Where do you consider home and why?

Home to me is not a physical location. Home is where my family is. Throughout my life, the physical locations have changed but the people have been constant. Home is a place of belonging and acceptance. It’s where the people I love the most are.

List three words or phrases that come to mind when you think of home.

• – a place of unconditional love, warmth, security
• – a place of rejuvenation/ recharging both mentally and physically
• – wholesome food

Have you ever been homesick? Tell us the circumstances and how it felt.

Anytime I am away from home for an extended period of time, I get homesick for my family and the familiar (people, sights and smells of my home country). I miss the shared history you get from being with a group of people, I miss the non-verbal communication you have in public, I miss the food, I miss not having to censor yourself for fear of being offensive or being judged. I miss not being the ‘other’. I miss the grounding that being home gives me.  

What is your opinion about brain-drain?

I think it has become a necessary evil and the impact on our local economies and our culture is clear. However, we are becoming a global village and the need of black diasporans to connect with their home cultures and the sense/ feeling of home has led to the spread of African music, food, and literature to international audiences.

In what way does your physical location impact your creative output?

Physical location is a great boost to my creativity. My senses are instantly overwhelmed by all the new sights, sounds and the culture of the new locations. Six of my books were influenced by my living in new places. The duration of my stay varied from one week to three years but each instance produced a book. I love visiting new places and immersing myself in the cultures and traditions of others. They are a fail-proof spark to my creativity.

What is your preferred mode of travel and why?

I wish instant time travel was already a thing. I love visiting new places but I hate journeying to get there. Until time travel becomes a thing, flying is my preferred mode because it takes the shortest time.

In her debut collection of poems Home Coming, Sonia Sanchez’s writes:

“i have returned \\ leaving behind me \\ all those hide and \\ seek faces peeling\\ with freudian dreams.”

      What does the phrase “freudian dreams” mean to you?

           Home Coming for me, is a poem of self-education and growth. It’s an inward reflection that leads to a reawakening of the self. It’s a recognition of the truth of one’s people which is not tainted through the lens of racism. 

The mission to establish a colony of humans on Mars is becoming a realistic proposition. Would you agree to be one of the founding members?

On three conditions:

1. I get to take a pill during the flight there (Like Mr T from the A-Team)
2. I go with my family
3. They must have red-red and fried plantains

This is the 10th anniversary of the Ake Arts and Book Festival. If you have attended this festival before, please tell us what was special about your experience. If you have never attended, what are your expectations?

          I’m excited for the festival and to meet other creatives. I’m looking forward to being on the soil that birthed one of Africa’s greatest authors and to trying Naija jollof.

What does Africa need right now?

          Selflessness on the part of both the people and the leaders. Visionary servant-leadership and people who know the earth is in their trust for future generations.