Sambe Martha Laraba is a multidisciplinary artist, writer, and spiritualist from southern Kaduna State in northwestern Nigeria. Her work explores the intersections between the spiritual and the political, the mundane and the mystical — drawing deeply from the animist traditions of her ancestral lineage. Raised within the overlapping cultures of northern Nigeria, Laraba’s voice is shaped by histories of survival, silence, and sacred knowing.
Her debut memoir, Dear Bode, What the Fire Gave Me, was independently published in 2023 and reflects her enduring commitment to storytelling as a tool for personal and collective transformation. Laraba was long-listed for the 2024 African Women’s Nonfiction Writing Workshop by Cassava Republic for her spiritual essay A Witch Walking Back.
As a performer, Laraba most recently played the lead role in Mable Preach’s Opera of Hope, an acclaimed operatic work chronicling the journey of a migrant family from Ghana to Hamburg. The production sold out for three nights at Germany’s largest independent theater company.
Her writing career spans creative nonfiction, development journalism, and academic research. She was the first Development Columnist at Stears, Nigeria’s leading data and media publication, and has contributed to projects on South–South migration, voter suppression, gender-based violence, and queer language archiving. She has worked with organizations such as Obodo, Kampnagel, and CODESRIA. She holds degrees in Economics (AUN) and Development Economics and International Cooperation (Tor Vergata, Rome), as well as a certificate in Economic Policy from American University, Washington, DC.
In addition to her work as a writer and performer, Laraba is a practicing medium and the creator of Spring of Wellness — a monthly newsletter offering grounded insights on spirit-centered living. Her ongoing research into African spiritual systems is documented on her blog African Spiritualities.
When she’s not on stage or channeling ancestral wisdom, Laraba is likely at home listening to jazz and revising the Oscar acceptance speech she’s kept close since 2015.
Follow her on Instagram: @smlaraba
S.M. Laraba 