Feyisayo Anjorin
Feyisayo Anjorin is a filmmaker and a writer. He trained as a filmmaker at AFDA Johannesburg. He was the narrator of "The Land of Gulungulun" fiction podcast. His writing has appeared in Litro, Bella Naija, Brittle Paper, African Writer and Kalahari Review. He is the author of Kasali's Africa, "The Night My Dead Girlfriend Called" and"The Stuff of Love Songs"
Twitter: @FeyisayoAnjorin
Instagram: @FeyisayoAnjorin
Are there particular films that have influenced your writing?
The movie "Beasts of No Nation" makes me feel sad, so I write really sad stuff after seeing it. "The Adjustment Bureau" is my kind of love stories, thus it inspires me to write stories about superhuman powers trying to influence humans to do things.
I've seen David Oyelowo in "Nightingale", I tend to dig deeper into the soul of my characters after seeing this film. I must have seen Nightingale like ten times!
Is there a genre of music that influences your writing/thinking? Do you listen to music while you write?
Love songs of all genres. Whether hip hop, or reggae, or rock, or R&B. It now depends on the character and the artiste. Mariah Carey's "Without You" and "Always Be My Baby", and Tupac's "Unconditional Love" are songs that are always in my love song playlist.
What period of history do you wish you knew more about?
I would have loved to see what African communities were like under the Roman empire.
What’s the difference (at least for you!) between being a writer and an author? How do you shift gears between the two?
I believe I am a writer because I write. I think being an author is about publishing a book. I am a reader who writes, but I am also an author of three books. I am a writer long before the books. The writing is in me, so it keeps coming out .
Do you speak a second language? Do you think differently in that language? Does it influence your writing?
I speak Yoruba even though English is the language in my head. My characters are usually Yoruba, navigating cosmopolitan spaces. I do not have any Yoruba language book, but Yoruba mythology and culture I've lived and observed, and are the basis of my worldview. I read the Bible too, in English.
Both languages feature in my thoughts.
My wife doesn't speak Yoruba, so I have to think in English to reach her.
In urban centers in Yoruba land there are those who speak Yoruba, and those who use Pidgin English to bridge tribal gaps, and those who converse solely in English.
