Lola Shoneyin (born Titilola Atinuke Alexandrah Shoneyin; 26 February 1974 in

Ibadan Ibadan (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Oyo State, in Nigeria. It is the third-largest city by population in Nigeria after Lagos and Kano, with a total population of 3,649,000 as of 2021, and over 6 million people within its me ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

) is a Nigerian

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

and author who launched her

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to p ...

, ''The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives'', in the UK in May 2010. Shoneyin has forged a reputation as an adventurous, humorous and outspoken poet (often classed in the feminist mould), having published three volumes of poetry. Her writing delves into themes related to female sexuality and the difficulties of domestic life in Africa.In April 2014 she was named on the

Hay Festival The Hay Festival of Literature & Arts, better known as the Hay Festival ( cy, Gŵyl Y Gelli), is an annual literature festival held in Hay-on-Wye, Powys, Wales, for 10 days from May to June. Devised by Norman, Rhoda and Peter Florence in 1988, t ...

Africa39 Africa39 was a collaborative project initiated by the Hay Festival in partnership with Rainbow Book Club, celebrating Port Harcourt: UNESCO World Book Capital 2014 by identifying 39 of the most promising writers under the age of 40 with the potent ...

list of 39

Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...

n writers aged under 40 with potential and talent to define trends in African literature. Lola won the

PEN Award This is a list of awards sponsored by International PEN centres. There are over 145 PEN centres on the world, some of which hold annual literary awards. The PEN American Center awards have been characterized as being among the "major" literary awar ...

in America as well as the Ken Saro-Wiwa Award for prose in Nigeria. She was also on the list for the

Orange Prize The Women's Prize for Fiction (previously with sponsor names Orange Prize for Fiction (1996–2006 and 2009–12), Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction (2007–08) and Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction (2014–2017)) is one of the United Kingdom's m ...

in the UK for her debut novel, ''The Secret of Baba Segi's Wives'', in 2010. She lives in

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

, Nigeria, where she runs the annual

Aké Arts and Book Festival The Aké Arts and Book Festival is a literary and artistic event held annually in Nigeria. It was founded in 2013 by Lola Shoneyin, a Nigerian writer and poet, in Abeokuta. It features new and established writers from across the world, and its p ...

. In 2017, she was named African Literary Person of the Year by ''

Brittle Paper ''Brittle Paper'' is an online literary magazine styled as an "African literary blog" published weekly in the English language. Its focus is on "build(ing) a vibrant African literary scene." It was founded by Ainehi Edoro (at the time a doctoral ...

''.

Biography

Early life

Titilola Atinuke Alexandrah Shoneyin was born in

, the capital of

Oyo State Oyo State is an inland state in southwestern Nigeria. Its capital is Ibadan, the third most populous city in the country and formerly the second most populous city in Africa. Oyo State is bordered to the north by Kwara State, to the east by Osun ...

, south-western Nigeria, in 1974. She is the youngest of six children and the only girl. Her parents, Chief Tinuoye Shoneyin and Mrs. Yetunde Shoneyin (''née'' Okupe), are Remo indigenes from

Ogun State Ogun State is a state in southwestern Nigeria. Created on 3 February 1976 from the former Western State. Ogun State borders Lagos State to the south, Oyo State and Osun State to the north, Ondo State to the east, and the Republic of Benin to the ...

. Shoneyin’s work is significantly influenced by her life, notably providing material on

polygamy Crimes Polygamy (from Late Greek (') "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, sociologists call this polygyny. When a woman is married ...

for her debut novel; her maternal grandfather, Abraham Olayinka Okupe (1896-1976) was the

traditional ruler A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...

Iperu Remo Iperu or Iperu Akesan Bale Oja is a town near the Ibu River in Ogun State in the southwestern region of Nigeria. It is the most populous town in the Remo Region of the Ikenne Local Government Area. The entire LGA has an area of 137.13 km² ...

and had five wives. He ascended the throne in 1938 and died in 1976.

Education and career

At the age of six, she went to boarding school in the UK, attending Cargilfield School,

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

;

The Collegiate School ("Unless God, then in vain") nl, Eendracht maakt macht("In unity there is strength") , established = , streetaddress = 301 Freedom Place South , city = New York , state = New ...

, Winterbourne,

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, and Fettes Junior School in

. Returning to Nigeria after her father was imprisoned by the then military government, she completed her secondary education at Abadina College. She later earned her BA (Hons) degree from Ogun State University in 1994/95. Shoneyin's early writing consists mainly of poetry and short stories. Early examples of her work appeared in the ''Post Express'' in 1995, which features a short story about a Nigerian woman who leaves her husband for an Austrian woman. This story initiated dialogue about homosexuality within a Nigerian context. Her first volume of poetry, ''So All the Time I was Sitting on an Egg'', was published by Ovalonion House, Nigeria, in 1998. Shoneyin attended the renowned

International Writing Program The International Writing Program (IWP) is a writing residency for international artists in Iowa City, Iowa. Since 2014, the program offers online courses to many writers and poets around the world. Since its inception in 1967, the IWP has hosted o ...

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

, USA, in August 1999 and was also in that year a Distinguished

Scholar A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researche ...

at the

University of St. Thomas (Minnesota) A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

. Her second volume of poetry, ''Song of a Riverbird'', was published in Nigeria (Ovalonion House) in 2002. While living in England, she obtained a teaching degree from

London Metropolitan University London Metropolitan University, commonly known as London Met, is a public university, public research university in London, England. The University of North London (formerly the Polytechnic of North London) and London Guildhall University (f ...

in 2005. Shoneyin completed her first novel in 2000. Her second novel, ''Harlot'', received some interest, but the story of a young girl growing up in colonial Nigeria to make a fortune as a "Madame" remains unpublished. Shoneyin moved on to her third novel, ''The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives'', which was published in 2010. It was adapted as a

stage play A play is a work of drama, usually consisting mostly of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and intended for theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Reading (process), reading. The writer of a play is called a playwright. Pla ...

by Rotimi Babatunde and it showed in te Arcola Theatre in London.

Cassava Republic Press Cassava Republic Press is a steering African book publishing company established in Nigeria in 2006 and headed by Bibi Bakare-Yusuf,

, Nigeria, published Shoneyin's third poetry collection, ''For the Love of Flight'', in February 2010. ''Mayowa and the Masquerades'', a children’s book, was also published by Cassava Republic, in July 2010. Shoneyin has also written for newspapers, including ''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its par ...

'', ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', and ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' on issues such as racism, Nigeria's tradition of polygamous marriage, the Nigerian terrorist group

Boko Haram Boko Haram, officially known as ''Jamā'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihād'' ( ar, جماعة أهل السنة للدعوة والجهاد, lit=Group of the People of Sunnah for Dawah and Jihad), is an Islamic terrorist organization ...

and the elections of now President

Muhammadu Buhari Muhammadu Buhari (born 17 December 1942) is a Nigerian politician and current president of Nigeria since 2015. Buhari is a retired Nigerian Army major general who served as the country's military head of state from 31 December 1983 to 27 Au ...

. She is the founder and Director o
Book Buzz Foundation
a

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

established in 2012 for the promotion of arts and culture within local and global spaces. She co-founded ''Infusion'', a popular monthly gathering for music, art and culture in

Abuja Abuja () is the capital and eighth most populous city of Nigeria. Situated at the centre of the country within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), it is a planned city built mainly in the 1980s based on a master plan by International Plann ...

, Nigeria. Shoneyin served as a judge of the 2018

Caine Prize for African Writing The Caine Prize for African Writing is an annual literary award for the best original short story by an African writer, whether in Africa or elsewhere, published in the English language. The £10,000 prize was founded in the United Kingdom in 20 ...

. She also runs the publishing imprint and bookshop Ouida Books in Nigeria.

Private life

Her first marriage lasted a short 40 days and is now remarried to medical doctor Olaokun Soyinka, son of

Nobel laureate The Nobel Prizes ( sv, Nobelpriset, no, Nobelprisen) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make out ...

Wole Soyinka Akinwande Oluwole Babatunde Soyinka (Yoruba: ''Akínwándé Olúwọlé Babátúndé Ṣóyíinká''; born 13 July 1934), known as Wole Soyinka (), is a Nigerian playwright, novelist, poet, and essayist in the English language. He was awarded t ...

for 22 years. She currently lives in Lagos with her husband and four children (2 boys and 2 girls).

Works

Novels

*''Mayowa and the Masquerades'' - January 2021 *''Nostalgia is an Extreme Sport: An essay from the collection, Of This Our Country'' - September 2010 *''Baba Segi, Ses Épouses, Leurs Secrets October'' 2016 *''The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives'', London:

Serpent’s Tail Serpent's Tail is London-based independent publishing firm founded in 1986 by Pete Ayrton. It specialises in publishing work in translation, particularly European crime fiction. In January 2007, it was bought by a British publisher Profile Books ...

, May 2010. **Longlisted for the 2011

, won the 2011

PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award The PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award is for U.S. multicultural writers, to "promote works of excellence by writers of all cultural and racial backgrounds and to educate both the public and the media as to the nature of multicultural work. ...

and won two

Association of Nigerian Authors The Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) is a non-profit organization that promotes Nigerian literature. It represents Nigerian creative writers at home and abroad. It was founded in 1981 by Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe as its president. The ...

Awards. ** Translated into seven languages, published in Italian as ''Prudenti Come Serpenti''.

Short stories

* "Woman in Her Season", ''Post Express Newspapers'', 1996

Poetry

* ''So All the Time I was Sitting on an Egg'' (1998) * ''Song of a River Bird'', Ovalonion House (Nigeria, 2002) * ''For the Love of Flight'' (2010)

Children’s books

* ''Mayowa and the Masquerade'', July 2010, published in the US in 2020

Scholarly study of Lola Shoneyin's work

*Abiola, Emmanuel. Negotiating Patriarchal Structures: Polygamy and Female Agency in Lola Shoneyin’s ''The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives''. ''Ibadan Journal of English Studies'' 7 (2018): 497–504. *Bámgbózé, Gabriel. "Beyond Gender Allegory: A Postcolonial Reading of Lola Shoneyin’s Poetry. ''Ibadan Journal of English Studies'' 7 (2018): 155-170. *Jegede, O. B. Subversive (re) writing and body poetics in Lola Shoneyin’s "So all the time I was sitting on an egg". ''Ibadan Journal of English Studies'' 7 (2018): 207–224.

References

External links

Website

BBC ''Woman’s Hour'' interview
6 April 2010.
"PublisHer #Unmasked, Africa: Lola Shoneyin"
17 September 2020. Interview with Maimouna Jallow. {{DEFAULTSORT:Shoneyin, Lola Nigerian women poets Nigerian women novelists 1974 births Living people People educated at Cargilfield School People educated at Fettes College Writers from Ibadan Yoruba women writers 20th-century Nigerian poets 21st-century Nigerian novelists Alumni of London Metropolitan University 20th-century Nigerian women writers Olabisi Onabanjo University alumni Ransome-Kuti family 21st-century Nigerian poets 21st-century Nigerian women writers Yoruba people People from Oyo State