‘Writing Is a Grind; It Won’t Always Be Exciting or Magical’

Author of ‘Shielding the Spirit of a Continent: An Existential Argument for the Restitution of African Cultural Heritage?’ Desola Olaleye, wants people to understand that fighting for the restitution of African cultural artefacts is not a misplaced priority: ‘I wish more people would understand that the people fighting for the restitution of African cultural artefacts are not doing it because they are bored or because of misplaced priorities. This movement forms a crucial part of the decolonization process.’

By Desola Olaleye

November 25, 2022

Photo Illustration by Onyinye Dike / THE REPUBLIC.

First Draft is our interview column, featuring authors and other prominent figures on books, reading, and writing.

Our questions are italicized. Editor’s note: This interview is available in our print issue, A New Chapter for African Artefacts?. Buy the issue here.

What books or kinds of books did you read growing up?

As a child I was surrounded by business books and self-help literature with a particular focus on finance and emotional intelligence. My father worked as a banker and later as a strategy consultant, and my mother owned a bakery in Lagos. So, they cared a lot about business and management and believed their children should read books that would teach them how to think smartly and cultivate habits necessary for fuelling profitable endeavours. Because of my parents’ desire to raise children who could become productive individuals, I found myself unable to escape books like Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and Tony Robbins’ Awaken the Giant Within. Beyond self-help books, I read Nigerian storybooks. My grandfather would take me and my siblings to Baba Odu Bookshop on Adelabu Street in Surulere where we lived. There, I would find stories about young Nigerian characters.

As a teenager, while attending high school in the UK, I started reading books for myself. At one point, I was very interested in European history and read books such as Frederick Redlich’s Hitler: Diagnosis of a Destructive Prophet and Frances Stonor Saunders’ The Woman Who Shot Mussolini. I quickly moved onto an interest in philosophy, mainly moral philosophy and the philosophy of religion. I remember reading Miguel de Unamuno’s Tragic Sense of Life at 16 or 17 and I enjoyed it so much. One saying by de Unamuno that I still love today is: ‘A miserere sung in common by a multitude tormented by destiny has as much value as a philosophy. It is not enough to cure the plague: we must learn to weep for it. Yes, we must learn to weep! Perhaps that is the supreme wisdom.’

I didn’t read much fiction as a child. In my first or second year of high school, I borrowed a copy of Mary Monroe’s God Don’t Like Ugly from the local library, only because I was struck by the title. I can’t remember reading it until the end because I was distracted. Eventually, I opted to study English Literature at AS Level and I came to fully appreciate fiction. I enjoyed The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, and Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Outside of school, I read the poetry of Andrew Marvell, Gwendolyn Brooks, Wendell Berry, Elizabeth Bishop, Czesław Miłosz, and Conrad Aiken. I have always considered poetry books to be dictionaries of the soul. Sometimes, I experience feelings I cannot explain on my own, but I know there is a poem out there, waiting to guide me through the translations.

Now I realize that, as a child, I was always searching for something in books, something that would help me make sense of myself or the world. I had a lot of questions and fears. But there were times when I wasn’t so interested in reading books but in being near them because they comforted me.

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About the Author

Desola Olaleye

is a writer and independent researcher living in London, United Kingdom.

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‘Writing Is a Grind; It Won’t Always Be Exciting or Magical’