Born in Oshogbo, Western Nigeria, Bode Asiyanbi was educated at Obafemi Awololwo University, Ile-Ife and Lancaster University where he holds a Masters degree in Creative Writing.He is a two-time winner of the BBC African Performance Playwriting Prize and worked with the BBC World Service Trust as a writer on its groundbreaking radio and television drama series, Story Story and Wetin Dey.His stage play ‘Shattered’ was performed at the 2013 British Council Lagos Theatre Festival and his short story, ‘The Diagnosis’ was a winning entry for the British Council Lagos Theatre Festival 2014. His poems also featured in the anthology of contemporary African poetry, ” A Thousand Voices Rising”. He describes himself as ‘a wandering troubadour from a long line of village weavers and palace bards; spinning colored yarns and singing out lost songs from rooftops’.
One of the confusing things about encountering death is the manner virtues get wrought into very terrible forms. Looking back now, I reckon the problem could be with the ductile manner of reality itself; as you slip down its greasy pole you begin to get a different grip on all the shit it had fed you with all your life. I remember it was the sepia image of Themis without the blindfold that I was struggling to get off my mind when I began hearing voices.
‘Just two more. Two more and you would’ve been too far gone…’
He had this unnerving Charlie Chaplin kind of smile. I frowned. He stood up to go. I asked him where I was. He didn’t tell me.
