Academic and author of Jollof Rice and Other Revolutions, Omolola Ogunyemi, wanted her debut novel to capture the ways in which the lives of Nigerian women have changed over several generations: ‘I was always intrigued by stories of how things used to be, especially when I found out that my grandmother’s older sister was once married to a woman who couldn’t have children of her own, and that this was once a perfectly acceptable part of the culture in her region of what is now Nigeria.’
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 started out reading children’s books—lots of Enid Blyton and abridged versions of classics like the Odyssey. As I outgrew them, I moved on to Nigerian Pacesetters book series such as Victor Thorpe’s Paul Okoro books which were my favourites. This series include titles such as The Worshippers, The Instrument, and Stone of Vengeance. My mom was a literature professor at the University of Ibadan focusing on African and African-American literature, so we had tons of books around the house...
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