The self-proclaimed romcomoisseur, Bolu Babalola, is back with her latest novel Honey & Spice. The British-Nigerian author is revitalising romance in literature through history and flair, one book at a time.

Honey & Spice chronicles Kiki Banjo, the determined British Nigerian student, Kiki Banjo who is focused on running ‘Brown Sugar’, her student radio show, chilling with her best friend Aminah and giving advice to the ladies of Blackwell, Whitewell University’s African and Caribbean society. She doesn’t have time for the wastemen on campus. In life, the unexpected happens— like when Kiki didn’t anticipate publicly kissing Malakai Korede, the transfer student and heartthrob, in front of every Blackwellian after denouncing him as an aforementioned wasteman. So, in order to salvage both their reputations and to save face, the pair find themselves in a fake relationship until they’re forced to confront their feelings for one another.

Honey & Spice follows Babalola’s first work, Love In Colour, an anthology of short love stories inspired by global folklore and mythology, as well as her own parents’ relationship. It’s not everyday Aphrodite— sometimes why not Ọṣun or Scheherazade for a change?

Though already known and lauded for her cultural commentary on Twitter and her spectacular writing, Bolu Babalola seems to just be getting started. There is much more to come from the literary star. She spoke to AMAKA about her work, the inspirations behind Honey & Spice, and what love looks like through her eyes and pen.

What were your inspirations behind Honey and Spice?

I wanted to write something that was reminiscent of the high school romcoms we grew up on but I didn’t want it to be in high school. I was fascinated by romance in a fascinating environment, where everything is so heightened and you’re sharing community with these people. So, I think it’s such an interesting prism to explore romance in a university setting. I also just love the ACS [African Caribbean Society] at university as it’s a really important part of student life. I just had so much fun putting real-world stakes into a smaller scope and within that, reflecting larger issues. For instance, Kiki’s radio show feels like a huge deal, even though it’s just a campus radio show in the grand scheme of things.

There's something to be said about having an ACS where you’re finding community, in a place that you're far away from home, you're far away from the community, and finding your way and your voice. Also, we just don't see young Black people being alive and having fun and trying to figure out their way. I also wanted a diversity of Black experiences; I was so inspired by Brown Sugar [the film] but the Black British experience is so singular and I just wanted to write about us, living our lives.

"The Black British experience is so singular and I just wanted to write about us, living our lives."

What are your favourite things about Honey & Spice?

Connection. Kiki's connection with the girls and building a connection with the community around her. I loved writing about her friendship with the girls and her best friend Aminah. Even when they go through a rough patch and challenge each other, their love and grace for one another is still present.

I also loved writing about the connection between Kiki and Malakai, of course. I admire the romantic love story because there’s such an alchemy right there, from the initial spark and then trying to understand what that spark is. Kiki and Malakai, trying to overcome feelings of fear and insecurity to build a friendship. I had to break their connection down forensically and make it believable; asking myself why would these two work? Why would they be drawn to each other? How can they challenge each other? How can I make this the beginning of an epic love story, because it is just the beginning? I love writing Kiki's connection to herself as she progresses through the novel, her growth, her self-reflection, knowing herself enough to be confident and in ways that she wasn't confident previously. I really love her as a character. I know it's weird to say because I wrote her but I'm just very proud of her. She’s like my kid.

I completely agree about the portrayal of female friendships in novels. Sometimes, we don’t see enough of it in novels, as it can be overstepped for romantic love.

Right, it gets displaced in favour of romantic love. What I wanted to write was their friendship in concurrence with romantic love. For me, my girls are the loves of my life. How would I make sense of myself without my community? So it was really important to me, to have female friendship at the centre, but also to not make women the enemy. I’m not saying we need to sanitise everything because it’s not always nice and kumbaya. I wanted them to be messy and bitchy but still have love for each other. It’s about being real and coming through for each other. And the girls in the book really do that.

"You need to interact with the world and that’s why I’m outside a lot more. For me, living is a part of the writing process."

What’s your writing process like?

A lot of it is about thinking; I usually already know the plot. As I go into the world, I'm holding the idea in my mind, and in my heart. As I go through the world, the world and my experiences interact with X, this plot and this idea, and it gets richer and fuller. Then I find myself writing scraps of scenes and it's like a brain dump. Then I write a scene, of where this is what's going to happen in the scene or this is what she is going to say with random bits of dialogue or this is what happens here. I’m a comedy writer, so I would even write jokes and as I write down everything in the document, I haven’t even written a chapter. It just lives in me. You need to interact with the world and that’s why I’m outside a lot more. For me, living is a part of the writing process.

Who are your favourite authors? Did any of them inspire you for the novel?

I love so many, I can’t say I have a favourite. Jane Austen is a classic, she’s the blueprint for the romcom genre - an intelligent protagonist, some tension, a man who challenges her and who she also challenges. What I love about the relationship is that they help each other grow. Meg Cabot, Alyssa Cole but she’s a recent favourite of mine.

If we’re going into African writers, not necessarily romantic but Chinua Achebe, Chimnanda Ngozi Adichie and Wole Soyinka are some examples. I love the poeticism and lyricism of African writers as they really inspire me. I love South American writers, Gabriel García Márque wrote 100 Years of Solitude and it taught me so much about family and magical realism.

African writers taught me about lyricism and South American writers taught me about magical realism, bending things, making us question our realities and I think it’s so powerful. Something doesn’t have to be strictly fantasy, but it's grounded enough for us to believe it, then for us to be in that world and think that anything is possible. I think that's the definition of hope. That’s why I love magical realism so much.

As for my contemporaries, I don’t have favourite authors but I have favourite books such as Caleb Azumah Nelson who wrote Open Water and Raven Leilani who wrote Luster.

My inspiration was romance man, I can't even say anybody inspired me that way. I'm inspired by people who write very much well. I have great reverence for the people for the greats like Toni Morrison and the people who do their job well, and who I can learn from. For this book, I was really inspired by movies like 10 Things I Hate About You and the To All The Boys I've Loved Before franchise. To All The Boys invigorated something in me, I really missed Nora Ephron’s When Harry Met Sally and those big cinematic romcoms where it’s so delicious, that you see the chemistry sizzling off the screen and the connection between these people. To All The Boys was a modern example of what I really wanted to do and I was already doing it, it just gave me inspiration and I wanted to do this for Black girls.

"I hope people go away thinking, 'I want a love like that,' a love where they laugh together. And I want people to go away knowing this can exist for them - especially Black girls, dark-skinned Black girls, and African girls."

How does your culture inform your writing?

I write Yorùbá girls. Being a Yorùbá romantic is a very specific type of experience. That’s why with Aminah, she’s a Yorùbá girl; she has her guards up and she loves Kofi but she’s scared of vulnerability. As for Kiki, she’s a girl with the softest heart but her guards are up too. She’s always thinking like, this guy better not embarrass me” and that’s how I think as a Yorùbá girl - that’s how I write romance.

Also, humour is a major part. My Nigerianness, Yorubaness, Blackness and even my Britishness isn’t an add-on - it’s just who I am.

What do you want readers to take away from Honey & Spice?

Hope and joy. The belief there is someone out there that you can trust and the beauty of community, connection and friendship. What I loved writing about Malakai and Kiki was their friendship and I hope people go away thinking, “I want a love like that”, a love where they laugh together. And I want people to go away knowing this can exist for them, - especially Black girls, dark-skinned Black girls, and African girls.