Kangsen Feka Wakai : I write because I can't help it (Interview)

Interviewed by Dzekashu MacViban (Originally published on Our Voices Must be Heard)

"I am the phantasmal adopted son of Amiri Baraka, a kindred spirit of Saul Williams, a self-proclaimed literary nephew of Bate Besong, and the prodigal step-son of Nikki Giovanni and Toni Morrison. I am a descendant of Baldwin, Ellison and Wright, Beti and Asong, Soyinka and Achebe, Dostoesky and Kafka. I pay homage to Malcolm and Fanon. If this makes any sense at all..." Kangsen Wakai

Kangsen Feka Wakai is a journalist and the author of two poetry collections - Asphalt Effect and Fragmented Melodies. He is also the founding editor of Palapala Magazine. He lives in Boston, Massachusetts.

DM.Why do you write and at what point of your life did you start writing?

KFW.I write because I can't help it. But if you are referring to when I made a conscious decision to become a writer, then I would say sometime around the year 2001. However my initial introduction to the world of letters began at home. Reading, speaking, and writing properly were not only encouraged, they were required.

I was a voracious reader and remain so. For one, my house was filled with books, magazines, newspapers etc. It ranged from Ikebe Super to Time Magazine. All you had to do look around, and sitting on some inconspicuous corner will be a dog-eared copy of a Pacesetter, By Any Means Necessary [the collection of Malcolm X speeches] In fact, my mother had had ambitions of becoming a writer—and has always kept a journal, but her career, family obligations and the reality of our publishing landscape might have exhumed the urge in her. I still think her completed manuscript is still lying around somewhere in our house—thirty years later. My father, a jurist by profession, is also very religious in his journal-keeping, and has penned two memoirs: Inside The Fence, about his detention, and The Law and My Times, on his years in the Cameroon Judicial system. In fact, while at Government Bilingual Primary School in Yaounde, an artist friend of mine, Brian Ambe, would create these comic books loosely based on cartoon shows like Lucky Luke and Rahan. He would draw the characters and I will scribble the dialogue. But in spite of that foundation, the decision to write came much later. And it was timely.

DM.As a Cameroonian writer in the diaspora, does your writing face any challenges or difficulties?

KFW.The writing life is not easy for anyone, even Americans. Personally, I don't think its meant to be easy.

DM.As a writer, do you mind being tagged or categorized? If yes, how would you liked to be described? Cameroonian writer, Anglophone Cameroonian writer, African writer, Cameroonian writer in the diaspora etc?

KFW.No one wants to be confined, but I am all these and more.

DM.When one reads your poems, one notices an Afrocentric as well as pluralistic vision. Has your stay out of Cameroon contributed to it?

KFW.I listen to the muse, I don't control the muse. But then again, why should I pluck sour apples from someone else's orchard when I have a forest full of ripe succulent mangoes. I am the phantasmal adopted son of Amiri Baraka, a kindred spirit of Saul Williams, a self-proclaimed literary nephew of Bate Besong, and the prodigal step-son of Nikki Giovanni and Toni Morrison. I am a descendant of Baldwin, Ellison and Wright, Beti and Asong, Soyinka and Achebe, Dostoesky and Kafka. I pay homage to Malcolm and Fanon. If this makes any sense at all...

DM.There is a section in your book Fragmented Melodies titled 'Fight songs' which is very political. What can you say about the events that inspired you?
KFW.My history. Our collective history.

DM.Some African critics tend to undermine works that are not overtly political. What do you think about this point of view?

KFW.I do not agree because I can cite you the case of the irreverent Ikhide Ikheloa, a prolific critic, whose column: Email From America on NEXT Newspaper covers a range of genres, subjects and themes. But then again, I haven't read as many African critics as I would like to.

DM.Palapala Magazine has greatly contributed in freeing Cameroonian literature from the 'tyrannical walls of the academia' , as well as in highlighting the Cameroonian experience in the digital age. Who are the brains behind the project?

KFW.That is a compliment, which I am almost tempted not to take, but I will, so, thank you. Dibussi Tande, Abidemi Olowonira and myself are the principals, but our outlet will not even exist without the contribution of those who deem us worthy of their work.

DM.It has been said that one of the major problems that Anglophone Cameroon literature faces is its dissemination. What do you think?

KFW.It is indeed one of many problems, but, then again, I am neither an expert or scholar, for that matter, so I will focus, at least for now, on telling my story. Perhaps if I am ever in a practical position to effectively contribute to amending this and other problems, then I won't hesitate to do so.

DM.Are there any emerging Cameroonian writers that you like and you'd wish to recommend?
KFW.Most of the ones I enjoy reading have contributed to Palapala. But these come to mind Wirdzerem G. Barfee, Oscar Labang, Rosemary Ekosso, Viola Allo, a certain Dzekashu MacViban, Akenji Ndumu, Shinding Avwontom, Valery Visas etc etc.

DM.Are you currently working on anything?

KFW.I am working on a novel, a coming of age story that has wanted to be told, and lets me know it every night before I close my eyes that IT needs to be told. So I am working on that and it is progressing at a much more encouraging pace than I ever expected. Then again, I am also always writing poetry—jotting stuff here and there, and re-editing shorts I have been compiling for years. I am a writer, so I write.

Thank you for your time and answers.

Picture by A.J. Knight.

Comments

[Va Boy]

Limbekid, this one here is a real smart kid. You, keep trying.