When I first wrote The Impossible President in 2002, I was not trying to predict the future, nor was I trying to write a lesson in politics. I was thinking about young women pressured into prostitution because of a lack of hope. I wrote The Impossible President to encourage them to believe they can be anything they set their minds to, to change their circumstances and strive for something better. I thought about the women I had met, the women I had admired, and the women whose stories rarely find their way into newspapers, history books, or public conversations.
The longer I live, the more convinced I become that some of the strongest people in the world are ordinary women whose names most of us will never know. They are the women who keep families together through difficult times. The women who postpone their own dreams to help others build theirs. The women who return to education later in life because circumstances prevented them from doing so earlier. The women who survive loss, disappointment and hardship and somehow find the strength to begin again. Their stories are our stories.
When I created Tinuke, I wanted to create a character who embodied that spirit. Her journey is dramatic. She survives political upheaval, imprisonment, betrayal and countless attempts to push her aside. Yet she refuses to surrender her belief in herself. Tinuke is not based on a single woman. She represents many women.
As I prepared this international edition, I found myself reflecting on women whose courage has shaped communities, countries and generations. Some are well known, while others are not.
We think of women such as Rosa Parks, whose courageous act of defiance became a turning point in the American civil rights movement. We think of Wangari Maathai, who transformed environmental activism in Africa. We think of Malala Yousafzai, who continued to speak out for girls’ education despite an attempt to silence her. We think of Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, who challenged authority and fought for Nigerian women at a time when few expected women to have a public voice. But courage isn’t limited to famous names; millions of women support their families worldwide without receiving a plaque or recognition for their efforts. They just get on with it.
Recently, I was deeply moved by Yanuni, the documentary produced by Leonardo DiCaprio that follows Indigenous leader Juma Xipaia and her fight to protect her people and the Amazon rainforest despite threats, political opposition and personal risk. Her story takes place thousands of miles from Nigeria, yet the determination at its centre feels familiar. It is the determination of someone who refuses to be intimidated into silence.
That determination is everywhere. You find it among women across Africa, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, the Americas, and beyond. It is found among women who build businesses, teach children, care for families, lead communities, challenge injustice and create change in ways that are often overlooked.
This new edition is dedicated to my husband, John, whose encouragement inspired me to reconsider the women behind this story, those who make history and those who make life possible. The women who dared. The women who stayed. The women who never gave up.
Above all, this book is dedicated to women and girls everywhere. To the girl who wants to go to school. To the girl who dreams of becoming a doctor, teacher, writer, scientist, entrepreneur, or leader. To the woman rebuilding her life after violence or loss. To the woman determined to live free from fear. To the woman who has been told she cannot but chooses to try anyway.
The title is The Impossible President. But the book’s true message has never been about politics. It has always been about possibility. I hope that somewhere, a young reader will close this book and see her own future differently. I hope she will understand that other people’s expectations need not determine the course of her life.
And I hope she will remember that many of the achievements we now take for granted once seemed impossible.
To my friends and readers around the world, much love, always! 🙂
