akwaeke emezi on two breakfasts, dreams as inspiration + writing at home
rituals + processes
AKWAEKE EMEZI IS A NIGERIAN WRITER AND MULTIDISCIPLINARY ARTIST. THEIR PRACTICE IS “DEEPLY ROOTED IN THE METAPHYSICS OF BLACK SPIRIT, USING THE LENS OF INDIGENOUS ONTOLOGIES TO FOCUS ON EMBODIMENT, RITUAL, AND REMEMORY.” EMEZI’S PUBLISHED BOOKS INCLUDE THE NOVEL FRESHWATER, THE YOUNG ADULT NOVEL PET, THE MEMOIR DEAR SENTHURAN, AND THE POETRY COLLECTION CONTENT WARNING: EVERYTHING, AMONG OTHERS. A NUMBER OF THEIR WORKS ARE CURRENTLY BEING ADAPTED FOR FILM AND TELEVISION. EMEZI IS A NATIONAL BOOK FOUNDATION “5 UNDER 35” HONOREE AND THE RECIPIENT OF A GLOBAL ARTS FUND GRANT FOR VIDEO ART, AND THEIR SHORT FILM UDUDEAGU WON THE AUDIENCE AWARD FOR BEST SHORT EXPERIMENTAL IN 2014 AT THE BLACKSTAR FILM FESTIVAL.
On a typical morning:
“I didn’t used to have a morning routine, but then I got a cat, and a morning routine became extremely necessary. I usually wake up, stay in bed for a little bit, and unfortunately I check my phone. I read my emails and go through social media, mostly because I’m trying to carve out a space and time where I’m just alone. My cat is an extremely social cat, so the minute I start engaging with him in the morning, all my alone time is done. I also try to get some stretches in — I’ve had a chronic shoulder injury for the last couple of years — and do my whole skin routine. I have to do it silently because if my cat hears my voice, he knows that I’m awake, and he starts screaming outside my door. It’s a very loving hostage situation — I’m grateful for that because he gets me out of bed. I’ve dealt with severe depression and anxiety for most of my life, so being stuck in bed for the whole day is no longer an option. It’s been nice to have the structure imposed of us having breakfast together, and then having playtime scheduled. Then, once he takes his midmorning nap, I’m allowed to start working.”
On having two breakfasts:
“I do not drink any coffee because caffeine makes me terribly sick. But I do usually have two breakfasts. My first is a bowl of Special K and oat milk, which I make when I can’t really think or cook. And then around midday or afternoon, I have my actual breakfast, which is the same thing every day: two slices of gluten-free toast, olive oil drizzled on top, basil from my herb garden, two eggs that are semi-poached — I fry the bottom, steam the top — and then I season with oregano, pink salt, and black pepper. Sometimes I’ll include vegan cheese or smoked salmon. I recently became a person who has an olive-oil subscription — actually, two olive-oil subscriptions, Fat Gold and Bright Land — so I always have relatively fresh olive oil.”
On gardening:
“My garden’s name is Emmeline, and I started it when I bought my house in New Orleans last March. I grew up in a bungalow in Nigeria that had a small farm in the back with a garden, and that was my ideal living situation. So, I bought a bungalow and am now quite literally living my dream. I’ve been experimenting with a bunch of heirloom varieties. Currently I’m growing red okra, purple sweet potatoes, and culantro, which I got introduced to when I lived in Trinidad. It’s like cilantro but considerably stronger — it’s my favorite herb. But I’m still trying to figure out how to grow it here because it doesn’t like heat that much. Taking care of the garden has been therapeutic — it’s like having a cat, especially when the plants are seedlings, because if you don’t water them, they will die within a day. You really can’t slack. You have to show up.”
On their writing routine:
“At this point in my career, because I have more than one book going on, everything is all over the place. Right now, I’m launching one book, I’m in line edits for another book, I’m on deadline for a third book, and I have to do beta-revisions for a fourth book. I’m trying to be gentle with myself, but it’s a bit chaotic. Sometimes I do a word count. I write in the app Scrivener, and they have a project target function, where you can calculate how many days you have left to hit your target goal, and how many days of the week you have to write. It’s nice to watch that tracker, and it alerts you when you’ve hit your word count for the day.”
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On inspiration:
“If anything, I have too much inspiration. Oddly, a lot of my ideas come from dreams. I literally feel like I’m downloading from another realm. I’ve woken up several times and written out the plot to an entire book; I also lucid dream, so I can control my dreams quite a bit. Right now, I have a list of about 15 books that I have to write, and I’m only on number eight. And more keep showing up! I’ve been trying to figure out how to adjust my pace accordingly because publishing is rather slow, and I don’t want to end up with a backlog of books that I haven’t been able to write. I always thought I’d slow down after the first year or two, but I’ve actually been ramping up.”
On decompressing at the end of the day:
“I try to put away screens at a certain time, dim lights, burn incense, and change my immediate environment to calm myself down. Ideally, I like to sleep around ten hours a night. I have a very short day! So when I put the kitten to bed, I put myself to bed. And then, he knows to be good until the next morning, when around 10 or 11 a.m., he comes to my door to say, Hello, you left me alone for 12 hours. Do you mind?”
Describe your ideal writing atmosphere. What gets you in the mood?
“I absolutely have to write at home, where I can be in pajamas and close to my snacks. I tried the whole cafe thing and it’s too distracting being around people. Humans are so loud.”
Do you eat or drink while you write? If so, what do you like to have?
“I’ll drink water to stay hydrated and nibble on random snacks depending on how long my writing session is, but usually I’m pretty immersed in whatever world I’m working in at the time.”
Do you keep a notebook and/or journal?
“I used to journal a lot before my writing career kicked off, but now I don’t because I always have so much writing to do. I solved that problem by writing my memoir, so my journaling could become a book.”
What’s your favorite quote?
“This one by Toni Morrison—‘I stood at the border, stood at the edge and claimed it as central. Claimed it as central, and let the rest of the world move over to where I was.’”
Do you read while you’re in the process of writing? Which writers inform your current work the most?
“I don’t read while writing because my books are greedy with my attention. They want me to stay inside their world, to have it be the last thing I think about before I sleep and the first thing on my mind in the morning. I catch up on my reading in between projects and I read strictly for pleasure at this point.”
How many drafts of one piece do you typically write?
“At least three drafts before the manuscript goes into copyediting.”
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What are some unconventional techniques you stand by?
“I don’t outline any of my work. I tried it before and it made me so bored with the process since there was no discovery left, so now I just dive in and let the stories unfold as I write them, which keeps me infinitely more interested in the work.”
AKWAEKE EMEZI IN CONVERSATION WITH AMANDA ARNOLD FOR THE CUT (2020) AND JULIANA UKIOMOGBE FOR INTERVIEW (2021)
source 1 . 2 . 3
IN CONTEXT
Akwaeke Emezi on belonging || American Writers Museum
Emezi on their YA novel Bitter and not having expectations for readers || We Need Diverse Books