Timi was born in Epe, Lagos State. His parents were educators and owned a modest library containing a variety of books. As a child, Timi was introverted and naturally curious. He found comfort in the library books, and they opened up his mind and imagination. Timi loved the unique appeal of mysteries and the wondrous complexities of science. This hobby quickly led to an obsession with reading encyclopaedias and other educational and entertaining materials.
At the age of seven, Timi began to write stories. He was enamoured and impressed by stories from the Platinum Series and Lantern Books. His parents had initially bought them because they were recommended texts. But after noticing his growing interest in these books, they bought a few copies to encourage his love for reading. These works greatly influenced his writing at the time and pushed him to experiment with different styles and genres.
In 2018, Timi founded The Muslim Write Initiative after coming across Maryam Sullivan Umm Juwayriyah’s manifesto for Muslim literature. He was interested in promoting a non-stereotypical representation of Muslims in literature. He began to study the works of Muslim writers like Leila Aboulela, S.K. Ali, and Naima B. Robert, among others.
To expand his writing knowledge, he also applied to the Sprinng Literary Fellowship in August 2018. His application was accepted, and he developed his writing and literary skills under the tutelage of Ifeoluwa Shoola, a freelance writer, consultant, PMP-certified project manager (she is also the sister of Oyindamola Shoola, co-founder of Sprinng). At the end of the fellowship, his writing exercise, an unusual and unlikely love story between a cat and a mouse, was acquired and published on the Sprinng website. The story was titled “Not Your Typical Romance” and became his first published story.
Timi’s introduction to poetry began with the weekly writing challenges in the Association of Nigerian Student Authors (ANSA) WhatsApp group. He entered the poetry contest twice and lost, to his dismay, before eventually winning the third time with a ten-lined poem titled “Bitter Roots”, This poem also won the 2020 Sprinng Poetry Contest amidst a record-breaking 1125 total entries. Later in the year, Timi attended the Transcendence masterclass along with a few other young writers like Abu Bakr Sadiq and Rahma Jimoh. It was held by the poet Aremu Adams Adebisi. During this month-long masterclass, Timi became interested in further exploring and pursuing a career in poetry. He was also nominated for the Young Writers and Creatives Award.
With his newfound interests and discovery of a wider publishing world, it didn’t take long for Timi’s writing to start garnering acclaim. In 2021, he attended the Revolutionary Poetics masterclass with Kaveh Akbar where he learnt to fully and deeply engage “the work of his poetry.” He won the Anita McAndrews Poetry Award with a poem titled “Reimagination,” and a Stephen A. DiBiase Poetry Prize with “Sacrilege”, a poem about hardship, resistance, and police brutality. It was inspired by and written in the aftermath of the October 2020 Lekki Massacre. He was also a finalist for the Awele Creative Trust Award and the Lumiere Review Prize for Prose.
Timi Sanni was also longlisted for the Frontier Poetry New Voices Contest and the Nigerian NewsDirect Poetry Prize. In 2022, he won the Kreative Diadem Poetry Writing Contest. He was the sole winner of the contests because the judges declared the fiction entries did not meet the quality they sought; hence, they did not select another winner in the category.
2023 was also a memorable year in Timi’s writing journey. He earned literary recognitions from the Surging Tide Poetry Contest and the Kari Ann Flickinger Prize. 2024 was an even better year, and he attained numerous honours, including being named a co-winner of the JAY Lit Prize for Poetry. He was a runner-up of the Idumaese Alao Prize for Literature; received an UnSerious Collective Fellowship; and was commended in the Adroit Prize for Poetry. He was also a guest at the Ake Arts and Books Festival in November 2024, where he moderated a panel session titled “Documenting New Voices.” His co-panelists were Aneihi Edoro of Brittle Paper, Wale Lawal of The Republic, and Taofeek Ayeyemi of Olumo Review.
Timi’s chapbook, The Ordinary Affair of Being Human, was selected by Kwame Dawes and Chris Abani for inclusion in the African Poetry Book Fund (APBF) New-Generation African Poets box set. It will be published by Akashic Books as part of the Kumi Na Moja box set in December 2025. His writing has also been published in Black Warrior Review, New Delta Review, Cincinnati Review, Poet Lore, The Rumpus, Four Way Review, ONLY POEMS, among others. Additionally, his works have been included in the “Critical and Interdisciplinary Studies Reader” at the Centre for Refugee, Migrant, and Displacement Studies at Virginia Tech.
In an interview with Karan Kapoor, the Editor-in-Chief of ONLY POEMS, Timi described his writing as existing “simultaneously in two directions—backwards interrogating the events of history and forward reimagining a future other than the one that has been projected for me.” His writing encapsulates and explores the past while also bringing a brighter, innovative future to life. His works also portray the lives of Muslims in an authentic way, dispelling misconceptions and promoting diverse narratives.
Timi currently serves as a poetry mentor at Spring Writing Fellowship. He is also presently preparing towards a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing after completing his undergraduate degree in Biochemistry at Lagos State University.
With more awards like the Fitrah Review Short Story Prize, and the SEVHAGE-JAY Lit/S. Agema Honourable Poems Award, Timi Sanni is definitely an exciting voice in African literature, one whose journey is nothing short of inspirational for young writers just starting out, as well as many who are his peers.
Oreoluwa Odusote
Writer, poet, and dreamer.
