Quick Facts
Biography
Ayobami Adebayo (born 29 January 1988) is a Nigerian writer.
Early life and education
Ayobami Adebayo was born in Lagos, Nigeria, shortly after, her family moved to Ilesa and then to Ile-Ife, where she spent most of her childhood in the University Staff Quarters of Obafemi Awolowo University. She studied at Obafemi Awolowo University, earning BA and MA degrees in Literature in English, and in 2014 she went to study Creative Writing (MA Prose fiction) at the University of East Anglia, where she was awarded an International Bursary. She has also studied with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Margaret Atwood.
Writing career
In 2015, she was listed by the Financial Times as one of the bright stars of Nigerian literature. Her debut novel, Stay With Me, shortlisted in 2013 by the Kwani? Manuscript Project — a prize for unpublished fiction — of which the Series Editor is Ellah Allfrey, was published in 2017 by Canongate Books to critical acclaim. and was shortlisted for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction
Adebayo has been a writer in residence at Ledig House Omi, Hedgebrook, Sinthian Cultural Institute, Ox-Bow School of Art, Siena Art Institute, and Ebedi Hills. She was shortlisted for the Miles Morland Scholarship in 2014 and 2015.