Interviews

‘Every Time You Decide to Write, What Is at Stake for You?’ Joshua Segun-Lean’s First Draft

Joshua Segun-LeanMarch 18, 2020

Essayist and author of ‘Long Live the Children of Disobedience’ and ‘The Prophetic Vision of Chinua Achebe’, Joshua Segun-Lean, edits as he writes, ‘feeling for a sense and a sound I might never arrive at but must keep tuning for.’

February/March 2020First DraftInterviews

This photo is for our piece on Dominique Otigbah's First Draft

‘Who has time for undecided authors?’ Dominique Otigbah’s First Draft

Dominique OtigbahMarch 11, 2020

If she could write about any moment in history, historian and author of ‘Reading Biafra’, Dominique Otigbah, would write a history of stockfish, ‘a quintessential Nigerian ingredient with its origins in Northern Norway.’

February/March 2020First DraftInterviews

This photo is for our piece on Political theorist Ẹniọlá Ànúolúwapọ́ Ṣóyẹmí’s First Draft

‘Finish the Damned Thing’ Ẹniọlá Ànúolúwapọ́ Ṣóyẹmí’s First Draft

Ẹniọlá Ànúolúwapọ́ ṢóyẹmíMarch 4, 2020

Political theorist and author of ‘Are Nigerians Black Enough to Talk about Race?’, Ẹniọlá Ànúolúwapọ́ Ṣóyẹmí’s writing ‘almost always starts from a place of unreasonable obsessiveness.’

February/March 2020First DraftInterviews

‘The Story Comes With Its Own Style’ Sada Malumfashi’s First Draft

Sada MalumfashiFebruary 26, 2020

Essayist and author of ‘Zata Iya: A History of Hausa Feminist Writings’, Sada Malumfashi, has always wondered ‘how different and more diverse the stories of the first-generation Hausa novels would have been if women also participated in the writing process.’

February/March 2020First DraftInterviewsReading Eid

This photo is for our piece on 'The Lesson is in the Design' Merlin Uwlaka Interview

‘The Lesson is in Design’ Merlin Uwalaka’s First Draft

Merlin UwalakaFebruary 19, 2020

Essayist and author of ‘From Glamour Girls to Nolly Babes: Nollywood Nostalgia and the Modern Nigerian Woman, Merlin Uwalaka, finds it ridiculous that there are Nigerians who are proud to say that they do not watch Nigerian movies.

February/March 2020First DraftInterviews

This photo is for our piece on Ore Ogunbiyi's First Draft

‘Editing Feels Like Taking Vitamins.’ Ore Ogunbiyi’s First Draft

Ore OgunbiyiFebruary 12, 2020

Author and speechwriter for the Vice President of Nigeria, Ore Ogunbiyi, thinks everyone should read Emmanuel C. Eze’s Race and the Enlightenment: A Reader before leaving university.

February/March 2020First DraftInterviews

‘Writer, Write.’ Moyosore Orimoloye's First Draft

Moyosore OrimoloyeFebruary 5, 2020

For Moyosore Orimoloye, poet and author of Poet in the Time of Buhari, poetry does more than ‘wrap the mundane in arcane language’; sometimes, poetry gives us ‘“simple” words by which to articulate what we think is a complex experience.’

February/March 2020First DraftInterviews

Introducing ‘First Draft’: Our New Column Authors and Prominent Figures on Books, Reading and Writing

The RepublicFebruary 4, 2020

Introducing First Draft: a new weekly column about reading, books and writing inspired by questions our editors have had during the course of working with authors.

First DraftInterviews

Let the Photo be Taken (1974-2017) A Conversation with Mozambican Photojournalist Naita Ussene

Nafeesah AllenJanuary 15, 2020

This conversation serves as a retrospective on Naita Ussene, as a photographer, and his country, Mozambique, as his muse.

December 19/January 20Interviews

This image is for our piece on Amina J Mohammed's Strategies for People-Led Climate Change Intervention.

Give Them Something to Win Amina J. Mohammed’s Strategies for People-Led Climate Change Intervention

The RepublicDecember 11, 2019

'Interrogate your institutions; take climate change to the committee in parliament and get lawmakers engaged on issues they can connect with their constituencies on.' — Amina J. Mohammed on strategies for people-led climate change intervention.

December 19/January 20Interviews