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Nigerian poet and author of In Search of Equilibrium, Theresa Lola, believes a poem is complete when she is both unsettled and at peace: ‘If I am purely unsettled, the poem would be unbearable for me to talk about publicly, and if I’m only at peace, then the poem has played it too safe. So, for me, the poem has to be both.’
I’ve taken long walks, craving one thing only: lightning, transformation, you.
Lately, I walk a longer route to the train station. I use the time to surreptitiously recite poems, sing with my terrible shower voice, and pray.
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About the Author
is an award-winning British-Nigerian poet. She holds a master’s degree in Creative Writing from University of Oxford. Her second poetry collection Ceremony for the Nameless will be published by Penguin in November 2024.
Nigerian novelist, poet and author of Graceland, Chris Abani, does not believe ‘Nigerian literature’ exists as a category: ‘It is a common misconception that there is a fixed category that can be read as essentially “Nigerian literature”. Nigeria has 500 nations, 500 languages and about 2,000 dialects. While culture and language can overlap, the level of diversity is such that Nigerian literature cannot be easily narrowed down.’
For the co-founder and publishing director, of Cassava Republic Press, which marks its 20th anniversary this year, Bibi Bakare-Yusuf, it is telling that African literature is often pronounced dead in recent years, when more women and queer voices are becoming more prominent: ‘The loudest obituary writers about African literature tend to be men. These elegies seem to come from a tacit sense of personal or generational displacement rather than from the actual state of the field.’
Nigerian poet, novelist and author of Madame Sosostris and the Festival for the Broken-Hearted, Ben Okri, argues that Nigerian literature doesn’t always have to be about Nigeria: ‘Nigerian literature limits itself to Nigeria and then limits even the ways in which the country can be written about. What we want is a vast literature, a great literature…that speaks to all humanity.’
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