My writing journey, updates, publications and work in progress.
Nigeria. West Africa. Black British, Literature. Romance. Short stories. Post Colonial Literature. Novels. Novella. Relationships.
You see — as soon as I saw you approaching the house carrying all your load on your back like a tortoise, I knew that you had disgraced us in your husband’s house. Did I not train you to be an acceptable wife? The fire under plantains should not be too high, as it will turn black like charcoal. This is how to cook Moi Moi. This is how to put the pureed black-eyed peas into leaves and fold them into a pot so the steam can cook them into fluffy cakes.
On Dec 15th my first book was published. The dream I have had since I was about four years old came to pass.
I grew up reading those quaint Peter and Jane Ladybird books – where I looked for a child who looked like me in vain.
I hold up this book and I thank God for bringing me this far, for friends and family, for love and for those who believed in me when it was just a dream.
I present Love’s Persuasion. Elements of Jane Austen’s ‘Persuasion’ remind me of the characters here – of love lost and second chances. It is never too late to love, to love again, to take a chance, to write a book, go back to school or chase after that dream. Friends please don’t wait till its too late to go after your dream, your passion and that thing you know you were called to do.
I created Tony Okoli because he reminded me of the kind of guy that we fall in love with. We want the world and he is just a normal regular guy with his faults.
I created Ada because she reminded me of the kind of woman that we need to be. Strong, determined but not so tough that she has forgotten what it is like to be a woman – to love, to forgive and to learn to live again.
Thanks everyone who has supported me on this page and for your patience in this journey of discovery and manifestation. Love’
s Persuasion by Ola Awonubi on www.ankarapress.com. Please get your copy.
The wait is over! This is my cover reveal for my book Love’s Persuasion out on December 15th.
My book Loves Persuasion is set in cosmopolitan Lagos.
Ada Okafor is an ambitious young secretary who works for a Financial House in Lagos by day and studies for a degree in Business Administration in the evenings. One Christmas her whole life changes when she bumps into the new Assistant Director – Tony Okoli – the son of the Managing Director who has come to assist his ailing father with turning round the fortunes of the company – Citi Finance – a once thriving business house.
Ada and Tony begin a tentative friendship when he gives her a ride home and discover a mutual love of literature and a mutual attraction which both try hard to fight. Ada because she doesn’t want to be seen as a gold digger and Tony because he is already engaged to child hood sweet heart and family friend Gloria Onwuka and he has plans for his life that do not really have anything to do with what his family wants for him.
He is trying to make sense of his own life. She is trying to make a life for herself.
Neither of them have got a clue about what destiny has in store….
To get your copy for the introductory price of N500 on the launch date you can sign up on the website for more information.
“Dedicated to showcasing the best of established and emerging talented African writers in the UK”
Accomplish Press in conjunction with Femy and Remy Ltd and Nigerian Writers, presents an evening of reading, conversation and inspiration with the best of new generation African Writers. The event will be a mixture of literature, poetry and spoken word performances, as well as a panel to discuss issues relevant to writers in the UK.
See link below to get tickets and more details
http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/african-literary-evening-tickets-12822098241
I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t afraid of the word Nigeria. It was my tormentor, my nemesis and my destiny. Even the word was heavy so heavy that you had to split it into 4 to say it properly – Ni – ger – ri- yah
Destiny was another big word. Ever since Father told me that Des-ti- ny was waiting for me in Nigeria and one day we would all go back the thought lingered in my head like an unwelcome guest but in the eternal optimism of youth I convinced myself that that day would never actually come.
Images of deep dark jungles infested with tigers and lions had embedded themselves into my imagination due to watching Tarzan and Daktari on a regular practice. It told me all I knew about Africa – the place was chaotic; full of bumbling Africans who communicated in grunts and shrugs, fought against each and seemed incapable of any original thought or action unless Tarzan guided them, helped them or saved them from their predicament with his superior problem solving capabilities.
My father walked in and saw me crying. He smiled and came over to rest a hand on my shoulder as mother flung up her hands and said something in their language.
“Don’t worry Lola…..I can understand it’s all strange to you now but you will love it when you get there. Fresh food, lovely weather. He closed his eyes, “A place where people respect their elders and you are part of a family not just some body that fell out of the sky.”
I swallowed and blinked. “I don’t want to go.”
“Nonsense – you have been here for too long. I’ve always told you that this isn’t your country.”
Amanda’s eyes met mine and I bit back my reply.
I lived with the Alison’s – Amanda and Keith and their two kids – Peter and Kate and a big lazy dog called Mutley. Home was a three bed roomed semi in Portsmouth because my parents were studying and working down in London.
Growing up I never questioned why the woman who came to pick me up at school was white and the folk with the heavy voices who came down from London to see me every fortnight were Black. I just accepted it like the sky being blue or like the fact that no matter how far you walked the moon in the sky never seemed to get any nearer…
A kid at school asked me how I came to have a white mum. I told her I had two mums.
“How’s that then?” she asked blue eyes swamping her whole face.
Cause that’s just how it is. I shrugged. Just like the blue sky and the moon.