Ayòbámi Adébáyò and Stephen Buoro

Two young authors of Nigerian heritage talk about their new novels

Ayòbámi Adébáyò’s new novel A Spell of Good Things is a dazzling story of modern Nigeria and two families caught in the riptides of wealth, power, romantic obsession and political corruption. A Spell of Good Things has been longlisted for the Booker Prize 2023. In Stephen Buoro’s first novel The Five Sorrowful Mysteries of Andy Africa the fifteen year-old protagonist hangs out in Kontagora with his droogs, fantasizing about white girls.  Ayòbámi and Stephen will be in conversation about their books with Claire Armitstead, Associate Editor of Culture at The Guardian.

Ayòbámi Adébáyò

Ayòbámi Adébáyò was born in Lagos, Nigeria. Her debut novel, Stay With Me, won the 9mobile Prize for Literature, was shortlisted for the Baileys Prize for Women’s Fiction, the Wellcome Book Prize and the Kwani? Manuscript Prize. It has been translated into twenty languages and the French translation was awarded the Prix Les Afriques. Longlisted for the International Dylan Thomas Prize and the International Dublin Literary Award, Stay With Me was a New York Times, Guardian, Chicago Tribune and NPR Best Book of the Year. Ayòbámi Adébàyò splits her time between Norwich and Lagos.

Stephen Buoro

Stephen Buoro was born in Nigeria in 1993. He has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia, where he received the the Booker Prize Foundation Scholarship. He lives in Norwich, United Kingdom. Andy Africa is his first novel.