The Cheeky Natives

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We Were Girls Once is the sequel to Tomorrow I Become a Woman, honing in on the lives of Ego, Zina, and Eriife, the daughters of Uju, Chinelo, and Adaugo from the first book. It explores their journey of they transition from being girls to women.

Ego, who moves to the United Kingdom to further her studies but despite experiencing relative success while working in a firm, she is constantly haunted by past: familial and institutional violence and its ripple effects. Ego is a woman robbed of the joy of becoming. 

Zina is also a prisoner of the past, stuck in a tense relationship with her mother. Despite this, she is a renowned actress who is famous and publicly admired. 

Eriife whom we encounter last in consumed by the realm of political life in Nigeria. There is a loss she mourns in her personal life, which she compensates for with the pursuit of influence, power and wealth.  Despite this bubble that these things afford her, Nigeria still deals with her as harshly as it does to those far less wealthy and privileged. 

This is a profound tale of the beauty of women’s friendship, as a conduit for growth, healing and justice. Zina helps Ego confront a serious injustice in the past and in doing so find closure. Despite their differences and disappointments, they come together for Eriife in her hour of need. 

Odafen explores the themes of family, politics, community, class dynamics and religion in this book. 

Odafen’s, We Were Girls Once is an ode to the timeless strength and beauty of female friendship. 

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The Comrade’s Wife follows a turbulent marriage between a rising politician and an academic, told through her life and lens.

The novel features a whirlwind romance between a charming rapscallion and a maiden fair who has been wronged in her past.  With deliciously crafted sentences, Boswell's prose is thought-provoking and emotionally impactful.  

Anita is not only a victim of workplace injustice and discrimination due to race and gender, but has her own unfortunate experience with gender-based violence, as well. There are those who would say that it sounds contrived that so much can go so wrong for one person but this is a reality that many women face.

We sat with Barbara Boswell to talk about this novel. 

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In this collection of interconnected stories, we are introduced to four women: Solape, Remi, Nonso and Aisha whose lives trajectories are bound by friendship, loss and the business of life. 

Spanning diverse geographical locations and time period, this collection traverses the past and looks to the future.

In an ode to globalisation and the rapidly shrinking nature of the world, the story begins in Nigeria and ends in the United States.

Interestingly, each story explores a different character and allows us to look into their interior lives.

In all these stories, Ogunyemi explores the ways in which women grow, change and come to a place of peace in differing and often difficult situations.

Ogunyemi explores the themes of friendship, racism, family and evolving political structures in this collection.

The titular story forms the bedrock for this exploration, at once espousing grief, loss and the myriads of ways in which this continent and its leaders can break your heart.

Food is central point of this book and Ogunyemi uses it as an ode to the various locations covered in this book.

Using beautiful, evocative language Ogunyemi writes a layered, articulate account of kinship, love and grief.

We sat down with Omolola Ogunyemi to discuss the timely collection of short stories.

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I Do… Don’t I? is the eagerly awaited sequel to the The Thing with Zola.  In it there is a continuation of the love story between Zola and Mbali, traversing the unique location of Kigali and Johannesburg while navigating the complications of a long-distance relationship and the underlying question of commitment. 

Will they say I do? 

Zola's teenage sister adds to the drama as we encounter her in the midst of a cannon life event. 

Okuhle is not exempt from the drama of the book as she faces her own demons in love and family. 

Additionally, the elders in this book serve their own dramatic lessons in this book. 

We sat with Zibu Sithole to discuss her sophomore novel, writing black love and flawed characters.  In this conversation we discuss explored the themes of love, humour and family in the South African context.

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In Only Big Bum Bum Matters Tomorrow, Damilare Kuku introduces a protagonist, Témì with big plans for a drastic change to her appearance in the form of a BBL. 

In her debut novel, Damilare examines familial relationships, beauty standards and the quest for desirability in modern day Nigeria. 

Témì is a young university student, grappling with her body image all while navigating loss and complex family dynamics including her older sister’s sudden disappearance prior. 

Her journey towards the BBL unravels a slew of other issues including the weight of physical beauty, the desire to be attractive and what it means to reach for unattainable beauty standards. 

The women in this book are deeply flawed but incredibly relatable, a testament to the authors skill. They live full and interesting lives while making challenging decisions in a life full of difficulties. 

Once again, Damilare disarms the reading by infusing humour in writing these challenging themes. 

Deeply observant and thought-provoking, Damilare scratches beyond the surface of what it means to be a woman striving for beauty and by extension a sense of self, in contemporary Nigeria. 

We sat down with Damilare Kuku to discuss self identification, beauty standards and the quest for beauty while navigating familial relationships

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In a collection of 12 short stories, Damilare Kuku demonstrates the almost Sisyphean task that is navigating love, relationships and life in Lagos. 

Damilare deftly uses humour and wit to explore the difficult themes of love, loss, friendship and romance, often catching the reader unaware. 

As a testament to the universality of these stories, as reader you or someone you know may have encountered one of the mad men Damilare has written about. 

Of course the women are not exempt from the afflictions of humanity, many of them being difficult and somewhat exhausting in a node to the realities of the women we do know in our daily life. 

Most striking is the depiction of sex and agency displayed by these women particularly in the face of misogyny and patriarchy. 

Damilare draws the reader in, using both humour and sensitivity as she explores what it means to live and love in a place like Lagos. 

We sat down with Damilare to discuss her break out collection. 

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Coloured as an ethnicity and racial demographic is intertwined with the creation of today’s South Africa. Yet often coloured communities are disdained as people with no clear heritage or culture – as not "black enough" or "white enough". 

Coloured by Tessa Dooms and Lynsey Ebony Chutel, challenges this notion and presents a different angle to that narrative. It delves into the history of coloured people as descendants of indigenous Africans and a people whose identity was shaped by colonisation, slavery and apartheid. 

Coloured as an ethnicity was again in the spotlight following Tyla’s brilliant rise to fame on both side of the Atlantic this year.  In South Africa, there has been a problematic discourse that disparages the Coloured identity as inherently lacking, in culture, heritage and ultimately place in our democracy. 

Tessa Dooms and Lynsey Ebony Chutel, challenge this prevailing idea  and bring forth a different way to view this incredibly varied and rich community.  In a powerful exposition, Tessa and Lynsey delve into the history of people shaped by colonisation, slavery and apartheid. 

Spurred by the death of  Nathaniel Julies, a young Coloured boy following a shooting by the police.  #ColouredLivesMatter began to circulate on social media in response to this violence. 

Tessa and Lynsey sought to address the cultural alienation that young Coloured people continue to experience in South Africa by looking deeply into the history of Coloured history, ancestry and political placement in South Africa.  In working through the conundrum of Coloured identity, it becomes clear that it cannot be distilled in racial classification.  

We sat down with Tessa and Lynsey to discuss the complexities of Coloured identity beyond the tropes and stereotypes.  We spoke about the work of understanding the realities of Coloured identities, experiences and setting. 

Written as a mirror to both reader and subject matter, this book is a love letter to Coloured people. 

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In a once majestic but now decaying mansion, itself a potent metaphor for the current state of Durban where it’s set, we meet the characters of Shubnum Khan’s latest novel. 

Originally developed as an ode to beauty, culture and heritage by its owner Akbar Ali Khan, who came to make his fortune in South Africa. 

In its current incarnation, the mansion has been converted to weary looking apartments with an assortment of residents each haunted by their own tragedies and pasts. 

With the latest edition being Bilal and his teenage daughter, Sana. 
In a mix of teenage angst and curiosity, Sana stumbles upon some of the houses supernatural inhabitants. In a novel that confronts the ghosts of the past and present, Shubnum weaves a magical tale of loss and becoming. 

We sat down with her to discuss the magic of things lost and forgotten, the gift of memory and archiving and what it means to make amends. 

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In this novel, Busisekile asks what it means to be a young woman asked to make difficult decisions in impossible situations.

Centred around Vimbai, a young Zimbabwean woman navigating young adulthood amid an economic crisis. She faces significant childhood trauma and we see its subsequent manifestation in her overachievement, detachment and other relational issues. These issues are compounded by the complexity of dating and navigating those additional layers. Both of her love interests are deeply problematic, flawed and unlikeable in varying degrees.

We are captivated by these love stories. 
Navigating adulthood is impossible without community and Vimbai is no exception. There is an exploration of imperfect women still holding each other with grace as friends. 

Busisekile also explores the complexities of queer lived experiences in queerphobic spaces.

Romance, parental failings, economic challenges – these are some of the themes Busisekile deftly explores. 

We sat with her to discuss the complexities of love, choice and growing up.

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Honey& Spice is a sweet, evocative and humorous coming of age debut novel from Bolu Babalola. We first encountered Bolu in the short story collection “Love in Colour.”

In her debut novel set in a PWI in the UK, we are introduced to a cast of characters so relatable that you will find yourself or your friends in at least one of these individuals. 


The protagonist, Kiki is a seemingly self-controlled and focused young woman who is adept at playing the romance long game and seems to be content with the fleeting nature of these modern day dating interactions. This continues until the introduction of a new student, Malakai who is incredibly good-looking, intelligent and lovely. On paper, this combination is perfect, however the reality of life dictates that the seas of love are not smooth sailing at all.

There a series of events where we witness Kiki and Malakai fake date and pass through the enemies to lover pipeline with a few complications in between.
As the book unfolds, the themes of friendship, kinship and family come to the fore. We watch the characters navigate the realities of past romantic traumas, the  veneer of unavailability and parental disappointments as best as they are equipped to.

Bolu’s characters ask us to think widely of love and friendship in the contexts of youth and self -discovery; what does it mean to find love in broken places and people. On first look, this is a fun, coming of age story set in a British university but a deeper inspection reveals a contemplation on trauma, familial influence and chosen family.

We sat with Bolu Babalola to discuss these themes and ideas in this engaging conversation

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