Lola Shoneyin

Lola Shoneyin is a Nigerian author, poet, publisher, bookseller, festival organiser and cultural activist. Her works explore womanhood and the intricacies of domestic life. Her debut novel, The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives (2010), was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction and won the PEN/ Oakland Josephine Miles Literary Award and the ANA Ken Saro-Wiwa Prose Prize (all 2011). In 2013, Lola founded the Ake Arts and Book Festival in Nigeria. Ouida Books was founded in 2016. She is currently the Director of Book Buzz Foundation, Nigeria- an NGO whose main is aim to promote literacy, develop reading spaces and organize literary and cultural events. In 2023, she was the recipient of the inaugural Aficionado Award. She was also featured on the FT’s list of the most influential women of 2023. Shoneyin lives and works in Lagos, Nigeria.