The November 2025 Book Reading With Dr Charles Akinsete

Dr Charles Akinsete was the guest author at the LRF’s November Monthly Book Reading.

LRF Monthly Book Reading is an online event dedicated to promoting a culture of reading and learning in Nigeria and November’s edition took place on 2 November 2025 via Zoom.

The programme began with a brief discussion about the LRF’s remarkable growth in school outreach and reading advocacy, followed by an expression of gratitude from the Executive Director, Babatunde Oladele to the LRF volunteers. The Executive Director also aimed at encouraging interest in books and knowledge among Nigerians. The month’s session focused on “The Importance of digital platforms for promoting literature and reading”.

The Mc for the day, Mrs Olabisi Olasupo piloted the remainder of the session while inviting Happiness Stephens, an intern from The ready Writers Consult to read the author’s biography.

Dr Charles Tolulope Akinsete in 2002 gained admission into the University of Ibadan, where he bagged his Bachelor of Arts Degree in 2006. He broke the record of a 20 year-lull, graduating from the prestigious Department of English, with a First Class degree. That same year, he won the Prizes for Best Graduating Student both at the Department and at the Faculty levels. Charles Akinsete went ahead to bag his Masters’ degree at the Department of English, University of Ibadan where he also obtained his Doctorate degree in 2018, on the topic, “The Postmodern Temper in Selected African and African American Novels.”

Dr Akinsete was a Teaching Assistant at the Centre for General Studies (CGS), where he taught the Use of English for about four years before becoming an Associate Lecturer in 2012.  Due to his exceptional mastery of his discipline, he was made to join the services of teaching and research at the Department of English, University of Ibadan in 2012 as a full-time lecturer. He indeed rose through the ranks and today, he is a Senior Lecturer.

Dr Akinsete teaches African Literature, African American literature, English Poetry, Literary Theory, Caribbean Literature, Bible as Literature, Oral Literature and Creative Writing at the Department of English, UI. At postgraduate level, he teaches Literature of the Black Diaspora as well as Literature and the New Media.

Since he joined the service of the University, he has functioned in several roles: He was Coordinator, Department of English Timetable Committee  (2012-2018); Distance Learning Facilitator and Departmental Representative (2013 till date); Member, Department of English Finance Committee (2015-2019); Member, Curriculum Committee, Department of English (2019-date); DLC Deputy Coordinator, Department of English (2017 -2019);  GES 201 (Use of English II) Supervisor  (2020-2025); Member, Finance Committee, Centre for General Studies, University of Ibadan; Member, Representing Congregation in Senate, University of Ibadan (2020-2022), Assistant Hall Warden, Abdulsalami Abubakar PG Hall (2019-2023). Currently, he is Hall Warden, Abdulsalami Abubakar Postgraduate Hall.

In 2015, Dr Akinsete was named the Facilitator at the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Creative Writing Workshop, which took place in Abuja. In 2018, He was Visiting Speaker, Department of English Speaker Series, University of the Free State, South Africa. He became Fellow, African Humanities Program (AHP), an initiative of the American Council of Learned Society (ACLS), which enabled him to spend two months in South Africa on research.

That same year, he was recipient of the Alexander Humboldt University Talent Travel Award, Humboldt University, Berlin. In 2019, he was part of the Visiting Research team to the Institute of Asian and African Studies, sponsored by Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. In 2024, he was awarded Postdoctoral Researcher, AvH-Institutspartnerschaft (a trilateral research group linkage programme), sponsored by Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Berlin, Germany. Dr Akinsete is an international scholar and his researches have taken him abroad to countries such as Germany, United Kingdom, South Africa, Ghana, Botswana and so on.

Akinsete is a poet, researcher, teacher and mentor. His collections of poetry are Do Not Preach to Me (2018) and Dance of a Savage Kingdom (2020). Do Not Preach to Me has been recommended twice by the Ministry of Education as part of the Literature curriculum for secondary school students in Oyo State. His second collection of poetry, Dance of the Savage Kingdom, was shortlisted for the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) Prize for Poetry in 2022. In 2024, he published his maiden novel, entitled Broken Dreams on Lofty Hills. He is married to his beautiful wife, Mrs Ibitayo Akinsete, with three lovely children. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you, Dr Charles Tolulope Akinsete

As the author of the month, Dr Akinsete read from his novel Broken Dreams On Lofty Hills. Through a carefully woven plot plied by two narrative voices embodied in the subliminal thoughts of a young protagonist who moves kinetically in search of meanings in a broken world of broken dreams, the novel is a remarkably brilliant work of imagination and reality, inventively blended.

According to the author, the novel addresses significant national issues, such as extreme poverty and poor leadership, and aims to provoke thought and action among readers. Suspenseful. Fluid. Poetic. With stylistic panache, this novel takes the reader through different layers of rots and vices in relation to the socio-political and economic realities of twenty-first century Nigerian society.

Dr Charles Akinsete articulated his negative views on dreams, suggesting they are rooted in fear and can distort reality. His reflections provoke a deeper consideration of how dreams influence our understanding of reality.

Participants at the book reading praised him for his creative use of figures of speech, rich imagery, clear and catchy technique, and the stream-of-consciousness narrative style. The book particularly drew emotional responses from everyone present.

The session concluded with questions, discussions, and contributions from the audience.

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