Kelvin Alaneme, a Nigerian writer, medical doctor and entrepreneur, is the author of the new novel, Nothing Spoil. He divides his time between London and the United States. Alaneme is the winner of the 2020 Voices of Tomorrow Competition organised by the University of Cambridge and a recipient of the 2021 Magnusson Award from Glasgow Caledonian University. He has been featured on several platforms, including The Guardian, BBC, Brittlepaper and Business Insider Africa. In this interview with HENRY AKUBUIRO, the author revealed it took him 13 years to publish his debut novel, Nothing Spoil, a novel that details harrowing social issues in Nigeria. Alaneme is also a book publisher, whose goal is to offer a platform for many unique African voices and make writing profitable for the writers. He also speaks on the social responsibility of the African writer.
When did you develop your fiction talent?
I have been writing since childhood. It was a product of reading a lot of fiction. We used to have a large library since my mother was an English Literature teacher. After consuming a lot of fictional works, I began telling my own stories. Majority of my writings that went into competitions were non-fiction. However, I began writing fiction again in 2013 after I shared pieces of the stories that will eventually become my debut novel, Nothing Spoil.
How long did it take you to write on Nothing Spoil?
From writing to getting it published, Nothing Spoil took twelve years. The story underwent various rewrites to ensure that the final form came out the best possible way.
The title of the novel makes me curious. It sounds like a Nigerian street parlance. Why the choice of this title?
You are right. Nothing Spoil, in Nigerian Pidgin, means ‘no problem’. The title came to me sometime in early February, 2025. The novel has gone through various name changes. It was initially called ‘Trapped’. Then ‘Victim 21.’ Up until February 2025, it was known as ‘Grown Girl’. I had always wanted a unique title that encapsulated the story. So, when ‘Nothing Spoil’ dropped into my mind, I knew it should be the title for the book. Another good sign is that the title is unique, very Nigerian and it is the only book in the world with that title.
Kidnapping and organ trafficking feature prominently in your novel, to what extent do contemporary social issues condition your writing?
I believe that the role of an artist is to inform, expose and enlighten through their art. In this vein, I am not shy in incorporating contemporary social issues in my work. One cannot tell a Nigerian story properly without detailing Nigerian problems. To a large extent, art should mirror life. In this case, contemporary social issues will most times find their way into my work.
For a writer living in America, how do you connect with the motherland to write on issues affecting the land?
I spent more than 30 years living and working in Nigeria. I grew up in Nigeria, and the stories and experiences I have in that country will last me a lifetime and are full of multiple books. So, living abroad only provides an extra lens to tell the stories of Nigerians in diaspora if I feel inclined to. Having spent over three decades in Nigeria and still following up on the happenings in the country via social media, I am still tapped in and can write on issues concerning the country.
Do you think contemporary African writers still have a social responsibility to execute in the 21st century?
Yes. Unfortunately, many writers fail to realise how powerful their voices can be and their unique role as the conscience of the nation. Writers do have a unique gift to awaken social consciousness and this translates into a sacred social responsibility. It is no coincidence that there were writers who were at the forefront of speaking against military dictatorship in the past. They wrote polemics in newspapers and spoke the truth to power. African writers in the 21st century need to look back and look within. They need to wake up to their social responsibility. If writers, who are gifted with articulating the pain and suffering of the citizens, stay silent, then nothing will change. Society will stagnate.
You are an active promoter of Afrobeats, what’s your fascination with Nigerian music?
I love Nigerian music. I believe Afrobeats is instrumental in our personality as a happy people and has a positive effect on the mental health of the average Nigerian. You cannot be dancing ecstatically and be sad at the same time. I am passionate about exploring further these benefits and applying it to my life and the lives of others. I started writing poetry and then began writing songs. In 2016, I launched my own record label and released music professionally. As a creative, I believe we can express ourselves in many forms – through written words, through stories, through music, through film. The entire industry is interconnected and I spent close to a decade studying the music industry from the inside, seeking to understand how they market art and manage to go mainstream in the shortest possible time.
What do you think Afrobeats artists are doing right that Nigerian writers aren’t doing right, because Nigerian music is the rave of the moment globally?
One major thing Nigerian music artists are doing that writers are not doing is promotion. Tons and tons of promotion. In the literary world, promotion is often frowned at. We erroneously believe that good work sells itself. Nothing could be further from the truth. In the music industry, promotion is embraced. To promote a single, a record label spends up to a hundred million naira.
This is for a single, not an album. The song is everywhere. Publishing houses rarely spend a fraction of this in promoting book projects. One may argue that books and music are not the same. That people no longer want to read. But the success of several authors who just started selling their works on social media says otherwise. New writers are redefining how books are marketed and consumed and African publishers need to evolve or perish.
What’s your marketing strategy to ensure your book is read?
Our marketing strategy for Nothing Spoil is multimodal. It is not just a book, but an ecosystem. There is the Nothing Spoil companion music album and the visuals of the book released as a series on YouTube.
We ensured that the book is available on all platforms globally and we have seen people buy from distant countries such as Slovenia and Australia. We are taking a page from the music industry and creating an experience for customers while making the book available wherever they buy books.
You are also into book publishing, tell us about the focus of your publishing outfit. Are writers free to submit submissions?
Our publishing outfit, Ala Africa Books, published Nothing Spoil. At Ala Africa, we are focused on telling original African stories through books, music, documentary and film. We signed another superb African writer, Hannu Afere, two years ago and we will be publishing his debut novel To Kill A God later this year. We are not accepting submissions now but will communicate to the public as soon as we begin. If you are a very good African writer with a superb manuscript, get it ready and look out for when we open submissions.
Our goal is to offer a platform for many unique African voices and make writing profitable for the writers. We are trying out new things. We are evolving. We are meeting our readers where they are and iterating rapidly with the feedback they give us. We will keep building.