Interview Exclusive!
Interview with Henrietta O.
Henrietta O. is becoming a household name in the creative space in general; particularly poetry, as her recently released debut collection, "What The Silence Gave Me" is a quality poetry collection with the potential to really transform her to Super star status..
Henrietta is an active member of the most prestigious writers club in the world, "The Collab Tour" and undoubtedly, her career is poised for immense success.
Interview Excerpts below:
1. Tell us about your background?
I am Henrietta Odiete (Henrietta O.) born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria, I am currently living in Toronto Ontario. I am the second of three children. I have a brother and a sister who are also based in Ontario Canada. I grew up surrounded by family, art, food, music and culture. My parents always encouraged us to learn and were instrumental in getting us involved in various hobbies and interest such as swimming, music lessons, roller blading. Reading was my first love as a kid, and I always dreamt of writing my own book with illustrations as a kid. We had a Disney themed story book with pictures back then. My siblings and I learnt how to draw by tracing the images on a transparent sheet of paper and colouring within the lines, my father later thought us how to draw. My favourite book back then was Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll; I had a hardcover version with illustrations as a kid.
At age nine, my mother enrolled us in piano classes, and I quickly formed a liking to it. As a teenager, I loved reading teen novels and Young Adult (YA) novels. I read the first four books of The Clique series by Canadian author Lisi Harrison, my sister was a huge fan of the series.
One my favourite books as a teen was It’s Okay! I Am Wearing Really Big Knickers and Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging by British author Luise Rennison. At age thirteen and fourteen I started playing lead guitar on my Peavey Raptor Plus Red electric guitar. Shortly after that I resumed piano lessons and continued to learn on my own after attending a summer program. During this time, I also started writing poetry inspired by the songs I listened to and I joined my school’s orchestra playing second flute. My earliest works were handwritten in a journal given to me by my mum right before moving to Canada for school. I call it the Green Book. Later works are written in my new journal, on my phone and rarely on my laptop.
In 2011, I moved to Canada to pursue my higher education in Engineering. Despite how consumed I was with school and other obligations; I kept writing and learning how to create emotions through imagery, rhymes and metaphors. In 2018, graduated from the University of Waterloo with a Bachelor of Applied Science. After graduating, I started taking dance classes (Salsa, Bachata and Kizomba), a year later I enrolled in adult ballet classes and from there, I started learning languages. I speak fluent French and Italian. I am working on my German and learning other languages in my spare time.
I work full time as a Hardware Product Designer. I worked as a Hardware Engineer in my previous roles.
2. How did poetry all begin for you?
I started writing a bit by accident at thirteen years old. Back then I was a bit obsessed with writing down lyrics to my favourite songs after listening to them repeatedly. I started writing my own songs lyrics, humming and singing along to chords I made up on my guitar. Sometimes I sang the lyrics to the tunes of my favourite pop songs. Later I discovered alternative metal and went down a pipeline of other heavy metal sub-genres. From there I started writing my lyrics down in stanzas and slowly stopped singing them. I thought poems had to rhyme so I never considered what I was writing as songs, they were just lyrics with no tune to carry them. I shared one of my “poems” with a classmate who also liked writing poetry, it was well received. My work is heavily inspired by music, notably metals bands like Epica, Lacuna Coil, Within Temptation, Evanescence, Theatre of Tragedy and many others. I also started revisiting soul, pop and RnB music from artist such as Aretha Franklin, Sade, Mariah Carey, Goapele, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Adele and Jill Scott. I later discovered progressive metal, instrumental metal and ambient music in my late teens which allowed me to create a living, breathing atmosphere in my later work.
3. What is your writing process like
I write when something moves me, an emotion, a prompt, a thought, or a moment of clarity. I don’t force poems to come; I wait until the words feel ready. Most of my writing begins with a strong feeling or image, and from there, I follow the thread wherever it leads. Many of my poems come together in five to ten minutes as first drafts, especially when the emotion is clear and focused. Some pieces take much longer; weeks, even months and years depending on the depth of what I’m exploring. I trust that each poem knows how it wants to unfold. When it comes to revision, I usually revise within a week of writing. I might adjust the flow, tone, or structure, small changes that help the poem land more honestly. I also revisit older pieces from years ago, refining the language or adding new stanzas when something new wants to be said. When it comes to revision, I choose titles intuitively. Some come to me long before the poem is written, often inspired by a song, a feeling, or a phrase that lingers in my mind. Summer Heat and Come Clean are good examples both titles existed in my notes well before I ever sat down to write the actual poems. I just knew they held something I would eventually need to say.
Other titles emerge after the poem is finished, when I can feel what the piece is about. Smile, Cosmic Love, and Liminal Spaces were all named after I reread them and understood the emotion or message coming through. Some titles revealed themselves once I was ready to hear them.
Every title feels like a doorway. It must reflect the heart of the poem and resonate with both my inner voice and the truth the poem holds. I know a poem is ready when I can read it back and feel it resonate, not just emotionally, but spiritually. When it echoes my inner voice and feels aligned, I know it’s complete. If it stays with me after a few quiet readings, and nothing feels out of place, then I trust it’s time to let it go into the world.
4. Do you usually have personal connections with your poems
Yes, for the most part. My poems on grief, heartbreak, awakening and self-discovery came from my own experience, personal struggles and navigating through them in a chaotic environment. I see them not just only as poetry to be consumed but as ways to process emotions and things that are left unsaid. Poems like I, The Creator, In The Deep and Altered State were born from grief and letting go, others like Liminal Spaces, Cosmic Love, To My Forever and Smile are based on lighter themes like self-love, anticipation, arrival of new love and finally gratitude in friendship and family. My best work usually comes from weaving all these emotional themes into something that has a universal language that we can all relate to while standing the test of time. Most of the work in my debut collection What the Silence Gave Me were written over a decade ago and they remain relevant even after so many years
5. Tell us about your favourite poets and what you like about their writing style
My favourite poets are Maya Angelou and Pablo Neruda. May Angelou’s work speaks to me because of how unapologetic and introspective, there is something raw and honest about her work. I like Pablo Neruda because he draws from lived experiences, like on love, travels and political unrest. I am still discovering more talented poets as I go. My inspiration comes from music so I lean heavily on writing that creates ambiance and lyricism.
6. You have a good following on social media. How does it feel to know that people all over the world read and resonate with your writing.
I am over-joyed that readers are now discovering my work. I am always pleased to hear how my work impacted them and what my poems meant to them. It means a lot, I am truly honoured to write and create space for people who are looking for this type of work, and I am happy to know that my audience is steadily growing. The excitement and grandeur haven’t truly set in yet; I am taking it in day by day.
7. What would people be most surprised to learn about you
That I am tall. I am 1.77m (about 5”10) I have always been taller than the average gal since childhood, and no I don’t play basketball, and I am not a good runner either. I have the stamina of a twenty-year old sloth. People always seem to be somewhat disappointed when they find out I have little to no athletic prowess.
My height is the first thing people notice when they meet me. I am not sure why it’s surprising to them, but I have since accepted that it will always be a topic of conversation. I am used to it.
8. Other hobbies you love outside writing and poetry
I have a laundry list of hobbies outside of writing as I mentioned before. In addition to writing, I am also a proficient guitar player; I am a proud owner of an eight-string Ibanez guitar that I have been playing since 2013. I also love to draw primarily with water colour pencils, pencil colours and oil pastels. I am also a language nerd; I speak French and Italian and I have been running a small Italian conversation group since May 2025. I love to travel and visiting museums when I can. I recently visited Museo Egizio in Turin Italy, and it has become one of my favourites. I am also taking up oil painting at OCAD (Ontario College of Art & Design) here in Toronto.
9. Are any of your poems based on real life experiences or do you just tap into your imagination?
My poems on heartbreak, longing and letting e.g., Sweet Nothings, Between What’s Buried and Me, The Grid and Beautiful Memory are based on real life experiences. Part Four of my book; specifically, the poems on spiritual awakening are also based on my own lived experience but there was a lot of imagination that went into it.
10. What was growing up like for you and what has the impact of family been like for you and how have they all perceived your talents as a world class poet
My family has always been incredibly supportive of me and my siblings. Growing up we got to experience a lot of music and culture which fuelled my creative side. My family is incredibly proud of my work, and they have been instrumental in supporting my creative endeavours. My sister and brother have also been supportive of my work. I am truly grateful for their love and support. My parents are helping me spread the word back home and I have received a ton of support from friends and family here in Canada, back home in Nigeria and all over the globe. I hope to one day become a world class poet and writer.
11. Please go into detail about your debut poetry collection, "What the silence gave me".
What The Silence Gave Me is my introduction to the literary world. The collection began as a compilation of poems scattered across my diary (lovingly referred to as The Green Book), my laptop, and my phone, written from my early teens to my late twenties and now early thirties. I put together manuscript of thirteen poems back in late spring early summer 2025 and since then It became more expansive.
Since then, the collection has grown into something so much more. What The Silence Gave Me is a collection that I started in my mid-teens, to now as a thirty-one-year-old.
The collection is divided into five acts:
Enter the Silence
Longing to Stillness
Truth and Reckoning
Becoming
Remembered by Love
Each part dives into the crucible of self-discovery through grief, remembrance and spiritual awakening. There are thirty-eight poems in total in the collection. All illustrations in my book were done by me.
The collection can best be described as a hero’s journey to wholeness in five acts.
I have a top thirteen list of poems in my book that I believe readers will resonate with.
I’ll Tell You Someday
Incomplete
Come Clean
To My Forever
In The Deep
Smile
The Numbered
The Remembered
Enter
The Spring
Frame
Altered State
Liminal Spaces
12. What does literary success mean to you
To me literary success means I can take pride in my ability to write, create, inspire, communicate efficiently and be a living embodiment of my work. Although it is just the beginning of my journey as a writer, I genuinely believe I have already reached this level of success.
13. Would you Consider yourself a person of faith?
I wouldn’t consider myself to be religious. I was raised catholic and practiced the faith for many years. I decided that my faith doesn’t need to depend on following any religious doctrine. Faith is usually difficult to describe outside of religious content, for me faith is based on trusting that things will always unfold and work out a lot better than we can comprehend. It’s understanding that there is a higher intelligence beyond our comprehension that is working and walking beside us, gently guiding us, and allowing life to orchestra the events and people that eventually bring our desires from dreams to reality. Many times, in my life I have felt that inner voice and guidance even in the moments when things felt uncertain and I have learnt to listen.
14. How has your experience on the Collab Tour been so far?
It’s been wonderful so far. Everyone has been so warm and welcoming. I am truly grateful for the opportunity to work with a supportive group of writers and dreamers. I have received a lot of positive feedback on my work from readers and other writers, and it has given me so much perspective. The writing community has shown me what happens when like-minded people work together. We support each other’s work and share in each other’s accomplishments. As someone who spent most of her life writing in secret, I never thought I meet a community of people who truly believe in my work outside of my family and friends. Thank you so much for the opportunity, it means a lot
15. Your parting words to the readers?
It’s never too late to start; be it poetry, writing, art, music or any creative venture, it is important to stay true to yourself and to not judge your progress based on someone else’s expectation or what others are doing.
Remember that you can always change your mind if something isn’t working anymore. You don’t need to know the ins and outs of what you are trying to build to start building. Once you start the rest can follow.
Stay open to new experiences, seeks ways to grow and accept that you are doing your best at any given moment. Also stay curious and keep learning. There is a whole world to discover.
