The Penguin Post Volume 29 - Magazine - Page 12
FICTION
DESK
AT
MY
In Blessings, debut author Chukwuebuka
Ibeh has compiled a stunning novel about
embracing identity and unconditional
love. Chukwuebuka chatted to us about
the novel, and how it came together.
10
THE PENGUIN POST MARCH/APRIL 2024
Prior to
writing
this novel,
I’d rely
heavily on
inspiration
in an ‘as
the spirit
leads’ sort
of way.
The book mostly centres around two
characters – Obiefuna and his mother,
Uzoamaka. Obiefuna is a young teenager
coming into the knowledge of his sexuality
and realising the dangers of such an identity
in a country where it is criminalised.
Uzoamaka is a devoted but religious mother
who is forced to confront the conflict of
accepting her son while holding on to her
moral beliefs. You could say the ‘tension’
inherent in Obiefuna’s reality and life
experiences, as well as Uzoamaka’s internal
conflict make for the story’s overall narrative.
Ultimately, it’s a story of the importance
around loving your children without
conditions, and never allowing politics to
interfere with a person’s basic human rights.”
ABOUT THE BOOK
Blessings
is out now.
Obiefuna faces expulsion to a
Christian boarding school after
his father catches him in a moment
of intimacy with the family apprentice.
Amidst friends, lovers, and
adversaries, he conceals his identity
while his mother, Uzoamaka, struggles
to support him. As Nigeria outlaws
same-sex relationships, the novel
explores their intertwined futures
amid societal pressures. A stunning
novel charting the coming-of-age of
a young gay man in 2010s Nigeria.
PHOTOGRAPH: Erin Lewis
“T
here were a few things that
inspired me to write Blessings
– the passage of the Same-Sex
Marriage Prohibition Act in Nigeria in 2014,
the notion of unconditional parental love,
and life in boarding school, which, for me,
was interesting … to put it mildly.
I grew up in a culture that dictated
behaviour around masculinity and sexuality,
which didn’t align with my make-up, and it had
its effects. I was quite young in 2014, when the
law was passed – and in boarding school, with
limited access to the outside world and media.
To write the novel, I had to read archives from
newspapers covering the law’s passage, and
I watched several archived news clippings on
YouTube to get an exact sense of the response.
The novel is quite contemporary in scope
though, so I didn’t necessarily need to carry
out a ton of research for the sake of accuracy.
I was writing what I knew about.
Prior to writing this novel, I’d rely heavily
on inspiration in an ‘as the spirit leads’ sort
of way. For the novel though, I had to create
a routine, making sure to get at least a couple
sentences down every day. It helped, I think,
that I had an agent who applied gentle,
necessary pressure.
Because most of it was written during the
pandemic, in some sort of self-imposed solitary
confinement, you might say that time and space
was on my side. To eliminate distraction though,
I had to force myself to hibernate from social
media for stretches of time, writing non-stop.