Ismael Bala on the marginal voices in African literature and academia

Gaddafi talks with Dr. Ismael Bala, a poet, writer, translator and scholar from northern Nigeria, who recently published the poetry collection Line of Sight (2020). Born and educated to the university level in Kano, Bala did his post-graduate studies at Oxford, and is a Fellow of the International Writing Programme of the University of Iowa. The discussion touches on African literature and poetry, the striking success of Hausa romance novels, decolonisation, the problems of Nigerian academia, feminism, the struggle (and joy) of creative writing, and the deceptions of Nigerian unity.