The Nigeria-born writer Akwaeke Emezi has recently published her book Freshwater. In this novel she takes a deep plunge into her background as an Ibo-woman who looks at the Igbo ontology and ideas about life and living. This ontology has never been away, it was nearby, sometimes hidden, sometimes competing with other ideas on ontology. In this interview the writer Emezi tells more about the background of her novel and her own background.