Acclaimed Nigerian poet, Timi Sanni, is set to release his debut poetry chapbook, The Ordinary Affair of Being Human, on December 2nd, 2025.
The collection, which will be published by Akashic Books as part of the Kumi Na Moja New-Generation African Poets Box Set, explores themes of innocence, violence, love, death and the complexities of humanity.
The Ordinary Affair of Being Human, in ten finely-wrought and attuned poems, investigates a society’s psyche, its legacies of violence and inaction, how individuals navigate the act of living, and its contrasts and connections to spirituality and innocence. Through a recollection of personal memories, myths, history, motions, the collection seeks to reconstruct a world where humanity as the concept of all human beings, and humanity as the quality of being humane, are one and the same.
Nigerian poet, Gbenga Adesina, writes in the preface to the collection:
“Think of a psalm of fragility, an emotional archive of those who are broken and those who do the breaking, and how sometimes both are pods of the same startled seeds, and you might arrive at Timi Sanni’s The Ordinary Affair of Being Human, a talismanic chapbook of poems curated against death.”
From the Nigerian NewsDirect Poetry Column:
“The primary question asked in this collection is “why?”. Why all the killings, no matter how little they may be considered to be? And because when one traces the origin of violence, one may be led to the point where man first killed animals for food, Sanni is wary of such killing. But more than the quest for innocence is also an attempt at redemption through language.”
Below is an excerpt from the titular poem of the collection:
“We’ll wait for our miracle of wings; sing,
“this body of mine will endure.” And because
the dance is beautiful, we’ll let the music
go on a little longer.”
—from The Ordinary Affair of Being Human
Timi Sanni is a Nigerian poet and multidisciplinary artist. He is a recipient of the Anita McAndrews Poetry Award, Stephen DiBiase Poetry Prize, and JAY Lit Prize for Poetry. He currently serves as a poetry mentor at Sprinng Writers Fellowship.
You can pre-order The Ordinary Affair of Being Human here.
Bakare Oluwatobiloba
I write to educate, motivate and define history with literature. Just being me!
