Category: Arts & Life

One of the oldest custodians and chroniclers of the history of afrobeats in Nigeria is Babatunde Banjoko. Although he left Nigeria fifty years ago, between 1978 and 1981, he was the artist designing Fela’s shoes and clothes patterns. Within those years, he also took part in the designing of some album covers of Fela’s music alongside other great artists. He was home to Nigeria where he participated in the just concluded Artimiabo International Art festival themed Art of Afrobeats. Edozie Udeze encountered him.

Babatunde Banjoko is a visual artist, one of the oldest followers and designers of Fela’s works and insignia. He was one of those earliest artists that followed Fela when he formed his band newly in the 1960s. When the band was known as Kola Lobito, Banjoko was one of the artists that devoted their time to the musical renditions of the Abami Eda. Last week, Banjoko flew into Nigeria from Europe to be part of the just concluded Artmiabo International Art Festival tagged Art of Afrobeats. Interestingly, Banjoko left Nigeria fifty years ago and has been pitching his tent in France where he is domiciled and where he is already a household name in the world of visuals.

A great artist indeed, he traverses Europe where he often gets contracts to do many designs for groups, companies and individuals. From designing book covers to album designs, he also does portraits of important personalities when he is contracted to do so. Now, almost totally French in behaviour and carriage, he looks back with nostalgia about the years when the going was fresh and new and almost uncertain. He said “My name is Babatunde Banjoko, a visual artist. I am here in Nigeria for the Artmiabo International Festival themed Art of Afrobeats. This is the 2023 edition of it. I am exposing my works to show how and when afrobeats meet with visual art. With afrobeats, you know what Fela Anikulapo Kuti stands for.

“Part of this show is to reinforce the fact that afrobeats was created by Fela”. He noted that the genre of music created by Fela has transcended time and space and it is time to celebrate and immortalize the name Fela, the Abami Eda. Banjoko went on “In those days, my folks went to work in Abeokuta, although we are Ijebu, born in Lagos. It was during those days in Abeokuta that my folks encountered the Ransome-Kuti family and the friendship struck. So I have known the Anikulapo Kutifamily since I was a child. Reverend Israel, Fela’s father was a junior reverend to my aunt’s husband. Both served in the same church in Abeokuta. That was indeed how the relationship started way back in time”.

His uncle was a canon then, a bigger position in the cadre of the church. His name was Canon Efukoya. “Then we called my mother, mama Abeokuta. My own mother was also living in Abeokuta. Through this I came to know the Ransome-Kutis. So, when I was young we used to visit the Kutis. It was then I also encountered Fela. But then I never knew I was going to collaborate with him in any way. But when I started as an artist, I began as a graphic artist in an agency. Graphic Advertising was located at Bode Thomas Surulere, Lagos. That was where I started. The graphic outfit was one of the best in Nigeria in those days. They used to do the EMI Records, recording artistes like Ofege, Kristi Okotie and others.

Banjoko is graphically up to date in his presentation, not minding the number of years he has spent outside his birthplace. He said further, “It was at the Graphics Advertising that I learnt how to do cover designs. I was an apprentice but I took my time to learn how to do layers. At a point when the place was gutted by fire, I left. However, we all needed to move on, to seek new employments. So that was how I came to meet Fela. I started doing cover designs alongside Lemi Ghariokwu and others. I also did some of the patterns on Fela’s clothes. Also some patterns on his shoes. This was within the period of 1978 to 1981. I was the one doing all the patterns both on the shoes and on the clothes”.

Often he would take the clothes to Kano where they were duly embroidered. “But I would make the designs first before the Kano person did the embroidery. Some of the designs included Egyptian hieroglyphics. The shoes I would take to Cemetery Street, Ebute metta East where a cobbler would then insert the designs on the shoes”. Gradually, the cobbler began to get so used to Fela’s designs, his taste and great love for perfection. “The man who did the embroidery lived in Kano. Thereafter he would deliver to Fela in Lagos. The cobbler was initially a mere shoe repairer. But he specialized in making Yoruba skin shoes. So he met Fela and since then we started using him. This was so because Fela had a problem with one of his feet. His right foot was larger than the left one”.

What it meant therefore was that the Abami eda could not buy ready-made shoes. The alternative was for him to make his own shoes himself. “That was why I came in to make patterns on his shoes”, Banjoko said nodding his head to the memories of yesteryears when the name Fela resonated far and near.

Now a well-known book cover designer in Europe and beyond, Banjoko was invited to the Artmiabo Festival as part of the promotion of all the ingredients that helped the afrobeats musical journey during those teething years of formation. “Yes, Artmiabo means a lot to me”, he responded promptly. “It is a moment to showcase my works not only to the Nigerian public but to the whole world. I live abroad and there are some other artists from abroad who are invited. This second edition is well presented. This is to sensitise the people about those aspects of the art that propelled the afrobeats. Mrs Enyadike herself is also a visual artist and so she makes it come out better. When all of us are here, she knows how to organise shows to help promote the art. For this, we must give her credit. We must praise her for her resilience. For this I am grateful to her”.

He came with a few of his works, some dating back in time. Some of the portraits were commissioned works by some prominent artists in Europe and America. And as it was expected, he also came along with one of fela’s oldest and best known posters. He recalled his life in Paris, France. “Yes, I live in Paris, I studied in Paris. I studied Fine Arts there. After that, I also studied Pottery. Then I went into photography. Even then, I started photography earlier in the States. I have a studio in Paris and practice my art there”.

Since he is well grounded in all aspects of the creative arts, Banjoko deals with high level producers and writers and book makers. He said so, “I also work in advertising agency in Paris. As a photographer, publishing artist and designing their work covers come within my purview. As a photographer I have done that for more than twelve years now. I work as a photographer for Paris magazine, topmost photography magazines in Paris. I also work for book companies, designing book covers. At times I travel to England. This includes recording companies like Virgin Records, Island Records and more. All these are in the UK. I get works from them and I then move over there to do them”.

Banjoko has designed covers of many internationally acclaimed children’s books. Also he does paintings of world-acclaimed singers including Grace Jones who was fond of wearing clean shaven hair style. Jones was one of the best known singers and performers of her generation in the 1980s. He came with five works, one on Fela, others on those he had either photographed or painted over the years. Most of the works are commissioned. “Yes Grace Jones is still alive and kicking. She asked me to do this portraiture years back and it shows her in her full artistic mien. It is also one of the foremost works I have done over time. I met her through a close friend of mine. That friend used to produce Fela Anikulapo Kuti. So, then he linked me up with Grace Jones”.

At that time she was married to a big time photographer. “So, I was presented to the family and later she inspired this painting. She did not acquire it because we did not speak about it”, he recalled. He also has the portrait of Bullet Ben Johnson, the disgraced world Olympic champion. One thing about his art is that he stamps his signature on them with precision, the kind of accuracy that is peculiar to him as an all-round visual artist.

The atmosphere in the small hall was calm, colourful and regal. Government representatives, entrepreneurs, cultural ambassadors, fashionistas and Royalty gathered this evening to celebrate and unveil the latest addition to Queen Ronke Ademiluyi Ogunwusi’s Africa Fashion Week showcasing in Sao Paulo, Brazil writes Yetunde Oladeinde.

Queen Ronke Ademiluyi Ogunwusi, founder, Africa Fashion Week London and Nigeria happily announced the introduction of the Africa Fashion Week Brazil, in collaboration with the Brazilian Embassy in Lagos. 

This edition of Africa Fashion Week which is scheduled to hold between 25th, 26th to 27th of May, 2023 at the Expo center in São Paulo, the most populous city in Brazil, she said will boost cultural and economic ties between Africa and Brazil.

The event is also aimed at creating a synergy in the fashion industry between Brazil and Africa, promote economic growth, boost cultural ties, as well as provide a platform for future cooperations.

On his part, the Consulate General of Brazil in Lagos, Ministro André Veras Guimarães, gave a brief history of how the Africa Fashion Week Nigeria was established by Queen Ronke Ademiluyi Ogunwusi in 2014 with the aim of promoting emerging Africa fashion designers on global platforms.

Guimarães went on to explore the opportunities and potentials in the sector.  “The fashion industry promotes diversity of culture expressions, values, creativity and depicts the tradition of textiles and craftsmanship”.

He stated the fashion and textile industry in Africa is growing, adding that as at November, 2022, the sub-saharan Africa Apparel sector was reported to have an estimated worth of $31billion.

African textiles and fashion, he said are spreading around the world.

He said the fabrics and prints mostly derived from natural fibres, cottons and various colour dires featured Africa cultural symbols.

“Fashion and clothing matter to the economy, society and individuals. The industry generates activities in trade, it creates employment opportunities,”Guimarães said.

Speaking on the similarities between Nigeria and Brazil, Guimarães noted that the initiative is very important, to bring societies together as we are similar in many ways. “We have to make the African fashion known in Brazil and because we have a large, not only black population, but Yoruba population, we have the status here as I said, that is a state where if any of you go to, you will  feel at home. You will fit in because of the clothes, the music and traditions we have.”

He noted that holding the Africa Fashion Week in Brazil is a great initiative that will be greatly harnessed to the good of both countries. “And like I told Her Majesty Olori Ronke Ogunwusi,  that we can go deeper after this Africa Fashion Week.  We will offer scholarships. We can send people to study fashion in Brazil, and they will have the immigrant status. They have a free scholarship, all they need to do is just apply, to be selected. Of course there is a selection process but we can explore these educational paths. 

We need to bring our societies to be closer. So I believe this partnership with Africa Fashion Week and Brazil with grow great fruits in future.” He concluded.

Giving a brief overview of the AFW, at the event, Queen Ronke Ademiluyi Ogunwusi, founder Africa Fashion Week London, Nigeria and Brazil said the Africa Fashion Week started in 2011 in London and was created as a platform to bridge the gap between Africa designers, black designers and the general public.

“When we started over a decade ago, there wasn’t a platform that brought together African designers and the global audience. Most of the platforms were mainstream platforms and a lot of people then shy away from Africa fashion. So African fashion was considered then as more traditional. People were not proud to wear Africa fashion especially in the diaspora.

“I grew up in London, I was born there. I knew we did not have that exposure to African fashion like we do now where we have amazing, phenomenon African designers both in Nigeria and abroad that are doing so many wonderful things with our textiles and our fabrics.

“There was an urgent need to create a platform that showcased the great creativity of Africa designers. This gave birth to Africa Fashion Week, London. In 2014, we created a sister brand called ‘Africa Fashion Week, Nigeria,” Ogunwusi explained.

She said the reason why she crated the Africa Fashion Week Nigeria was to enable her and her team to reach out to talented designers within Nigeria and Africa who could not afford the logistics of travelling during the international show.

“It is going to be our 9th year this year and Africa Fashion Week, London is going to be our 13th year this year,” she added.

She noted that The Nigerian fashion industry is worth trillions of naira, that we just have to look inwards to know how we can make it work. “A lot of students after graduation, complain about no jobs not being able to do anything, so we encourage vocational skills training and that is one of the reasons why His Majesty, the Ooni of Ife Ojaja Ogunwusi, set up the Adire Textile Hub, in 2021. Since its inception, we have trained over 500 young women and youths to take up this skill. A lot of our young graduates, you know, come out or after graduating, they’re not in jobs, they’re not in employment, so we equip them with entrepreneurial skills.

“We also have our Tech Startup, which is also a branch of the African Fashion Week, which is to encourage young people to come and learn how to make Adire, where we teach them different skills in it. So in a nutshell what we’re seeing today is we’re encouraging young people to take up vocational training. We’re also using fashion as an instrument of wealth creation, job creation and economic empowerment.” Olori Ronke Adewusi concluded.

The Africa Fashion Week Brazil 2023, will feature a population of Nigerian  and other African designers, and designers in diaspora,  who will not only showcase their creativity with their collections, but the event according to Olori Ronke will also see an exchange of cultural fashion.

“Their clothes tell stories about their culture. It’s going to be like an exchange of culture, an educational platform, that exchanges, talks about our culture and preservation of our cultural heritage.”

Akin Adesokan, an Associate Professor of Comparative Literature, is a writer and scholar. His award-winning first novel, Roots in the Sky, was published in 2004. His first critical study, Postcolonial Artists and Global Aesthetics (Indiana University Press, 2011), is a multi-disciplinary work which explores the generic and cultural consequences of globalization by focusing on conceptual patterns in Nollywood, African cinema, and postcolonial writings. He co-edited Celebrating D. O. Fágúnwà: Aspects of African and World Literary History (2017) on the work of Daniel Fágúnwà, the pioneer Yoruba novelist. His new book, Everything is Sampled, has just been published. In this interview with United States Bureau Chief OLUKOREDE YISHAU, Adesokan discusses issues in the book, writing, teaching and more. Excerpts: 

Everything Is Sampled appreciates the work of several generations of African writers, directors, and artists. Why did you decide to undertake this assignment? 

Sometime in mid-2010, I wrote a short reflection on creative ways to think about digital and new media in relation to literature, to film, video, art and music. It was an open, question-based sort of inquiry—not a proposal or anything prescriptive, just something to stimulate thinking about relatively new trends in artistic production, and how one might write about those trends. I shared it with some of my colleagues in the African Studies Programme at Indiana University and a healthy cohort of scholars seemed taken with those questions, and in a year or two we started a collaborative research project called New Media and Literary Initiatives in Africa, which we later branded NeMLiA. Between 2015 and 2018, we held a series of seminars, workshops, and symposia—the sorts of modes that scholars typically use to share their ideas. In the fall semester of 2011, I chose to bring some of the same questions to the classroom by teaching a course on African Literature and Other Arts. It was an old course in the book, but it occurred to me that it might be useful to share those questions with upper-undergraduate students. I taught the course a number of times, and the two “platforms”—the research initiative and the course—became the means by which most of the ideas for the book began to germinate.

After Roots in the Sky, you are yet to bless us with another novel. Is something in the works?

Yes, something is always in the works for a writer, even if that is not visible as a published book. It’s true that Roots in the Sky appeared nearly twenty years ago, and it is legitimate to wonder what has happened to my creative writing, particularly given that I have quite visible scholarly output as well. I have written more fiction than “scholarship” in the years between, as a matter of fact, but, for a writer, a book does not exist if it is not published. Publishing is a very complex and brutally subjective system. One needs several elements to align to break through this subjective fortress, because you can’t always hold anyone accountable for how that system works or doesn’t. You can’t take it out on an editor who rejects your work, or set up a shrine to the one who accepts it. You could, of course, but that’s a waste of time. Taste, subtle or overt ideological outlooks about value, what “sells,” whom you happen to meet and where—these are the things that come into play. Just yesterday, in Minneapolis, I was having a conversation about this issue with a friend, an American scholar, who has managed to publish a book for a general audience, and his journey testifies to the totally fortuitous nature of this system. I don’t complain any longer about this. One of the things I have been doing consistently through the forms of my writing, as well as through other institutional activities, is to work out a space, not just for myself, where a vision unbeholden to systematic exclusions might find its expression. 

How easy was it for you to transit from journalism to the academy, especially in a different country?

It was not easy! I’m not even sure that it’s over, or that I desire such a transition. The first phase took five years of study in such a highly competitive environment as Cornell University’s graduate programme, reading different kinds of texts, being introduced to a diversity of artistic cultures—cinematic, musical, literary, political. But it helps to know what you want to do, and to carefully identify those who can help you with the tools for doing it. Graduate study is mostly a matter of working with mentors who know various methods to identify which of those methods are suitable to the materials that interest you. I was lucky to be in a grad school where such mentors were plenty, both within and outside Cornell, and outside the university as such.

Aside your new book, tell us about other scholarly projects you have been involved in since you left Nigeria? 

Apart from NeMLiA that I described earlier, I have been part of the Fagunwa Study Group which focuses on different aspects of African literary cultures, using the visionary template of D. O. Fagunwa as a launching pad. I have also done curatorial work with the Chimurenga Chronic, based in Cape Town, South Africa, and a catalogue of FESTAC ’77 is one output of that. In various ways, these collaborations have expanded my outlook and given me new ideas of what to write about, and how to do it.

What courses do you teach and why did you choose them?

I teach courses in African literature, versions of diasporic and “world literature,” as well as on African cinema, Nollywood, and global/postcolonial films. These I do at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. I choose these topics within my fields because though teaching might appear as if you are passing on what you know on to others who don’t know, the process of teaching itself, if it is done with genuine interest, is that of finding out, through dialogue with students, what might be going on in each text. To go back to the story about my latest book, the fact that a book like Everything Is Sampled developed partly out of classroom instruction means that I didn’t know everything when I set out to teach that course.

What does it take to prepare students for a writing career?

That is a difficult question. I doubt that there’s a size that fits all. What I have done with my students is to continuously advise them to choose a subject they are passionate about, that they don’t think of study or writing as “careers,” but as means of finding out what their true temperaments are. Also, I encourage them to be self-questioning, to read for fun, read newspapers, magazines, old books…

What makes a good or great writer? Awards or what?

These are the kinds of questions I don’t always entertain because they are subjective and hardly ever produce a satisfactory response.  Awards are a recent phenomenon; they became ubiquitous after World War II. And we know that literature, the arts in general, are very old, even if we limit dating to the Renaissance…even in more recent eras, in the 20th century for instance, the only writers who won any awards got the Nobel Prizes, or some such honours in Western nations, like Spain, Italy, and France. Awards are part of what a scholar, James English, has called “the economy of prestige.” However, writers from African or Latin American countries tend to think of awards as a measure of literary or artistic value because that is how they have been socialised. I don’t know about great writers, but what makes a great work is the sum of attention it receives over the ages.

What does your writing process look like?

An image, a fragment of a song, could be the trigger. The other day I heard a line from a Nat King Cole song that I have played continuously for more than two decades but hadn’t picked up on: “I’m an errand-boy of rhythm…send me!” I said, “Wow!” I quickly went to my notebook and wrote that down, among the notes I’d been taken for nearly three years for a novel about a musician. In that novel, the musician will say those words at some point, in some version. I’m no longer sure if Cole added “send me,” but that doesn’t matter. Note-takings, writing long passages of dialogues, writing up character sketches, these are parts of the process of imagining a book.

Is there any correlation between migration and the muse? Is it possible for a writer to lose steam after leaving home?

It depends on one’s temperament. Speaking for myself, I certainly haven’t experienced any loss of steam. I have never thought of Nigeria as something to leave behind or carry with me. Living creatively does not encourage me to think in those terms. It is enough to actively inhabit one’s time and place, depending on how you imagine those. For a writer, any creative person, what is key to staying creative is living in ways that enhance creativity. 

The summer is around the corner. Do you have book recommendations?

 I’m happy to recommend books that I have read recently or been reading this year. Sarah Ladipo Manyika’s collection of profile of Black intellectuals—Between Starshine and Clay, ‘Malam’ Olufẹmi Taiwo’s Against Decolonization, Timothy Brennan’s biography of Edward Said, titled Places of Mind. I would add Surfacing, a book of essays about feminism in South Africa, Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo, Exodusters by Nell Painter, Koli Jean Bofane’s Casablanca Story (which was recently translated by my friend, Bill Johnston), Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow. These are some of the titles that have excited me recently, though not all of them are new.

Have you had reasons to miss Nigeria or you feel at home abroad?

 Yes, I miss Nigeria, even though I have what you may call a sufficient life here in the US—a steady job, a family to take care of and that cares for you, easy access to friends and families who are not within reach. What I miss, I think, are those spaces of memory I inhabited in the past, and it’s when you drive or walk past a particular neighbourhood or street which suddenly reminds you of one of these spaces, that you feel nostalgic, a sense of recoverable memory, though the geographies aren’t the same. These are precious intimations of a creative sensibility, I think. Even while in Nigeria, I used to have memories of places that didn’t really exist, but that something as fleeting as a smell, say of curry, or an image on an almanac, would suddenly make concrete by triggering memories of when I was younger. Something like that. 

By Evelyn Osagie and Stephanie Iruh

Experts in the book sector have tasked the government to create an enabling ecosystem for the book sector.

They called for an appropriate regulatory system to be put in place to ensure that the book industry functions, observing that a healthy book ecosystem that supports a vibrant and diverse book industry, according to them, has a great impact on the economy.

They made the submission at the ongoing Nigerian International Book Fair (NIBF) that opened on Wednesday and would run till Saturday, May 13.

With the theme: The role of a functional National Book Policy (NBP), the event, which had Minister of Education Mallam Adamu Adamu as a special guest, attracted experts and critical stakeholders in the book and educational sectors.

According to the Minister, authors and other critical stakeholders occupy a critical role in the development of the educational sector.

The Chairman of the Nigerian Book Fair Trust (NBFT), Dare Oluwatuyi, tasked the government to create an enabling environment for book publishing as well as provide support services needed for the critical stakeholders in the book chain to thrive.
“
I call upon our government at various levels to fully identify with the book sector, NIBF in particular, to demonstrate its commitment to the knowledge industry’” he said.

The executive secretary of the Nigerian educational research and development council (NERDC), Prof. Ismail Junaidu, who gave the keynote address, said a dysfunctional book ecosystem can lead to a lack of local content and a reliance on imported books, which may not reflect the local languages, cultures, and traditions.

“Nigeria has continued to be confronted by the existence of books that do not meet the quality standards put in place for book production and distribution. The combined effect of these constraints is the present low level of literacy and readership in general and inadequate support for effective learning in schools at all levels. Let us proceed by first developing a common understanding of the book ecosystem.”

Ola Awonubi holds an MA in Creative Writing and Imaginative Practice at the University of East London. In 2008 her short story ‘The Pink House’, won first prize in the National Words of Colour competition and another short story of hers The Go- slow Journey, won the first prize in the fiction category for Wasafiri’s New writing prize in 2009. Her first novel, ‘Love’s Persuasion’, was published by Ankara Press, an imprint of Cassava Republic, which also published her second book, ‘Love Me Unconditionally’. Her latest book is an historical fiction, ‘A Nurse’s Tale’. It will be published in July by 0neMoreChapter, an imprint of HarperCollins UK. It is inspired by the story of the daughter of an Alake of Abeokuta, OmoOba Adenrele Ademola, who served the UK during the second world war at Guy’s Hospital. In this interview with United States Bureau Chief OLUKOREDE YISHAU, Awonubi discusses this book and writing. Excerpts: 

You are known for a different genre of writing. Tell us about this transition to historical fiction and how easy or difficult it was?

It wasn’t too difficult because my collection of short stories Naija Love Stories were all historical.  Historical fiction is different because when writing you have to take into consideration the past societal, cultural norms,  the language, morals, settings, clothing, food in your writing. Also putting everything into historical perspective – dates also have to be checked.

What are the themes in The Nurse Tale?

 Love, duty, sacrifice, generation

Why is it important to tell the nurse’s story?

It is important to tell the story of this Nigerian nurse because it reveals the contributions Africans made to the war effort during the second World War, especially in a society where this is not public knowledge. 

Being a work based on a true-life story, how much flexibility did you exhibit to make it creative and not boring?

I used characterisation, plot, voice, sense of place and point of view to make it creative and colourful.  Regarding flexibility I researched what I could find about Adenreles life in London as not much information is available on her life when she returned to Nigeria. I then built on the information I found and created a dual narrative in the story.  

 In researching this work, did you meet any of her family?

No I haven’t met with any family members.

Tell us the things you found out about her, which made it into the book and the ones that didn’t make it. 

She moved in Royal circles in London and she accompanied her father the Alake of Abeokuta to state occasions as well.  She also did a broadcast for the BBC about her life as a nurse. That made it into the book. As to what her life was like when she returned to Nigeria we have to guess that she continued working as a nurse.  

How long did it take you to work on this?

Three years of research, writing, working on edits and more writing.

Will you say writing has been good to you or would you have preferred something more profitable?

I love writing. I do it out of passion and not just for the money. If it was for just the money most writers wouldn’t do it. In terms of something more profitable there are lots of things you could do but would you feel self actualised or have a sense of purpose? Write well and opportunities will present themselves and hopefully it will translate to more readers- more sales but it is not a sprint – it is more of a long distance jog.

What makes a good or great writer? Awards or what? 

What makes a great writer is working on your craft. Learning from reading others works and learning the techniques they used to captivate the reader and keep them invested in the book.  Awards are just one of the by products of good writing.

What does your writing process look like?

I start a story from the inciting incident and build up the book from there. It could be an argument or a revelation or a family event and create tension between the characters and let things develop from there.  I also create a character notepad where I break down everything there is to know about them; name, occupation, past trauma, family life, appearance, how they sound, age etc so that when I’m writing dialogue; they sound authentic. 

Do you have any another work in progress? 

Yes. I am writing another romance. 

Tell us about your previous works. 

Love’s Persuasion and Love Me Unconditionally are romances from Ankara Press and are on Audible. I also self-published a collection of short stories titled Naija Love Stories and my last novel is Lovers Leavers and Keepers, an inspirational love story of second chances at love against the backdrop of wealth, corruption and deceit.

The summer is around the corner. Do you have book recommendations?

There are so many great books but these are just a few: 

The Nigerwife by Vanessa Walters

A Good Name by Yejide Kilanko 

The Attic Child by Lola Jaye

The Middle Daughter by Chika Unigwe

In 2014, Ukamaka Olisakwe was named one of Africa’s Most Promising Writers under the age of 40 by the UNESCO World Book Capital for the Africa39 project. In 2016, she was awarded an honorary fellowship in Writing from the International Writing Programme at the University of Iowa, and was a resident fellow at the City of Asylum in Pittsburgh. In 2018, she won the Vermont College of Fine Arts’ Emerging Writer Scholarship for the MFA in Writing and Publishing programme. In this interview with United States Bureau Chief OLUKOREDE YISHAU, the Founder and Editor in Chief of Isele Magazine and The Body Conversation, speaks about her books, Eyes of a Goddess (2012), Ogadinma (2020), and Don’t Answer When They Call Your Name (2023), the TV series, Agoodjie, for Canal+ / StudioCanal, writing, teaching and more. Excerpts: 

You divorced the world of corporate banking for a marriage with the jealous lover called writing. How did writing find you? Or was it the other way around?

I think it saved me from the horrors of the banking industry. It has always been there, that interest in language, that love for books. I had quite the wild imagination as a child; I escaped uncomfortable institutions by stitching alternative universes and endings, and it made life easier back then. And so when I was on the verge of being smothered by my horrible job at the bank, an opportunity to write a story showed up and I clenched on with both hands. I am still holding on.

From someone coming from the corporate world how did you learn to write with so much grace? 

You are so kind. I think I am still growing, and I owe this growth to the books I’ve read, the classes I’ve taken, and mentorship programmes and workshops I’ve participated in. I can’t remember now who said this or where I heard it, but it has been helpful to me: before you make a chair, go out there in the world and see the other chairs other people have made. 

I’ve listened to some writers speak astonishingly about how original their works are and I admire them for that. However, I want to believe that we are building upon what has been; we are finding gaps in our communal archives and stitching new strands on the foundations those who came before us have set. Take for example my interest in what I call postpartum interiorities in Igbo women’s writing: what I am doing with this literary interest in combing through the works of writers like Chika Unigwe, Flora Nwapa, Buchi Emecheta, and many others who have written about motherhood, and building upon their body of knowledge. I am creativing new threads within the threads they have woven into our communal stories. And that is where my love and flair for language comes from; that is where what you’ve called grace comes from: learning, growth, and ultimately, a tenacious love for this work.

Your novel Ogadinma is a daring tale with a strong feminist bend. Why did you write a book like that?

It is a love letter to the women in my community who married when they were teenagers, women who started their families when they could barely tell their left from their right. Some of them succeeded, some didn’t. Ogadinma was quite difficult to write because these things she endured are familiar, and the familiar is often the most difficult to write. With the familiar, you tend to censor yourself; you don’t want to come off as monstrous or unkind or unethical, especially when that story is telling a communal story. You worry that people will read that story and accuse you of shading the community in unkind lights. With other inventions, you go nuts, you don’t pull punches.

So, yes, Ogadinma was incredibly difficult to write. The process was ugly and raw and frustrating, but I want to believe that there was light at the end; there was joy. My mother loves it. My father thinks it’s the best thing he’s read. My daughters, especially Som, says it’s too contemplative and melancholic and I agree with her; I often tend toward the contemplative and melancholic. But I am glad I wrote that story. 

You have a new YA novel,  Don’t Answer When They Call Your Name. How did you come about this idea?

 It was a playful, rebellious idea that emerged from a conversation with my family, about this girl who wrestles with a god. The idea was ridiculous and lovely because I was rebellious as a child. I was the girl who did everything good girls weren’t supposed to do. And so it was interesting, to attempt writing about the things I could have done as a child, the kind of adventure I would have gone on—that interesting phase of my life was bright and shiny, before puberty set in and adulthood dimmed my lightbulbs.

Tell us about Eyes of the Goddess. What was it like working on it? 

Oh, that was a long time ago. Thinking about it now, I wrote it in a daze. We didn’t have electricity most of the time, my laptop was bad, and I had to borrow a family friend’s to complete the work. I edited roughly and the final draft was quite rough, but there was soul in it. The soul is why I keep returning to that book. However, every time I think back to the time I wrote it, all I remember was the difficulty, the stress, the doubts I had about myself.

You have been in the United States for some years and have acquired new qualifications. How has the American journey been?

It has been an interesting journey. I am a better writer and instructor. I have access to books and journals and archives I couldn’t find at home. But take away the resources, take away the constant electricity, it is such a complex and alienating society. I found a community of amazing people who have supported me and my work, but I sometimes wrestle with that loneliness that many immigrants can attest to. The culture is different. The sense of community is different.  The food is different. Moving to America is like learning to use the left hand at an old age. Sometimes, I enjoy the solitude. Other times, I miss the rowdiness familiar to my city in Aba, where people show up at your door without calling first. I should write a book about it.

You teach writing. What courses do you teach?

 I am currently teaching creative writing to undergraduate students. I have taught Introduction to Literature, Business Writing, and English Composition I & II. 

You and Jude Idada are involved in a major screenwriting project. How has writing for the screen been for you? 

 TV writing is quite nerve-wracking. Unlike with fiction or nonfiction or poetry, where you write for yourself until you are ready to share your work with editors and readers, here your work is assessed not just by your colleagues or the creators or producers, but also by the company funding it, the streamers, their readers, executives. There are so many levels to the assessment that is quite tortuous. You receive lots of notes and you rewrite and revisit, and tweak and polish, until that work has passed all the checks. 

Will I do it again? Absolutely. It is tortuous, but the team you work with make all the different. The creators are the most beautiful, the kindest, the most amazing people I’ve worked with. Jude, too. It’s such an honor to work on this project with that brilliant man. 

For someone with your writing pedigree, it should have been taken for granted that the big publishers in the West will be eager to snap your books. Tell me about your experience with getting published in the West?

It is wild out there. Publishing is the trenches. Unlike in the past when you put out a work and disappear, you now must mount kiosk on social media and sell that book. You publicise your own work. This is not the era of push-marketing, where you churn out content and expect the public to buy it. Now you have to pull readers into your world; you must build your own readership, your following. That’s a tremendous responsibility; to convince a community of people to follow your journey, and to keep them entertained in between, is such a tremendous responsibility. I constantly worry about offending someone; I shouldn’t censor myself, but I do worry and this isn’t a good thing.

Read Also: My work is about thriving against all odds – Lola Akinmade

For some writers, this era of sometimes-obnoxious self-marketing becomes too much work and they disappear from platforms like Twitter. Instagram is a lot more curated, a lot more controlled. Twitter, on the other hand, bares your naked to the world.

How best do you think diversity can be addressed in the international publishing industry?

I’ll tell you a story. The Indigo Press, my UK publishers, contracted Molara Wood to edit my manuscript and during that process, she fact-checked me. She pointed out ahistorical moments in the story. She corrected my Pidgin. She cleaned up that book and Ogadinma was better for it. Now, imagine if I hadn’t gotten that opportunity, if my novel was edited by someone who isn’t familiar with the period, the language, the food, the politics. It would have been a disaster. I possibly would never have recovered from it. That’s why diversity matters; that’s how to address it: by bringing diverse editors along the journey, so that diverse stories can shine in full colors.

Rejection is part of the life of a writer. How do you handle it?

I cry about it and go back to work. Sometimes, I call my friends and rant and I feel better afterwards. 

You are behind the huge success called Isele. Why did you start this amazing literary magazine?

 Isele’s journey started in 2013, after I watched Dike Chukwumerije’s poetry performance at a reading in Abuja. I came home afterward, bustling with love for the genre and reached out to friends at Saraba Magaizine. We collaborated on the first Isele spoken word poetry prize, which was a success. I knew I had to do more with this initiative, and the idea coalesced at my MFA in Vermont, after my publishing class with the co-founder of Tin House Magazine—Rob Spillman.

Now, Isele is becoming an international name and we couldn’t possibly have done this without the likes of Tracy Haught, Yvonne Wabai, Chideraa Ike-Akaenyi, and Uchenne Emelife, who are always on the clock, working towards the success of this initiative. 

What challenges do you face running Isele?

Money! We have been running this initiative on personal funds and the small financial support we’ve received in the past. It’s been hard lately. We need support. We hope to get that support soon.

What is your writing process look like?

In the past, I would complete a story, go over it in a matter of days, and send it out for publication. My process has since changed; I have become too critical of my work, which should be a good thing, but which sometimes is crippling. 

These days, I have not just my first and second drafts, I have the third, the fourth, the fifth, and so on. I have my draft and the reader’s draft. The reader’s draft is framed by questions like, does the plot work? Are the sentences doing double, triple duties that heighten the pacing, the tension? Is there any sensible movement, or is the story stagnant, lingering, winding? Do I feel anything for the character? And so on.

I take my time these days. Sometimes, my drafts turn out well after this tedious scrutiny. Other times, I smother it with criticism and they never get to see the light of the day.

How will you describe a good writer?

A good writer is an avid reader. A good writer reads across genres. They read everything they find interesting because everything is storytelling and there are lessons we might learn from reading not just the genres we publish in.

The publishing industry in Nigeria has been on life support for a long time. What do you think is the problem and how can it get off the life support alive? 

 I think there’s a revival happening, especially with the amazing folks at Masobe Books, Ouidah Books, Narrative Landscapes, and many more others who are not only publishing stunning new titles that have stirred conversations at home and on social media, but also fishing out works by Nigerians in diaspora, whose stories deserve to come home. 

I have nothing but absolute respect for our publishers. One of the major challenges they had faced was the issue of readership, but I think we now have a blossoming community of readers on Instagram and Twitter, for example, who review works by Nigerian writers and encourage their followers to go out and buy these books. My Ogadinma received such immense support from our community; at a point, I couldn’t keep up with the readers on social media who tagged me to their reviews. It moved me deeply.

Our publishers need support from not just the readers, but from arts councils at home, government grants, etc., so that their oil will never run dry.

Finally, the summer is around the corner.  What books will you recommend?

Oh, I have been reading really amazing books. I recently passed my PhD exams, for which I read over a hundred titles. It was insane. I still can’t believe I did that. Anyway, here are some of the favourites from that journey and some of the recent ones I enjoyed:

● Chika Unigwe’s The Middle Daughter

● Ayobami Adebayo’s A Spell of Good Things

● Adorah Nworah’s House Woman

● Deepti Kapoor’s Age of Vice

● Ann Napolitano’s Hello Beautiful

● Curtis Curtis Sittenfeld’s Romantic Comedy

● Omolola Ijeoma Ogunyemi’s Jollof Rice and Other Revolutions

● Zinzi Clemmons, What We Lose

● Lesley Nneka Arimah, What It Means When a Man Falls From the Sky

● Danez Smith, Don’t Call Us Dead; Poems

● Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Friday Black and Chain-Gang All Stars

● Terrance Hayes, American Sonnets: For My Past and Future Assassin 

● Tope Folarin, A Particular Kind of Black Man 

● Timothy Ogene, Seesaw

● Mondiant Dogon, Those We Throw Away Are Diamonds 

• By Jaafar Jaafar

I was delighted when my big brother, Mallam Yushau Shuaib – a cerebral PR expert, writer and publisher of PRNigeria and Economic Confidential – visited my family recently in London and requested that I write a review on his new book “Pantami: Trials and Triumphs of a Digital Economy Maestro.”

While I viewed his request as a special honour, the short notice gave me a little concern. But being my benefactor, mentor and caring brother of nearly two decades, I had no option but to accede to his request. From the book cover, one could read the short blurb by Professor Adeola Akande, Chairman, Board of Commissioners of the Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC).

“Much more than just being a chronicle of the vicissitudes of a respected scholar of the digital experience and faith, it is a testament to a crucial period in the life of a country,” he said. The chairman’s brief set the stage for what readers should expect inside the revelatory contents of Yushau’s blockbuster, non-literary piece.

In the book’s Chapter One titled: Personal Opinion, the author provides his previously published articles on the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy such as That Friendly Call from the Scholar; The Memorable Visit for Digital Innovation; Authority on Cybersecurity and Datafication and Encounter with a Digital Economy Maestro.

The second Chapter is titled Inter-Agency Engagements, with topics that actually address certain inter-agency rivalries. They include Resisting Multiple Telecom Taxation, The NIN-SIM Linkage Palaver, and The War on Stamp Duty.

Read Also: Sanwo-Olu, Pantami, others win award

Chapter Three, on Managing External Factors, illustrated major battles or challenges Profesor Pantami had to contend with during his tenure in office as the Minister. The topics are ASUU Battle over IPPIS-UTAS Payment System; On FUTO Professorship and Witch-Hunting or Boko Haram Saga?

Operational Exigencies is the title of the Chapter Four of Yushau’s latest publication, and therein one will find the following articles: NigComsat and the Fear of Privatisation; The Galaxy and Visibility and Record of Accomplishments.

Most of the topics revolve around mandates and activities of agencies under the Communications and Digital Economy Ministry: the NCC, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Galaxy Backbone Limited, Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NIGCOMSAT), National Identity Management Commission, (NIMC), and Nigeria Postal Service (NIPOST).

I found some of the topics very interesting and intriguing. The author narrates how a very long ASUU strike was influenced over a disagreement on the payment system for universities’ lecturers, among others, as well as Pantami’s feats as Communication and Digital Economy Minister since 2019.

They include the implementation of broadband connectivity, reinvigorating the digital economy sub-sector, empowerment of citizens’ ICT skills, implementation of a Digital Identity Programme, implementation of a National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy, digitizing government functions and processes, and deployment of 4G nationwide.

The controversy over Pantami’s appointment as Professor of Cybersecurity at the Federal University of Technology Owerri (FUTO) and the debate on his link to Boko Haram terrorism many years ago were dispassionately analyzed. Yushau was very fair in his narrations, providing the genesis of the aforementioned thorny issues and how they all ended with the official’s triumph against his army of critics.

Using the Minister’s travails as a public office holder, the author observes that the media are generally more inclined to celebrating conflict and crisis, even as they also, deliberately – and rather unfortunately – censor other crucial sides to stories that could temper the public drift towards hysteria.

Due to admiration for Pantami’s erudition in both Islamic and Western education, I was appalled by the dispute that trailed his elevation to the rank of Professor. As someone who detests being addressed as “Sheikh” to demonstrate pedagogical humility, I expect him to, in the like manner, throw away the pulpy endocarp of the mango in order to get rid of the flies.

Indeed, I share the sentiment expressed by Yushau that Pantami, to some extent, triumphed over the endless trials, travails and tribulations that threatened his ministerial and professorial appointments.

As the fireworks intensified and the controversies raged such that the presidency was forced to take positions on some of the issues, one of the hidden facts, that is not stated in this book was that the author sat with ‘top commanders’ in his bunker in the Wuye area of Abuja.

The PR warlord deployed his arsenals strategically and fired from the cylinders of traditional and new media with remarkable marksmanship. At the end of the day, the warfare paid up. The rest are now history.

I think one day, I will also write a book titled “An Encounter With A Spin-Master” in honour of Yushau’s outstanding PR feats, just the way he authored “An Encounter With A Spymaster” in honor of Colonel Sambo Dasuki’s feats in espionage and military intelligence.

In conclusion, I recommend this latest edifying and intellectually stimulating book to media practitioners, students, communication experts and players in digital innovation and ICT, among others. PR managers, in particular, will also find the book relevant in learning the ropes of solving dire image crises.

Jaafar Jaafar, Publisher of Daily Nigerian, writes from London, United Kingdom