In Episode 39 of Literary Prospects, we talk with author Samuel Kolawole about his debut novel, The Road to the Sale Sea.
Samuel was born and raised in Ibadan, Nigeria and is the author of the new critically acclaimed novel, The Road to the Salt Sea. His work has appeared in AGNI, Georgia Review, The Hopkins Review, Gulf Coast, Washington Square Review, Harvard Review, and more. He has received numerous residencies and fellowships, and has been a finalist for the Graywolf Press African Fiction Prize and shortlisted for UK’s The First Novel Prize. Samuel holds a Master of Arts degree in Creative Writing with distinction from Rhodes University, South Africa; an MFA in Writing and Publishing from Vermont College of Fine Arts; and a PhD in English and Creative Writing from Georgia State University. He lives in State College, Pennsylvania.
In this interview, Samuel talks about why he thinks it’s important to shed light on the often overlooked problem of trans-Saharan migration; how, as an immersive writer, he conducted research for a book in which his characters go places that he could not; why he likes unusual character names; his decision to pursue a PhD in Creative Writing and much more…