It’s 2118 and you’ve arrived in Lagos for a book festival. When you step out of the airport, what is the first thing you see?

People, colours, all in motion.

You’ve been selected for a mission to the moon. Which African author are you taking and why?

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I’m sure so many say that, but I would love to talk with her about writing, feminism, life in Trump’s America.

What invention do you think would change the lives of Africans today?

A safe, effective and affordable vaccine for malaria, and the political will to make it available to all.

Two things you’re doing when not reading or writing?

Yoga, getting together with friends or family.

To what extent has African literature envisioned an African future?

I may be wrong, but my sense is that African literature is more focused on the present.

What book do you think best captures Afrofuturism?

I don’t know enough to answer this one – I am hoping that the Ake Festival will help me learn more!

You wake up one morning to find that you’ve grown a pair of wings. What do you do?

Start thinking about how to write a more optimistic version of Kafka’s ‘Metamorphosis’!

Name one book that made you think differently about the world.

Wole Soyinka, ‘The Man Died’. I read it at a crucial time when I was researching the Nigerian Civil War, and it helped clarify my thinking about memory, and the importance of not forgetting the past, even as we move forward to the future.

What is the most difficult part of your creative process?

Organising my thoughts before putting them down on paper.

What is your African dream?

I am not African so I am not sure I have the right to answer this question.