Writer Sightings

Àdùkẹ́ Gomez and Polly Alákijà Àdùkẹ́ is the author of "Lost and Found in Lagos: The Adventures of Lara and Dara". She has also written a collection of poetry titled "While I'm Here, Let Me Quickly Tell You About..." Polly is a British-born muralist, artist and children's book author. Her children's books include Catch that Goat, Counting Chickens and A Stork in a Baobab Tree. Photo taken in Ikoyi, Lagos. January, 2019

Doreen Baingana and Frank Chipasula. Ritz Carlton, Abu Dhabi. 2017. BAINGANA is a Ugandan short story writer and editor. Her book Tropical Fish won the 2006 Commonwealth Writers' Prize, best first book, Africa Region, and the AWP Award for Short Fiction (US). She won a Washington Independent Writers Fiction Prize and has twice been a finalist for the Caine Prize for African Writing. She was managing Editor at Story Moja, and was one of the 2013 Commonwealth Short Story Prize judges. She gave a talk on TED 2013 about "The role of offensive language in novels" CHIPASULA is a Malawian writer, editor and university professor, "easily one of the best of the known writers in the discourse of Malawian letters". In 1978, Chipasula went into exile in the United States as a result of the Hastings Banda government. His first book,Visions and Reflections (1972), is also the first published poetry volume in English by a Malawian writer. As well as poetry, which has been widely anthologised, he has written radio plays and fiction. Bios from Wikipedia.

These photographs were taken in Ìlọrin in 2010.

These photos were taken at Google Nigeria, Ìkòyí, Lagos. February, 2016.

Also previously featured here.

Abby Ogunsanya and Adé Bantu are the two restless brains behind the highly successful monthly live open-air concert at Freedom Park, Lagos, called Afropolitan Vibes. The show was created in 2013 and has since had 38 editions, all taking place at Freedom Park, featuring some of the biggest (and not-so-big) names in the Nigerian entertainment industry. The 39th edition, slated for Friday, July 15, features Oritse Femi, General Pype, Koker and a female drum & vocal ensemble called Squad 1 Productions. Abby (notable photo recluse) and Adé pose here at Freedom Park, former Colonial Prisons remodelled as an open space for creativity.

University of Ibadan (and University of New Orleans)'s Professor Niyi Osundare is a teacher, poet, and literary critic, is seen here at the University Staff Club, with Benson Eluma and Yomi Ogunsanya.

Tèmitáyọ Ọlọ́finlúà and her husband Olúwafẹ́mi Amógunlà are the guest on this week's instalment. Separate, they are individual talents making strides in writing/journalism and film/photography respectively. Together, they are a warm and friendly couple with a gentle but stimulating outllook. Tèmítáyọ̀'s work has appeared in notable local and international publications, incuding the Global Press Journal, while 'Fẹ́mi's photography and short films have gained critical appraisal all over Nigeria and beyond. You can find them both, if not together, at LiveInIbadan. Photo taken at Google Nigeria. January, 2016.

Títílọpẹ́ Sónúgà is a Nigerian-Canadian spoken word poet whose work has received critical acclaim in Nigeria and in Canada. She was the Poet Laureate at the inauguration of Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari in April, 2015. She is also a shortlisted writer on the Africa Centre Artists in Residency, 2015. In this recent interview with her on Brittle Paper, she talks about her craft, her growth as a woman and as an artist, her influence in Nigeria and in Canada, and her plans for 2016. These photos were taken at the 2015 Lagos International Poetry Festival. Freedom Park, Lagos, Nigeria.

Ayọ̀ Olọfintuádé, writer of children's fiction, author of Eno's Story (2010) Cassava Republic Press. Photo taken at Freedom Park on February 22, 2014

Of this post, and himself, Benson says: So you don't know how to tell the truth again, abi? Scholar crap! Start with beer-thief, then biblioklept (I'll never return the books I kidnapped from you, I hope you know that by now?), then say Tolu's patient, then Mary and Richard's prodigal. Don't be afraid. You're taking this decorum thing too far, and it is against the spirit of justice. Call horse piss horse piss, not beer. The social media bill has not been passed yet and, in any case, you wouldn't be lying if you said that if this ya beer-klepto should end up in hell, the devil would have to resign his commission because the drunk would quench the fire in the devil's smithy with his torrent of vomit.

In an animated discussion here, last week at the Aké Arts and Book Festival, is Professor Pius Adesanmi along with his patient listener spoken word poet Efe Paul Azino. Professor Adesanmi is a professor of literature and African studies at Carlton University Ottawa Canada. He is a prodigious public affairs commentator and satirist. His book “You're Not a Country, Africa” won the 2013 Penguin Prize for African Writing. His columns have appeared on Premium Times and Sahara Reporters, as well as many other places online. His recent book, titled Naija No Dey Carry Last was recently published by Premium Times and Parressia. Efe Paul is the director of the Lagos International Poetry Festival, director of poetry at the annual Lagos Book and Art Festival, and coordinator of spoken word poetry at the Open Door Series' International Cultural Exchange and the Lagos Black Heritage Festival. He has performed at Johannesburg Arts Alive Festival, Ake Arts and Book Festival, Lagos Book and Arts Festival, Lights Camera Africa Film Festival, and British Council Lagos Theater Festival amongst others. His first poetry collection is called For Broken Men Who Cross Often(2015), published by Farafina Books. Biographies adapted from Premium Times and Aké Festival.

Today's feature writer, deservedly, is Títílọlá Alexander Shónẹyìn, known popularly as Lola Shoneyin. She's the author of the acclaimed novel Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives, and three volumes of poetry: So All The Time I Was Sitting On An Egg(1998), Song of a River Bird (2002), and For the Love of Flight (2010) Lola is smart, down-to-earth, fun, and driven. As a creatiive writer, her work explores issues of gender, sex, politics, feminism, love, among very many others, in a way that is humorous yet hard-hitting. Her vision for a creative hub for African literary discussions resulted in the annual Aké Arts and Book Festival which has held every November since 2013, bringing in writers and creative people of all kinds from all over the world into Abẹ́òkuta. These photos were taken at the recently concluded (and afore-mentioned) Ake Arts and Book Festival in Abẹ́òkuta of which she is the Director and Founder. Photos by Chukwuemeka Ofoegbu

This is Paula Varsavsky, Argentine journalist, novelist, and short story writer, whose body of work includes Nadie alzaba la voz (Emecé, 1994) and El resto de su vida (Mondadori, 2007), both of which are taught at different universities in Argentina, the United States, and Germany (Yale, Queens College, University of Buenos Aires and Heidelberg Universität, among others). The former was published in the United States in a translation into English by Anne McLean with the title No One Said a Word (Ontario Review Press, 2000) to excellent reviews. Varsavsky is the daughter of noted Argentinian astrophysicist, Dr. Carlos Vasavsky whose doctoral thesis on atomic transitions has been a reference for generations of students of astrophysics. After the murder of a family member during the "Dirty Wars" in Argentina, the Varsavsky family moved to New York in 1977. No One Said a Word is set during this same time period, but feels almost apolitical, accurately reflecting the vacuous lives of its affluent adolescent narrator and her peers. Critics have called No One Said a Word "the Argentinian Catcher in the Rye." Today, November 15, is Paula's birthday. These photos were taken in February 2010 when she visited Southern Illinois University Edwardsville as a guest lecturer of the Department of Foreign Languages where I worked as a foreign language professor. I wrote a blog post about that experience here, and I've also interviewed her for 234Next which can be found here. (Bio adapted from Wingpress)

Ken Burns Here’s one from the archives, taken in April 2011, at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville where Ken Burns had come to give a talk. Being part of the organising committee — even if only for that one day — gave me the some time with the man and a chance to take these few pictures. I remember him to be unassuming, soft-spoken, and friendly. Ken Burns (born Kenneth Lauren Burns) is regarded as America’s most notable historian and documentarian. He is known for his incisive pieces on Baseball, Jazz, The Civil War, Prohibition, among many others. He has been nominated for the Academy Awards and won two Emmys. More about him here.

Laila le Guen and Nyambura Mutanyi are two friends who are similar in a lot more ways than they are not. Both are bookish nerds with interest in different cultures. Both live in Nairobi, and both are involved in language and travel projects from Swahili to Yorùbá. Laila is a volunteer and crucial part of the Yorùbá Names Dictionary Project. I met them both for the first time in Nairobi a few weeks ago, and, in their company, a new city opened its arms to me like a long lost friend. From taking small walks into the heart of the city to discovering new terrains at the city of Karen, to spending time discussing literature and the art scene in a Java House coffee shop, they exude warmness, quirkiness, nerdiness, kindness, and all round eccentricity that you'd expect from a writer and creative soul. Because of them, my experience of Nairobi was a lot more interesting than it would have been otherwise. Aside from their respective travel blogs, you can also find them at LGM Editing where they're now offering their brilliance to your service. I can vouch for their competence.

You can learn more about her in this video interview.