Joy Keys chats with Author Buki Papillon about An Ordinary Wonder

Bio: Buki Papillon was born in Nigeria, the oldest of six. After studying law at Hull University in the UK, she completed an MFA in Creative Writing at Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She has received several fellowships and awards for her writing and is an alumnus of Key West Literary, Vermont Studio Centre and Vona Voices residencies and workshops. Her work was published in Post Road Magazine and the Del Sol Review. She has in the past been a travel adviser, events host and chef. Buki currently lives in Boston, where she is resigned to finding inspiration in the long winters.

An extraordinary literary debut about a Nigerian boy’s secret intersex identity and her desire to live as a girl, Buki Papillon’s An Ordinary Wonder draws from art, proverbs, and folktales to present a deeply moving queer coming of age story.

The Yoruba people of Nigeria have an extraordinarily high rate of twins, and a mythology to match – the story of Taiwo and Kehinde, the one who came first, and the one who lagged behind. In Papillon’s story, we follow another set of twins, Otolorin – one who walks a different path; and Wuraola – a wealth of gold.