Gabriel Edzordzi Agbozo hails from Mafi Kumase in the North Tongu District. He was born in Damanko in the Nkwanta North District on July 20th, 1988. He was educated at Damanko E P Basic School, Mafi Kumase Comboni Basic School and Sogakofe Secondary School, all in the Volta Region. He is currently a third-year English and Linguistics student at the University of Ghana. He has two manuscripts, Knotted Beads and Turning to Kilimanjaro to his credit.
He is a member of the Ghana Association of Writers, Academy of Young Writers-Ghana and Chairman of Pax Romana Writers Association, University of Ghana. He has published poems on a number of sites, including kpokplomaja.com and akwantuo.org.
He is a lover of Art and an advocate of African cultural values for this current generation. He believes there is power in the song we inherit from the old cantors. This is a source of inspiration for Gabriel, and was consolidated in him by his grandmother's continous singing of traditional songs when he was young.
His hobbies include creative writing, weaving basket, reading and cooking.
Five Questions with Gabriel Edzordzi Agbozo:
1. How long have you been writing poetry?
Since 2004.
2. Who are your favourite poets? Which poets have most inspired and informed your poetry?
Mary Wosekpo Nyikplorkpo (my grand mother who is a poet-cantor of my hometown Adzida Ensemble), Kofi Awoonor, Kofi Anyidoho, Gabriel Okara, Atukwei Okai, John Keats, Lade Wosornu and Kwesi Brew.
3. What do you hope to accomplish with your poetry?
Transform the mindset of the youth towards African culture without which we are dead.To advocate for justice, equality, good governance, accountability and respect for human dignity. To me, the African way of life has all these before the emergence of foreign dominance which we have clung to like needle and magnet. To propel others into seeing the beauty in Art through which life becomes real in fullness.
4. When you first wrote this poem, did it already come in its form, with its repetition and six lines stanzas, or did this develop during the editing process?
It came in this form. I hardly transform my poems to look absolutely different from their original form. This poem came after serious meditation on some injustice I saw so it flowed just as it is now.
5. You note the date and location of all your poems (this one was written in 2008 in Legon, for instance). Is the location you are writing in important to you? Does it work its way into your poems, and if so, how?
Location is very important to me as it influences my diction, imagery, tone and the general atmosphere I create in my poems. The dates remind me of particular private events that trigger these poems.
Contact Gabriel:
gagbozo(at)yahoo.co.uk
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