{"id":24706,"date":"2023-01-09T22:04:11","date_gmt":"2023-01-09T21:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/?p=24706"},"modified":"2023-01-09T22:04:11","modified_gmt":"2023-01-09T21:04:11","slug":"ten-questions-with-elohor-egbordi-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/ten-questions-with-kovie-biakolo","title":{"rendered":"TEN QUESTIONS With Kovie Biakolo"},"content":{"rendered":"

Where do you consider home and why?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Home is many things and many places to me\u2014a physical space, a people to whom I belong, a community I can rest my head. Perhaps the two most significant in my life currently are Ughelli, Delta State where my maternal family is from, the land of my closest ancestors. And home is also New York City where I live and the place I\u2019ve spent building a career and a life that is my own.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

List three words or phrases that come to mind when you think of home.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Belonging. Food. Love.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Have you ever been homesick? Tell us the circumstances and how it felt.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I get homesick for Ughelli often, for the taste of fresh banga, for being around people who understand not just my history, but the history that precedes me. I get homesick for a culture that I am a part of yet sometimes have become an outsider to.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What is your opinion about brain-drain?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Brain-drain seems to be the consequence of the lack of progress on African development more than anything else. I am arguably a person who contributes to brain-drain living in the West currently, so I\u2019m conscious of that, but when I examine the political, economic, social, and cultural structures\u2019 lack of progress in my home country, I am left with a question: how do you create a society, a country in which people are willing to stay because they believe there is adequate opportunity and state that is forward-thinking?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In what way does your physical location impact your creative output?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A space that is clean, a space by a body of water, a space that has lots of greenery, a space that is neither too quiet nor too loud, these are my favourite spaces to work in. But I am also a journalist and regardless of space, one of the lessons of that work is that work can and must still be done.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What is your preferred mode of travel and why?<\/strong><\/p>\n

If I could walk everywhere, I would. I don\u2019t enjoy driving and have avoided having to do it for most of my adult life. Laughably, I don\u2019t mind being driven. Planes over cars if I must choose but trains over both.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In her debut collection of poems Home Coming<\/i>, Sonia Sanchez\u2019s writes:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201ci have returned \\\\ leaving behind me \\\\ all those hide and \\\\ seek faces peeling\\\\ with freudian dreams.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What does the phrase \u201cfreudian dreams\u201d mean to you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>I\u2019m not quite sure but likely dreams that are formed in childhood perhaps.<\/span><\/p>\n

The mission to establish a colony of humans on Mars is becoming a realistic proposition. Would you agree to be one of the founding members?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Absolutely not. I think humanity has done enough damage on one planet.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This is the 10th anniversary of Ake Arts and Book Festival. If you have attended this festival before, please tell us what was special about your experience. If you have never attended, what are your expectations?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am hoping to bask in the aura of some of the brightest African minds and just honestly have a good time.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What does Africa need right now?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The continent and its countries likely need very different specific things. But with climate change already ravaging communities, we need to be executing a plan that aids in the survival of people and places, where possible. This needs to be done simultaneously as we grow stronger economies and political structures, and an Afro-futurist development of personal liberties that allows true freedom for all people, especially those marginalised one way or the other by the state.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Where do you consider home and why? Home is many things and many places to me\u2014a physical space, a people to whom I belong, a community I can rest my <\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24708,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ten-questions"],"yoast_head":"\nTEN QUESTIONS With Kovie Biakolo - Ake Arts & Book Festival<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/ten-questions-with-kovie-biakolo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"TEN QUESTIONS With Kovie Biakolo - Ake Arts & Book Festival\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Where do you consider home and why? Home is many things and many places to me\u2014a physical space, a people to whom I belong, a community I can rest my Continue Reading\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/ten-questions-with-kovie-biakolo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ake Arts & Book Festival\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-01-09T21:04:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Ake-Festival-22-theme.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"463\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"webmaster\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@akefestival\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@akefestival\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"webmaster\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/ten-questions-with-kovie-biakolo\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/ten-questions-with-kovie-biakolo\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"webmaster\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/#\/schema\/person\/6f5dfbebbe1b6f20207b3ac1c4588080\"},\"headline\":\"TEN QUESTIONS With Kovie Biakolo\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-01-09T21:04:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/ten-questions-with-kovie-biakolo\/\"},\"wordCount\":622,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/ten-questions-with-kovie-biakolo\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Ake-Festival-22-theme.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Ten Questions (Ake Review 2022)\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/ten-questions-with-kovie-biakolo\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/ten-questions-with-kovie-biakolo\/\",\"name\":\"TEN QUESTIONS With Kovie Biakolo - Ake Arts & Book Festival\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/ten-questions-with-kovie-biakolo\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/ten-questions-with-kovie-biakolo\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Ake-Festival-22-theme.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-01-09T21:04:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/#\/schema\/person\/6f5dfbebbe1b6f20207b3ac1c4588080\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/ten-questions-with-kovie-biakolo\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/ten-questions-with-kovie-biakolo\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/ten-questions-with-kovie-biakolo\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Ake-Festival-22-theme.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Ake-Festival-22-theme.jpg\",\"width\":500,\"height\":463},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/ten-questions-with-kovie-biakolo\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"TEN QUESTIONS With Kovie Biakolo\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/\",\"name\":\"Ake Arts & Book Festival\",\"description\":\"Ake Arts & Book Festival\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/#\/schema\/person\/6f5dfbebbe1b6f20207b3ac1c4588080\",\"name\":\"webmaster\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d502908f202b3110299e2e96ebb2db5f669039a6abdbe6619b7ff6854de06ebf?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d502908f202b3110299e2e96ebb2db5f669039a6abdbe6619b7ff6854de06ebf?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"webmaster\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/author\/webmaster\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"TEN QUESTIONS With Kovie Biakolo - Ake Arts & Book Festival","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/ten-questions-with-kovie-biakolo\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"TEN QUESTIONS With Kovie Biakolo - Ake Arts & Book Festival","og_description":"Where do you consider home and why? Home is many things and many places to me\u2014a physical space, a people to whom I belong, a community I can rest my Continue Reading","og_url":"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/ten-questions-with-kovie-biakolo\/","og_site_name":"Ake Arts & Book Festival","article_published_time":"2023-01-09T21:04:11+00:00","og_image":[{"width":500,"height":463,"url":"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Ake-Festival-22-theme.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"webmaster","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@akefestival","twitter_site":"@akefestival","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"webmaster","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/ten-questions-with-kovie-biakolo\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/ten-questions-with-kovie-biakolo\/"},"author":{"name":"webmaster","@id":"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/#\/schema\/person\/6f5dfbebbe1b6f20207b3ac1c4588080"},"headline":"TEN QUESTIONS With Kovie Biakolo","datePublished":"2023-01-09T21:04:11+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/ten-questions-with-kovie-biakolo\/"},"wordCount":622,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/ten-questions-with-kovie-biakolo\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Ake-Festival-22-theme.jpg","articleSection":["Ten Questions (Ake Review 2022)"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/ten-questions-with-kovie-biakolo\/","url":"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/ten-questions-with-kovie-biakolo\/","name":"TEN QUESTIONS With Kovie Biakolo - Ake Arts & Book Festival","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/ten-questions-with-kovie-biakolo\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/ten-questions-with-kovie-biakolo\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Ake-Festival-22-theme.jpg","datePublished":"2023-01-09T21:04:11+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/#\/schema\/person\/6f5dfbebbe1b6f20207b3ac1c4588080"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/ten-questions-with-kovie-biakolo\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/ten-questions-with-kovie-biakolo\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/ten-questions-with-kovie-biakolo\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Ake-Festival-22-theme.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Ake-Festival-22-theme.jpg","width":500,"height":463},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/ten-questions-with-kovie-biakolo\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"TEN QUESTIONS With Kovie Biakolo"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/#website","url":"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/","name":"Ake Arts & Book Festival","description":"Ake Arts & Book Festival","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/#\/schema\/person\/6f5dfbebbe1b6f20207b3ac1c4588080","name":"webmaster","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d502908f202b3110299e2e96ebb2db5f669039a6abdbe6619b7ff6854de06ebf?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d502908f202b3110299e2e96ebb2db5f669039a6abdbe6619b7ff6854de06ebf?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"webmaster"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive"],"url":"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/author\/webmaster\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24706"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24706\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24707,"href":"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24706\/revisions\/24707"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/akefestival.org\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}