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?

Okada Airbikes landing like giant grasshoppers to ferry the visitors to five star Makoko hotels. 

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

Nnedi Okorafor, to see how right she was. 

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

A universal real-time bullshit translator. 

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

Playing basketball badly and bingeing on Netflix – nothing groundbreaking here. 

To what extent has African literature envisioned an African future?

There is much work to be done here. We are still concerned (as we should be) with unearthing and disentangling our pasts in order to make sense of our presents. We haven’t imagined enough futures yet, but we are beginning to. 

What book do you think best captures Afrofuturism?

Nnedi Okorafor’s ‘Binti Trilogy’ does so brilliantly. 

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

Try to push myself to figure out my limit. Can I actually fly or are these just for show? If I can fly, how high before I pass out? How fast can I fly? If I can’t, can I build a career from media appearances? Can I market myself to Nigerian pastors? Can I sell off feathers? Will they grow back? 

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

‘A Thinking Persons Guide to Islam.’

What is the most difficult part of your creative process?

Getting the words to suggest what I mean to say whilst securing space for interpretation. Poetry is a liminal bitch. 

What is your African dream?

Self Actualisation, for the entire continent.