An interview with author, Ayisha Osori. Read our review of her book, Love Does Not Win Elections here.

LE: Hello Ayisha, please tell us a bit about yourself.

Ayisha: I was born in Zaria, grew up in ABU, and stayed in that radius of the NW for a while going to secondary school in FGGC Bakori and living for a few years in Sokoto when my parents moved there for work. Studied law in University of Lagos and Harvard Law School and worked in the private sector for many years and moved to the non-profit sector in 2012.

LE: What do you do for a living? Is writing is your full time job?

Ayisha: I work for non-profit organisations and consult (typically on gender development and good governance issues). Until a few weeks ago, I lived in Abuja – but now I live in Dakar, Senegal.

LE: When did you start writing and what prompted it?

Ayisha: I have always written. I was not always published but as a child, I kept journals, wrote poems, what I thought were novels and short stories. As an adult, I started writing weekly articles first for ThisDay in about 2008/9 and then Leadership and so when I went through the experience of contesting primary elections in Nigeria – it was natural to want to capture the adventure.

LE: What next after Love Does Not Win Elections?

Ayisha: I have written another book with a friend and colleague- Chidi Odinkalu. It’s called Too Good to Die – the Myth of the Indispensable Leader in Africa. It came out in August and has not yet been formally presented – but it’s on shelves.

TGTD is about power and politics and what the corruption of both does to our institutions. It’s also historical – which fascinates me. I am curious about patterns and how people/countries keep repeating them. History is important because it shapes the future.

I hope to keep writing about what takes my fancy – right now, predominantly politics.

LE: Lastly, what are your hobbies?

Ayisha: Reading, watching movies, walking, talking and spending time on social media enjoying the humour that people all over the world infuse into their analysis of what is going on in their lives. And taking note of the pain…there is a lot of that too.

Ayisha has two published books:

Love Does Not Win Elections

Too Good To Die: Third Term and the Myth of the Indispensable Man in Africa (co-authored with Chidi Odinkalu)

Ayisha is on Twitter and has a blog.