Interview with poet Seyoum Nigussie

Poet Seyoum Nigussie is in the hot seat today. We’re chatting about their new collection, World of Stars.

During the virtual book tour, Seyoum will be awarding a $15 Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice) gift card to a lucky randomly drawn winner. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit the other tour stops and enter there, too!

Welcome, Seyoum. Please tell us a little bit about yourself.
The world and life in general was promising to me until I was 17 years in my native country of Ethiopia. While a high school student in 1974, the world around me came crashing down when communist military Junta took state power and soon started a killing spree, at times committing mass murder. This was very traumatizing and the start of Stalinist ‘Red Terror’ on the ground. It was bad enough to hate being in life. From this, I quickly learnt life in the world is about taking on adventures.

With six of my school friends and one of our teachers, we formed an alliance to take action against the Junta. With 2 years of preparation we had managed to inform the public and get the local police headquarters on our side. Then, in April 1976 we staged a rebellion without violence in Nekempte, provincial capital of Welega. The revolt was short-lived, nothing lost with little gain. Amidst media control of the Junta, the news of rebellion was heard across the country. After that, my friends and I vowed to individually take on challenges for democracy as a life-long mission. We split apart and I went underground. When the security situation became harsh, I left the country for Sudan.

Despite traumatizing news and the realities around me with the ‘Periods of Gloom and Doom’, I took refuge in reading classical poetry which became my long time passion.

After a long journey through ups and downs, I suffered a car accident in Sudan, and left Africa all together – migrating to Canada in 1990. Through my journey in life, I looked around for a drug of relief from grief and nostalgia.  Poetry reading had become my choice for entertainment and to delete bad memories and traumas. Soon after I realized that positive poetry is as good as drugs, music and paintings are, I decided to write one and here I begin with World of Stars.

Please tell us about your current release.
My current release is adult/general poetry book. I worked on it for two years 10 years ago and put it aside to write screenplay. After I have done with several screenplays, I returned to it and polished it as best as I could and decided to publish it.

What inspired you to write this book?
The ideal of beauty of nature, life and unconditional love/platonic love. The virtues of gratitude to life, gratitude to surrounding nature and the beauty of the universe we live in.

 

Excerpt from World of Stars:
Heroes and Heroines

Coronavirus invaded the world by surprise

And forced lockdowns to every enterprise.

As days and nights were filled with crisis

Doctors and nurses defended human species.

Deadly virus spread fast like wild fire

Overwhelming conditions of health care

Covid virus paralleled modern warfare

But doctors and nurses fought it harder.

Without worries for their own safety

With great endeavour to save humanity,

As heroes and heroines with most reality

Doctors and nurses are the best of society.

The pandemic appears contained on balance

Kudos to all healthcare workers for brilliance.

Majestic in appearance and deep in substance

Doctors and nurses are noblest at every glance.

If not for the greatness of modern medicine

Covid would have killed all behind the scene.

Like midnight stars that adorn a blue sky

Doctors and nurses adorn the world on the fly.

 

What exciting project are you working on next?
I am in the middle of new collection of poetry. It is a story of Ferdinand Magellan and his crew members. The courage that they had the audacity they portrayed in far away oceans and turbulences they endured and proved the world is not flat, it’s round. That expedition that cost the lives of most of the crew members and proving the globe is round. This opened doors of imaginations and inventions, technologies and science, everything new day advances to astrophysics and space explorations. So this one is titled: GLORIOUS EXPEDITION.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?
After I decided to publish my first poetry collection ‘World of Stars’. Reason: 200 years from now there will be someone who would ask who is this man. I also have written several screenplay scripts of full length feature film. Now I am thinking about publishing them in book formats.

Do you write full time?
I would say yes I write full time but I also take extended breaks due to underlying medical condition.

What will you say is your interesting writing quirk?
Eagerness to promote positive outlook to life and the world we live in.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Parliamentarian/ Politician

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
With the right frame of mind, to observe the virtues of gratitude. Gratitude to beauty of life, beauty of surrounding nature and the universe we live in as parts and parcels.

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Thanks for being here today!

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