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The Self-Taught Custodian Reimagining Yoruba Literature

“There are no mistakes in the world of art, because even what you consider as a mistake eventually leads you somewhere.”

— Aremo Gemini

Growing up in Ijora, a Lagos area notorious for hooliganism, taught Yusuf everything he didn’t want to be; another poster child for crime, a boy who spent early mornings searching for snails to eat from canals, or an adult who rinses their mouth with cannabis. While his mates loitered around the neighbourhood, watched cartoons, and read Supa Strikers, Yusuf found comfort in movies like Omi Alálẹ̀, read anything worthy of being on paper, and listened to moonlight tales from his mother. 

As a secondary school student, Yusuf Àlàbí Balógun adopted Gemini, his astrological sign, as a moniker for his works. But that name followed him into his artist world. As a Yoruba oral artist, Yusuf added Àrẹ̀mọ as a bridge between the English name and his artistic mission. Years later, the name “Aremo Gemini” became evidence of his dynamism and ability to morph art in Yorùbá as “Àrẹ̀mọ” yet still do excellently in English as “Gemini”. 

After secondary school, Aremo Gemini decided to sit out a tertiary education, partly due to the shabbiness of the Nigerian educational system. However, it later became a choice to revolt against a system “that placed heavy demand on certificates at the expense of refined talent, grit and capabilities”. Despite not attending a tertiary institution, there has been no effect whatsoever on Aremo’s work. He believes it made it easier for him to tell certain stories from the point of view of one who is under the pyramid. 

“I hope my journey reminds people that labels like “dropout, illiterate” are heavily myopic. There are no dropouts, there are no illiterates. What we have are people who do not fit into a system due to choice or situation, and that does not automatically subject them to ostracism.”

It thus became imperative for him to find a new path to chart. In 2017, Aremo Gemini launched his oral artist career with Ayọ̀kúnlé Kọ́mọláfẹ́’s Wordaholics open mic event with his dad by his side. Through this event, Aremo, with his dad, went on to encounter other people like Eriata Oribhabor of Poets in Nigeria, and stages across states and institutions including but not limited to FUNAAB, UNILAG, OAU, UI, and LASU. With an unwritten conviction to make sure his latest performance was better than the last, Aremo Gemini became trained by the stage. 

While Aremo started out performing in English, he tilted to Yoruba by late 2018. That same year, he was the recipient of the Horn of Afroclassical Merit Award for excellence in the propagation of arts and culture. Since then, his works have transversed borders and stages, from Felabration to Aké Arts and Book Festival, Lagos International Poetry Festival, Afropolis, Kwara Book and Arts Festival, Goethe Institut, San Francisco International Arts Festival, among others.

September 2020 marked the death of Aremo’s father, but it also provided a map for what he wanted to do and be. Having grown up in a home where he has learnt to weigh his words, he began to write with the sensitivity that makes people experience his works with their souls rather than mortal bodies. By 2022, Aremo has worked on notable creative campaigns using poetry as a vessel, including a Yorùbá poetry production for YES FM, Ìbàdàn.

In 2023, Aremo Gemini launched Ṣẹ̀gílọlá Arómirẹ́ Ògìdán (SAO), a bold, intense debut. SAO is a Yoruba written novel that tackles themes of misogyny, women-love, gender abuse, and mystical justice like Magun amidst thick plot development, literary density, and language warmth. Aremo Gemini believes that SAO is a rebellion in form of a book such that “If the realities of Ṣẹ̀gílọlá annoys you so much, then you should love yourself in such grand manner that the society or the confines of a manner can never play compromise with it”.

Aremo was a poetry delegate for the World Poetry Day 2025 celebration. Aremo Gemini holds on to his truth which is; culture contributes to the becoming of a person and the society he exists in. In respect to that, he creates art and hopes those who have strayed away in the name of modernism find their way back to culture. As part of this goal, Aremo launched the first Yoruba podcast, Jomitoro, in May 2025. 

Jomitoro, a Yoruba podcast shaped as a discussion between Aremo and Iya Aremo, is a mentally stimulating and intellectual platform where critical issues, similar to those found in his book and poetry, are discussed. Aremo also used Jomitoro as a medium to preserve his mother’s voice, one of the most amazing storytellers he’s ever encountered. 

In October 2025, Aremo Gemini launched his sophomore Yoruba novel. Just like his debut, Isepe is a genre bending novel that encapsulates numerous themes including but not limited to black tax, widowhood, spontaneous abortions, and abuse among others. This novel is also the author’s personal way of grieving, following his dad and sister’s death in 2021. 

Ìṣẹ́pẹ́ is a story that spotlights often sidelined narratives about marginalised women such as single mothers and widows. As an attempt to prevent the complete erasure of women with labels from the front pages, Ìṣẹ́pẹ́ humanised the realities of plaguing widows and their immediate societies. Despite this focus, the author believes that Ìṣẹ́pẹ́ is also for men like himself; men who are late bloomers, men who have been looked down on, and men who struggle but don’t fail. 

Aremo believes that an artist must leave the world better than he met it. Thus, every project of Aremo Gemini is a part of an ongoing cultural project to normalise indigenous African languages in contemporary literature. Beyond language preservation, Aremo hopes his works become succor, for the broken, the wounded, and those who believe in an empathetic world. 

Aremo’s journey has been that of conviction, grit, and resilience. Like anyone else, Aremo has benefited from strangers, but he gives the credit of his success to himself.  Considering Aremo’s deep sense of justice for the marginalized, it is not surprising that if he were not an artist, he would be a lawyer. 

From Ijora boy, Aremo Gemini went on to become a Yoruba bard whose works have been translated and featured prominently in several magazines, including the poem ‘Òkùnkùn’ which was recently translated to Slovenia by famed Slovene poet, Brane Mozetic and published in the magazine – Poetikon.

Àrẹ̀mọ Gemini believes that necessary stories should be told, even from a small room. He also believes that “Ẹlẹ́rù ni yóò kọ́kọ́ kọ́ ọfẹ. Bẹ́ẹ̀ ẹlẹ́rù náà ni yóò gbé níbi tí ó ti wúwo”.