Wanjiru Koinange & Donna Obaseki-Ogunnaike: Outriders Africa – Sub-Saharan Swiping

As part of the Book Festival's Outriders programme exploring the shifting landscapes of contemporary Africa, we turn to The Gambia and Senegal, where, like everywhere else, a maelstrom of taps and swipes has seen modern dating change beyond recognition.

Seeking to decode where love lies for women in modern Africa are two of its literary scene’s most charming characters: Donna Obaseki-Ogunnaike, an Energy Law expert, poet, writer and theatre practitioner, previously dubbed the 'queen of spoken word poetry in Nigeria’; and Wanjiru Koinange, a Kenyan writer, raised on a farm on the outskirts of Nairobi, whose mission to restore Nairobi’s iconic public libraries with her social enterprise Book Bunk has received wide praise.

During surprising, funny and moving conversations, they quizzed a vast array of women across the West African region about hookup culture, how their cities inspire companionship, and whether romance really is dead. Joined by writers Renee Akitelek Mboya and Efua Oyofo, two of the women they met along the way, Obaseki-Ogunnaike and Koinange today share their responses from these unforgettable interviews.

With a special introduction by Kenyan feminist, storyteller, writer and performer Aleya Kassam, who reads M Neelika Jayawardane’s The Sportsman. In partnership with pan-African writers collective Jalada Africa, the place to discover specially curated new writers and voices.

This is a pre-recorded audio-only event.