To Heal A Broken Heart: Pre-order Now!
Introducing my next poetry and short story anthology that explores emotions of heartbreak, and ways to heal from all that hurt in the heart!
Warm greetings!
It is with immense pleasure that I introduce you to my next poetry and short story collection, To Heal A Broken Heart, that has been in the works for the last two years!
This has been a labor of love, and I can’t wait for you to get your hands on it!
The local release date is scheduled for 25th August 2023, with an international release date slated for 25th September 2023!
About the book:
Written after a period when I experienced intense heartbreak, the book explores all the emotions and hurting that came as a result of that heartbreak, and how to heal from all that hurt that plagued the heart.
Defined by four main chapters — Tales of A Broken Heart, A Journey To Healing, A Broken People’s Ballad and A Healed People’s Playlist; each chapter seeks to explore and feel all the hurt experienced with the subsequent chapter exploring how to heal from that hurt and pain.
The first two chapters, are mainly poems, with the next two chapters defined by short stories, each starting with a poem that sets the tone on what the short story really is about.
The entire collection offers a way in which we not only explore the feelings of heartbreak, but also learn different ways on how we could heal from that hurt and pain that plagued the heart because we loved deeply.
This has been a labor of love, and a journey of surreal growth, and I can’t wait for you to get your hands on it.
When we have loved deeply, we equally feel pain with the same amount of depth; and at times, having lost the one you loved or was in love with, we are left with bits of trauma that we have to address, if we are to ever move forward. This is how we heal.
To heal, you must first understand that you are broken, and understanding that you are broken, allows you to heal.
To heal, we must address our pains and our traumas. We must find a way out of that pain, that at times, threatens to consume us whole. To heal, we must be vulnerable with the emotions we feel, we must be honest with ourselves.
As part of the build up to the release of the collection, I had a conversation with In Conversation which is transcribed below.
In Conversation: Is this the kind of writer you are becoming? One who writes about heartbreak and pain?
Oganga Mangiti: I really don’t know; but I think I have always been drawn to sad emotions; they are easier to write about.
In Conversation: I ask this because you have a book out called “Love & Pain,” with “To Heal A Broken Heart,” now coming out on 25th August, with an international release date of 25th September 2023. What inspires the poems behind the books?
Oganga Mangiti: Now thinking about it, I think a lot of it stems from my duality. I am a Gemini of course, and I tend to look at things from two opposite perspectives.
Love exists because there is pain, and pain remains because we have known love.
But with “To Heal A Broken Heart,” I go somehow deeper into this duality, and maybe even grow from “Love & Pain.”
You see, “To Heal A Broken Heart,” brings out both my masculine and feminine side, depicted by the cover and the drawings, that define each chapter. But this only marks the beginning.
The poems push those internal conversations, that should explain why you are broken and how you seek to heal from your brokenness. And I think there’s a lot of strength, growth and resilience that stems from that.
And well the short stories? Each piece is told by both male and female protagonists, each depicting their own version of brokenness, and what it would mean to them to find healing; however unconventional that could be.
There’s a lot of me in there; literally; like how certain characters are called Benjamine, Benjie, or Min; or how certain characters represent and are named after people who have been in my life and inspired certain aspects of the book.
But that’s it, there’s nothing more to it; I want to extract myself from the book, and not let that define who I am. I am who I am, but I feel more and experience more, than just what I feel, or one aspect of my life.
I crossed over into my latter twenties, and now more than ever, I am looking at things very differently. I want to grow into a grand old man, a man of nyadhi, and that requires a lot of introspection and a lot of learning.
In Conversation: That’s a lot to take in, and I am sure our readers and I, have a lot of questions running through our minds. But what really inspires you to keep writing?
Oganga Mangiti: There was a time I had an answer to that question, and I called it my search. I was searching for words to express all that we felt.
But now, I am still seeking a probable answer to that question. Something more. I have noticed my poetry has changed, and at times I feel it’s devoid of soul.
I am not sure if this is my pragmatism coming to the forefront, but this is where I am, at this point in time, and I am accepting that this is what defines this period of my life.
But to answer your question, I am seeking more than just a search, and a lot more of restraint. This started off as a passion, but now, we are trying to define and understand what that passion means, and that is what is inspiring what we are now writing about.
In Conversation: And where do you see this leading to?
Oganga Mangiti: There was a time I wanted and desired to become mainstream. But not anymore. And I am noticing a lot of this in my personal life as well. I am more private now, and being cautious with the things I openly express, I think this is what I mean by the restraint I mentioned earlier.
But I’ve also seen the very different versions of myself, especially now, compared to my early twenties or my high school years.
Each version of that self, defined a certain aspect of that life, and that equally inspired everything around us.
What I am trying to say is, is that I am living in the now; I do have ambitions, but those also need a lot more tweaking. I am trying to create the kind of life I want. And I think we are in a period of heavy thinking.
In Conversation: Is this why you started writing “To Heal A Broken Heart”?
Oganga Mangiti: “To Heal A Broken Heart,” started a long time ago. I always knew that a second book would come; and for a while, in my mind, I thought that book would be about blooming.
But I guess as we live this life, and we attempt to live it fully, we experience deep emotions; and for me, that lead into heart break.
And in my need to move on from that, came the need to heal this broken heart, hence the title of the book.
I started writing in December 2021, and by January 2022, the first bit of the book was done; the poems.
I still don’t know why it took me months to put out the book, but I think this might have been because I was in my final year of Arch. school at the time, and that carried heavy pressures of its own.
That final year actually had me drowning to save my life. But that is a story for another day.
But in writing the poems, and really seeking healing, I realized that more had to come out of this.
There was more healing that needed to be done, and those couldn’t be told by just poems alone; it had to be through characters with a back story and a resolve.
In Conversation: And the poems, are they about a particular person?
Oganga Mangiti: Hahaha… You cheeky fool. I had a feeling you would ask that question.
But yes, they are…
I initially wrote 70 poems, and those were 35 on experiencing heartbreak and the rest were on healing.
This wasn’t actually meant to be a full book; I had wanted to get over that period of my life, and I did it as best as I knew how, through writing.
However, through writing, I realized that there was more that could and should be said, hence my experimentation further with the short stories.
In Conversation: And do you still talk to that person?
Oganga Mangiti: Hahaha… Read the book and you will find out.
In Conversation: And the short stories? Tell us a bit about that.
Oganga Mangiti: These are the heavy ones. This is where we really begin to heal.
Each story is told by female and male characters; alternating with each new beginning; all spread across different settings in Nairobi, and a touch of Laikipia and Maasai Mara.
They are extremely short for my liking, but that is enough to express the struggles of the pain felt, and what it means to heal from that particular hurt.
There are also letters between lovers, and I went all out on that, they are only told from one perspective, and that leaves the reader with a lot of thinking to think about.
In Conversation: You have to tell us more, you have to give us more.
Oganga Mangiti: Well, each short story begins with a poem that defines what the short story really is about, and gives you a bit of feels before you jump headfirst into somebody else’s life and feelings.
Shout out to Daisy for reading my first ever draft short story, and encouraging me to keep writing the rest of the book. Love you to death.
The first short story is “My Once Beloved,” that is told from the perspective of a female character who met someone by coincidence, liked them, loved them, and had her heart broken by him.
It brings out themes of trauma that are told unconventionally and how we tend to keep running from our emotions and all that we feel.
In Conversation: And what’s next?
Oganga Mangiti: I don’t know, that’s a question that only God can answer.
But what I know for sure, is that we are all healing our broken hearts from 25th August 2023.
Get a copy, vibe, chill, and learn what it’s like to have your heart broken, and how to heal from that.
In Conversation: And do you have a favorite poem or short story?
Oganga Mangiti: Well, it has to be Naisenya’s Interlude… the more I keep reading it, the more I see a lot of pieces of myself in it.
It’s an escape from everything, and I think for a while, all you need to do is escape.
It’s what happens when you really give yourself to someone, and they are not there how you would want them to be.
But also, it’s about having the courage to put them behind you despite what you feel, and what you think they would feel.
I can’t wait to go into print and bring this book into your hands. Please do consider pre-ordering your copy and showing some love.
May your days be gradually filled with more and more light. May your aperture be wide enough to notice.
Always with love,
Oganga Mangiti.
