dumbfoundry

Nnorom Azuonye: 'I contacted Kola Boof, or the woman believed to be Kola Boof and requested to see some of her poems for inclusion in the January 2003 issue of Sentinel Poetry (online) magazine monthly of which I am editor. She replied and promised to send some poems the following week and alerted me on a feature appearing the next day in New York Times. She sounded kind of excited about the feature titled "Mystery Enshrouds Kola Book [sic], Writer and Internet Persona." By Julie Salamon.

'When I read the article, I found that it was not exactly flattering, but rather raised questions about her credibility as a person if not as a writer, and demonstrated how many were drawn to her initially on the basis of information found on the Internet and the outrage that always exists when it is learnt that a person has received a religious death sentence but soon pulled away and made efforts to dissociate themselves with her - except for a handful of university professors. Salamon certainly tried to show through her reported consultations or research that Boof's might be a phantom Fatwa - a publicity ploy…but can she write?

'I said to myself, this is the time to interview Kola Boof whether she is the genuine article or the finest spoof of our time I wanted to get her story on record. This interview was conducted entirely by e-mail with the hope that at the end of it, there might be a possibility to create a kind of consistency in her so far profoundly inconsistent story. All I can hope for is that Kola Boof will be honest with me and that you can make up your own mind about her and her work.'

This entry was posted by Ivy on Saturday, May 21, 2005 at 10:11 AM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.