Fidelis O. Mkparu is a Nigerian immigrant in the U.S. who wishes to speak to his experiences and those of his fellow immigrants.

He is a professor of Medicine at Northeast Ohio Medical University and a senior attending cardiologist at Aultman Hospital and Mercy Medical Center in Canton, Ohio. \

Previously, he was a Spaulding fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital at Harvard Medical School.

His preceding novels include Love’s Affliction and Tears Before Exaltation.

Bee: When did you first have a desire to write?  How did this desire manifest itself?

Fidelis: I was the editor of my high school magazine. I wrote editorials for the monthly magazine and loved the experience. After that, I started writing poems and short stories in college. 

Bee: How completely do you develop your characters before beginning to write?

Fidelis: I do write an outline before I start, but while writing I usually undergo a transformation that changes the direction of my story.

That is how my characters develop, and the ending of the story is never predetermined. It happens. 

Bee: Tell us about your cover. Did you design it yourself? 

Fidelis: The cover came from an experience I had walking on a dirt road leading to the ruins of my grandfather’s house built in the 1800’s.

I took my shoes off and walked barefoot on the grounds my grandfather walked on. I never met him but walking on his house floor connected me spiritually to him.

Bee: What writers have you drawn inspiration from?

Fidelis: Paulo Coelho, Ian McEwan, Chinua Achebe, Philip Freeman 

Bee: This question is for Afamefuna. You had a very tough decision to make between trying to save your ancestorial land or staying with your wife and children. How does one make a decision like that? 

Fidelis: I left my untethered soul in my homeland at a young age. I have to reconnect with my soul to feel complete.

Although the feat is preordained for me, but I can disavow my heritage and lose my soul, or make a mournful journey back to my homeland. I can save my soul, or save my marriage.

However, without my soul I feel unfulfilled in every aspect of my life.

I need to reconnect with the wanderer, which my soul has become, to feel whole again. My goal is to be a good husband and father.

Bee: How has being a father impacted how you write?

Fidelis: I write from my experiences to help my children appreciate my rich African culture.

Bee: You are a husband, father university professor of Medicine, and a senior attending cardiologist.  How do you balance all of that and find time to write? 

Fidelis: I enjoy everything I do. I apportion my time fairly to all my obsessions. Yes, I am obsessed with my family too.

Bee: What do you do when you are not writing?

Fidelis: Photography and music. I love to listen to African music, and sometimes dance to them. That’s another obsession of mine.

Bee: What are you currently working on?

Fidelis: A collection of poems My Untethered Soul.

Bee: Where can our readers find out more about you and your work?

Fidelis: My Website

Bee: Thanks once again and good luck with all of your future endeavors.

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