Conducted by: Madeline Morkin, Tully Mahoney, and Zeibeth Martinez
Ukamaka Olisakwe is the Founder, Publisher and Editor-in-chief of Isele Magazine a literary journal focused on dynamic writers who hold a mirror to society, challenge conventions and those who decide them through poetry, essays, fiction, interviews and book reviews. Born in Kano, Nigeria, she is a UNESCO-World Book Capital “Africa 39” Honoree, a fellow of University of Iowa’s International Writing Program and winner of the VCFA Emerging Writer Scholarship and the Prince Claus Fund Grant. Her work has appeared in TheNew York Times, Granta, Longreads, The Rumpus, Catapult, Rattle, Waxwing, Jalada, Hunger Mountain, Sampsonia Way, and more. She is now in the process of pursuing her PhD in English at the University of South Dakota-Vermillion.
Q: Is there one aspect of a story that would make you immediately reject it?
Ukamaka: We reject works that condone child abuse, stories riddled with misognyny, homophobia, transphobia, racism; stories that target certain communities and demographics. If a writer describes violence in detail, we want to know why and what purpose that violence serves; if it advances the plot or if it is simply there for shock value.
Q: What distinguishes every story you accept from those you do not accept?
Ukamaka: The language. The pacing. The quality of the dialogues. The balance between interiority and exposition. We always look out for stories that show us how the character’s mind works, not necessarily the plot. Plot is secondary, because what carries a good story through in many cases is the language and the character’s mind. We want to know why the character made certain decisions and how they rationalize the consequences of those decisions. A story that answers that “why” question, rather than drag you through a complex plot, is often the strongest.
Q: Could there possibly be any circumstances that might allow weak grammar and poor editing by the author not to turn you immediately away from a story?
Ukamaka: We have had instances like that: the stories were great but the grammar needed some editing. Our editors Tracy Haught and Rebecca Jamieson often accept great stories that need some help with grammar and punctuation. I am so grateful to belong with these incredible editors who are patient with our contributors. They go back and forth with the writers to sharpen their work, and although editing takes a bit of time, we are always glad we give these stories a home. But we reject stories when we notice that the writer does not care at all about grammar and punctuations.
Q: How do poetry, CNF, and fiction differ when it comes to how you edit and look at each piece? What might you focus more on while editing these different genres?
Ukamaka: For poetry, we pay attention to the various frames through which the poem is told and if they work well, if they need a bit of editing to make them stronger. By frames, I mean the structure of the poem (the lines, the stanzas, line breaks, etc); musicality of the poem; the themes we see and the feeling they convey. We also pay attention to the situation of the poem, and by this I mean the literal atmosphere and images described in the poem. We also look at the context, the title, and so on. Our poetry editor, Megan Ross, is an amazing poet. She always works with our writers to produce the best version of the poems we publish.
For prose, we focus on the language, the structure, the interiority, if the dialogues need a bit of sharpening, if certain parts need to be fleshed out or moved around; if the narrative is too linear, because delineations sometimes increase urgency and make the narrative less predictable. Sometimes, too, we notice that the length is too long, so we suggest cutting out parts that bog down the narrative in unnecessary details.
Editing Isele has been such a joy and I am glad I am working with an amazing team that goes all out for every writer whose work we accept for publication.
Q: Are there any metaphors or other figures of speech you really dislike seeing in a poetry submission?
Ukamaka: None, really. Our writers have a way of reinventing overused figurative languages in such a way that they appear new.
Q: What initially made you interested in and what has kept you interested in working with literary journals as opposed to working in editing and publishing books?
Ukamaka: I do look forward to editing books. I think, though, that working with a literary journal is the first step to that larger project. And I have had the honor of reading diverse submissions from writers around the world. We have received submissions from writers in South Korea, for example. We have received submissions from India, Mexico, Palestine, United Arab Emirates, and many other countries in the South West Asian and North African regions. And it has been great, pairing diverse texts with works by writers on the African continent. I see this as a sort of conversation among diverse people with different realities, but who address similar social, political, and cultural concerns.
Q: What qualities should a literary editor have? Can these qualities be learned or are they innate?
Ukamaka: I think a good editor is a great critic and analyst. With Isele Magazine, I don’t just read for pleasure. Rather, I pay close attention to what each work is doing on a structural level, on thematic level, on contextual level, etc; if the work is grounded in theory. I focus on how every aspect of a story, for example, is working together to drive the narrative forward, and if they fail at this. I had to learn how to read and how to criticize and analyze a literary text; I do not know if these qualities are innate. Some of the texts that helped me include Joanne Wolfe and Laura Wilder’s Digging Into Literature, Janet Burroway’s Imaginative Writing: The Elements of Craft, Ron Carlson,’s Ron Carlson Writes a Story, and many others.
Q: How many submissions are normally published and what percent is that of the initial submission quantity?
Ukamaka: We run two cycles: the general submissions and the quarterly submissions. We publish the general entries every other month. The quarterly magazine focuses on a specific theme; the next issue, which publishes next month, is The Woman Issue.
Q: Are there any overlapping characteristics of some of your more successful publications in your opinion?
Ukamaka: The overlapping characteristic would be the quality of the prose and poetry and familiar themes that contribute to social, political, or cultural discourses, like feminism, the category woman, sex and sexuality, e.t.c.
Q: Your first issue was released in July 2020. What kind of difficulties had you faced in producing a magazine during COVID-19?
Ukamaka: The economic impact of the pandemic nearly grounded our inaugural issue. We are committed to paying our contributors, and with our first issue, we ran into financial difficulties and had to reach out to individuals for support. But then, our inaugural writers decided to give back the token to the magazine, and it was such a relief. I am eternally grateful to them. We are still struggling financially, but we are in a better place.