Join Us For An Interview With Nuzo Onoh
I’m not sure where I’ve been hiding that I have never read anything by Nuzo Onoh before but I am amazed at what I found! Her latest work, Where the Dead Brides Gather, is rich in African culture and families with secrets as well as a whole entourage of dead brides looking to get married. Told from the point of view of an 11 year old girl who becomes possessed it is a unique story with a mythology all it’s own. Bata is forced to grow up before she wants to so she can save living brides from the dead brides and keep her family together. The dead brides all died before they could be married. They wish to be married more than anything and will do anything to possess a living bride as she takes her vows.
I was lucky enough to be able to interview this horror icon about her new novel.
Jennifer Griffin: I love learning about other cultures from their stories. What compels you to write what you do?
Nuzo Onoh: A burning desire to share Africa’s rich culture, mythology and old customs, that are slowly dying away, eroded by globalisation, religion, emigration, etc., and are now almost forgotten by the younger generation. I simply wish to share this rich and vibrant culture with a global audience through my stories, while also preserving them from extinction.
JG: Why the Bride Sentinel? How much is preexisting lore and how much is from your imagination?
NO: Funnily enough, many reviewers have assumed that there is a Bride-Sentinel lore. If there is, I’ve never heard of one till I wrote WHERE THE DEAD BRIDES GATHER. Most of the other lore and culture mentioned in the book are real but, alas, the Bride-Sentinel is pure fiction.
JG: What drew you to write from the perspective of an 11 year old? How hard was it?
NO: That’s how the character appeared to me when she first flashed herself inside my mind with her body coated in white paint. Definitely a very young girl. Like most of my books, this one was pretty easy to write as I just typed what my child-character showed me and told her story as I heard it inside my head. A few editorial suggestions for PC purposes, which the child never showed me, were later added.
JG:How did you go about getting into the character of Bata?
NO: I didn’t. She spoke, I typed.
JG: How do you do your research? You obviously have your own background to pull from but what else?
NO: Save for my upcoming books, The Turning of Sally-Maeand The Fake Ghost, which needed me to research the USA in some detail, I’ve rarely needed to research any of my books. I once visited a medicine-woman during a visit to Nigeria to see for myself what their shrines look like, how divination is made and, basically, get some idea about this ubiquitous individual who is a standard trope in African stories. I’ve also pestered the older folks for stories, superstitions and lore they recall from the past. So, as you rightly noted, my background helps when I write, together with my characters’ narration and the other stuff I mentioned. I’ve always believed that we writers are mere conduits through which our characters tell their stories. It’s therefore a waste of time for me to plot the storyline, as the characters decide what I should write.
JG: What would you be doing if you were not a writer?
NO: A touring musician or a professional K-Pop dancer
JG: Who are some of your favorite authors? Why?
NO: Too many authors and too many diverse genres to mention in this article. Some horror, many humour, some fantasy, a few thrillers, fewer crime, even fewer sci-fi, zero romance.
JG: What book should everyone read at least once? Why?
NO: WHERE THE DEAD BRIDES GATHER. Because I wrote it
JG: What is your favorite story that you have written? Why?
NO: FUTILITY, which will be published in autumn 2025 by Titan Books. This book is the one I had the most fun writing. It’s like nothing I’ve ever written, wild and totally wicked in a horrible and diabolic way. I think my readers will have the same fun reading it as I had writing it.
JG: Why do you write?
NO: Because I must and my characters will give me no rest until I write their stories. At 62, time isn’t my friend anymore and I must finish all the half-completed stories in my folder before senility, arthritis or other age-imps wreak their havoc on my health and ability to write.
JG: What do you do to offset your writing? I know some authors go for walks, paint, sketch etc. What is your go to?
NO: Cinema, treadmill, humour books, my Runestones, my piano, my music playlist or binge on K-Drama.
JG: Do you have any set rules when you are working on a novel?
NO: Once the characters take over, my mobile phone is switched off, no communication with anyone until the manic phase is over. The particular music that calls to me for the story must play on a loop till the story’s done andthen I never listen to that song again for years. For WHERE THE DEAD BRIDES GATHER, the song was ‘Sad Tango’ by the South Korean star, RAIN.
JG: Who do you look to as your writing mentor?
NO: I can’t say I’ve had any writing mentors, but I’ve had writing inspirations, two amazing people in my life whose dedication to the art never ceases to leave me in awe and admiration. One is Ted Dunphy, an amazing writer still producing works way into his eighties and Barbara Maitra, a fiercely independent and prolific writer, still writing and publishing in her nineties! They both keep me determined and devoted to my writing.
JG: Is there anything that you’ve written that you would change in some aspect? What and why?
NO: Apart from the editing stages, I rarely read any of my works once published. The writing is such an intense and all-consuming process that once it’s done, I have no desire to revisit, except when I have an interview that requires me to skim the pages to remind myself of names and plots, etc. So, I’m a thousand percent sure that there must be something I would change in my books if I were stupid enough to reread them.
JG: Do you have any advice for any writers that are just starting out?
NO: Write what comes naturally to you; write in a manner that comes naturally to you; be your own biggest cheerleader and don’t discourage yourself by reading fantastical stories of other writers’ successes and mega advances on social media. Have faith in yourself and your day will surely come. In life, everything is just a matter of time.
Nuzo Onoh is an award-winning writer of speculative fiction. She is a pioneer of the African horror literary subgenre. Hailed as the “Queen of African Horror”, her writing showcases both the beautiful and horrific in the African culture within fictitious narratives. Nuzo is a Bram Stoker Lifetime Achievement Awardâ recipient. Her novel, WHERE THE DEAD BRIDES GATHER, is published on 22nd October 2024 by Titan Books.
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Jennifer Griffin is a freelance writer in northern Michigan where she lives with her husband, three pups and year round Halloween decorations
