Lola Shoneyin: Biography, Education, Career, Books, Marriage, Net Worth, Achievements and More

By Balogun Kamilu Lekan

Biography

Titilola Atinuke Alexandrah Shoneyin, fondly called Lola Shoneyin, is a Nigerian poet, academician and author.

Lola was born on 26 February 1974 in Oyo State, Ibadan, to Chief Tinuoye Shoneyin and Mrs Yetunde Shoneyin.

The renowned writer is the only female and the youngest of six kids of her parent.

Lola rose to prominence with her debut novel, The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives. She also has some volumes of poetry works credited to her.

Shoneyin’s writing craft has established her reputation as a daring, witty, and outspoken poet.

Education

Shoneyin attended Fettes Junior School in Edinburgh, Cargilfield School in Edinburgh, and The Collegiate School in Winterbourne, Bristol.

Her father’s incarceration by a Nigerian military administrator forced her to relocate to Nigeria and attend Abadina College to finish her secondary education.

Lola then proceeded to Ogun State University to bag a degree. She is a distinguished Scholar at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota, USA.

She also possesses a teaching degree from London Metropolitan University in 2005.

Career

Most of Shoneyin’s early writings are poems and short stories. One of her earliest pieces, a brief story about a Nigerian woman who divorced her husband and wed an Austrian woman, was published in the Post Express (a British newspaper) in 1995. This story sparked a conversation about homosexuality in Nigeria.

Her paternal grandfather was also a polygamist, as was her maternal grandfather, His Royal Highness (HRH) Abraham Olayinka Okupe, who was the traditional ruler of Iperu Remo (1896–1966). He had five wives. She discusses polygamy in her book, “The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives.”

Her first book, The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s Wives, which she initially titled “Serpent’s Tail,” was translated into Italian and released as “Prudenti like Serpenti” in the UK in May 2010.

She has written books and articles for publications like The Scotsman, The Guardian, and The Times on subjects like racism, polygamous marriage in Nigeria, the Boko Haram terrorist group, and the election of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Shoneyin taught English and was the deputy principal at a secondary school in Abuja, Nigeria.