 Born in Ondo City, Nigeria, she attended the University of Ibadan, graduating in 1953 with a BA in English, Latin and History.She taught these subjects in Nigerian schools, and later became Head of the Department of English and Social Studies and Vice-Principal at the National Technical Teachers' College, Yaba (Now Yaba College of Technology).Her first book, "My Father's Daughter" (1965), published in 1965, has been widely used as a literature text in schools all over the world, and her books have been translated into German, Danish, Norwegian and Greek.