From Ibadan With Love
My childhood years were spent in Ibadan, in a once prosperous middle class neighbourhood, where gentrification currently seems to be
The importance of not following your dream
Denrele woke up smiling, passionately hugging and kissing his pillow. He could hear loud knocks, but they did not sound
250,000 acres of pain
‘Yes, my dear young man, the country has now been stolen by soldiers who are only bandits in camouflage tunics,
Forty Thieves and the African Taleswagon
From the local British Council Library you could borrow four books or so for a couple of weeks and at
Tales retold for contemporary reading
Children are creative readers, my childhood imaginations were formidable. Reading a story or listening to a folktale being told, was
Lights, Chimera, Action!
In front of my office is a children’s nursery school, and listening to the little ones recite their own patent
Of Stock Tales and Enfants Terribles
Ogboju Ode Ninu Igbo Irunmole by D.O Fagunwa, is widely considered the first novel written in the Yoruba language and
Gathering Words – An Introduction
I see him at the beginning of faint memory, a three year old boy. I see him on the seat
Gathering The Crooked Bullet
One of my favourite comedy films is The Black Bird, featuring a constantly harrased detective called Sam Spade. The film
Gleanings from African Night Entertainment
For reasons still not clear to me, my mother did not have a wall clock in the house when I
The mathematics of God
Sam Fajana spoke confidently and fluently as if he were reading from a book. ‘There exists a whole world which
The man who fell under anointing
Femi had one occasion found himself in queue for laying of hands one Saturday breakfast meeting. It just on that
The return of the drummer
The old man finished his lunch and stared out for a while out through the wide window of the paladar.
The Incredible Pianist
I once attended a church where the piano player had no idea how to play the damn thing, and kept
The Interrogation – protest tale of an angry wordsmith
This is a “protest” story I wrote in 2006 in London. It is as usual a surrealistic satire , one