Lola Shoneyin en Pelumi Adejumo

In the sixth episode of Current Literary Affairs, Gülden Ilmaz speaks with Nigerian writer and organizer Lola Shoneyin and the Nigerian Dutch writer Pelumi Adejumo. What’s it like to be seen as an ambassador of your country, or even your continent? How do you forgive the failings of a country you love? And what’s the importance of creating a literary ecosystem everywhere you go?

Lola Shoneyin is a writer and organizer from Lagos, Nigeria. She runs a publishing house, a bookstore and and audios studio and is the founding organizer of Aké Arts & Books Festival. She also founded the Buzz Books Foundation, which aims to promote literacy in Nigeria. Her award winning novel The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives (2010) deals with the moral complexities of polygamy is currently being adapted into a Netflix series. She is the co curator of the upcoming edition of Read My World Festival.

Pelumi Adejumo is a Nigerian Dutch writer, poet and singer. She studied Creative Writing at Artez and her work has been published in several magazines. Recently, she released an album together with a collective of musicians and writers. Adejumo is on the editorial board at Read My World.

Current Literary Affairs is a podcast about current events through the lens of literature, in which we engage in conversation with writers from all over the world. How do the political circumstances in their country of residence influence their life and work? What are the topics we really should be talking about? CLA brings urgent conversation about fear and hope, outrage and pride, the personal and the political.

Current Literary Affairs is a podcast by SLAA and Read My World. This podcast was realized thanks to Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds and Productiehuis Noord, the media channel of ‘Verdedig Noord’.