Everything in Nigeria is Going to Kill You is Ayo Sogunro’s relentless pursuit to understand the survival abilities of the average Nigerian in a system that is definitely dysfunctional. “Some of us complain,” he writes, “some of us protest, some of us go spiritual and still many others go material, and also a few of us turn to the arts for solace—we write, not to cure other people of madness, but to avoid going mad ourselves…”
The maddening intensity of Nigerian life is also, in one sense, the subject of Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀’s forthcoming novel Stay with Me—the devastating story of the fragility of married love, the undoing of family, the wretchedness of grief, and the all-consuming bonds of motherhood.
At the core of both books is an interrogation of Nigeria’s power structures, on micro and macro levels.
“Power Show” is organized to mark the forthcoming release of Saraba Magazine’s Power Issue. Join Sogunro and Adébáyọ̀ in a wide-ranging conversation on Nigerian power and readings from their books.
The event is free and open to the public, but suggested donation of N500 to assist the magazine in covering costs of the event. Other highlights include readings from recent issues of the magazine and auction of the magazine’s cover art. Sitting might be limited.
Saturday, August 13, 2016 from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM (WAT) at Zaccheus Onumba Dibiaezue Memorial Libraries (ZODML) – 196B Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, Lagos
Ayobami Adebayo’s short stories and poems have appeared in African Writing Online, East Jasmine Review, Farafina Magazine, Saraba Magazine, Kalahari Review, Lawino Magazine, Speaking for the Generations: An Anthology of New African Writing, Off the Coast: Maine’s International Journal of Poetry, Ilanot Review and Gambit: Newer African Writing.
She holds BA and MA degrees in Literature in English from Obafemi Awolowo University and she was awarded a UEA International Bursary to study Creative Writing (MA Prose fiction) at the University of East Anglia in 2013. She was shortlisted for the Miles Morland Scholarship in 2014 and 2015.
Her debut novel, Stay with Me, was shortlisted for the Kwani? Manuscript Prize in 2013 and is forthcoming from Kwani? (Kenya, October 2016), Canongate (Spring 2017,UK/ Commonwealth) and Knopf (Spring 2017, USA/Canada). She has been writer-in-residence at Ledig House, New York, Hedgebrook and at the Thread Cultural Centre in Sinthian, Senegal. She is working on her second novel. She is the fiction editor of Saraba Magazine, and a member of its board of directors.
Ayo Sogunro is a Nigerian writer, social entrepreneur and lawyer. He is the author of the widely-acclaimed The Wonderful Life of Senator Boniface and other Sorry Tales, and the collection of critical essays: Everything in Nigeria is Going to Kill You.
Ayo obtained a bachelor of law degree from the University of Lagos in 2007 and was called to the Nigerian bar in 2008. In the last seven years, he has worked with two high profile Lagos law firms: G. Elias & Co., and Templars, advising on several private and public-impact transactions. Currently, he consults as a social entrepreneur, leveraging his skills as a lawyer and writer for the benefit of local and international governmental and non-governmental organisations, while also engaging his Nigerian and international readership on critical social issues. His widely-read writings have earned him references in both local and international media, and have been published or mentioned in several Nigerian and foreign news outlets. He has been interviewed by Ebony Magazine, AFP, France 24, BBC Africa, Daily Caller for example, and quoted on several other media.
Ayo Sogunro is a supporter of literary initiatives, and he is avidly interested in promoting literary education in Nigeria and elsewhere. He has also been a judge in several writing contests for teenagers and young adults in Nigeria.
