In February 2022 Bibiani Books released the 2nd poetry collection of Cookey Iwuoha titled : The Tragedy of Being Born Beautiful: a collection of poetry written from the prism of African perspective on timeless human experiences.
On release, the poetry collection gained traction with lovers of the timeless genre. In the emerging literary highway of timeless knitting of the past, the present and emerging futures, reviewers affirmed its worth in gold and as a grandstanding on the potential of mythological pre-supposition to moralize the potential dangers of unbridled empiricism.
Poetically and prosaically enriched in imageries ,irony ,symbolism, simile, and metaphors, the work is an effort to bring the domain of mythology into clear consciousness and control- a literary constructions hinged on the authors effort to develop the moral consciousness stored in Afro-mythological conceptions.
The multi-layered collection of poems is divided in four parts, Dawn,Sunrise, Sunset and Twilight much like the seasons of man, the poems alternate between diverse emotions as they address age-old questions about self purpose and hope.
The African Study Center of Leiden University Netherlands ,one of the oldest university in Europe founded in 1575 are among the most prominent procurer of the collection thereby highlighting the attention that the collection published in Africa is garnering world over.
Leiden University is a public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William, Prince of Orange, making it the oldest institution of higher education in the Netherlands.
Known for its historic foundations and emphasis on the social sciences, the university came into particular prominence during the Dutch Golden Age, when scholars from around Europe were attracted to the Dutch Republic due to its climate of intellectual tolerance. During this time, Leiden became the home to individuals such as René Descartes, Rembrandt, and Baruch Spinoza.
The university has seven academic faculties and over fifty subject departments, housing more than forty national and international research institutes. And Cookey Iwuoha is glad that the collection which he is yet to massively publicize is being purchased by lofty academic institutions like Leiden University and has contacted the African Study Center of Leiden University for their review of the work.
The Tragedy of being born beautiful is dedicated to Mothers of lost daughters, which are all the mothers that have lost their daughter to the Boko Haram insurgency in Chibok and Dapchi in the North East of Nigeria.
Cookey Iwuoha also dedicated the Tragedy of Being Born Beautiful to 4 illustrious living person’s Mama Imahkus Njinga Ababio, Elder Akbar Muhammad, Queen Diambi Kabatusuila of Congo and HE Obi Enweze whom the poet claimed that he had drawn inspiration and strength from his encounter with their personalities in different phases of his life while writing the poetry collection.