Obi-Young (born April 3, 1994) is a Nigerian writer, editor, culture journalist, and curator. He is Editor of Folio Nigeria, a CNN-powered multimedia storytelling platform which profiles innovators in Nigerian art, business, entertainment, and activism.[1] He is the former Deputy Editor of Brittle Paper.[2][3] In 2019, he won the inaugural The Future Awards Africa Prize for Literature.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10] His short stories and literary commentary have appeared in The Threepenny Review,[11] Transition, and Dazed Digital.[2] His work in LGBTQ advocacy in literature has been profiled in Literary Hub.[12] His essays focus on sexuality and literary culture.[13][14][15][16][17] He has been described as among the "top curators and editors from Africa"[18] and listed among "the 100 most influential young Nigerians."[19]

The Nigerian writer and editor Otosirieze Obi-Young.

Career

Otosirieze Obi-Young was born in Aba, Nigeria. He has an MA in African Studies and a BA in English and History from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He taught at Godfrey Okoye University, Enugu.

In 2018, he was named a judge for the Gerald Kraak Prize, an initiative for writing and visual art about on gender, social justice and sexuality.[20] In 2019, he was announced as a judge for the Miles Morland Foundation Writing Scholarship.[21] He is an editor at 14, Nigeria’s first queer art collective. He is the founder of the Art Naija Series anthologies which include Enter Naija: The Book of Places[22] and Work Naija: The Book of Vocations.[23]

Obi-Young was in conversation with Booker Prize winner Bernardine Evaristo at the 2019 Lagos International Poetry Festival and discussed Evaristo's career and influence in African and British poetry.[24]

Views on LGBTQ Literature

Obi-Young is considered a leading advocate for LGBTQ writing in Africa.[25][26] In a 2017 letter titled “Queer Literature in Africa Is Not a Trend,” he addressed critical views of queer writing in African literature.[27] “To write literature humanizing queerness is a political act: because writing itself is political, because to humanize queerness is a decision in much the same way that to demonize it is, but a decision to be honest and empathetic and truthful, because to tell the truth is a decision,” he wrote. “But I must point out also that to write literature humanizing queerness is only as political as it is not, because it is grounded in lived experience, grounded in the vagaries of everyday breathing that has no recourse to grand political intentions; because, in your country Nigeria, there is Akinnifesi Olumide who died from a mob beating in Ondo State in February 2016; there are the forty-two men arrested in Lagos this year for attending a ‘gay party’; there is the online hate faced by Bobrisky for straddling masculinity and femininity so loudly; and there are the man and the boy harassed on video in Edo State this year. How can one un-robbed of empathy say that to show these lives in literature is a ‘political concession’?”

Obi-Young has argued against having a category of LGBT literature.[28][29] “I am heavily skeptical of the term ‘queer literature,’ or ‘LGBTQ literature,’ because it has no counter-reference,” he says. “Unlike ‘African literatures’—Anglophone, Francophone, Lusophone, and in indigenous languages—which fits into a geopolitics that acknowledges an equal term, ‘European literatures’—English, French, Italian, Spanish—the lack of an equal for ‘queer literature’—an equal which would have been called ‘heterosexual literature,’ writing that examines what it means to be heterosexual—begs the question: Why should literature exploring same-sex desire be categorized based on who its characters find themselves loving or on who its writers themselves love, especially as such categorization is withheld from literature exploring desire for the opposite sex? While the categorization does function as a marketing tool, a way of drawing attention to literature traditionally overlooked, lives deliberately unseen, it is one that is rooted in Othering, and so proves insufficient in humanizing queerness, particularly with the way it takes focus away from the skill of its writers and pushes it to their subject, a denial not bestowed on writers of ‘heterosexual literature.’”

Views on contemporary African literature

In 2018, Obi-Young used the term “the confessional generation” to describe his generation of African writers.[30] “The contributors to Selves: An Afro Anthology of Creative Nonfiction belong to this generation,” he wrote. “Aside from their skills having been honed on the continent rather than in the West, these writers stand out for their boldness in expressing themselves, for their lack of fear in going where it hurts. Powerful miners of personal stories, theirs is a confessional generation. In general, you will find them on social media emoting boundlessly, sharing the spoken and unspoken, their lives an invitation for participation. In particular, you will find that they write fiction well, have breathed life back into the poetry scene, but that it is in nonfiction that they are unshackled, unspooling confessions in a hitherto unconventional manner. Through emotional honesty as raw as it is brave, they are taking the genre to places their predecessors shied away from, leading important conversations about trauma, about sex and sexuality, about depression and vulnerability and private shame.”

In a 2016 interview with Africa in Dialogue,[31] Obi-Young is quoted as saying: “Cultural production in Africa is no longer dominated by heterosexual men, not as it used to be. Literature, for example, is now run by women, and they are using it so well to fight back, to write their sex and gender back into history. The next generation of writers, the ones who began to blossom last year and would peak in five years’ time, is dominated by people who are either queer or female and who have already begun to revolt against the normalized absence of their kind in literature.”

Fiction

Writing about Obi-Young’s short story, “A Tenderer Blessing,” in Los Angeles Review of Books, Erik Gleibermann notes:

“Chukwudi’s language circles around his feelings as he observes Nnaemeka on campus. The two enter an intimate friendship. Yet much still remains unspoken. Obi-Young relies on body language cues and the spaces between words to shape the intimacy. Finally, Chukwudi internally names his own feelings, though even then with a heterosexual framing. ‘For an unguarded moment, a slender second of resurgent craving, I wondered if he’d ever imagine that were he a girl, I would chase him endlessly.’ As readers, we feel almost as though we’ve been holding our breath the whole story, waiting for him to finally say it. We feel almost as though we have ourselves come out. This makes Chukwudi’s subsequent unrequited confession all the more devastating.”[32]

Reviewing Obi-Young's short story, "You Sing of a Longing," Adedamola Kolawole writes: "One remarkable quality I'll ascribe to Otosirieze's short fiction is audacity. Profound. Sublime."[33]

Works

Short stories
  • “A Tenderer Blessing”, originally published in Transition Magazine, Fall 2015
  • “Mulumba”, originally published in The Threepenny Review, Spring 2016
  • "You Sing of a Longing", originally published in Pride and Prejudice: African Perspectives on Gender, Social Justice, and Sexuality, Jacana Media (May 2017)

Selected profiles

Essays

Awards

References
  1. Clement, Phillips (18 May 2020). "Folio Group appoints Otosirieze Obi-Young as editor". Retrieved 13 June 2020.
  2. Bedingfield, William (2018-04-09). "Eight Nigerian authors discuss Nigeria's literary culture". Dazed Digital. Retrieved December 25, 2018.
  3. "Otosirieze : Statement on Leaving Brittle Paper -". Otosirieze. 2020-04-15. Retrieved 2020-04-26.
  4. "Burna Boy, Israel Adesanya, Timini Egbuson, Simi 'Drey' Adejumo, Tolani Alli, others emerge winners at The Future Awards Africa 2019". The Future Awards Africa. 26 November 2019. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  5. "TFAA 2019: Full list of winners". Pulse Nigeria. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  6. "FULL LIST: Burna Boy, Tolani Alli, Others Win Big at Future Africa Awards". Channels Television. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  7. "Future Awards 2019: Burna Boy, Timin Egbuson win big (Full list of winners)". Premium Times. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  8. "Meet the Winners at The Future Awards Africa 2019!". Bella Naija. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  9. "The Future Awards Africa 2019: check out full list of winners". YNaija. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  10. Ibeh, Chukwuebuka. "Otosirieze Obi-Young Wins Inaugural The Future Awards Prize for Literature". Brittle Paper. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
  11. O'Connor, David Morgan. "Esteemed Long-standing Lit Mag Runs the Gamut of Genres". The Review Review. Retrieved December 25, 2018.
  12. d'Adesky, Anne-Christine. "On a Progressive Platform for New African Literature". Literary Hub. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
  13. Cynthia, Osuchukwu (2018-09-27). "Otosirieze on His Writing, Finding an Agent, and Contributing to the African Literary Scene". SynCityNG. Retrieved December 25, 2018.
  14. Ryman, Geoff (2018-05-31). "Otosirieze Obi-Young: by Geoff Ryman". Strange Horizons. Retrieved December 25, 2018.
  15. Okwuosa, Ashley (2018-06-05). "Nigeria's First Gay Memoir Is an Essential Primer on the Real Experiences of LGBT Africans". OkayAfrica. Retrieved December 25, 2018.
  16. Gevisser, Mark. "House of Rainbow: LGBT Rights Balanced on the Pink Line". Griffith Review. Retrieved December 25, 2018.
  17. Gevisser, Mark (2018-03-03). "House of Rainbow: The New Pink Line Dividing the World". The Guardian. Retrieved December 25, 2018.
  18. "2019: Top 10 Literary Curators and Editors from Africa Right Now". The Witsprouts Project. 14 August 2019. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  19. "Profiles: 2019 100 Most Influential Young Nigerians". Avance Media. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  20. "Otosirieze joins Gerald Kraak Prize and Anthology judging panel". The Reading List. September 2018. Retrieved December 25, 2018.
  21. "Changes to MMF Judging Panel". Miles Morland Foundation. 1 May 2019. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  22. Ugwu, Emeka (2017-06-20). "A Letter from a Homeless Prodigal". The Chimurenga Chronic. Retrieved December 25, 2018.
  23. Ihejirika, Uzoma (2016-11-03). "Q&A with Otosirieze Obi-Young on Enter Naija, Emerging Writers and Provincialism". Bakwa. Retrieved December 25, 2018.
  24. "A Life in Words: Bernardine Evaristo & Otosirieze Obi-Young in Conversation". Lagos International Poetry Festival. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  25. d'Adesky, Anne-christine. "On a Progressive Platform for New African Literature". Literary Hub. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
  26. Gleibermann, Erik. "Queer Nigerians Rewrite the Body". Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
  27. Obi-Young, Otosirieze. "Queer Literature in Africa Is Not a Trend, Has Always Existed". Brittle Paper. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
  28. Gleibermann, Erik. "Queer Nigerians Rewrite the Body". Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
  29. Obi-Young, Otosirieze. "Queer Literature in Africa Is Not a Trend". Brittle Paper. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
  30. Obi-Young, Otosirieze. "The Confessional Generation". Brittle Paper. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
  31. Mogami, Gaamangwe. "A Dialogue with Otosirieze Obi-Young". Africa in Dialogue. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
  32. Gleibermann, Erik. "Queer Nigerians Rewrite the Body". Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
  33. Kolawole, Adedamola. "FICTION REVIEW: You Sing of a Longing by Otosirieze Obi-Young". Medium. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
  34. "Burna Boy, Israel Adesanya, Timini Egbuson, Simi 'Drey' Adejumo, Tolani Alli, others emerge winners at The Future Awards Africa 2019". The Future Awards Africa. 26 November 2019. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  35. Akpah, Prince (20 January 2020). "PROFILES: 2019 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL YOUNG NIGERIANS". Avance Media. Retrieved 21 January 2020.
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