Lola Shoneyin

Biography

Titilola Atinuke Alexandrah Shoneyin was born on 26 February 1974 in Ibadan, Nigeria. She studied in Nigeria and the UK and has worked as a teacher and in publishing. She has published poetry and a novel, The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives (2010), which 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.

She is the founder and director of the Ake Arts & Book Festival, one of Africa’s leading literary festivals, held in Abeokuta. She has used the festival to platform African writers, to discuss politics and free expression, and to build a community around books and ideas.

Historical Context

African literature has often been published and celebrated abroad. Lola Shoneyin has helped build spaces on the continent — through Ake Festival and related initiatives — where writers and readers meet, and where difficult themes (polygamy, power, gender) are explored in African contexts.

What She Fought For

Lola Shoneyin has fought for African literature, free expression, and women’s stories. Her novel centres the lives of women in a polygamous household with humour and seriousness. The Ake Festival has addressed censorship, identity, and the role of the artist in society.

Major Achievements

• Author of The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives; poetry collections
• Longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction (2011); PEN Oakland and ANA awards
• Founder and director of the Ake Arts & Book Festival
• Advocate for African writing and for literary culture in Nigeria

Her Impact Today

Lola Shoneyin is a leading figure in Nigerian and African literary life, both as a writer and as the force behind one of the continent’s most important book festivals.

Sources: Wikipedia (Lola Shoneyin), Ake Festival