“He never left a city without getting a souvenir for Mama. Lace from England. Shoes from Milan. Perfume from Turkey. Indian spices. Moroccan headgear. Leather bags from Kano.” *** The sun had not risen when he left Lagos. The long limbs of twilight played a slow game of police-catch-thief with the first signs of daylight. […]
Tag Archives: lagos
Memoirs of a Lagos Wedding Planner | Episode 8: No Intervention | by Tolulope Popoola
A lot of my work relies on having excellent vendors. People that are professional, reliable and trustworthy. I’ve been working with Ogechi, my friend and make-up artist for three years. Whenever I take on a bride-to-be as a client, I always refer them to Ogechi because she is great at what she does, and she’s […]
Memoirs of a Lagos Wedding Planner | Episode 7: Repeat Affair | by Tolulope Popoola
Sometimes, when I work with a really cool, lovely couple, we end up becoming friends. After all, I’m communicating with them several times for months, leading up to their big, special day. I’m offering advice, support and maybe even a few relationship tips along the way. I had a lovely rapport with Tade and Oyin, […]
Memoirs of a Lagos Wedding Planner | Episode 6: When In-Laws Misbehave | by Tolulope Popoola
This wedding was turning out to be more work than I had envisaged. After the first two meetings with the bride and her mother, when they were prospective clients, I had assumed they wanted a simple, straight-forward ceremony. But as the wedding day drew closer, the bride became more and more demanding, and started to […]
Art Chasing Life Blatantly | Review of Chibundu Onuzo’s Welcome to Lagos | by Kola Tubosun
For almost two-thirds of Chibundu Onuzo’s new book, one searches in vain to find the source of the title, Welcome to Lagos (Faber & Faber, 2016). Was it ironically chosen to direct the reader on some chase of relevant nuggets of the city’s peculiarities or selected just for the foreboding it suggests to those already […]
Memoirs of a Lagos Wedding Planner | Episode 5: The Sponsors | by Tolulope Popoola
I was meeting my prospective client for the first time. Usually, I meet brides-to-be with a friend, a sister or their mum. So this meeting was unusual because the bride came to my office with her uncle. We talked about the dates they were looking at, what kind of wedding she wanted, locations, their […]
Memoirs of a Lagos Wedding Planner | Episode 4: The Appointment | by Tolulope Popoola
I had received a referral from a friend, which is a great endorsement of my work. With all businesses like mine, referrals are a life blood. When a client likes your work enough to refer you to their friends and family, you have to make sure you meet and surpass their expectations. So it was […]
Opportunity for African Writers | Apply to the Goethe-Bakwa-Saraba Literary Exchange Project
Writers in Lagos and Yaounde have a chance to take part in a new literary initiative. The Goethe-Institute is teaming up with Lagos-based Saraba Magazine and Bakwa Magazine in Yaounde to create a literary exchange project. Writers in both cities get to attend workshops on creative non-fiction run by these two amazing literary magazines. We love the […]
I hold a doctorate in English from Duke University and recently joined the Marquette University English faculty as an Assistant Professor. I love teaching African fiction and contemporary British novels. Brittle Paper is the virtual space/station where I play and experiment with ideas on how to reinvent African fiction and literary culture.
