Where do you consider home and why? With the way today’s world is set up, home isn’t so much about geography. Home is family and loved ones, irrespective of where they are.  

List three words or phrases that come to mind when you think of home. Love. Peace. Fried plantains.  

Have you ever been homesick? Tell us the circumstances and how it felt. Oshey, therapist.  Leave my shirt, abeg. OK, all I’ll say is, I felt unmoored. 

What is your opinion about brain-drain? Unfortunate. Understandable. Inevitable. Potentially irreversible.

In what way does your physical location impact your creative output? It doesn’t. Yet. I mean, so far, irrespective of where I am, I feel my creative output could be better.  

What is your preferred mode of travel and why? By road. I love driving. Road trips (in safe countries) are arguably the most adventurous way to see a place, meet its people, sample food, and soak up its beauty. Drive and see our world.

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? Honestly, I’m not sure I understand it fully, so I’ll prefer to say nothing.  

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? No. Travel times are probably ridiculous, and it’s unlikely they’ll have fried plantains. 

This is the 10th anniversary of 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? This is my first time at Ake (I know, I know). My expectations are typical for literary festivals: meet new people; listen, learn, and get inspired by fellow creatives; catch up with old friends; enjoy life’s little slices, and make new memories.

What does Africa need right now? First, Africa is not a country. However, generally, I think the priority should be on economics first — many other issues can be tackled tangentially. Basically, Africa needs to get its (people’s) money right. Practical steps to achieve this include liberalisation of national markets (for free flows of finance, information, technology, etc.), and more intra-African trade.