Osamase Ekhator is a Boston based poet, writer and author. His debut book, "Situationship" was invited to the 2019 Brooklyn Book Festival on behalf of AZURE Literary Group, recognized by the 2020 North Street Book Prize, and studied at the University of Bonn in Germany.
Osamase will be releasing his second book, "I AM YOU: A Book of Poetry" on July 26th.
Osamase will begin to earn his MBA degree at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management this fall.
In this interview, we talk about:
- Osamase's life since we last talked to him on the Grateful Living Podcast in July of 2020
- His writing process for writing "I AM YOU"
- The themes within the book - including love, religion, and social injustice
- His thoughts on activism and creating a better society
- His advice to younger poets
Osamase's Socials:
Osamase's Website: https://www.osamasetorbest.com/
Osamase's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/osamasetorbest/
Grateful Living Info:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9Bo0LHtRJJNJBUYIceg27w
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3Hn4ttttmbWfVqAhWh4Jhi
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1503185956
My Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aroy81547/?hl=en
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/gratefulliving4
Medium: https://gratefulliving4.medium.com/
Approximate Time Stamps:
0:00 Intro
2:26 What has life been like since we last talked publicly in July of 2020?
7:30 How did you keep your perseverance mindset even after not being happy with your first GMAT test score?
10:38 How did you stay consistent with poetry despite having a full-time job, social life and studying for GMAT?
13:23 Can you talk about the writing process for I AM YOU?
18:32 When did you feel comfortable being an activist?
25:19 What do you hope that people who aren’t a person of color learn from your poems on race?
29:30 For someone who doubts racism is a big issue in society, what would you say?
31:48 There’s a narrative of becoming a man in the book, do you want to speak about that journey?
38:58 Do you want to talk about the Black Excellence parts in the book?
42:09 Do you want to talk about the poem “Family Cookout?”
45:50 Do you want to talk about the song “Rain”?
51:58 Do you want to talk about the 3 covers ?
55:25 Collaboration with Joe Tavaras?
1:00:20 Any other symbolism we haven’t talked about?
1:04:45 How did you come up with the title “I AM YOU”?
1:09:25 Was it hard to recall some of the racism in your childhood?
1:12:17 Do you get tired being an activist?
1:15:25 Do you have any advice for allies who want to better society?
1:20:35 Any advice to young people who have a passion?
1:26:35 do you want to share 2 more poems from the book?
1:29:46 Best way to support you?
