About MFA.
MFA. (read Emefa), 27, is an up-and-coming writer and overall art enthusiast based in Belgium. Keen on all things music, culture and literature, she mostly uses her Instagram page to publish poetry and to document concerts and other cultural events she’s been attending in Belgium and abroad. With a German and Togolese background, MFA. has a multicultural approach to the appreciation and making of her art as she draws a lot of influence from her life in those countries. As a ‘student of life’, MFA.’s writing has mainly centered around self-discovery and spirituality. She dialogues with herself to document her navigation of life. You can also find her writing on Medium.com, a publishing platform she’s joined at the end of 2020 (under the alias @mfawrites).
“(...)
As the children I have once been and hardly remember,
And as my adult selves I can only dream of,
All that binds me to this poem is this permanent desire To Be...
With meanings I can be proud of across all times”
Ⓒ MFA (read 'Emefa'), The Omni-Self, 2022
Who is MFA?
If you don't mind, I'll take the liberty of giving this About section an interview style.
I have been writing and publishing on the Internet for about eight years. Or maybe longer if you count my 10+ years on tumblr. But if we consider my resolve to become a professional in this field we can make it five years of pursuit of this goal until now.
Having said that, I've been writing in English for about 10 years in total, I should also mention that prior to that I mainly wrote in German, which is one of my native languages. I was born and raised in Germany 27 years ago on a late Wednesday afternoon in August. I grew up in a West-African household, hearing Ewe and French as my first languages. At 12 years of age, after having read my first 300-page science-fiction novels in English, my brains added English to my mental library of thought languages - one of the reasons writing in this language comes naturally to me. Moreover, as a talkative child, I've loved learning languages. My gratefulness for the opportunities life gave me to live in different countries and continents is endless as it granted me access to learning 5 languages before I hit the age of 20. All this shaped my outlook on life and obviously my multi-cultural identity. But that's for another time. Or another article on my Medium page ;)
Why up-and-coming writer and not just plainly and boldly writer? The reason is simple: writing is not my full-time job yet. I still rely on my corporate job in the world of finance for a living and aspire to become a full-time artist eventually.
I currently dabble in poetry and fiction to hone my writing skills. Poetry, being my first literary love as it grants me powers with which I can paint worlds with colors I can't mix on any palette, and strike with blows I don't have to hold back on. My easiest and somehow hardest access to freedom. Fiction, however, is an extended version of what poetry has done for me. And I'm new to the art of writing it. I'm currently working on my first fiction novel. I draw inspiration from my life story and complex experiences, as most artists do, but also from artistic and scientific content I consume for leisure: music, anime, sci-fi, biology, neuroscience, astrophysics, spirituality, mental health, fitness, African folklore, etc.
About the name...
MFA is the pen and artist name I've adopted since 2017 when I started publishing poetry on instagram. It's an acronym of my West-African middle name Emefa; an Ewe name translating as 'There is peace, it is peaceful'.
Ewe is a language spoken by the Ewe people, an ethnic group spread across Ghana, Togo and Benin.
I'm developing a particular relationship with this name because I aim to embody and live up to it. I'm looking to at least use it as a means to reach mental equilibrium, or peace of mind, happiness, fulfillment, whatever virtue you want to call it.
Goals?
Publishing my first novel and not just stopping there; I'd like to expand to other art forms I fancy (visual, dance, etc).
There is so much to learn, and so much of which I'm still not doing enough. It's a journey with challenges I long to live up to.
Writing and reading other talented writers and thinkers on Medium has helped me a lot on my journey so far and I hope to make the best out of the gifts of this platform. So I'm looking forward to my growth.
In the meantime, I thank all readers and fellow writers who take the time to read my articles and poems. And to my fellow writers, thank you for sharing your craft.
Yours truly,
MFA.
