Interview: ACEworld Editor, Uche Amaodi Enters into Discussion with Stefn Sylvester on his Publishing Journey

Can you tell us extensively who Stefn Sylvester Anyatonwu is?

I began my writing adventure as a teenager, gaining unparalleled
experience in creative writing, while also establishing myself as a
respected poet. 

Influenced by writers such as Maya Angelou, Chinua
Achebe, Shakespeare, Wole Soyinka, Myles Munroe, I aspire to quake the
earth with my quill, while keeping tabs on efficiency, originality,
consistency and accuracy.

I am currently most passionate about
poetry and found an online platform Poemify for budding African poets.
My mission is to help more aspiring young writers structure their craft
and attain authorship successfully. In 2015, my poems won the Pengician
of the Year Award and in 2016, the Chrysolite Writers Poet of the Year
Award. 

I am the author of ‘Sweetness‘, ‘Diary Of A Broken Poet’,
‘Scriptophobia’, ‘You’re Loved and You Belong Here’, ‘Creating Lead
Generating eBooks’, ‘Self Publishing Successfully’, ‘Poetry Simplified’
and ‘How To Create Amazon Author Page’. 

Publications include anthologies, self-help manuals and creative writing aides.

When I am not busy inking poems, I enjoy singing and spends time
blogging. My writings have been featured on several literary platforms,
such as, CF Writerz, CWAN Pengician, Tush Stories, ACEworld, African
Writers, Power Poetry, Hello Poetry, WRR, Parousia Magazine, Academia,
Slideshare, TNW, among others.

Tell us about your most recent book.

My recent book, ‘Poetry Writing: 10 Tips On How To Write A Poem‘ is a guide on how to write poems, for the beginner.

What inspired you to write that?

Severally, over the years, budding writers approach me and request to
be taught how to write poetry. A few requested mentorship and one-on-one
tutoring. But by reason of my busy schedule, I couldn’t grant their
requests. So I thought it would it proper to put it into writing,
compile a simple handbook and put it up for sale. Five books were born
out of it. ‘Poetry Writing: 10 Tips On How To Write A Poem’ being the
most recent.

What are you hoping this book will do?

Poems,
unlike crosswords, don’t have a straightforward solution. In fact, a
careful examination of the clues laid by the poet may lead to more
questions than answers. Hence many find poetry writing rather ambiguous
and for a select few.

I am hoping my book will help budding poets make an important transition from writing for themselves to writing for the world.

Also, it will help poets make a transition away from writing poetry to
celebrate, commemorate, or capture their own feelings towards writing
poetry in order to generate feelings in one’s audience/reader (in which
case the poem exists entirely to serve the reader).

How can your readers get the book and at what rate?

My book is worth a thousand Naira (#1000). It can be obtained on my website here

Is there anything we should expect or look forward to from you?

Poemify Maiden magazine and AfriChant Anthology would be launched soon.

AfriChant is a collection of poems for the African child initiated by Martins Deep, a friend and partner.

It’s going to be a bowl full of dripping honey.

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