Where do you consider home and why?

I consider Africa home because I like seeing people who look like me.

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

I will say Ankara, sun and Africa Magic.

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

I have never been homesick because I have actually never been away from home.

What is your opinion about brain-drain?

I don’t particularly like it because we are losing many skilled workers who go to other countries to start businesses. I know of a Nigerian man that went to South Africa to build a million-dollar Tech company. We are really missing out but I will not condemn it. Until the country is a better place, people will continue to leave. I want to go as well.

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

I am inspired by what I see. I know for a fact that I have to be in an environment I am used to before I can create. If I am far away from home, I won’t be inspired. 

What is your preferred mode of travel and why?

I love road trips because I get to experience everything first-hand and I can take a stop when I need to.

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?

That I have outgrown my doubts. 

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 thanks, I am not pioneer material.  

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 will be my first time attending Ake Arts and Book Festival. I have no expectations because I am willing to enjoy every bit of it and my expectations may be limiting.

What does Africa need right now?

Unity. We Africans need to stop hating each other and come together as one.