Author and development practitioner, Ayisha Osori, ran for office in 2014 and recently changed how she thinks about Nigeria’s political processes—specifically, the practice of vote buying and selling during elections: ‘I now question the resources that democracy supporters put into this part of the electoral process.’
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?
A blend of children and adult books so that by the time I started secondary school at 11, I had read almost all of Enid Blyton’s book collections (Famous Five, Secret Seven, Malory Towers, The Magic Faraway Tree, and The Adventures of Mr Pink-Whistle series), lots of comics (Archie, Beano, The Adventures of Asterix & Obelix etc.) as well as books by William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Jackie Collins, Sidney Sheldon, and Jeffery Archer.
It was from the latter books that I learned that there was a prestigious university called Harvard and I made up my mind to go there.
Every year, The Republic publishes the most ambitious writing focused on Africa, from news and analysis to long-form features.
To continue reading this article, Subscribe or Register for a Free Pass.
Already a subscriber? Log in.