Cletus Nelson Nwadike, born 1966 is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

n poet and author. He left Nigeria for Sweden in 1990 due to political reasons. He already spoke three languages ( Ibo, Hausa and English) and embraced the new opportunity to learn another language by reading modern classical Swedish writers such as Pär Lagerkvist and Harry Martinson. After about 5 – 6 years in Sweden he found an urge to write

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

, in Swedish. He says he finds it hard to write in English, the language of the former colonial power. He never learned to write in the Ibo or Hausa languages. His main themes are love, death and

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. He published his first poetry collection in 1998, ''En kort svart dikt'' (A Short Black Poem) and has since then published five more books. Nwadike has also contributed to

periodicals A periodical literature (also called a periodical publication or simply a periodical) is a published work that appears in a new edition on a regular schedule. The most familiar example is a newspaper, but a magazine or a Academic journal, journal ...

and

anthologies In book publishing Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed work ...

. He has performed at various conventions and the rock festival

Hultsfredsfestivalen The Hultsfred Festival ( sv, Hultsfredsfestivalen) was an annual music festival held in Hultsfred, Sweden. It took place at the lake Hulingen during three days in the June or July, from Thursday to Saturday. Since the first festival in 1986, its ...

. Nwadike as also been featured in the

national radio RNZ National ( mi, Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa Ā-Motu), formerly Radio New Zealand National, and known until 2007 as the National Programme or National Radio, is a publicly funded non-commercial New Zealand English-language radio network operat ...

program "Vid dagens slut".

Personal life

After many years in the city of

Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal populat ...

, he now resides in

Aneby Aneby is a locality and the seat of Aneby Municipality in Jönköping County, Sweden. While the municipality has about 6500 inhabitants, half live in the central town of Aneby. The municipality lies amidst the south Swedish highlands, 45 kilometer ...

, rural

Småland Småland () is a historical province () in southern Sweden. Småland borders Blekinge, Scania, Halland, Västergötland, Östergötland and the island Öland in the Baltic Sea. The name Småland literally means ''Small Lands''. The Latinized fo ...

with his wife and children. He works at an after school center (Fritidspedagog) and has a Swedish

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

degree from Högskolan in

Jönköping Jönköping (, ) is a city in southern Sweden with 112,766 inhabitants (2022). Jönköping is situated on the southern shore of Sweden's second largest lake, Vättern, in the province of Småland. The city is the seat of Jönköping Municipali ...

in creative writing.

Books

*En kort svart dikt, (A Short Black Poem) 1998 *Med ord kan jag inte längre be, (With Words I Can No Longer Pray) 2000 *En sida av regnet som faller, (One Side of the Falling Rain) 2003 *Jag vill inte sörja dig, (I do not want to mourn You) 2007 *Tankar ur ett lejons gap, (Thoughts From the Jaws of a Lion) 2010 *Elefanten i spegeln (The Elephant in the Mirror) A children's book illustrated by Annelie Johansson.

Honours

The Stiftelsen ''Familjen de Vylders Foundation for Immigrant writers'' award (2000)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nwadike, Cletus Nelson 1969 births Nigerian emigrants to Sweden Swedish people of Nigerian descent Swedish-language writers Living people