How did you become a writer and who or what are the major influences on your writing?

I have always written for as long as I can remember. My father still has the "books" I wrote for him as a child and I still have a diary with my poems and stories from when I was about eleven.

I let different people influence me at different times. I remember in elementary two, Nwapa came to pick up her daughter from our class and the teacher was out. She handed out her colouring books to us to keep us busy and I wanted to be like her. In elementary four, my father had my sister and I subscribed to "Highlights for Children" (an American childrens' magazine) and suddenly, I was writing about ice-skating and building snowmen!  I read Okri's "Flowers and Shadows" as a teenager and I wanted to write like that. Then, I discovered Emecheta. And Aidoo. And of course, we read Achebe in High school. I will read anything by Jhumpa Lahiri, Anita Desai, Ha Jin, Kazugo Ishiguro, Vikram Seth, the list is endless. I read Ike Oguine  "Squatters Tale" recently and I enjoyed it tremendously. Definitely one of my all-time favourites is Peter Carrey's "Illywhacker."

I know about "Teardrops" your book of poems, but I have not read it, and I must blackmail you into sending me a complimentary copy as soon as it is possible for you to do so. What is it about anyway? Could you give me a little insight into the pervading themes, ideas and styles you adopted in that book?

I will send you a copy of Teardrops sometime this year.
What is it about? I wrote many of the collections in Tear Drops when I was in high school. The poems do not reflect my present style and themes. It starts with a love poem dedicated to someone I was absolutely head over heels in love with at that point in my life. Very soppy. There are political poems, elegies, satires: an eclectic collection, really.

Have you written any other books?

My earliest published poems appeared in "Voices from the Fringe", an anthology of new Nigerian poets, published in 1989 (I was in High School then), edited by Harry Garuba.
I had "Born in Nigeria" self-published in 1995.
Two Children's books "Rainbow for Dinner" and "Ije At Boarding School" on the Macmillans imprint, originally scheduled for June and December 2002 release are running a little behind schedule. I have just received the proofs for one, hopefully they will both be out before the end of the year.

I have just been reading an article on the Internet titled "The Emerging Lesbian Voice in Nigerian Feminist Literature" written by Unoma Azuah citing works by Titilola Shoneyin ("Woman in Her Season"), Promise Okekwe ("Rebecca"), Temilola Abioye ("Taboo") and herself ("Onishe," "The Rebel"). Are you one of these lesbian voices? What is the artistic and literary developmental relevance of lesbianism in Nigerian or any literature except for its subversiveness? 

No. I do not consider myself a lesbian literature writer. I believe that both the male and the female are co-dependent on each other. Neither of the two should exist exclusively. That is obvious in my works. I must add though that I am firm believer in the re-structuring of power so that women in many societies get a fair share of it.

As far as artistic relevance goes, any literature that is well written is a pleasure.