Edwin Okolo

My story was inspired by the Ake Book and Arts Festival and the otherworldly feeling it was able to create for the young literature lovers who traveled from across the country and around the world to attend circa 2013 - 2018. Ake during those years felt like a magical place where anything was possible and permissible, even love. I wanted to capture some of that fleeting magic in a story.

As someone who had experienced Ake in those years, I tried to replicate what it felt like to experience Ake for the first time. My goal was to create a character who was both open to new experiences but somewhat jaded about what waited away from Ake. I focused first on the things that he would feel and tried to give him a lot of interiority and self reflection. I knew his love interest was a mirror for his innermost emotions so getting that character right was as important for me as accurately representing my protagonist.

My favorite moment in the story was the moment where they part at the end. It felt very cathartic, the end of one thing and the start of another. I love liminal spaces like that, and love when a story ends not in a cliffhanger but an open ended resolution of a minor arc that starts a major arc.

My only challenge was during editing, where my editors didn’t believe that two young blooded characters could have self control, even in fiction. We bickered a bit about the realism of that choice, eventually they saw my side of things and we found a suitable compromise.

First, I want to add to the very limited canon of queer storytelling, a queer story that is positive, affirming and most especially fun. I also want to challenge the stereotypes around queer desire, many of which suggest that it is feral and uncontrollable. Finally, I want to inspire people to explore literary spaces, they are really wonderful for finding your tribe.