Brittle Paper’s Writer of the Month for September is Franklyn Agbebaku!
Brittle Paper
Franklyn, congratulations on being September Writer of the Month! Your piece “Sambisa Through the Eyes of a Bandit” was my favourite to be published in August. How did you begin your journey as a writer?
Franklyn Agbebaku
Thank you! It’s an honour to be September Writer of the Month!
My journey as a writer began when I first read Wole Soyinka’s The Lion and the Jewel in Junior Secondary School. Then I thought I was going to be a playwright! But I could only write poems then, poetry came easy to me. I soon found to my excitement that I could weave words from everything around and within me. It was thrilling! But I knew I was born to be a storyteller and fiction writer when I found Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. Everything I thought I wanted to be fell apart and within the centre of it all, I chose to write all the days of my life.
Brittle Paper
That’s a beautiful start to have. Soyinka and Achebe are responsible for so many great writers because of their deep influence. Beyond these writers, what would you say are your biggest inspirations?
Franklyn Agbebaku
My biggest inspiration is my creator, the very consciousness inside of me. I see myself as a spirit being who’d seen a thousand worlds and still wants to see more. Sometimes the imaginations I am assailed with… Gods! I shudder to say it all. So, the creator is my biggest inspiration as everything is from that single source of divinity.
Brittle Paper
On that note, I’ve started asking writers about their writing processes because I am always fascinated by how a writer achieves a finished product. What would you say is your writing process?
Franklyn Agbebaku
My writing process is spontaneous, much like the alleged big bang. It just happens when it wants to happen. Once I receive an idea, I throw myself into writing from the seat of my pants and won’t pause until I know where the particular story is taking me. I see each story as an adventure worth exploring and oftentimes it’s been worth it. And when I am writing, I always put the reader first. It’s my secret to escaping the desperate clutches of writer’s block [laughs].
Brittle Paper
If this is how you achieved your Brittle Paper story, it is in fact worth it! “Sambisa Through the Eyes of a Bandit” is unbelievably layered and holds the readers’ attention. What led to this story?
Franklyn Agbebaku
I got the idea for this particular story when I read in the news that the army had rescued one of the abducted Chibok girls. I mean, come on, it’s been years and one just happened to be found in a displaced bandits’ encampment? I was hurt and something gave up inside of me. So, “Sambisa Through the Eyes of a Bandit” is a story birthed from this frustrating and heartfelt experience.
Brittle Paper
The story is such a captivating and intriguing piece because every time I read it, I find new things to wonder about. It feels like an opening chapter to an intense novel I wouldn’t want to put down.
We will get to read a new piece from you on Friday. Without giving too much away, what can you tell our readers about the upcoming story?
Franklyn Agbebaku
I can only say that it’s going to be queer and gripping, or at least I hope so [laughs]. It’s a story of love and loss.
Brittle Paper
I love when the Writer of the Month’s new work is so different to the previously published one. Do you often move between genres or are these topics you usually focus on?
Franklyn Agbebaku
I am a pupil of all genres. And I am so passionate about moving between them and would hope to fuse them all together someday. I like exploring the crazy stuff!
Brittle Paper
Before we go, apart from your writing, Franklyn, what is one thing about yourself that you want to share with our readers?
Franklyn Agbebaku
One thing about myself I’d want our readers to know is that I have this strong, innate faith in myself—I’d never doubt myself—not for any god, not for the world! I am a believer in people and in their capacity to do good.
Brittle Paper
Thank you for this interview, Franklyn, and thank you for sharing your work with us and our readers!
For more of Franklyn’s work, be sure to check back in on Friday, and for more interviews with our writers, check out our last month’s with Tomilola Coco Adeyemo here.
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