Olumide Popoola

Jun 17, 2024 | electricliterature.com | Logan February |Akwaeke Emezi |Olumide Popoola |Arinze Ifeakandu

Reading Lists These writers revolt against institutionalized homophobia and proclaim, “look, I am here and I will live" In a place where your very existence is threatened and your survival uncertain, every form of art should revolt and proclaim, “look, I am here and I will live.” In Africa, queer people are at risk of being lynched by mobs or killed. These acts are not just individually motivated but endorsed by the government, either overtly or covertly. An evidence of this is the recent...

Jun 7, 2024 | republic.com.ng | Olumide Popoola

In her latest novel, Like Water Like Sea, Nigerian–German writer, Olumide Popoola, wanted to explore bipolar disorder and manic episodes: ‘I felt it was important to write about disruptive and sometimes public manic or psychotic episodes, both to raise awareness and to question why we claim to hold space but are not prepared to accept what falling apart entails.’First Draft is our interview column, featuring authors and other prominent figures on books, reading, and writing.

May 26, 2024 | republic.com.ng | Olumide Popoola

That skirt. Mum had waved it around, then draped it over her head, the fabric falling over her shoulders. ‘Remember you used to do that, pretend your hair was moving when it was short.’ It was 5.30am by then. ‘Mum, I was probably three or four.’‘Yes,’ she’d replied. ‘My skirts were much too long.’She was laughing in that over-the-top way that you only recognise when you have a parent with serious bipolar. The shrillness that caught people’s attention but they couldn’t quite place.

Jul 21, 2023 | republic.com.ng | Adedayo Adeyemi Agarau |Eniola Abdulroqeeb Arówólò |Ernest Nweke |Olumide Popoola

Nigerian poet and editor-in-chief at Agbowó, Adedayo Agarau, is rooting for all African writers: ‘I think we work extra hard on our craft, and for what purpose? We are writing and building structures for other emerging collectives, and it just has to work.’