British-Nigerian novelist and editor, Ore Agbaje-Williams, wants her stories to connect with all kinds of readers: ‘I don’t want to prescribe my writing or books to one kind of reader. I hope that all kinds of readers will be able to read my books and enjoy them!’
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 lot of what I started out reading were books from C.S. Lewis’ Narnia series— encouraged by my parents who would take my sister and I to the library weekly. Then in my early teens I read a lot of what is commonly called ‘women’s fiction’, and as we branched out into reading more complex texts at school, I started reading books that I discovered in the school library by myself, such as Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, To Kill A Mockingbird, and then at university a personal favourite that was on our course reading list: Open City by Teju Cole...
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