Writer, PhD candidate and author of ‘Who’s Writing Who? Literary Cultural Appropriation and Ethnicity in Nigeria’, Zainab Omaki, thinks it is difficult to disagree with fiction: ‘disagree is a strong word… I finished Akwaeke Emezi’s The Death of Vivek Oji a few weeks ago. Gorgeous book, gorgeously written, but I was also surprised by how no one seems to mind that the characters are cousins, considering their relationship.’
First Draft is our interview column, featuring authors and other prominent figures on books, reading, and writing.
Our questions are italicized.
What books or kinds of books did you read growing up?
I read all kinds of books growing up. Initially, I read lots of fairytales and children’s books like Ann Martin’s Baby-Sitters Club series and R. L. Stine’s Goosebumps. Later, because my sister was an avid romance novel reader, I read tons of those. In junior and senior secondary school, I read all the books that were a rite of passage for Nigerians, I think: James Hadley Chase, John Grisham, along with the classics like Ayi Kwei Armah’s The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born, all of Achebe’s novels and Wole Soyinka’s plays—my favourite is still The Lion and The Jewel.
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