"The Bridge in Black Communities: An Interview with Chekwube Danladi" by Nicole Favors

We all have distinct and unique stories to tell, but—without inspiration—those stories won’t reach the world. In Chekwube Danladi’s case, writers such as Jaquira Díaz, Ralph Ellison, and Toni Morrison provide inspiration and connection. Hearing other writers’ stories that spoke to issues of social justice inspired Danladi to share her story so that readers can feel a sense of comfort and relatability. She quoted Toni Morrison to this end during a recent conversation we had:  “‘If there's a book you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.’” Danladi added, “And I took that really personally when I first read her statement on that.”
Chekwube O. Danladi was born in Lagos, Nigeria, and moved to the United States at the age of six years old. She grew up in Washington, D.C., and west Baltimore. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree at Oberlin College and went on to pursue her Masters of Fine Arts at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Danladi is the author of Semiotics (Georgia, 2020), winner of the 2019 Cave Canem Poetry Prize; she has also won a 2022 Independent Artist Award from the Maryland State Arts Council. She received fellowships and support from Callaloo, Kimbilio Fiction, Hedgebrook, Jack Jones Literary Arts, the Lambda Literary Foundation, Vermont Studio Center, and the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing. Her chapbook, Take Me Back, was included in the New Generation African Poets: Nne boxset. Currently, she is the 2022-25 Writer-in-Residence in the English Department at Occidental College here in Los Angeles.
At the beginning of our interview, I talked to Danladi about her experience of having both parents working as journalists in Nigeria. Danladi’s mother also wrote short fiction, while her father enjoyed writing poetry for personal enjoyment. Yet Danladi’s love for writing really began in middle school after she read Keeping You a Secret by Julie Anne Peters, a prize-winning novel that offers the coming-out story of transgender teens. Danladi describes herself as very shy with a speech issue, and these impediments created a verbal communication barrier. Danladi decided instead to express herself through the art of writing. Writing was her own coping mechanism and also became an outlet, although she didn’t realize until later in her adulthood that it would also become her vocation.
Because both her parents are writers, Danladi’s relationship with them was important to her own artistic development. In fact, Danladi mentioned how her father inspired her to write poetry. He grew up during the Nigeria-Biafra civil war, and his family identifies as Biafra, a community which was systematically brutalized. His poetry has a lot to do with his experience of violence from the war and how he endured this trauma as a child.
Danladi’s mother also passed down her love of writing short fiction. She describes her mother as a very imaginative person, who loved telling stories, which Danladi describes as “spicy”—she was caught off guard by what her mother wrote about! That made her think, “Okay, let me try it also just to see what it’s like.” She surprised herself by wanting to pursue this interest as a career. When I asked her if she thought her love for writing was passed down to her, she said: “I think so—it must have been. It's so funny because I didn't think it was going to happen like that as a kid. I knew my parents were writers. I was writing a little bit, but I guess it was so natural just because of the environment that they created.”
After reading her work, I was curious about how her experience of growing up in Nigeria had impacted her writing. Danladi spoke of feeling unsure how to balance her twin sense of belonging—both to Nigeria and to the United States. Fortunately, she found a bridge that allowed her to connect these two identities and two communities. She grew more comfortable using Pidgin English to express herself. Understanding the resistance to using black languages, including Black English, African American English, and Nigerian English, Danladi finally felt confident to try incorporating parts of this culture into her writing. As Danladi mentioned, “I think for a long time, I felt very unsure of how to balance my sense of belonging, feeling very much connected still to my family and community in Nigeria and also feeling very connected to the communities I grew up in in the U.S. And I think, fortunately for me, the place where I found the bridge is … in black communities. Two different ones, but there's enough similarity for me to feel a kind of cross connection/cross-pollination. That eased things for me in terms of feeling more stable with who I am.”
When talking to Danladi about what continues to inspire her to write fiction, she touched on how she’s committed to writing about queer and trans people of color, especially working-class queer and trans people of color. Those are the vantage points she feels closest to; in addition, she realized these communities are underrepresented and so she wanted to focus attention on those communities. She mentioned the importance of not feeling like she has to write about underrepresented communities for the sake of representing them. Instead, rather she simply sees it as being able to tell a story that can create an opportunity for people to connect with.
For Danladi, one of the most difficult aspects of writing is the aftermath. Finishing her work and knowing that now others will see it, makes that part of the writing process difficult. In fact, it took time for her to find a writing routine that felt right and worked with her schedule. In terms of her process, she resists the idea of “writer’s block,” instead viewing it as a little time away before eventually getting back into her work.
As we came to the ending point the interview, I wanted to know if Danladi could give advice to writers working on their first book. She said, “I think the most important thing I would recommend is to make sure that you're writing something that you actually want to read, that you will enjoy reading by the time it's done, and that you feel will uphold your integrity.” I took this to mean that there is always going to be pressure for people to make their work fit into a mold or a set of expectations, which might ultimately diminish your own creativity. It’s important for people to feel proud of how they represent their experiences in words. Yet Danladi also mentioned the importance of being open to critique. It’s always helpful to have other people’s perspective on your work. “Try not to freak out, I guess. Try not to make the stakes too heavy … before you even finish it,” which was Danladi’s final recommendation to anyone working on their first book.

Nicole favors

Nicole Favors is working to obtain her Bachelor’s Degree at Woodbury University in Professional Writing, as she is currently a Senior. She’s a former library intern at the Sims Library of Poetry. Nicole’s had blogs and book reviews published in the Sims Library of Poetry and Cultural Daily. Her poetry has been published in The Sims Library Of Poetry, The Little Girl on The Swing (2021), and in Young American Poetry Digest, Why I Love Parents (2013).