Woman Crush Wednesday: Ayobami Adebayo

Our Woman Crush this Wednesday goes to Ayobami Adebayo, the Author of the award winning novel, 'Stay With Me.'

Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ was born in Lagos, Nigeria, in 1988. 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, Adébáyọ̀ 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 Wellcome Book Prize, the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction, as well as for the 9mobile Prize for Literature, which the novel won in 2019. It was also longlisted for the International Dylan Thomas Prize. Prior to publication the work had been shortlisted in 2013 by the Kwani Manuscript Project, a prize for unpublished fiction

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.

We celebrate Ayobami Adebayo for the amazing storyteller she is, who writes with grace and knowledge about love.