‘Writing is a marathon not a sprint’

Meet Chibundu Onuzo, one of 10 authors on our Women’s Prize For Fiction and Good Housekeeping Futures shortlist. She got her first publishing deal when she was just 21 and has recently published her third novel, Sankofa What’s your favourite book by a wo

My novel Sankofa was inspired by my PHD research on the West African Students’ Union (WASU), a group based in Camden Town from 1925 to 1970. A lot of WASU members went on to become important political figures in West Africa. I was interested in the period of their lives when they were unknown students, tramping around London and dreaming big. I met people like my main character, Anna, whose West African father came to study in England and returned home, leaving pregnant girlfriends.

Tell us about your journey to publication.

I started my first novel when I was 10, so it was a long, arduous, journey to being published at 21. In those 11 years, I started and discarded many projects. I tried my hand at a short story collection. I played around with perspectives and different points of view. Even though it didn’t feel that way at the time, I now realise that none of this writing was wasted. It was all practice for The Spider King’s Daughter, my first published novel.

Everything Good Will Come by Sefi Atta. It should be on every reading list about female friendship. It follows two girls from childhood to adolescence to womanhood and it’s amazing. If you loved Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Novels, this is for you.

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever been given?

It’s something credited to Bill Gates: ‘People overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can achieve in 10 years.’ In other words, pace yourself. Writing life is a marathon not a sprint.

What do you think you’d be if you weren’t a writer?

I’m also a singer. I released my first single, Good Soil, in 2020, but if I wasn’t a writer, perhaps I would have released my music sooner.

Do you have any writing routines or tricks that you use?

I hum when I read over my work. I think it’s something about checking the rhythm of my sentences, but I don’t know for sure.

What do you hope to have achieved as a writer in 10 years’ time?

I’m working on a trilogy of children’s books, so I want to have completed that. And I want to have completed a fourth novel for adults and have written for film and television – either adapting my own novels or working on an original idea. I also want to have released an album. I want to do a lot!