Released 28.11.25

The Conversation

Writer and art critic Emmanuel Iduma speaks movingly in this rare double bill featuring two books from the same author. The pairing deepens the themes in both. It also gives context to Emmanuel’s search for identity, memory, and the enigmatic power of dreams. Is it their plotlessness? Their confusion of childhood and present time?

The first book under discussion is I am Still With You — a memoir of sorts. It is also a journey back to Emmanuel’s Nigerian homeland from New York , triggered by the death of his father.

The second book, A Stranger’s Pose, is an impressionistic travelogue combining words and images in a non-chronological journey across the cities of the Sahel (and further afield), including Khartoum, N’Djamena and Tangier. This is where the European mainland lies in sight for African migrants.

”I wanted to think about movement very broadly,” says Emmanuel of the political motive behind A Stranger’s Pose; “So it starts with my own movements, but also it has to include the movement of the other. That's the other that is not me. And I thought it would be impossible to think about travelling along those routes without incorporating the voices of people who were moving in a completely different way than I was.”

Both books inspire an eloquent, honest conversation about ‘missing-ness’, inherited trauma, migration, and how a fragmentary narrative style feels well suited to the travel books of present and future. Sophy and Emmanuel also talk about his numerous literary influences, and how Emmanuel’s work is an important part of Sophy’s teaching.

Along with episodes from Robbie Cowen, Rob Macfarlane, and Joanna Pocock, this conversation is recommended for anyone who wants to explore some of the most exciting work at the thoughtful edge of modern travel writing. Territory where literary risk feels alive.

Image: copyright Emmanuel Iduma

Books discussed:

Emmanuel Iduma
— A Stranger’s Pose
— I Am Still With You

John Berger
— And Our Faces, My Heart, Brief as Photos

Anna Badkhen
— Bright Unbearable Reality

Teju Cole
— Every Day is for the Thief

Chinua Achebe
— There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra

Amitava Kumar
— A Social Life of Indian Trains: A Journey