HCAF STARS SERIES, JULY 2025: INTERVIEW — Muheez Olawale

Question: The Hilltop Creative Arts Foundation is known for its central role in nurturing creativity in youths across the country. How has being a member contributed to your growth as an artist, and what opportunities or experiences have been most impactful for you?

Answer: The Hilltop Creative Arts Foundation has immensely contributed to my growth as a writer. The organisation is a platform that gives me the opportunity to interact with artists around the country, mostly individuals I’ve admired. In addition, the organisation gives my work a wider reach, which implies more criticism from fellow writers. It also contains individuals who have inspired me, and I’ve often looked up to. My favourite features of the organisation are the monthly training sessions and the quarterly writing contests.

Question: What themes and experiences push the creativity behind your work, and what part of the creative process poses a challenge to you?

Answer: Growing up, I have noticed the disparities in parenting across families. I have noticed how even words impact the psyches of children. Plus, I have noticed that the relationship between parents and children often stems from other socioeconomic factors. Therefore, I like to depict reality in my works as I have observed from my surroundings. Often, I battle with my character arcs. I seek to create believable characters that people remember for a long time, so I struggle with the events that I string around my characters for so long that it sometimes incites writer’s block.

Question: As a renowned creative, what advice would you give to emerging artists who are looking to balance the pursuit of artistic excellence with the desire for recognition and validation?

Answer: From one emerging artist to another emerging artist, I think consistency does the trick. First, you consume regularly. Then, you produce regularly. I like to identify first as a prose writer. In 2023, however, my only acceptances came from poetry, my less preferred genre. So I spent the whole of 2024 on a daily microfiction challenge. I have a few prose publications in my favourite magazines now.

Question: What purpose fuels your creativity?

Answer: I have always wanted to tell the world the stories that echo in my head. I have drawn comics, done stand-up comedy, shot skits. I’m in love with writing, and the fact that I can communicate and resonate with someone somewhere ignites my passion.

Question: Fifty years from now, what do you want the literary world to perceive of your art?

Answer: Fifty years from now, I want my name as a household name in Nigerian literature. I want to be referred to as a writer who blended genre fiction into literary fiction.

Question: Is representation a priority for you, and do you see a need for your writing to reflect your background or ancestral links?

Answer: Many times, I battle with the question: whose story is it to tell? As much as I like to draw from experiences in building characters or crafting plots, I like to venture out of my environment to find characters. For me, I think it is enough to represent reality as each story demands. I do not bend my narratives to fit into a preplanned mindset.