Meet the Author: Femi Kayode

Image (c) Nicholas Louw

Femi Kayode grew up in Lagos, Nigeria. He studied Clinical Psychology at the University of Ibadan and has worked in advertising over the last two decades. He was a Packard Fellow in Film and Media at the University of Southern California and a Gates-Packard Fellow in International Health at the University of Washington, Seattle. His writing credits include several award-winning works for the stage and screen.

In 2017 he was awarded the UEA Literary Festival Scholarship, which helped to fund his MA in Creative Writing Crime Fiction. Whilst studying at UEA, his debut novel Lightseekers won the Little, Brown/UEA Crime Fiction Award. Lightseekers is published by Raven Books on 4th February or you can borrow the e-book from our collection.

Who were your literary heroes as you were growing up and when did you first realise that you wanted to write?

I will never forget reading Shirley Conrad’s Lace. I must have been 13 or thereabouts when I read the book. The steamy scandals, the interrelated stories, the emphasis on character, and the accessible prose really spoke to me. To be honest, by then, I was not concerned by its literary merit, but rather with story. I devoured Harold Robbins (I recall hiding the books from my parents because of the steamy covers, I even went as far as wrapping the covers in brown paper and writing my name across to make them look like textbooks!) and could not get enough of Leon Uris. QBVII ranks as one of my most memorable reading experiences during growing up.

James Clavell’s Shogun was a revelation, and showed me the power of words to create worlds. Irving Wallace’s The Second Lady was my first introduction to the thriller genre and got me hooked on nearly all his books. My fascination with this genre led me to the hero of my teen-reading years: Sidney Sheldon. I also discovered Stephen King, and after reading Misery, there was no turning back, the man was god, but the writer I most wanted to be like when I grew up was John Irving. To this day, I don’t just want to write like John Irving, I sometimes want to be John Irving! On the literary front, it’s a tie between the magnificent Toni Morrison and the sublime William Styron.

My mates in high school were very much into comics and Hardy Boys, but for some reason, picture books never did it for me. I was tearing through Mills & Boon and James Hardley Chase literally on a daily basis. I was the only student in a Book Exchange Club with my teachers. Since, my dad believed ‘handwriting maketh the man’, he got me writing essays non stop through high school to improve my grammar and script. In essence, I am not sure there was a specific moment when I knew I wanted to be a writer, because somehow, looking back, it seemed I was always writing. I do blame a High School production of Ola Rotimi’s The Gods are not to blame (and adaptation of the Greek play, Oedipus Rex) for inspiring me to want to tell stories.

But it wasn’t until I started university and got cast in a play on campus that I realized I wanted to use words as my medium for telling stories. I wrote my first play at 18, got it produced by 19, and almost 30 years later, I am still writing.

You attended the University of East Anglia in Norwich where so many great writers have come from. What was that experience like?

Life changing. I had dabbled in a multitude of careers to support my writing. Indeed, I have been called a ‘perennial student’ because I have been in one academic programme or the other for most of my adult life. But it wasn’t until I got to UEA that I could finally say ‘I am home.’ The first thing that strikes you while studying there is the access to resources. There is an unassuming way the programme is managed that makes you forget that this school has produced Nobel Laureates, Booker winners and more.

I think it’s because studying at the UEA is really about two things: the craft and the community. Across my journeys into different careers: advertising, film, stage and even radio, I have rarely encountered the kind of support writers give each other in the literary scene. I have UEA to thank for that.

Can you give Suffolk readers a flavour of Lightseekers and what it was like to write?

My debut crime novel, Lightseekers is out on February 04, 2021. It was my MA thesis at the University of East Anglia, so I didn’t write it with a commercial audience in mind. Getting good grades was more important at that point! The story itself was inspired by the necklace killing of four undergraduates in a university town in Nigeria.

I had pitched the story as a non-fiction novel, because I was so inspired by In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, but I gave up on the idea because between living in Namibia, studying in the UK and writing a factual account of a crime in Nigeria would have made for an impossible situation.

I represented the storyline as purely fiction, and the feedback I got from my classmates encouraged me to continue on that path. The result is Lightseekers, which was not called that then, but something like In the Cold Light of Day. Not very original, I am afraid.

Is there anything you can share with us about your latest project? Will Philip Taiwo be returning?

Absolutely. Even if I wanted to do/write something else, I can’t because I am contractually bound to deliver another Philip Taiwo novel. I have been working on this over the past year, with the support of my PhD Tutors at Bath Spa University. The story excites me as it once again looks at the interrelationships of religion, populism, crowd psychology, politics and crime in Nigeria. All I can say for now is that Dr Taiwo is going to meet a formidable antagonist who just happens to be the victim. Or so we think. Hope that piques your curiosity.

There is a vibrant literary scene in Nigeria - who are some of your favourite writers from the region?

I am Nigerian living in the Southern part of the continent, so my literary taste is quite eclectic and stretches beyond my home country. I am totally smitten by the lyrical writing of NoViolet Bulawayo from Zimbabwe. Her book, We Need New Names, remains one of my favourties. Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Booker shortlisted This Mournable Body is quite profound. The late Binyawanga Wainana was both a friend and somewhat mentor. I miss him tremendously and I find myself still reading a lot of his writings just to keep his memory alive.

When it comes to wit matched with startling insights on the human condition, few can compare to Binya. Also in Kenya, Yvonne Owuor’s works have inspired me since her Caine Prize winning The Weight of Whispers. In Namibia, Remy Ngamije’s The Eternal Audience of One is prose at its most profound and beautiful. Closer home in Nigeria, Nnedi Okorafor’s works truly inspire and she is one of the authors that my teenage son and I like with equal ferocity. And that’s saying a lot.

Helon Habila is a master at what he does, and I remain in awe of his power with words. Waiting for an Angel remains the standard when looking at the paradox called Nigeria through a literary lens. Jowhor Ile’s award winning And after many days resonates and inspires and Oyinkan Braithwaite’s My Sister the Serial Killer was a delight. Of the crime fiction genre, the master remains the inimitable Leye Adenle.

What was your favourite book/TV/music in 2020?

I love film, and Netflix is my playground. Apart from horror, I would watch anything. And when I am writing, my TV viewing increases dramatically. Add the current pandemic, and you can imagine how difficult it is to answer this question! But I will try.

I loved The Queen’s Gambit, superbly directed and designed. The Boys on Amazon was perhaps my most reflective experience, where I also learnt the delicate art of entertaining and social commentary. For varying reasons, I loved all the Ryan Murphy shows. The politician’s first season was magnificent for both performance and concept, Hollywood for sheer imagination and production design and Ratched for well, Sarah Paulson.

Music is even tougher because I am a child of the 70s, and it’s hard to reconcile what is called music today with what I grew up with. Till date, nothing can usher me into an inspired state like Anita Baker or Dianne Reeves. But, having teenagers in your life can expand one’s horizon tremendously, a bit like allowing Youtube or Spotify to make playlists for you.

Because of this, I discovered Hozier. Do not roll your eyes. I googled him. Yes, he is a star. How could I have missed Take Me to Church when it came out? Sue me. But, Nina Cried Power is my favourite music of 2020 not because it was released in that year, but because that was when I discovered the marvel called Hozier.

Specific to 2020, it has to be the whole of Burna Boy’s African Giant album, which has been on replay on my iphone while my obsession with Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia is as much a surprise to me as my kids. The Blessed Madonna Club remix is my gym jam.

What are you looking forward to doing most when we get through all this?

Deactivating my zoom account. I know it won’t happen, but I can hope, right? Hugging without restraint. Dancing in a loud, noisy overcrowded club.

Can you tell us one thing about yourself that your readers may not know?

You wouldn’t know it after the magic hands of my amazing editors have touched my book, but my grammar is atrocious. Sorry, Dad.