Irenosen Okojie talks to Ellah P Wakatama

British Nigerian novelist Irenosen Okojie talks about her latest work, Curandera, a story that explores shamanism, desire, betrayal and friendship across time and dimensions.

The story is set in 17th-century Cape Verde in the mountain town of Gethsemane. A mysterious woman sparks a series of strange events including men sporadically going blind in the afternoon, the disappearance and reappearance of children and pregnancies among infertile women. Meanwhile, in present day London, four people are brought together by a fascination with ritual, miracles and a life beyond the mundane. Past and present blur into one.

Okojie’s debut novel, Butterfly Fish, won a Betty Trask award and her short story collections have been shortlisted for several prizes. She was the co-presenter of the BBC’s Novels That Shaped Our World podcast, Turn Up For The Books, and is the director and founder of Black to the Future, a multidisciplinary Afrofuturist festival. Here she talks to Ellah P Wakatama, editor at large at Canongate Books and chair of the Caine Prize for African Writing.

Part of the festival’s programme of African literature and culture.