Ayobami Adebayo

Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ (born 29 January 1988) is a Nigerian writer.

Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ 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.

In 2015, she was listed by the Financial Times as one of the bright stars of Nigerian literature. Her debut novel, Stay With Me, was published in 2017 by Canongate Books to critical acclaim, and was shortlisted for the 2017 Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction. Prior to publication the work had been shortlisted in 2013 by the Kwani? Manuscript Project, a prize for unpublished fiction, of which the Series Editor is Ellah Allfrey.Michiko Kakutani in her review of Stay With Me for The New York Times, described Adébáyọ̀ as "an exceptional storyteller", adding: "She writes not just with extraordinary grace but with genuine wisdom about love and loss and the possibility of redemption. She has written a powerfully magnetic and heartbreaking book." In January 2018, it was shortlisted for the 9mobile Prize for Literature.

Adébáyọ̀ 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.

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