"feminism is not new, especially not on the continent. Maybe the word itself found its way lately into the Nigerian vocabulary, but at its core the struggle for the social, political and economic equality of the sexes; ideologies which aren’t any different from what my late grandmothers fought for—is not new"

"When you are criticising or analysing something it is different to when you are writing it and sometimes you can see more than the person who is sitting writing it ‘cos that’s the job of the critic."

"Anyone going into any form of creativity (in this case, writing) should only do so for the sole purpose of improving their own lives."

"We believe in reincarnation and that life is a circle. We go and come back."

"When you delve deeper into these anxieties, you realize that it is always about power; the fear of losing power when the feminist is allowed equal footing in society."

"you cannot negotiate truth: truth is truth because it is truth. You can’t talk around it you know. Whether one sees it as a perversity or not I believe it is a perversity."

"But I would like to point out that many women in my community are no longer afraid to tell their stories; they no longer seek for anyone’s permission before they call out their abusers on social media. They no longer accept bullshit from men, from the society, and the treacherous system that insists on relegating us to the background"

"There is a dark side to everything and many things can be true at the same time"

"I was not so confident about my writing and I needed that validation. It was sort of a confirmation that I was treading the right path. It was a gift and also a challenge, because afterward I began to pay more attention to what I do with language, how I craft my stories"

"With whatever reasonable amount of money we can get, we will achieve a lot once we use it judiciously.”"

"Read, and don’t ever stop. Read across genres. Read non-traditional literatures, like manuals and brochures. You could learn a thing or two; you could attempt a non-traditional story form, like Chikodili Emelumadu did with her exceptional short story, What to do When Your Child Brings Home a Mami Wata"

"that ordinary folk can prevail despite the heavily stacked odds against them."

"You Do Not Have to Mention Names, No Matter Whose Ox is Gored”"

"the incredible value of failing, that it – failure, can bring innovation and then success."

"So you can see wealth around you, but you can also not have much, so I was just obsessed with the idea."

"The simple answer is life. Life inspires ."

"You can’t do anything about the colour of the skin you were born into but what you choose to do with that inheritance is very much up to you."

"staying home does not necessarily mean staying safe for women."

"There’s a falseness about the division between the ability for science and the ability for art. We’re born capable of doing both, and then we slowly unlearn—a gradual loss of curiosity. And we don’t have to give that up."

"Do what you're supposed to do, and the rest will fall into place."

"Write what you love to read and hopefully someone out there will love the too."

"You believe that your purpose is pure, is more refined, sophisticated, and more important than everybody else’s."

"You have your own path, and you have to stick to your own path, because everybody's Chi is different."

"Don't be afraid to read things that will shake you and will shake your faith."

"However, writers also have to keep in mind that you will never please everyone. Some people will love your stories and some will hate them."

"Racial stratification will demand you “stay there” – do not stay there. If this door won’t budge, try another."

"If you can create an opportunity for someone – who would otherwise be marginalised – to get an equal chance at the prize this is what matters."

"Literary criticism has its place in a writer’s growth, whether they come in the form of publisher rejections or book reviews."

"Read. Read. Read. Read widely. Not just in the genre you want to write."

"Don't be afraid to read things that are controversial."

"You treat people with reverence because you don't know who you're talking to, you could be greeting an ancestor that you've never met."

"You also need to know that you're on your own - even when you’re surrounded by people doing the same thing, you need to understand that you're not the same."

"And so you will do whatever you can to achieve your goals. I mean, look at Killmonger, for heaven's sake."

"You can look for help later down the line, but you have to do the toughest bits of this gig yourself, read everything, even if it's niche and nobody else is interested in it, read it anyway."

"If there’s a fear of confronting who you are and what you believe, you're never going to be a good writer because you need to be able to see through the eyes of people who are not the same as you."

"But you try to listen to the other person’s point of view as “The Black Lady The” does."

"If someone dies every week or so for the next five years then I'll never go hungry again…"

"If hunger forces a farmer to eat both his yam tubers and his seed yams, the years to come will have no yams to eat and none to plant"

"I went into the bushes to do a number two… I thought I had finished, but I could still feel something there so I used some leaves to wipe my bottom and there it was – a giant worm sticking out of my bottom! I screamed and started running with the worm dangling behind me… I stood there crying with my pants down, dress up and worm sticking out."

"The time has come for me to start my life"

"I figured that it would be better to make all my rookie mistakes on More Cake rather than on Imagine."

"the most important thing is access. Access to finance, access to decision-makers who can greenlight projects and access to top talent who can help bring your project alive."

"The toughest challenge is to keep going in the face of overwhelming odds."

"It was mean of him to expel her just because she didn't keep her legs closed. Maybe if I kept my legs open I'd also get expelled and Daddy would have to find me another school for me to go in Lagos"

"Why, why, why, why? I hate them all, I want to go home. I don't want to live with my Auntie, I don't want to live in Idogun. I want everything to go back to the way it once was, with Daddy, Adebola and me living at number 4 Egbecombe House."