I once asked my mother what her family did during the Nigerian Civil War. She said her father was jobhunting.

Jobhunting.

TV gives us the idea that chaos rules when the worst things happen. But in truth, more people than not will try to retain a semblance of normalcy. Ergo, if you believe your daily schedule will shift radically when things come crashing down, you'll be wrong.

When Victoria Island, Lagos floods as it does yearly, some residents put their work clothes in a backpack, take a canoe to work, and dress up in the restrooms.

Happy Book Release Day to fellow authors with books out today!

NEVER LOOK BACK by @lilliamr. Orpheus & Eurydice, but if they were Afro-Latinx kids in the Bronx.

https://twitter.com/lilliamr/status/1305883866230448129?s=19

EACH OF US A DESERT by @MarkDoesStuff. "A powerful fantasy novel about finding home and falling in love amidst the dangers of a desert where stories come to life."

https://twitter.com/torteen/status/1305858648044957702?s=19

Remember one of those secret projects I said I’m involved in? Well, @UNICEF + @TheLancet & @FT Commission are partnering on @GHFutures2030 to explore how technology is shaping health and wellbeing for future generations.

And I’m working with them to help envision this. We’re asking young people to imagine their own health futures. We want to know what mental health, healthcare & medicine, with artificial intelligence & frontier technologies, could look like in 2045. Youth voices matter, and we need them to be heard by world leaders at #UN75.

🎉 GIVEAWAY TIME! 🎉

I'm teaching this virtual class at @piper_center for the next 3 weeks, and a silent benefactor & I are sponsoring TWO SCHOLARSHIPS for BIPOC writers to attend.

Open to writers anywhere in the world. See details in thread!

piper.asu.edu/classes/suyi-d… First, what the workshop is about: Every Monday for 3 weeks, I'll explain my understanding of revision, and actionable practices I use to revise my work (both long and short). Then we'll identify which may work for you and try those on your work.

Dope, right? Get in, then!

Captain Africa was the first superhero comic I read as a child that had someone like me in it, so it’s an honour that @tordotcom let me write about its rise, fall & impact on today’s #ownvoices superheroes from the continent. tor.com/2020/08/24/the… Some stuff that didn’t make it into the piece:

Andy Akman, the Ghanaian creator of this comic, has gone AWOL since the comic’s disappearance. As in, absolutely no trace. Search for “Andy Akman” and every result you’ll find is people like me asking, “Where is Andy Akman?” 🤷🏾‍♂️

It's no secret I'm no fan of the police--any police, anywhere. Interacting with the Nigerian police teaches you early on that there's a stark difference between "policing" and "security," and these are two concepts I realise most folks seem to confuse. A lot of policing discourse in the global sphere is usually discussed within the context of American policing and its roots in slavery. But the US police is not the only one to evolve from imperial-capitalist interests, driven by use of force.

The Nigerian police did too.

"Some of the challenges...that often occur at the start of a new project include:

1. Inertia/slow start: You’ve started, but OMG it’s like pulling teeth! Nothing is picking up momentum, everything is a drag."
suyi.substack.com/p/how-to-autho… "2. Procrastination: You’ve put everything together and are ready, but somehow, getting your actual foot on the gas is super hard. For some reason, you’d rather do anything but this project.

3. The plan is…wrong.

4. Oh, this project is waaayyy bigger than I expected."

"Planning: legos, not concrete. Often, when we think of a plan, we think of something rigid and defined...A plan is not an ironclad factual statement. A plan is a list of suggestions based on a forecast of future events."
suyi.substack.com/p/how-to-autho… "A plan is, in fact, a moving target. You’re supposed to hit bullseye while it is moving, but also while you’re walking a tightrope. Which is why a plan, by default, is supposed to fail at various points...and be as adaptable as possible."
suyi.substack.com/p/how-to-autho…

In the wake of this thread & countless follow-up DMs asking what must be done (asking me? what do I know? 🤷🏾‍♂️), I realise most of my responses have come down to two things:
1. VOTE (!!!)
2. Mobilizing stragglers/centrists/sideliners > Converting opposition support

Here's why.

https://twitter.com/IAmSuyiDavies/status/1269663701633622018

I think folks underestimate how many people are simply sitting on the sidelines, going, "I dunno." To test this, look at everyone in your social circles. For every passionate rightist or leftist, there's like 1 or 2 folks who're just shrugging and going, "I dunno."

I'm curious: when you rate a book, what exactly does your rating mean?

Is it, "I'm rating this according to how it suits my own tastes" or is it "I'm rating this according to its literary merit, whether it suits my tastes or not?"

Cos most reviews are, "EYE hated it, 1 star." I know it's a mix of both, and I'm sure all reviews skew more toward the personal/subjective.

But I'm curious about how often we say, "This is definitely not my style, and I didn't enjoy it because xyz reason, but I can see its literary merit for those unlike me, so 4 stars."

One of the coolest things I learned during research for #TheNamelessRepublic was how West and North Africa weren't always so separated by the Sahara. In fact, pre-colonial trade with Europe and Asia happened because North Africa could connect them to West Africa. [1] The Sahara Desert, to start, wasn't always so large/expansive. It used to be more grassland & savanna, and less arduous to cross from North to West Africa for trade. But climate change (!) caused desertification, and now the two regions barely communicate/trade today. [2]

To everyone making poor excuses for what's happening in Portland because you believe it can't happen to you: it can, and at this rate, it will.

By making excuses now, you are telling this rollercoaster it can find new victims when it's done with these.

You will be that victim. So many folks being like, "Yes, get em!" Parroting words like "thugs" & "criminals" & "rioters" without evidence, even when folks with clear Red Cross insignia are attacked on video.

Authoritarianism is not a joke, friends. You haven't seen the half of it, trust me.

The responses I'm seeing to ICE's SEVP decision has exposed one thing: anti-immigration folks know nothing about immigration and are simply anti-BIPOC.

International students are not illegal immigrants, silly. They're not even immigrants (they're nonimmigrant aliens). They have severely limited work hours & employment potential, have strict rules over how they can study & enter/leave the US. Yet they pay taxes, sign leases & contribute to the economy.

For what they pay (2-3x domestic rate), int'l students are literally shackled cash cows.

So, this random day in 2014, me, my mom and my kid bro (KB going forward) are in the living room. Mom, a professor, is grading papers with an adjustable desk while eyeing the news on TV. KB, randomly, starts singing.

KB: When I die, bury me inside the Gucci store...

Mom: Now, if you know this 2 Chainz song, you know where this is going. Also, my mom is your staple Nigerian Christian boomer, but raised to the power of five. Her ears don’t miss, and neither do those hands.

But the major thing? My bro is 12, so guess where he heard this song? Yup.

I always find the “Africa is better off from the results of colonization” arguments amusing. What do people think happened with African empires & their European counterparts prior to colonization? Perhaps a history lesson is in order. Thread. 1/17 There were so many different African empires, so I’m gonna stick to the empire from which I’m descended--the Benin Empire (what is now Benin City in Edo State in southern Nigeria)--and its relationship with the Portuguese since the early 15th century. 2/17

As a newbie author who's still coming to terms with various aspects of con culture--many of which still baffle me for various reasons--I can't even begin to fathom WHY people (read: men) think these recently outed behaviours in SFF are acceptable anywhere.

Like, why? Just--why? I always consider cons like the industry gatherings from my time in consulting: you show up & put on your pleasant but professional self.

Does your job involve meeting new & perhaps attractive strangers? Yes. Does it mean you can be creepy & obnoxious? Hell no, WTF?

As someone from a country that has witnessed a civil war, totalitarian leaders, ethno-religious pogroms, state-sanctioned brutality & the slow eradication of human rights under the guise of criminality, I can frankly tell Americans:

You don't know what you're playing with. The biggest mistake I see is people waiting for A Big Sign that'll tell them that things have gone too far. One Big Thing that police or lawmakers or the president/leaders will do that will cross the line.

It'll never come because they won't cross it. They'll move the line.

I wrote for @tordotcom about the responses I received to a tweet last month. But the question was born much earlier, at a @wanuri lecture I attended. In the interest of current events surrounding Black folks, it's important to tell that story. Thread. tor.com/2020/06/03/whe… My takeaway from Kahiu's lecture was: fun is political. Certain people are expected to be happy & have fun without objection, while for many others--specifically Black people all around the world--happiness is a privilege, which makes fun more complicated. humanities.arizona.edu/event/power-jo…

I'm teaching a summer course with a project that requires engaging with "non-native English speakers," which I have now changed to "multilingual." "Native speaker" rubs me wrong, especially when it comes to English, because who qualifies as a "native speaker" is contentious. 1/10 What we really mean when we say "native English" is "standard global English." And as much as we'd like to believe it exists, there's no "standard global English." There are various Englishes (even within the English themselves). Widespread languages barely stay the same. 2/10

Can anyone point me to science fiction & fantasy novels with black teenage boys on the cover? Asking for my teenage brother. I know there's Tristan Strong, & books from Victor LaValle & Colson Whitehead, but I need more. Most YA I see with black boys are contemporary lit. Just to add that every YA fantasy he's read so far has had a teenage girl on the cover, and when he asked me why, I realised I had no good answers. So I want to point him in the direction of books that don't quite fit that description.

Watching this upheaval over #BlackAF with interest. I liked Blackish (for a while), didn't really take to Mixedish (weak premise) & never saw Grownish (not target audience). Simple maths shows that Barris does generally cast lighter-skinned, mixed-ish actors, period. I do agree with the crowd saying there are many ways to be black. But those different ways have different challenges too. The real problem is flattening them all into one amalgam experience & presenting that same experience repeatedly, as if it's all the same. It's not.