Culture & Society
‘Talent not nurtured is useless.’ Moyosore Orekoya’s First Draft
Chemical Engineer and author of ‘Democracy Questioned: How Democracy Can Fail Us, and What to do About It’, writes and edits ‘in chunks’, finding before editing ‘the golden mean sweet spot where I write an ‘idea’ or a standalone chunk of the article’. Read More...
The ‘Lion of Africa’ with Cat Claws Nigeria’s Image Problem
After 60 years of independence, Nigeria has failed to establish significant political leverage on the global scene and is not the African superpower many tout it to be. Read More...
‘Every Time You Decide to Write, What Is at Stake for You?’ Joshua Segun-Lean’s First Draft
Essayist and author of ‘Long Live the Children of Disobedience’ and ‘The Prophetic Vision of Chinua Achebe’, Joshua Segun-Lean, edits as he writes, ‘feeling for a sense and a sound I might never arrive at but must keep tuning for.’ Read More...
Finding Self: Of Gods, Contestation and Containment Akwaeke Emezi’s Freshwater
A dark story about recognizing and coming to terms with the many fragments of our being, Akwaeke Emezi’s debut novel, Freshwater, is a macabre and jarring tale of contestation and containment. Read More...
Nation Forgotten Nigeria’s Neglected Pensioners
After decades of service, retired public servants in Nigeria are spending their retirement years in depravation. Read More...
‘Who has time for undecided authors?’ Dominique Otigbah’s First Draft
If she could write about any moment in history, historian and author of ‘Reading Biafra’, Dominique Otigbah, would write a history of stockfish, ‘a quintessential Nigerian ingredient with its origins in Northern Norway.’ Read More...
Deceptions of Innovations Investigating the Claims of Big Tech
The grand premise of innovation is that everyone benefits from it: technology not only yields great opportunity; it constructs great equality. The image of innovation is a redemptive one—but for whom? Read More...
‘Finish the Damned Thing’ Ẹniọlá Ànúolúwapọ́ Ṣóyẹmí’s First Draft
Political theorist and author of ‘Are Nigerians Black Enough to Talk about Race?’, Ẹniọlá Ànúolúwapọ́ Ṣóyẹmí’s writing ‘almost always starts from a place of unreasonable obsessiveness.’ Read More...
‘The Story Comes With Its Own Style’ Sada Malumfashi’s First Draft
Essayist and author of ‘Zata Iya: A History of Hausa Feminist Writings’, Sada Malumfashi, has always wondered ‘how different and more diverse the stories of the first-generation Hausa novels would have been if women also participated in the writing process.’ Read More...
‘The Lesson is in Design’ Merlin Uwalaka’s First Draft
Essayist and author of ‘From Glamour Girls to Nolly Babes: Nollywood Nostalgia and the Modern Nigerian Woman, Merlin Uwalaka, finds it ridiculous that there are Nigerians who are proud to say that they do not watch Nigerian movies. Read More...
