Toyin Adewale-Gabriel

"I am a woman of faith and l find the Bible inspirational for living and writing."

"People are always looking for labels, boxes, compartments, a so-called easier way of dissecting what you write and I think in that process, they miss out on the real wealth of engaging your imagination. Having said that, I am a woman who is writing from my varied experiences (as a citizen of the world, Nigerian, daughter, sister, mother, wife, and mentor) and those of other women in my society. I see myself as a voice for woman, child and man. I advocate for woman rights and human rights. I am not inferior to anyone and I never hesitate to take my place. How does that describe me?"

"I do not see how it is possible to live in Nigeria or be Nigerian and write art for art’s sake. I think a poet should be the voice of her society. It has been so from ancient times. Contemporary Nigerian poetry still reflects the pulse of the society, the disappointment with our poor leadership and a voice for the common man. There is a lot more innovation now, the use of multimedia, fusing music and drama, a marriage of the arts. Admirable efforts to actually make a living from writing."

"I was working with the poems as visual imagery, how it impacts the reader on paper and how it can be read in different directions with various layers of meaning, reflecting the many-sidedness, the enigma that an individual is. I think, often times, the poem decides how it wants to take life. Sometimes, you try to develop it in a certain direction and you see that’s not working, so you just let it be."

"Poetry is always my best friend, a ready platform, when l need to testify for myself and society."

"I started out writing poetry and it’s the bedrock on which my work rests. So yes, my primary identity will always be hinged on that. For prose, you need to do more research. Obviously, it’s not as spontaneous as poetry can be, at least for me. You need to do character development, get their voices right, immerse yourself in the context of the story, invoke the atmosphere and engage the reader to stay with you. A writer needs to be well read. Alertness and an eye for detail are essential in your toolkit."

"Song of a first born daughter to the beats of gangan. I am the first fruit of your loins. Seasoned with grace. Seasoned with salt. I stride to drumbeats. Flywhisks attend my hands. Like anklets of brass, joy encircles. I am the consolation, born for the day of affliction. I am the vigour, the virgin seed, roosting under coverlets of aso-oke. Down the winding road, I nurture the handkerchiefs for champions who cry... Behold the daughter, your blessed harvest. Your basket of plump yams. Your scented one."

"Sometimes its blood and tears; at other times, it falls easy like rain. I have note books, filled with the scraps of words. I try to catch the moments… a flock of birds on the wings of twilight, the moon majestic on a tableau of darkness. I am a scribbler. I go back to weave the various scraps into the cloth that becomes a poem."

"I am a poet. Poets take the beauty from ashes."