Writer Landa Wo on how this country helped him grow as an artist.
This summer, I will return to the West Cork Literary Festival; this time simply as a visitor.
Fifteen years ago, in July 2010, I first came to the festival as an immigrant writer for the launch of Landing Places: Immigrant Poets in Ireland (Dedalus Press).
Since then, my journey as a poet and essayist has taken unexpected and rewarding turns, and I feel compelled to reflect on that trajectory.
Over the past decade and a half, my poems, essays, and short stories have appeared in literary journals and anthologies in Ireland, the UK, Canada, and the USA. In Ireland, my work has featured in two more Dedalus Press anthologies: Writing Home: The “New Irish” Poets and The Book of Life: Poems to Tide You Over.
My story is the story of a migrant writer, a black man who left France, his birth country, for Ireland in search of opportunities.
With a French-speaking background, I had to learn to write and publish in English, which was no small challenge.
Yet Ireland provided me with the chance to grow as an artist. My poetry has been broadcast at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, preserved in the Irish Poetry Reading Archive at University College Dublin, and my manuscript Poet in Exile was a finalist for the 2023 Patrick Kavanagh Award, alongside other recognitions.
The race riots in Ireland in recent years have also shaped my writing, forcing me to reckon with the realities of integration and the obstacles that remain.
Despite these challenges, my work is now part of the conversation on Irish identity and literature.
My fiction has been studied in The Irish Bildungsroman (Syracuse University Press), edited by Gregory Castle, Matthew L. Reznicek, and Sarah L. Townsend, with Professor Pilar Villar-Argaiz discussing my writing in the chapter Immigrant Writing and New Narratives of Self-Formation: Landa wo and Theophilus Ejorh.
Without a formal degree in writing, no BA or MA in creative writing ; I have nonetheless built a body of work, thanks to the support of cultural institutions like the Arts Council of Ireland, the Irish Writers Centre, the Irish Writers Union, and the invaluable editorial advice of editors at journals such as Cyphers, Ropes, The Ogham Stone, and Boyne Berries.
My story shows that integration is not a one-way street, it is a dialogue.
If I have been able to contribute to Irish literature, I believe other migrants can and should find pathways in every sector, not just music and sport. Ireland deserves to see the talents of all its migrants flourish in business, engineering, law, diplomacy, and beyond.
That is how we build an inclusive and prosperous Ireland together.
Biographical statement Landa wo is an author from Angola, Cabinda and France.
He writes fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and reviews, often in some hybrid form.
You can follow him on Twitter @wo_landa or Instagram @landa.wo
