An award-winning writer at dawn and reservoir engineer by day: Wole Talabi on the joy of figuring out numbers and narratives

Wole Talabi’s curiosity has taken him places. At nine, he read his parents’ entire collection of encyclopedias because he enjoyed the process of finding things. Later, as a chemical engineer, he went to Imperial College to pursue a Master’s degree in Reservoir Engineering because he was so frustrated at the uncertain numbers given to him to design facilities for the oil and gas company. When given negative feedback on his writing as a new writer, he took it as a challenge. He continued to write and studied how he could improve as a writer over many years before becoming an award-winning writer.