Lola Shoneyin won the PEN Award in America as well as the Ken Saro-Wiwa Award for prose in Nigeria.
13 Facts About Lola Shoneyin
1.
2.
Lola Shoneyin was on the list for the Orange Prize in the UK for her debut novel, The Secret of Baba Segi's Wives, in 2010.
3.
Titilola Atinuke Alexandrah Shoneyin was born in Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State, south-western Nigeria, in 1974.
4.
Lola Shoneyin is the youngest of six children and the only girl.
5.
Lola Shoneyin's work is significantly influenced by her life, notably providing material on polygamy for her debut novel; her maternal grandfather, Abraham Olayinka Okupe was the traditional ruler of Iperu Remo and had five wives.
6.
Lola Shoneyin ascended the throne in 1938 and died in 1976.
7.
Lola Shoneyin's early writing consists mainly of poetry and short stories.
8.
Lola Shoneyin attended the renowned International Writing Program in Iowa, USA, in August 1999 and was in that year a Distinguished Scholar at the University of St Thomas.
9.
Lola Shoneyin moved on to her third novel, The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives, which was published in 2010.
10.
Lola Shoneyin has written for newspapers, including The Scotsman, The Guardian, and The Times on issues such as racism, Nigeria's tradition of polygamous marriage, the Nigerian terrorist group Boko Haram and the elections of now former President Muhammadu Buhari.
11.
Lola Shoneyin is the founder and Director of Book Buzz Foundation, a non-governmental organization established in 2012 for the promotion of arts and culture within local and global spaces.
12.
Lola Shoneyin co-founded Infusion, a popular monthly gathering for music, art and culture in Abuja, Nigeria.
13.
Lola Shoneyin served as a judge of the 2018 Caine Prize for African Writing.