First Draft Interviews
The Republic’s interview column, featuring authors and other prominent figures on books, reading and writing.
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‘Books Do Not Give Us Hope’
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.’
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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.’
Explore by Region
The Bombing That Changed Abuja Forever
In 2011, a Boko Haram bombing at the United Nations House in Abuja claimed the lives of 26 people. The incident changed Nigeria’s capital city and the lives of its residents forever.
The Last Days of Abuja’s City of Metal
For decades, Apo Mechanic Village has kept Abuja’s cars running. Now, as demolition looms again, the mechanics and traders who built the Abuja’s informal engine confront another uncertain future.
‘Port Harcourt No Be Abuja’
Nyesom Wike’s appointment as minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu could be Wike’s biggest political task yet. As minister, he will have to govern a people who are majorly religiously and ethnically different from him while trying to retain power over his previous domain, Rivers State.
How Nigerian Universities Became Centres of Islamic Radicalism
The religious extremism that fuels insecurity in Nigeria today did not begin only in terrorist camps; it also developed, quietly, within Nigerian universities.
The True Source of Ladi Kwali's Genius
For decades, the potter on Nigeria’s twenty-naira note was considered the product of British colonial art instruction, but this viewpoint denied a crucial truth: that Ladi Kwali’s art came from a Gbagyi worldview in which clay, labour and the female body were sacred, inseparable and hers alone.
Kidnapped From the House of God
What began as a Tuesday evening service at Christ Apostolic Church in Eruku, Kwara State, turned into a live-streamed kidnapping that dragged 38 worshippers into the forest and left three people dead. Nearly 40 days after the bandit attack, Pelumi Salako visits Eruku to speak with survivors.
The Bombing That Changed Abuja Forever
In 2011, a Boko Haram bombing at the United Nations House in Abuja claimed the lives of 26 people. The incident changed Nigeria’s capital city and the lives of its residents forever.
The Last Days of Abuja’s City of Metal
For decades, Apo Mechanic Village has kept Abuja’s cars running. Now, as demolition looms again, the mechanics and traders who built the Abuja’s informal engine confront another uncertain future.
‘Port Harcourt No Be Abuja’
Nyesom Wike’s appointment as minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu could be Wike’s biggest political task yet. As minister, he will have to govern a people who are majorly religiously and ethnically different from him while trying to retain power over his previous domain, Rivers State.
How Nigerian Universities Became Centres of Islamic Radicalism
The religious extremism that fuels insecurity in Nigeria today did not begin only in terrorist camps; it also developed, quietly, within Nigerian universities.
The True Source of Ladi Kwali's Genius
For decades, the potter on Nigeria’s twenty-naira note was considered the product of British colonial art instruction, but this viewpoint denied a crucial truth: that Ladi Kwali’s art came from a Gbagyi worldview in which clay, labour and the female body were sacred, inseparable and hers alone.
Kidnapped From the House of God
What began as a Tuesday evening service at Christ Apostolic Church in Eruku, Kwara State, turned into a live-streamed kidnapping that dragged 38 worshippers into the forest and left three people dead. Nearly 40 days after the bandit attack, Pelumi Salako visits Eruku to speak with survivors.
