Akande releases, reads Where Are You From?

Author of acclaimed campus-focused novel, What It Takes and University of Lagos don, Dr. Lola Akande, has released another novel titled Where Are You From? It is about citizenship, indigenisation, inter-ethnic marriages and youthful exuberance.

The novel questions the true meaning of federalism and highlights the frustration and disappointment young Nigerians face in their quest to succeed in a place where there are differences in background. It is an exposé on how one can be lost in a country of one’s birth.

The story revolves around the adventures, dreams, and hopes of Anjola Adeniyi, a female university graduate from Kwara State, who is in search of employment and true love in Nigeria. Young, innocent, idealistic and naive, Anjola embarks on the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme with the confidence of getting a job immediately after the programme. She goes to Kaduna, based on assurances by a Kaduna-based lover, but ethnic challenges frustrate her effort to get a job. Would it be different in Ibadan, the heartland of Yoruba land, where Anjola believes she belongs? The reader needs to find out in this intriguing national commentary. The novel will appeal to students in tertiary institutions and the general audience.

As part of the promotional tour for the new work, Akande will first read at her own university, at the Faculty of Arts Boardroom, University of Lagos on March 21. Time is 10.30am prompt.

Akande holds a doctorate in English from the University of Ibadan. She teaches African literature in the Department of English, University of Lagos. She is the author of What It Takes, a university narrative published in 2016.