The poet and novelist on having his heart broken by Animal Farm, imagining Ibsen and Chekhov characters as Nigerian, and ditching physics for Plato
My earliest reading memory
In London, reading my dad’s copy of the Times at four. It embarrassed my mum, who hurried me out of the room when visitors came.
My favourite book growing up
In Lagos, in my teens, I discovered Ibsen’s plays and Chekhov’s stories. I transplanted the characters, imagining them as Nigerian. That’s the magic of reading.
