Ogunrinde Oyelola Adeola
Ogunrinde Oyelola Adeola is a journalist and writer based in Lagos, Nigeria. She writes to distract herself from the political happenings in Nigeria. She started writing as a child, which inspired her to study journalism at university. She has published in several journals in Nigeria, and also had a short story published in Scarlet Leaf Review in Canada.
Q: If you could travel back in time, which of the great writers would you like to meet and why?
A: Muriel Spark. I read The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie in one day and it wowed me. It inspired me to write my novel The Prime of Miss Margaret, which is about girls’ education during British colonial rule in Nigeria and the women who participated in the struggle for Nigeria’s independence. I hope to get a publisher for it one day.
Q: Is there a book that you keep going back to, and if so, how many times have you read it?
A: Animal Farm by George Orwell. I have read that book several times and it’s never boring. It reminds me of political anarchy in Africa.
Q: What is the least interesting part of writing for you?
A: When I start to write a new short story or novel. It takes courage to do that.
Q: Who is your personal inspiration?
A: My grandmother, for making sure her girls had the quality education she never had, when it was awkward to send girls to school in Nigeria.
Q: What superpower would you like to have and why?
A: Wings that can make me fly to wherever I want to be.
