Prof. Bosede Afolayan Explores Power and Resistance at LRF June Reading

The 2025 June edition of the LRF Monthly Book Reading featured Prof. Bosede Afolayan as the Author of the Month. The delightful and engaging event, held via Zoom on Sunday, was hosted by Olawaseun Olaniyi and Babatunde Oladele.

Bosede Funke Ademilua-Afolayan (PhD.) is a professor of comparative drama in the Department of English, University of Lagos, Nigeria. She is the author of two plays: Look Back in Gratitude and Once Upon an Elephant. Once Upon an Elephant is on the recommended WAEC list for Literature (2026 – 2030).

Prof. Afolayan’s Once Upon an Elephant is a play about dictatorship. It focuses on tyrant leaders staying in power longer than the stipulated time, engendering further themes of wickedness and tyranny.

The drama reflects the prevalence of effective dictatorships in the political arena of our world today, with men playing God. This issue of authoritarian government has been addressed by the likes of Wole Soyinka, Femi Osofisan, Hope Igaga, and many eminent writers. But Prof. Bosede Afolayan’s approach is unique in that it takes a feminine angle, conceiving of how women can be solutions to this significant societal challenge. The title “once upon an elephant” is derived from Ajanuku, a character in Yoruba folklore.

The play made use of symbolic names centring around Ajanuku (Elephant), the tyrant leader who laid with seven virgins, including his own daughter, to achieve immortality; and Yaba (oldest queen), the woman who brought Ajanuku’s authoritarian rule to an end. The event ended with contributions, comments, questions and answers from the LRF audience.

You can watch the event on the Foundation’s social media page here.

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