Published poet plans his future
Student spotlight: Olusola Dada

-- Dara Trooien

Olusola Dada received an award for his first published poem that can be found in an anthology at the International Library of Poetry. He has a book of poetry that will be available in 2006, is working on a children’s book and a fiction novel and wants to start an online business.

Olusola, or "Shola," as he likes to be called, has been writing since he was four or five years old. However, his love of writing poetry sparked when he took a required English class at Century College in 2004. Since then he’s been hooked.

Dada visited a Web site called http://poetry.com and entered his poem titled "Discovering Poetry" in the online contest. He was first awarded the Editor’s Choice Award in January of 2005 and then a month later received a second award called the Outstanding Achievement in Poetry Award. Dada was then invited to participate in a poetry convention in Orlando, Florida at the Disney World Resort where poets from all around the world joined together to recite their own poetry.

When asked about publishing a book of poetry, he hesitated a little and with a big hearty laugh and a smile, said "Actually, my first book is coming out sometime in 2006. I knew I had to publish a book because after writing my first poem, within about two months I had over 100 poems," he explains.

His book titled, The golden measure of a true lover—love, romance, and the Divine plan will be published by PublishAmerica and available online at http://www.publishamerica.com as well as in local bookstores, such as Barnes and Noble.

This 26 year-old has big plans for the future. He’s currently working on a children’s book about a young boy who has just watched "The Passion of the Christ" with his mother. The boy has a lot of unanswered questions and throughout the book tries to find the answers.

He’s also started working on a fiction novel about three young people who have just graduated college and are struggling to keep their jobs, friendships and love lives intact.

Dada dreams of starting an online business with a friend, which would feature his poetry, placed into picture frames for sale. "I get inspiration from everything. Sometimes, I look at the sky, go to a park or sit by a lake and poetry just comes to me," he says.

Although he already has enough poems to publish a second book, he’s waiting to collaborate with a friend, another writer to see if they can publish a book together.

Dada typically writes two to four poems a week. He writes about nature, relationships, love, imagination and God. "I want to write about things that are current, that make people feel and can relate with."

He’s an avid reader and especially enjoys nonfiction books about life and relationships. Dada comments, "Poetry is natural for me. I love writing poetry and the way I feel when I read it."

Along with writing, Dada loves to work with numbers as he is pursuing a degree in accounting. And if Dada’s ambitiousness with his craft is any sign of his future success, his accounting degree will come in handy when he’s counting all those royalty checks!