Nigerian playwright DIPO KALEJAIYE relates an educator and writer's experience of living in Nigeria and the United States in his latest memoir, Some Memories of California. The book charts the author's formative years as a lecturer in Nigeria and leaves readers with no doubt as to how the geographical, spiritual, political, and cultural aspects of his West African homeland prepared him for the amazing sojourn he undertakes upon his arrival in California, USA.
Suffused with humor and grit, this is a purely personal tale that pushes to the forefront the African immigrant's experience in the United States. Kalejaiye's African background as a young lecturer, artist and family man is cleverly pitted against the American experience that seems to challenge and define his role as a fledgling but ambitious playwright who overcomes the odds to triumph in the end. Without equivocation, this book should serve as an informative read for lovers of memoirs exploring wit and adroitness to make peculiar humane concerns accessible to readers.