What is your full name and what is the meaning of your Igbo name? Where are you from and has your native background any leanings on your writing?

My full name is Ifeanacho MaryAnn Uchechukwu. There’s more sha but this is what the government knows. Uchechukwu means the will of God. My complete version of my surname is Ifeanachoabiago which means “what we are looking for, has arrived.” I’m from Anambra State in the Southeastern region of Nigeria. Igbo culture features heavily in my writing. I love to play with and amend folklore when I write. For example, for my unpublished novella, which I am currently querying for, I played with the mami wota pantheon as interpreted in Igbo culture.

What was it like growing up for you and has your childhood had any effect on your writing?

Growing up was a wonderful experience. Both my parents were strong academics and enthusiastic researchers, so early on, books were part of our daily diet. My fondest memories were of my dad taking my brothers and I to different bookshops and waiting patiently while we selected the books we wanted. Afterward, he’d go through our selections to ensure that the books were age-appropriate. We read most books under the sun. From the cumulative works of Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm to the Pacesetters range and the Lantern Books.

In addition to reading, writing was a condition sine qua non in the Ifeanacho household. My dad loved essays and made us write multiple during the holidays.   I remember how frustrated I felt when my essays came back with multiple red pen comments, highlighting tautologies and  grammatical and spelling errors.

I took an interest in stories because my elder brother wrote them and I wanted to be like him. He often wrote about medieval times, about faceless armies going to war against unknown terrors. I realized I wanted to write, too. Not about sword fights and banners hoisted for king and country. I wanted to write about magic and undiscovered wonders of the world. So, I started writing. And I have been writing since then.

Well said. Okay… You have a science background, your first degree being in Biochemistry, despite your lifelong fascination with writing. What led to you to foray into the sciences instead of the arts, and what prompted a return to the arts in the formal academic sector leading to a master’s in Creative Writing? How has the journey been since you came back?

I was good at both the sciences and the arts. So, deciding which to focus on was difficult. So while my mates made choices that aligned them either to the sciences or arts, my course form was a mosaic of both arts and science subjects. I took government classes in early senior secondary school. In addition to registering for chemistry, physics, and biology, I took French and Literature-in-English at the WASSCE level. If I knew what I know now, I’d have probably studied Psychology. However, back then, the choice was simple: Enter science class and study medicine. Focus on arts and become a lawyer. I chose the former. The way I saw it, I could always be a writer even if I didn’t study it at the university.

Unfortunately, man proposes, and JAMB disposes. So, instead of medicine and surgery, I ended up studying biochemistry. After my first year in the university, I wanted to switch to English and Literary Studies, but my parents weren’t having that. We came to a compromise: I’d finish my degree in Biochemistry, and after then, I could pursue whichever course I wanted.

I realized I wanted to study creative writing in my final year at the university. My dad had died a few months earlier, and life after school loomed large. I was so confused. It felt like I’d spent years learning pathways and theories without gathering any practical skills. A friend of mine sent me a link to Master courses offered by New Mexico State University. He wanted to study a course in the sciences and wanted me to check out the modules offered. I don’t think I got back to him. I saw the MFA program in Creative Writing on the list, and in that moment, I knew I had found what I wanted to do.

However, applying a masters abroad with a 2’2 degree was almost laughable. To make matters worse, my degree was in the sciences, and besides three award nominations and tons of creative enthusiasm, I had no writing accolades.

So, I devoted two and a half years to building a professional writing portfolio. I accepted multiple contract jobs as a content writer and wrote multiple books for #1.5 per word. I also wrote many stories at this time, some of which will never see the light of day. I took multiple online courses in writing to perfect my craft.

Fortune, they say, favors the brave… and boy was I brave. With my 2’2 degree and small writing experience, I was applying to MFAs at Ivy League universities like Cornell and Johns Hopkins. I got rejected, obviously, but I’m happy I applied to those places.

After innumerable rejections, I finally got accepted into the University of Hertfordshire’s Creative Writing program. My new writing journey had been filled with vertiginous highs and belly-dropping lows, but it’s been fun, really. I’ve learned a lot about myself and my writing. I’ve discovered new strengths in writing as well as new genres I want to explore. Most importantly, I’ve met many amazing people along the way.

Interesting story…makes me wonder what would have happened if you took the former. Well, you took the latter and here we are. Life happens beautifully – and sometimes, it doesn’t. Condolences on your dad’s loss. It is easy to see how such can bring confusion. Well done on your bravery to get to where you are. What was the school experience like at Hertfordshire? Was it a scholarship? Did you have to work twenty jobs? And what has been happening since then? Have you won awards? Created magic? And relatedly, you have had some big wins and some lows on this journey. Let us in on some of your wins and some of those low moments on this writing journey. Have there been time when you wondered about things? Times when you regretted following the new path or wanted to go back to dust off your Biochemical degree and move the other way?

My UK schooling experience was simply amazing. My first creative writing workshop felt like homecoming. My lecturers were not only virtuosos in their fields but also very patient and happy to look at and edit works outside the course load. Running a master’s in creative writing was a dream come true, and I came prepared to maximize that opportunity. Besides reading ahead and asking multiple questions in class, I also sent my course coordinator stories that were not part of the course load for his input. Thanks to his input, I learned about purple prose and how to eliminate it from my writing.

My novella, As Far As The Eye Can Sea, started as a piece for one of my creative writing modules. After the course, I continued developing it until I finished it. ‘Mykonos in Congealed Blood,’ which was longlisted for the 2023 Commonwealth Prize and later published by Flame Tree Publishing, was one of those random works I would send to my lecturers for input and edits. My short story, Redeem and Blues, which was published by the African Writer’s Magazine, falls in the same category too.

Naturally, I am more of a storyteller. So, I don’t really tinker with structure and the like. However, I learned how to play with structure and voice during my MA. One of the first workshops I attended was on voice and language and how to utilize them in creating memorable characters. At that point, I had a story with a seven-year-old first-person narrator. After reading it, one beta reader said he wasn’t convinced the narrator was a child. In his words, the narration and the choice of words felt too grown up. Naturally, my first question at that workshop was: How does one write a believable child narrator? Smiling, the lecturer in charge said: “You like difficult things, don’t you?” I responded in the affirmative. Thanks to the tips I got that day and poring through books like The Help by Kathryn Stockett and Abi Daré’s The Girl With the Louding Voice, both of which created characters with memorable and distinct narrative voices, I revamped that story. That story is An Estate of Ironies, and it was shortlisted for the 2024 WTAW Alcove Chapbook Prize.

While I was running my masters, I was also working. But I still wrote everywhere I went. I carried a little journal where I jotted down ideas. In work situations where I couldn’t use my phone notes app or my journal, I wrote on napkins. In the 3 years since I started this UK Writing journey, I have been shortlisted for multiple awards, have had my stories and poems published on different platforms, have seen my short story in print and have gotten a writing fellowship. The journey hasn’t been easy. It’s been filled with successes and tons of Dear-MaryAnn-unfortunately emails. However, the journey has been exciting. While I won’t trade my experience in biochemistry for anything, I have never thought of going back to studying metabolic pathways and enzymatic reactions.

So, in general, how would you describe your UK experience thus far and what are you looking forward to? And this is not as if we are ending the interview, I just want us to put this in before we go back to talking about your background, influences and writing.

My UK experience has been exciting. I have learned so much about myself, made many friends, developed an undying love for hiking and Cornish pasties, garnered a few writing accolades, and built stronger connections with my family here. While writing is the thread that runs through my life in the UK, my current employment history is a mosaic of some of the most peculiar roles. To quote my younger brother, “You need to hear this girl’s sagas.” These sagas add dimension and texture to my person and my stories—and I wouldn’t trade them for the world. I look forward to meeting more great people, writing more stories, forming profitable connections and having many more exciting experiences.

Quickly, what authors and books did you read growing up and what influence did they have on you?

Oh, I read everything and everyone. And that became a problem at some point. As a child, I read Chinua Achebe, Chimamanda Adichie, Cyprian Ekwensi, Flora Nwapa, Amos Tutuola, etc. Beyond Nigeria, I read Christine Rimmer, Nora Roberts, Dan Brown, Dean Koontz, Stephen King, etc. Shortly after graduating from school, I discovered Paulo Coelho, the Brazilian writer. I loved Shakira a lot as a child and an adult. So when I heard Coelho was her favorite writer, I just had to read him. I started off with The Alchemist, and I’ve been hooked on him ever since. The Alchemist is a classic, but it’s his 2006 book, The Witch of Portobello, that’s my favorite. That was my first introduction to the concept of sufism. The book presents heavy themes elegantly and forces readers to ask difficult questions of themselves.

As a child, reading was mostly escapist fun and a way of learning about the world around me. As an adult, reading is still escapist fun but also a way to learn more about writing and lived experiences that are different from mine.

Reading multiple writers very early on in my life helped me build a strong vocabulary and a vivid imagination. It also brought a strong desire to write across subgenres. When most people become writers, they know the subgenres they want to focus on. For me, it’s not the same. For as long as I can remember, my writing has always orbited around three subgenres: Fantasy and lore, magical realism, and contemporary fiction.

For a long time, the politics of place and home have found their way into the writings of most writers, especially older African writers. Does this hold true for you? If yes, how so? If no, what are the general thematic arcs one can find in your work and what is the drive behind your works generally?

Place features a lot in my writing. In fact, when I first came to the UK, I started documenting my fresh-off-the-boat experience. A part of this ‘documentary’ was recently published by JayLit under the title Ignorance is Brit. I lived a very sheltered life in Nigeria, so coming to the UK was something of a double shock. Like my Kenyan friend would say, being an immigrant alters something in you. That change is not really something you can explain, but everyone who has lived and worked in another country understands this sentiment. And this go-hard-or-go-hard (going home is not really an option until you succeed) streak we have as Nigerians doesn’t help matters. However, overall, I love living in the UK. I’ve done many things and seen places I only used to see on Pinterest and IG #travel pages.

The subject of mental health is one theme that features in most, if not all, of my works. Stories are very impactful. Through them, we can dismantle and recreate narratives. Thus, through my stories, I hope to correct some misconceptions surrounding mental health issues in the Nigerian society.

Generally, I see writing as a gesture towards knowing. A method of observation. A means to take my reader from noumenon to phenomenon. A way to understand and explain emotions, actions, cultures and various phenomena. To summarize, with my writing, I hope to dispel myths, inspire change and force my readers to ask themselves difficult questions and look at specific issues through a different lens.

You have a story published on Kalahari, ‘Hernia and Verbal Sandpaper.’ You had mentioned to me at some point that like the main character, you had also had a surgery at nine. Can you take us back in time to the period, what your experience was like and how your experiences have gotten to influence your creativity through time.

I was in primary four when I started getting belly pains. It always happened once I did something strenuous, like running. I figured out that whenever I depressed my belly button, the pain vanished. However, when the pain started coming, even when I wasn’t doing stressful activities, I alerted my parents. They took me to see the family pediatrician, who confirmed there indeed was a problem. I had a hernia, and I needed surgery to correct it. My parents were worried. This was the second time I would be getting the surgery. The first time, I had been barely three months old, and she had been so worried she’d lose me. As a child, adults close to me often called me an old woman because I was rather perceptive for my age. So, despite their best efforts to hide it, I knew my parents were worried—and one thing every child knows is that when adults worry, then shit has really hit the fan.

Our pediatrician referred us to a surgeon. The man did his checks and confirmed that I needed surgery. I was heartbroken. I associated surgeries and the like with death because in the few Nollywood movies we were allowed to watch, pregnant women always died after going into operating rooms. As the ‘little old woman’  I was, I prepared for the inevitable by writing a will.

It’s safe to say the surgery was successful, lol. However, the experience is still fresh in my mind. The hours leading up to the surgery. The surgery itself. The following days of aftercare with both my parents taking turns to sleep at my bedside, lips offering comforting words and promises of Suya, eyes blurred with worry and fear.

When I write fiction, most of what I write is just that: fiction. However, one might find slices of my lived experiences or vicarious experiences in a line, a paragraph, and, very rarely, a page. Redeem and Blues, for example, was born after a discussion with a friend who is easily one of the most attractive people I know. We were discussing pretty privilege, and she said something about how she had always known from a young age that her face was different. She saw something change in people’s faces when she entered the room, even with her father’s friends. The cogs in my head were whirring when the discussion ended. That particular sentence was stuck in my head. I went to my laptop and started writing. With that story, I wanted to show how beauty could be both a privilege and a curse. How the pedestalization that comes with physical attractiveness and pretty privilege can make you a target to predators. We have a saying in Igbo, ebulu ozu onye ozo, o di ka o nku. Translation: When one sees pallbearers carrying the corpse of another, one thinks the corpse is wood. Basically, it refers to how issues are not given the attention they require until they happen to us or the people we love. With Redeem and Blues, I also wanted to show how people don’t care about specific issues until it happens to them. Using my friend’s comment as a north star, I wove a narrative and embroidered all the issues I wanted to show. Mykonos in Congealed Blood, on the other hand, was just my attempt at writing my dad back to life. The way I saw it, although I’d lost him, I could craft multiple universes where he did survive.

You run a project called Toon Central. Let us in on it; what is the project about? What inspired it, what have you done, what are you doing and what is the big picture?

So, I am the co-founder, COO, and Head of Story at Toon Central Hub. I run it alongside my younger brother, Ifeanacho Emmanuel, who is the founder, CEO, and Head of Animation and Rotimi Williams, the CMO. So, what exactly is Toon Central Hub?

Well, it is a digital comic and animation hub dedicated to giving African writers and mangakas/comic artists a platform to tell their stories. Emmanuel and I have a running joke that Africa is the world’s biggest ghostwriter. Both of us have spent appreciable parts of our careers creating works that will never bear our names. We learned early that while our works were valued and fawned over, our names often weren’t able to permeate certain spaces. To correct this, we created Toon Central Hub. With it, we hope to give inconnu writers and artists visibility, create a sense of belonging, push the African narrative in a way that has never been seen before and inspire the black populace to have confidence in their African identity, culture and history.

As for what we are currently doing, we are not only working on the site but also developing the community of which is its foundation as well as maximizing our networks to ensure we increase our area of influence. Currently, we are working with writers and artists from Malawi, Ghana, Nigeria, and Mozambique. We are hoping to also recruit more creatives, not just from other anglophone countries but also both Lusophone and Francophone African countries.

In Q1 of 2024, we officially launched our first MVP site to showcase ourselves to the people around us, our closest friends and allies only, but somehow we exploded to getting over 4000 views within a month. After taking all the feedback and establishing strategic partnerships with key players in the industry, we are relaunching the site now to go fully public on an international level. Toon Central Hub is registered in Nigeria. However, we’re looking at registering it as a business in the UK in Q1 2025.

The big picture would be Toon Central becoming a household name, like Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon from back in the day. A hub where African stories and animations come to thrive and flourish.

Finally, what are you working on currently, what key things are you aspiring or looking forward to and what does the general future hold?

Currently, I am working on a novel that explores immigration, intertribal relationships, and how distance affects romantic relationships. I’m looking forward to releasing my first full-length novel and having both my novellas accepted and published by reputable publishing houses. Additionally, I hope the next year or two brings fruitful collaborations in the film/visual media ecosystem. Scriptwriting was a new strength I picked up during my masters, and I’ve been longing for an opportunity to showcase works I’ve created in that regard.

I am also currently the COO and Head Writer at Toon Central, a digital comic platform committed to giving African mangakas/comic artists and writers a space to (visually) tell their stories. For Toon Central, I am currently working on a story that explores a place called the agbara realm, which is the realm of the undead in Igbo cosmology.

What does the future hold for me? Who knows. However, I hope it includes more published stories, successes for Toon Central, and more travels.