Nnamdi Anyadu Holds A Meal Is a Meal Reading and Signing in Ibadan
Nigerian writer Nnamdi Anyadu launched his short story collection, A Meal Is a Meal, at RovingHeights Bookstore in Bodija, Ibadan, on 29 March 2025. The event, organised by Narrative Landscape Press Limited, brought together readers and literary enthusiasts for an evening of readings, conversation, and book signing at the Prime Mall venue.
Published by Narrative Landscape Press Limited, the 140-page collection gathers twelve stories that use food as a lens for exploring darker aspects of human behaviour, including betrayal, revenge, grief, and superstition. In the title story, a young woman lures a love interest to his death to feed her cannibalistic family. In another, a caterer deliberately ruins a communal meal to settle scores with her social circle.
Servio Gbadamosi led the conversation, drawing out Anyadu’s account of how the collection took shape. Anyadu said the book grew out of the success of two earlier food-themed stories. “Potluck Jollof” was shortlisted for the Isele Prize in 2023, and “The Mask and the Woman” was longlisted for the Afritondo Prize in 2020. Those recognitions pointed him toward food as a sustained theme. “I could see that these particular footsteps were gaining some traction,” he said.
Anyadu read twice during the evening. The first reading, from “Battle for Akara,” drew laughter and visible recognition from the audience. The story follows a Lagos commuter whose morning routine at a street food spot is disrupted by a queue-jumper, leading to an unexpected act of public justice. The second reading, from “Super Slumber,” was quieter and more unsettling. It follows a boy whose recurring dreams of a woman in a yellow dress are treated by his mother as a spiritual attack, though the story’s ending suggests the woman is a psychological echo of the mother herself.
On his writing process, Anyadu said he writes for one hour every morning before engaging with anything else, a discipline he attributed partly to his parallel career as a ghostwriter. He said writer’s block rarely troubles him because he avoids demanding perfection from the first draft.
“The question is always: what can I produce right now, even imperfectly? I can make it better later,” he said.
The evening ended with an autograph session. Copies of A Meal Is a Meal are available at www.narrativelandscape.com.
Laipo Magazine is the official publication of the Ibadan Book and Arts Festival, documenting literary events, book culture, and creative conversations across Nigeria.
