JJ Bola

JJ Bola is a Kinshasa-born, British writer and poet, based in London. He has written three collections of poetry as well as a novel, No Place to Call Home, and a non-fiction book about masculinity and patriarchy for young people, Mask Off: Masculinity Redefined.

Bola was born in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. He migrated to London with his parents at age six. He was a basketball player as a teenager, competing in national-level tournaments.

Bola spent many years as a youth worker, working with young people with behavioural and mental health problems. He currently works for several projects to raise awareness about the human rights situation in Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Publications by Bola

• No Place to Call Home: Love, Loss, Belonging!. Own It!, 2017. ISBN 978-0995458925.
• Mask Off: Masculinity Redefined. Outspoken. Pluto, 2019. ISBN 978-0745338743.

Poetry books by Bola

• Elevate (2012)
• Daughter of the Sun (2014)
• Word (2015)
• Refuge (2018) – a collection, comprising Word, Daughter of the Sun and Elevate

Publications with contributions by Bola

• Safe: On Black British Men Reclaiming Space. London: Trapeze, 2019. Edited by Derek Owusu. ISBN 978-1409182634.Bola contributes a chapter, "Rapper, Actor, Athlete – Other".