The American Dream and Adichie’s ‘Dream Count’: Lessons for African immigrants
What is a dream? Why do we dream? And, when we dream, with our eyes open or closed, how do we count our dreams or, at least, make them count? Do people in America dream different kinds of dreams? The ‘American Dream’, coined by American businessman and historian James Truslow Adams in his 1931 book […]
Fantasies and realities through the lens of literature
In truth, I never realised that being an essayist would demand such uncomfortable honesty — not just about the world, but about the stories we tell ourselves to survive it. Strange, perhaps, that a form devoted to truth should begin with confession, but here we are: I have spent years watching people disappear into smoke, […]
NLNG Prize and the $100,000 question
The quickest way to destroy a writer is to judge them by awards alone. This truth haunts every creative writing classroom, where students discover that good fiction resists neat definitions and simple measurements. Awards, for all their lustre, become golden shackles — elevating individual careers while leaving the literary ecosystem that nurtured those writers barren […]
I am sorry, Muhammadu Buhari
I was a corps member serving in Osun State when you were campaigning to become president in 2015. Back then, in 2025, and later in 2019, I never wanted you to become president because of the things I had read and heard about you. So, while serving as a presiding officer (PO) in Osun during […]
Femi Otedola: The burden of writing and privileges
Femi Otedola is releasing a book on August 18th titled ‘Making It Big’. A recent tweet claims his worst day was losing a billion dollars — ₦1.5 trillion in today’s money, roughly equivalent to Lagos State’s entire annual budget. The Nigerian internet has responded with fire. The reactions split along revealing lines. One camp dismisses […]