It’s 2018 and you’ve arrived in Lagos for a book festival. When you step out of the airport, what is the first thing you see?

Chaos! Good vibes, Bad vibes!

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

Chinua Achebe – because he was my first contact with African literature. I would like to refresh by reading ‘Things Fall Apart’ again. I love the way he portrayed the African culture and the way he fought against mental slavery to the white man’s way. He wanted to preserve our culture and tradition and I think that is something most African authors are still trying to do regardless of modernisation.

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

I would like an invention that would make Africans read more. Africans do not read enough. Someone captured it succinctly when he said: ‘If you want to hide something from an African, put it in a book.’ We do need an invention that makes Africans thirsty for knowledge about their past, in order to shape and mould the future that we desire.  

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

Dance/Gym classes. I attend book parties to promote my new book, ‘Dust to Dew’.

What book do you think best captures Afrofuturism?

Yet to read one.

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

I would fly back to my past. I would go on an adventure, expedition.

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

The Bible. It is the best story ever written.

What is the most difficult part of your creative process?

Waking up and experiencing writer’s block.

What is your African dream?

I look forward to an Africa where our youth are duly engaged and have no desire to endanger themselves travelling through the desert to the West in search of greener pastures. I look forward to an Africa without sit-tight leaders, an Africa where leaders lead.