Former national president of the Association of Nigeria Authors (ANA), Denja Abdullahi held a publication presentation of his recent work titled ‘Love-songs In A Pandemic’.
‘Love-songs In A Pandemic’ is a short poetry collection comprising 17 poems written by the author during the global lockdown in the thick of the COVID 19 pandemic. Extracted from his joint literary project with Sex and Eroticism writer, Ify-Asia Chiemezien, ‘Luckdown: Eros, Cupid and Other Things in the Time of the Coronavirus Pandemic’, the poetry addressed issues around the pandemic. From the experience of grocery shopping to internet pornography, conspiracy theory around the pandemic to the fear & love brewing in the isolation centers and the commercialization of the pandemic. These were all tackled within the male-female relationship dynamics.
‘Love-songs In A Pandemic’ collates just Abdullahi’s contribution to the original publication which he said makes for a fun and easy read.
Speaking of the publication and how it differs from his usual works, Abdullahi said, “I was explicit in so many ways. There are things I wrote here that ordinarily I won’t write in own work. Some of my previous poems addressed these subjects though subtly, in a manner that people won’t condemn you for writing about sex.”
However, Abdullahi noted that the situation called for it. What with cheating married being forced to stay in close quarters with their spouses, without their side-chicks and other vices.
“I thought we should experiment because I am familiar with her works like ‘The Naughty Wives’ series, ‘Kidnap Me’, ‘Herdsmen’ which addresses male-female relationship and eroticism. I asked her to write her usual story, which I read and responded in poem. Then, she reads my poem and responds with another story, as a progression. This went on for about three months,” he said, resulting in 158-page e-Book, ‘Luckdown: Eros, Cupid and Other Things in the Time of the Coronavirus Pandemic’.
Although the book had a decent reception from both their readers when it was published, Abdullahi said it could do better if they had put in more effort at engaging readers online.
He is set on doing things differently this time, starting with posts of the individual poems from Love-songs in a Pandemic to better engage their audience.
“We are working both singularly and jointly to get the two books in the hands of the right people; and also write popular pieces that will engage audience. Then, we can sell them or collaborate with comedians and skit-makers to produce video skits out of them,” concluded Abdullahi.