Mojola Akinyemi was longlisted for the Mustapha Matura Award and Mentoring Programme in 2021 for her play Great Mother – Iya Ayaba.

In the late 1960s, towards the end of the Biafran War in Nigeria, Agnes, a novitiate nun, experiences a complete nervous breakdown. Her path crosses with Taiwo, a photojournalist reporting on the brutality of the conflict, who quickly forms an attachment to her. After Agnes is largely shut away from human contact, he becomes her confidant, uncovering the horrors behind her mental deterioration, and the secrets of the convent she belongs to.

This is a play about turmoil, both internal and external, and the difficult choices people are forced to make to survive.