Writing the stories you want to read: A conversation with Nigerian author Olufunmilola Adeniran

Beautiful stories are being written and told across the world. The black voice in Africa will not be left behind. In recent times, if you follow my writings and conversations on the podcast or YouTube, you will realize that Africa is emerging as a powerhouse of storytellers. from its script writers to novels. All these stories are situated in an African context for the African reader. An emerging and imaginative group of creatives is feeding the appetites of African readers. I believe this is the generation that reads for leisure and not only text books. A demand for the African voice by these authors has equally created a niche in which the stories they yearn to read are being written by themselves. 

Feyi Aina is a beautiful author yet to be known around the world. a hidden gem. My conversations with her provided an insight into the woman , author, and wife.  From the biography on her website, it states, "Olufunmilola Adeniran writes as Feyi Aina, a poet and a novelist crafting inspirational women’s fiction. She is the author of Saving Onome, Love’s Indenture, and Love Happens Eventually, and she is also the winner of the RWOWA Author of the Year Award 2019.

She has a few short stories in several anthologies, and her short story ‘’The River God’ was featured in Brittle Paper in 2017.

When she is not reading or writing, she enjoys cooking, traveling, and scouring the net for ancient history on arts, culture, and civilization.

Olufunmilola is married with children and practices privately as a physiotherapist in Lagos, Nigeria."

Nigeria, the home of Nollywood, is also, from my observation, the home of the majority of these storytellers. A begging industry that has the potential, if Africans are to consume their own products, to be a huge industry. There are challenges, of course. These include the quality of the writing , and the biggest of them all, having access to traditional publishers. The indie publishing houses are beginning to create space and a place of belonging for these authors, which makes their works accessible to many.