Individual residencies / Olot
CHRISTOPHER OKEMWA
From Friday, 17 May 2019 to Friday, 24 May 2019
Bio
Christopher Okemwa is a lecturer of Literature as well as the director of the School of Post Graduate Studies at Kisii University, Kenya. He holds a PhD degree in Literature from Moi University, as well as an MA and a Bachelor of Education degree in literature from the University of Nairobi, Kenya. He is the founder and director of Kistrech International Poetry Festival in Kenya.
His poetry collections include The Gong (Nsemia Inc., 2010), Purgatorius Ignis (Nsemia Inc., 2016), and Ominous Clouds (Nsemia Inc., 2018). His other collection, The Pieta, to be published by Narcis (Armenia) in 2019, is translated to fifteen languages. He has also published three oral literature texts, a short story collection, three children’s books, as well as five books of folktales of the Abagusii people of Kenya. Okemwa’s novella, Sabina and the Mystery of the Ogre, won 2015 Canadian Burt Award for African Literature (Kenya).
Project
During my stay at Faber, I want to write one long love poem for my wife. This love letter will be titled Love Letter from Catalonia or Love from the city of Olot. It will comprise of musings, dreams, desires and longings for my wife. In the process of writing this, tradition and cultural practices of my community will weave themselves in, vis-à-vis experiences of my stay in the host country (Catalonia). My publisher, Nsemia Inc. Publisher, will be in a position to publish this book of poem. The front cover of the book will bear the acknowledgement to Faber Residence.
The Ambience and Hospitality at Faber Residency
The silent grey skies above Olot, the gentle rain in the evenings, the peaceful hills and trees around the Hotel Riu Fluvià, the ambience of the rooms – all contributed to my comfort at Faber Residency and provided an atmosphere for me to complete my project. My poetry project, “Love from Afro-Catalonia” was comprised of poems weaved from musings, dreams, wishes and desires for my wife back home in Kenya. The poems also attempted to capture few facts about Olot and Catalonia. A collection of these poems will soon be published. I will share the book with everyone who is reading this report.
I thank Faber director, Francesc Serés and the Administration and Communication officer, Gavina Freixa, and all those working at Hotel Riu Fluvià for their hospitality that made me feel at home. Thanks to my fellow residents who were also kind and helpful: Jennifer Natalya Fink, Monique Mizrahi, Laurence Estanove, Caroline Ligthart, Caoilinn Hughes and Daniel Humberto Escoto. They listened keenly to my poems and provided advice. One of the poems that I wrote at the residency is titled “If I have to”
If I have to
Oh Catalonia, dear Afro Catalonia
If I have to paint you, my friend Catalonia
I will paint you like an African bull
With huge legs that stamp the ground
With robust neck that pulls the plough
A determined head that navigates forward
Fiery eyes that see the farmland
Producing sufficient food for his children
Oh Catalunya, if I have to paint you
I will paint you like an African bull
Oh Catalonia, dear Afro Catalonia
If I have to weave you, my friend Catalonia
I will weave you like a dove
Non-violent and polite and quiet
Your greatest weapon of triumph
Your gentle nature that has won you hearts
Oh Catalunya, if I have to weave you
I will weave you like a dove
Oh Catalonia, dear Afro Catalonia
If I have to carve you out of stone, my friend Catalonia
I will carve you like an African giraffe
Tall and delicate but stable and strong
Able to eat high leaves in the forest
Able to see enemies coming from afar
Able to trample down animals under her foot
Oh Catalunya, if I have to carve you out of stone
I will carve you like an African giraffe
Oh Catalonia, dear Afro Catalonia
If I have to mould you, my friend Catalonia
I will mould you like an African wren
Intelligent and knowledgeable of the seasons
Who gathers twigs and grass to build her nest
And when rain season starts she takes shelter
Providing warmth and security to her children
Oh Catalunya, if I have to mould you
I will mould you like an African wren
