Day Book Trek probed Bunmi Oyinsan’s versatile muse |

Multi-talented author, Bunmi Oyinsan, on Wednesday October 8 offered a rare glimpse into the inspirations and cultural roots behind her latest book, A Ladder of Bones, during a BookTrek community event.

Oyinsan and the Committee for Relevant Arts, which is the organiser of the BookTrek, had the reading at the Lekki Peninsula College, Lagos. It was an opportunity for her to give the audience an insight into the story of A Ladder of Bones and her literary career.

Among other subjects, she spoke about child trafficking, identified as one of the worst issues plaguing society. Generally, however, the answers to the questions the students asked were a huge eye-opener to the audience at large while they also provided appetising insight into A Ladder of Bones,  described as a powerful novel about five young Africans grappling with personal histories and the legacy of violence.

 The way legendary Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart seeks to smash the racial myth celebrated in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, Oyinsan, in the new work, counters the glorification of colonisation in Ellen Thorp’s largely same-title Ladder of Bones —  as a writer, Akeem Lasisi, had earlier noted in an article.

For instance, when asked about how she knew she wanted to become a writer, she not only responded but also gave advice to the audience. According to her, from a very young age she knew she wanted to write. This was because of the lovely stories her grandmother told her growing up and the children books she read then.

She also advised: “Start from what you love. It could be anything and it could lead to anything basically. Start from what you love because life happens and things are not always going to be smooth. So, when the going gets tough it won’t even seem like work.”

Then came a question that provoked the activist and pragmatist in her: one on racism. A student wanted to know how she deals with it in Canada. She identified the need ‘to be aware’ of the reality of the scourge is the first antidote. According to Oyinsan, her first experience of racism was at a train station in Canada during her teenage years. She was confused and needed directions to her destination. Hence, she approached a white lady that seemed like her age mate and the response she got which she never forgot was, “Get out of my face!” The lady, of course, went as far as using the n word on her.

In Oyinsan’s own way of seeking peace in society, she raised her children to know that such happens and it’s not normal and if they ever experienced it they should never let it belittle them.

On a question about manuscript rejection as she might have suffered, she noted there was no writer out there that had not got rejected when one time or the other. The real deal, however, is that one should never give up.

But is Oyinsan a workaholic? She conceded that she gives herself breaks, permission to go away from a story and keep it at the back of her mind till things come back to her. This was her answer to how she deals with writer’s block too.

After several other beautiful questions and insightful answers she advised the audience to at all costs try to question everything and research such.

“Ask yourself if it makes sense or relates with your values and principles,” Oyinsan whose books include The Fabulous Four, The Missing Black Panther, Three Women, Adventures of Anansi and Sewa and Halima, enthused.

The Committee for the Relevant Arts (CORA), founded by culture activists Toyin Akinosho and Jahman Anikulapo, through the Book Trek, seeks to deepen reading culture and help writers promote their works. CORA calls the project ‘Book Trek’ because it is like trekking to a place, while it is also for a movement. The idea behind it is to go to different communities in a state while bringing in authors and their books to socialise with young people, youths, secondary school students so they can be aware of what’s happening in their society.

In an interview after the reading, CORA Manager, Mercy Timilehin, advised upcoming writers to nurture their dreams and never give up.

“There’s never a time to give up because I don’t think it’s ever any good advice to give up on your life, whatever you’re doing. Because whatever you’re doing now, there’s somebody out there who looks up to you, who you are role-modelling without your knowledge,” she said.