The young author promises to bring down the house at Africa Utopia with her stage show, 1991

What can you tell us about 1991?

It’s the story of my life so far in chapters interwoven with song and dance. So the first chapter is about how my parents met and it goes on to cover me going to school in Nigeria, and then boarding school in England when I was 14 and the culture shock of that. Before moving to Winchester I thought it would be like an Enid Blyton book but it wasn’t!

I grew up in the 1990s so the show is very much tied up in my nostalgic memories of that time – things like living in the cosmopolitan city of Lagos and then going back to my village and having the masquerades chasing you. I’m also interested in drawing on some of the oral traditions of Nigerian music with a call and response between the teller and the audience.

It’s a brave move to put your life on to the stage, and off the written page.

It didn’t feel brave. Writers always mine their experiences for creative material but it’s not really about me, it touches on wider ideas. When I started writing in Nigeria all of my stories were set in America and the characters were white because most of the TV I watched was American. That experience is not unique to me. When I meet other African writers now we talk about sharing this feeling that our lives were provincial and the white experience was universal. We felt that the world was happening elsewhere – in London, Paris or New York. Now I can reflect generally on what that means.

This is only the second time the show has been performed.

Yes. The first time I didn’t bring the cast together until the day. We didn’t know if it would work until two hours before the show but I had a master plan in my head. I wanted it to feel spontaneous and a live experience and thankfully it did work.

Who were your early literary heroes?

My mum and dad had a colonial education so most of the books at home were things like Great Expectations and Pride and Prejudice. One of my favourites was The Count of Monte Cristo - I was fascinated by all the twists and turns. I didn’t read a lot of African literature because it was part of this idea that Nigerian things weren’t cool. Things Fall Apart was on the bookshelf but I thought it would be boring. The when I got to Winchester there it was again in the school library. It followed me, so I thought, ‘Let me see what this is all about’. I read it in one sitting and knew it was fantastic. That was the start.

What was the first full story you wrote?

I tried a short story collection aged 12, which was full of white children with names like Allen. My mum savaged it - my first bad review! After that I had lots of projects that I didn’t finish that now I realise mostly looked like The Spider King's Daughter. A novel is an interesting machine; you have to work out how to sustain it. I’d get to 50 pages and run out of steam. I always say to students now though that none of that is wasted. You are getting better by attempting – it isn’t failure.

But you still finished The Spider King's Daughter before the end of A levels. That’s not too shabby. Was that a hard act to follow?

No but writing Welcome to Lagos took longer. It was five years before it came out but I knew if I could just get to the end of the first draft, I could figure it out.

Will 1991 become a book?

I don’t know what it will become. It would make a good audio book because of all the music in there – we’ve got Fela Kuti, Igbo gospel songs, some 12th century Latin singing. Oh and some Davido.

How do you feel about the rising creative scene in Lagos?

It’s fire, especially the Nollywood industry – they’re created films that the whole world is watching. Usually it’s hard for black actors to get leading roles but in these movies they can be the hero, the villain, the whatever they want to be. I also love the fashion scene – most of the clothes in my wardrobe are made in Nigeria. Labels like Grey, For Style Sake and Fash Pa are my go-tos.

You chose to study history and public policy rather than literature. This suggests a move into politics.

Once upon a time I wanted to be the governor of Lagos. Growing up there you realise that people don’t even have basic infrastructure and that they deserve better. Successive politicians have been promising running water, constant electric and education for 50 years and haven’t delivered. Nigerians are very hard working and entrepreneurial, which means we’ve achieved so much despite all this but can you imagine the boost to the economy if they just gave us light? Nigerians will take the initiative from there.

So Onuzo for President one day?

Well… let’s see!