‘The Nigeria Prize for Literature will amplify my voice in the areas I am passionate about in writing’

On October 10, 2025, ‘Sanya’, a novel by Oyin Olugbile, won The Nigeria Prize for Literature 2025. The book was adjudged winner among other two shortlist titles for the award because of Olugbile’s mythology retelling approach, her distinct and daring for casting Sango as a female and for the projection of Yoruba mythology through a story that captivates and meanders into a fantastical world.

In this interview, the author shares with Obinna Emelike, her joy as a winner, the impact on her writing career, the story behind the novel, writing technicalities, experience with publishers, the message, among others.

Except:

Why the mystical storyline?

I decided to write about Orunmila for the obvious reasons because you cannot talk about Sango without talking about all of those ones. But you can talk about Sango without talking about Ogun. Both have similarities but are also quite different at some point.

What is the story behind the book?

I wouldn’t know what you are thinking that I probably went to somewhere like a shrine and then I started thinking about the book. No.

Oftentimes people say knowledge stays with us, but then, sometimes knowledge comes in the form of a seat that you do not even know is there.

So, there is that general knowledge that I acquired whilst at the University of Lagos studying Theatre Arts because we all definitely will go through all of these gods that people act stage plays on them and that was the knowledge for me.

After that, I had nothing to do with the arts. I went into social impacts and then became a consultant for education foundations or education grants and things like that.

So, there was this particular person who came from America and she wanted to do something on child abuse.  This is very wild and strange. She wanted to start a foundation on child abuse basically and I was the chief consultant on the project. But the thing with me is that I would not consult on a project without doing research on it. So, coincidentally I was doing some research on education and things like that and somehow this curious mind of mine went to Orunmila’s story. Please don’t ask me how. It is Orunmila’s story and involvement with Yemoja and all of that. From there, Sango’s story came up as well.

Typically, I have gotten what I wanted to get from the research I was doing for this person and I was done with it, but I went back to it. I just immersed myself into that research and I was neck-deep in there for months. Afterwards, I went to my husband and told him that I have a story to tell as I usually tell him stories from my head that I never write down. He told me that I have a story and encouraged me to write.

Can you talk about the technicalities of writing the book?

When I had the idea in 2017, I wrote down the summary of the story, what I was thinking in my head, and how the story is going to be. So, I wrote chapter one. But then, life was happening. I was having children, so I will stop research and continue at some point. Thinking about the story is the easiest, but then writing it and then making it good is the hard work. What I did was that I had a number of people around me for accountability and for progress. For accountability was my husband because I wasn’t a writer; I was a writer in the corporate space not in the creative space. Then, my husband would say go and write that work and every day he would hound me. Every time he does that, I would just write something and do something. I also have an editor; someone that I could pay or that I pay to say listen, I have done chapter one, look at it, does it make sense. Then the editor does that, gives me feedback, writes whatever he wants to write, changes whatever he needs to change and then I get back to do the work. Oftentimes, most first-time writers think that writing is a one-man journey. It is not. You need to have people around you that you can even pay to look at your work, whether it even makes sense, and then have some sort of accountability around you.

Did you experience rejections from publishers for your book?

Yes. I had a rejection with my first draft.  My first draft without an editor was rejected by a publishing house. After that rejection I remember someone telling me to try other publishers. But the kind of person that I am, I had to look at it again and I said I think I need a proper editor. So, I got someone who I have been working with for the past five years, who looked at it again, took a lot of weeks, we had a lot of back and forth. But the second time I tried to send it out, the second publisher looked at it and said oh yeah, I want to work with you. In fact, the second one at some point I said they would publish my work even if they have to come to my place in England to steal the manuscript from me.

But going in for the prize was funny. My publishers put in the work for me while I was pregnant with my fifth child.

I think the entry went in February and I gave birth March 3rd, just to tell you how my mind wasn’t even minding in the first place. When I saw the longlist, I was like, when did I put in for this because obviously I am a new mother and I couldn’t even remember. I called my publisher and asked how it came from wherever to the 11 longlist, he said that I should just enjoy motherhood.

After ‘Sanya’, are you also looking at doing something on your Ibadan heritage?

I am fascinated by my Ibadan heritage. I have quite a lot of Ibadan stories in my, I won’t say archive, but in my folder. I am the kind of person that it may take a while to get something from me because I like to research, I like to really do the work before I write. It is okay for people who write just for the sake of it, but they must be writing from a place of knowledge. I also try to write from a place of knowledge as well. So, yes, definitely. I have a story on Okiado. But it will come at a point.

Having won Africa’s biggest literary award, where does it place you, and its impact on your writing going forward?

The thing is, the award in itself is not going to have any impact on my writing because my writing is my writing, which has been striving for excellence.

I wouldn’t say, oh, now I have won an NLNG, I don’t see anything that I will be doing any differently or any different from my typical trying to write or get an excellent piece or even just writing for the interest of people.

But I think what the award is going to do for me is help to amplify my voice in the areas that I am most passionate about in writing.

Every writer has a voice, and the voice is not just being able to speak to an audience; it is being able to pass across a certain kind of message based on what they believe in or what they stand for. So, yes, I hope that answers your question.

What kind of message do you intend to pass across with your writing?

My message is that African storytelling is gold. We have quite a number, a lot of stories to tell and need to tell them.

Listen, if we have about 250 ethnic groups in Nigeria, speaking different languages, do you not think we have a story? I think we do because the culture is rich enough, it is diverse enough for us to be able to pick our stories, and use that diversity to unify, to have one voice, to say, this is Nigeria, you have to listen to us. The world has to sit up and listen. And I believe that this is what writers before me have done.

Writers in my generation are still doing the same. We have had Chinua Achebe standing for something for a national voice. That is what we have always known Chinua Achebe for.

So, even if Chinua Achebe writes about ‘Things Fall Apart’, we all know what the thematic message in ‘Things Fall Apart’ is. It is creative, very cultural, but we know what Chinua Achebe is talking about in the classic novel. The same way as Wole Soyinka, who is a surrealist.

He wants to engage a deep understanding of culture and traditions, even though he writes it in different ways. He can write it in comedy, drama, but we understand. That is the same thing I want to do. What I stand for is that we could no longer be silenced.

That even in our silence, even in a place of silence, we can still say something, and we would definitely have a voice in our story, or with our storytelling.

What is the key message you want readers of ‘Sanya’ to take away?

That message is identity. You know, there is a saying that if a people don’t know where they are coming from, they can’t know where they are going.

I believe that one of the downfalls of Sanya, for those that have read the book, is that Sanya knew where she was going, but she sometimes lost touch with the reality of where she was coming from. But some people will argue that she probably didn’t even know where she was from. This is a child that never met her mother and father. The earliest memory she had of her father was someone who wasn’t adequate, and she had to move a lot. So, she had that identity issue.

Though she was poised to do great and prophesied to do great in the world, there were still challenges. Some people will argue that there are orphans doing great things in the world. They don’t know where they are from. That’s fine.

But then, even orphans, sometimes will know their origin and even the ones that do not know their origin know that this is where I am coming from.

This is what I want to do. But regardless, so as not to make this any deeper, it is about the fact that, as Nigerians, we need to understand ourselves, understand our culture, and our identity. We need to know who we are as individuals and then what it is that we want to contribute to our society and how we can actually make that society better.

As a writer, how are you able to cope with writing, work and home?

Well, I would say that it is not easy. And I know some will say, that is difficult. But then, I do not see anything that ever comes easy. The truth is that there are people who don’t have children, who still have commitments and responsibilities that are quite heavy on them, yet they still go ahead to do great things.

I think if you ground yourself into whatever it is that you want to do, even if it takes years or the distractions, it is still going to happen regardless.

I have seen people in their latter part of life, they call them octogenarians, who still go back to school because they want to have a degree, yet they do so well. This is because at that point, in their mind, they have already determined that this is what they want to do, and they go for it. You see them just doing it with so much grace and so much ease.

Maybe, if I was younger and I didn’t have children and I attempted this award, I probably would have really failed, like failed completely. There are people who are going through lots of challenges, yet they carry their purpose with a lot of determination.

So, I think the word here is purpose. Find your purpose. For a while, I pursued the corporate world, which was quite rewarding because yesterday, my boss from a company where I used to be the head of corporate affairs called me, and I could hear all of his staff screaming from the background, like, oh, she used to work here. I was quite young at the time, even when I was head of corporate affairs and communications. He was like, wait, I know you used to write, I know you used to, you are quite brilliant, but I didn’t know you were into the creative thing. I said, well, he found me.

But the thing is, finding one’s purpose, you can find your purpose over and over and over again. A friend of mine in the creatives was telling me that he got married early, so he’s had challenges of early marriages, which kind of just zapped him and drained him.

And he said, I can no longer find joy in what I used to enjoy. I said, listen, listen and listen well. You can find joy in something else.

It doesn’t have to be something you used to enjoy. That is why we are creative people. Look at the God that created us in different forms, shapes and sizes.

Who said we cannot find joy in different things; the problem is that we keep looking back all the time. We keep thinking, oh, I used to have this life, and then you keep just trying to go back to that life.

If you knock on that door so many times and it doesn’t work out, trust me, you will find another passion. Something else will find you and you should give yourself that room and that opportunity to enjoy something else and find purpose.

Find a purpose in yourself first. Then you will find a purpose in other things as well.

Why do you use your culture as a reflection in contemporary writing?

Start with your comfort zone because you cannot write about anything you know nothing about.

Or if you are like me, you can write something about something you don’t know anything about, just do your research, don’t take permission, then apologize later.

Who is the greatest inspiration in your literary career?

I will say Professor Wole Soyinka again because I have said this so many times.  Chimamanda Adichie is a great inspiration as well. She is amazing and in the global space it is Dan Brown.