Composite: The Reading List 
The Reading List: Hello Chibundu, and thank you for your time.
We call this interview #TheFlap, but it is based on the Proust Questionnaire, a parlour game made famous by the French writer Marcel Proust, who believed that the answers would reveal a person’s true nature...
So here goes!
What’s the first book you can remember having read to you?
Chibundu Onuzo: A series about a character called Poldy. He was a stick man I think and sometimes he could fly. I might be making up some of the details but his name was definitely Poldy.
TRL: Do you have an ideal reader in mind while you are writing?
Chibundu Onuzo: Not really. I’m my first and most important reader although sometimes there are some trusted secondary readers that I share things with. I also read my work aloud to check its rhythm and I skim read as well, to make sure nothing is sticking out.
TRL: What were some of the unexpected challenges that came up while you were writing? What was unexpectedly easy?
Chibundu Onuzo: I was surprised by how easy it was to write the London passages of the book. I’ve lived in London for about a decade now and all my observations about the city just flowed into the novel. But once I moved Anna to West Africa, it was very difficult to conjure up the fictional country of Bamana. I think because when I do write things set in West Africa, my default setting is Nigeria and in particular Lagos.
TRL: What are some of the key ideas that inform what you’ve written?
Chibundu Onuzo: I don’t know. I don’t really think about ideas when I start off on a project. I’m thinking more about the characters. But readers always tell me there’s a lot of politics in my books. I am interested in African politics.
TRL: What was the most difficult scene or chapter to write?
Chibundu Onuzo: The end. I’m not good with endings.
TRL: What question do you think readers are going to ask you the most?
Chibundu Onuzo: What happens to Anna after the ending. I ended the book on a question mark on purpose. I don’t know the answer myself.
TRL: If you could co-author a book with anyone, living or dead, who would you choose and what would it be about?
Chibundu Onuzo: I don’t like co-authoring.
TRL: After readers have read your book, what should they read next?
Chibundu Onuzo: Segu by Maryse Condé and Everything Good Will Come by Sefi Atta.
TRL: What habit distracts you most from writing?
Chibundu Onuzo: Reading.
TRL: What’s the best music to write to?
Chibundu Onuzo: I don’t write to music. I always find it distracting. DM/ ML
Sankofa by Chibundu Onuzo is published by Virago (R335). Visit The Reading List for South African book news – including interviews! – daily.