An interview with Tope Ogundare. Read our review of his book, The Book of Pain here.

LE: Hello Tope, please tell us a bit about yourself.

Tope: I am from Ondo state, born in Ado-Ekiti in the old Ondo state, and later relocated to Akure with my family following the creation of Ekiti-State. I hold a degree in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Ilorin. I am also a certified psychiatrist.

LE: What you do for a living? Is writing your full time job?

Tope: I am a psychiatrist and also a public health specialist – I am currently pursuing a post-graduate degree in public health. Writing is a part-time job, for now at least.

LE: When did you start writing and what prompted it?

Tope: Writing has always been with me for as long as I can remember. However, it was in 2013 that I started sharing my writings publicly. At first, my passion was fiction. Then, one day, sitting at the dining table after a hard day’s work, in the darkness with only the light from the kerosene lantern, I wrote my first poem. I shared it on Facebook (oh, the days of Facebook notes!) and it got a lot of positive comments. That was when I gave poetry a chance, and my writing has shifted more towards poetry than fiction. I still write short stories though, but less so now.

LE: Are you currently working on any book and if you are, what is it about?

Tope: I am working on a second collection of poems and a collection of short stories. I have always loved exploring human emotions – pain, love, hope, despair. And the collection of poems are explorations of those themes.

LE: Lastly, what are your hobbies?

Tope: I love playing the piano, reading, and binge-watching TV series.

The Book of Pain is Tope’s debut book.

He is on Twitter and has a blog.