Lola Akande
Lola Akande is an academic and fiction writer. She has published four novels including the prize-winning "What It Takes' and the latest which is titled 'SUITORS ARE SCARCE IN LAGOS". She was born on 3 October 1965 in Oke-Ode, Ifelodun Local Government Area, Kwara State, Nigeria. She also has a career spanning public service, public relations, and journalism. Education. Akande attended Oke-Ode Grammar School between 1976 and 1981 where she earned the West African School Certificate (WASC) before proceeding to Kwara State College of Technology (now Kwara State Polytechnic), Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria between 1981  and 1983. She holds a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Ilorin in 1986; a master's degree in English from the University of Ibadan in 2006; and a doctorate in English with specialisation in Prose Fiction/ African Literature, also from the University of Ibadan in 2013. She also holds a master's degree in Public Administration from the University of Lagos in 2002 and a professional qualification in Public Relations from the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations in 2001. Career. Akande currently teaches in the Department of English, University of Lagos. She is also a faculty  member with the Advertising Practitioners’ Council of Nigeria (APCON). She began her career as a teacher during the mandatory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme between 1986 and 1987 at Ngor Okpala Secondary School, Imo State. Afterwards, she was a news reporter with The Herald Newspaper between 1987 and 1989 and a sub-editor with The Democrat Newspaper, Kaduna between 1989 and 1990. She spent fifteen years as a public servant with the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund between 1990 and 2005, rising to the rank of Manager. She returned to media work as a Senior Programme Officer with Media  Rights Agenda between January 2006 and July 2007. From 2008 to 2013, she was a course facilitator with the Lagos Study Centre of the National Open University of Nigeria. Research interests. Her research interest is literatures of the city. Her other research interests include feminist activism, cultural studies, postcolonial studies, and literary theory. She has conducted extensive research in representations of urban spaces in the African novel. Her book, "The City in the African Novel: A Thematic Rendering of Urban Spaces" undertakes a critical analysis of sixteen African novels which she believes are representative of city trends. Akande is an  engaging conference speaker and has had the honour of being guest at various fora to discuss issues in media, public relations, academic research, management and leadership. Published works. To her credit are three works of fiction, a monograph and several academic publications. Monograph. Akande, Lola. (2019) The City in the African Novel - A Thematic Rendering of Urban Spaces. Lagos: Tunmike Pages Awards. In August 2019, she became a Joint-Awardee for Capacity Development Acceleration Fund by the UK Government's Global Challenges Research Fund through the University of Glasgow. The award is being overseen by the UK Research and Innovation  (UKRI) based on a collaboration with the University of Lagos Centre for Sustainable Healthy and Learning Cities and Neighbourhoods. She was the winner of the Best Researcher Award for the Faculty of Arts at the 13th UNILAG Annual Research Conference & Fair, held in August, 2018. Her work, What It Takes in 2017 earned her the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Prize for Prose Fiction.