My last blog post was two months ago. This year my blog outputs have been infrequent because I have devoted a lot of my time and effort to researching and writing longform pieces. One of my creative 2015 goals was to publish at least one longform piece and I have managed to publish two – the first is about ‘Pele, Arthur Ashe and the 1976 Nigerian military coup’ while the second one is on ‘Pele and the Nigerian civil war’. I am Nigerian by birth hence my interest in telling stories about the country’s sporting and political history. These stories were written to appeal not just Nigerians but also to non-Nigerians. The responses to the pieces from both groups have been overwhelmingly positive.
SL Price, a Sports Illustrated writer, said in a Longform podcast interview that every good longform storyteller should strive to tell something new. He said “report as if you know nothing and try to move the story forward even if it is half an inch.” This is what I have tried to do in my two longform pieces.
If you haven’t read my articles then I would encourage you to read them. Please do share them on social media if you like them.
Click the hyperlinked titles to read them:
The Story of Lagos’ ill-fated 1976 Professional Tennis Tournament
When Pele played in Nigeria during its Civil War (did he really bring a ceasefire?)
I am currently working on two new articles for 2016 and will let you know once they are published. I aim to manage my longform writing and blogging workload better in the future.
