Yemisi Aribisala


Yemisi Aribisala is a Nigerian essayist, writer, painter, and food memoirist. She has been described as having a "fearless, witty, and unapologetic voice", and was named by Sarah Ladipo Manyika as one of seven bold and new international voices.
Aribisala is renowned for her work in documenting Nigerian food as an entry point to thinking and understanding the culture and society. Her first book, Longthroat Memoirs: Soups, Sex, and the Nigerian Taste Buds, won the John Avery Prize at the André Simon Book Awards 2016.
She currently lives in Cape Town, South Africa, with her children.

Life and career

Aribisala attended the University of Wolverhampton, England, where she obtained a law degree in 1995. She subsequently earned a master's degree in Legal Aspects of Maritime Affairs and International Transport from the University of Wales, Cardiff, in 1997.

Writing

She was the founding editor of the trailblazing Nigerian literary and culture publication Farafina Magazine.
From 2009 to 2011, she was the food columnist at the now-defunct, groundbreaking 234Next newspaper, where she first gained public attention, writing under the name "Yẹ́misí Ogbe". She regularly contributes to literary publications, including the Chimurenga Chronicle, the avant-garde culture newspaper.

Works

''Longthroat Memoirs''

On 31 October 2016, Aribisala's debut book of essays was published by Cassava Republic Press in Nigeria. It was titled Longthroat Memoirs: Soups, Sex, and the Nigerian Taste Buds, a collection of essays exploring "the cultural politics and erotics of Nigerian cuisine". It has been well received.
Of her work the following has been said: "It is difficult to translate senses through words, but Aribisala manages to communicate the tastes, tickles and aromas of various African spices and ingredients wonderfully." The book has been described as "part straight cookbook, part cultural history, part travelogue, part intimate confessional, it's as complex and mysterious as one of the Nigerian soups Aribisala describes so evocatively in its pages" and a work "that carries the weight of so much cultural and literary burden, and manages to discharge it with grace and style." "he joins thinkers like Chinua Achebe in rejecting the stereotype of the African writer as a mere storyteller, not a thinker."
She has been compared to writers such as Aminatta Forna and Binyavanga Wainaina who "play with the ontology of the 21st century African memoir, and oscillate between the deeply personal and the distinctly political"; a book that is a "mouth-watering appraisal of the cultural politics and erotics of Nigerian cuisine". The pages sing with her clever, beautiful prose and sharp eye. It is a work "redolent with spice, rippling with humour and sexual innuendo, her memoirs conjure up fantasies that can only be satisfied by reading another chapter."
The cover image was designed by UK-based artist Lynn Hatzius, who said that her intention with the cover artwork was "to show how food culture is an ingrained part of us... I wanted the cover image to convey the joy of this and to invite the reader into Yemisi Aribisala's own celebration of food."

Prizes and honours

In January 2017, Aribisala's debut book Longthroat Memoirs won the at the André Simon Book Awards 2016.
In March 2017, Aribisala was listed as one of the 100 inspiring women in Nigeria in 2017.
On 13 February 2018, Longthroat Memoirs: Soups Sex & Nigerian Taste Buds was shortlisted for the 2018 Art of Eating Prize. https://artofeating.com/prize/short-list/
In the May 2018 Gourmands World Cookbook Awards, Longthroat Memoirs: Soups Sex & Nigerian Taste Buds won second place in the category of Best in the World in African Cuisine.

Selected writings