Kyere Ofori Reginald was born in 1987 in Kumasi, Ashanti Region. He has an elder sister and a younger brother, and recently completed Philips Secondary Commercial School in Kumasi. He lives at Abuakwa in Kumasi.
Five Questions with Reggie Kyere:
1. You mention Nkrumah a lot in your writing. Do you intend for him to be interpreted as a symbol for something by your readers? If so, what? Does it change from poem to poem?
Yes, I want my readers to see him as a symbol of inspiration, hope and as an ideal African. This remains the same in all my poems.
2. Your poems cover a wide variety of themes and forms. Is there a theme you haven't touched on, but want to? A form or style of writing?
I intend to focus some of my writings on our country's politics and I'm also inspired to write about some adolescent experiences. As to styles of writing, I've picked a couple of them from Kay Ryan and Charles Simic whom I got to know just recently, and I intend to use them in my future writings.
3. Other than a recent poem for the World Cup, we haven't seen a poem of yours for a year and a half. How has your life, both in writing and not, been going in that time?
A year and a half? Wow! I didn't realise it had been that long. The good news is that I have been busy trying to write a novel(inspired by Nkrumah and Ghanaian politics). I wasn't confident at first since I have no training in writing, but I am more confident now. I just asked myself: so what? I also was also trying to get admission to the University to study English but it didn't work out. I have my eyes set on journalism school now.
4. Speaking of the World Cup, with some time and distance now, what do you think of the Black Stars' effort and their prospects going forward?
It was a good performance. Not great, not awesome, not breathtaking. We only got to the quarterfinals and that had already been achieved by Senegal and Cameroon. But the future looks bright.
5. We must ask you this question every time: have you found other poets in Kumasi to share your work with?
Yes, I have, and a couple of them contribute to this magazine.
Contact Reggie:
reggiekyere(at)@yahoo.com
No comments:
Post a Comment