Diran Adebayo

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Diran Adebayo

FRSL
BornOludiran Adebayo
(1968-08-30) 30 August 1968 (age 55)
Islington, London, England
OccupationWriter, cultural critic and academic
NationalityBritish
EducationMalvern College
Alma materUniversity of Oxford
Notable worksSome Kind of Black (1996)
Notable awardsAuthor's Club First Novel Award; Betty Trask Award; Saga Prize
RelativesDotun Adebayo (brother)
Website
diranadebayo.com

Oludiran "Diran" Adebayo FRSL (born 30 August 1968) is a British novelist, cultural critic and academic best known for his 1996 novel Some Kind of Black.

Early life and education[edit]

Oludiran Adebayo was born on 30 August 1968 [1] in London, to Nigerian parents.[2] He won a Major Scholarship when he was 12 to Malvern College[3] and is an Oxford University Law graduate.[2][4] Among his friends at Wadham College, Oxford, were the writers Monica Ali[5] and Hari Kunzru.

Career[edit]

Prior to winning the Saga Prize in 1995, Adebayo worked as senior news reporter at The Voice newspaper and as a reporter on BBC Television

Adebayo's debut novel, Some Kind of Black (1997),[6] centred on the youthful adventures of its protagonist, Dele, was one of the first to articulate a British-born African perspective, and won several awards.(below) His follow-up book, the fable My Once Upon A Time, was set in a near-future London-like western city and fused noir with Yoruba folklore. The novel made use of the song "Heaven and Hell" by Chef Raekwon of the Wu-Tang Clan .[7] In 2009, Adebayo donated the short story "Calculus" to Oxfam's "Ox-Tales" project.[8]

Adebayo was a columnist for the now defunct New Nation newspaper, and has written on race, arts and sports for newspapers such as The Guardian, The Independent and New Statesman magazine.

In 2004 Adebayo co-edited New Writing 12, the British Council's annual anthology of British and Commonwealth literature, with Blake Morrison and Jane Rogers. In 2005, Adebayo was the first guest director of the Cheltenham Literature Festival.[9]

In 2006, Adebayo was the International Writing Fellow at Southampton University,[10] before a residency at Georgetown University.[11] In 2012-13, Adebayo was a Royal Literary Fund Fellow.[6] Adebayo is BA Creative Writing Course Leader at the University of Kingston, London.[12]

Adebayo is a former trustee of The Book Trust and the Arts Council of England..[13]


In 2022, Adebayo adapted and serialised Some Kind of Black for BBC Radio 4.[14] The novel is now a Virago Modern Classic.

Recognition and awards[edit]

Adebayo is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and of the Santa Maddalena Foundation,[15]

Some Kind of Black (1997) won the Writers' Guild of Great Britain's New Writer of the Year Award, the Author's Club First Novel Award, the 1996 Saga Prize, and a Betty Trask Award.[16] It was also longlisted for the Booker Prize.

In 2000, Vienna University awarded Adebayo the $60,000 Abraham Woursell stipend, a prize for young noteworthy European writers.

In 2001 the writer Zadie Smith, praised him for his "humanness",[17] arguing that he is one of a few English writers who "trade in both knowledge and feeling".[18] In 2002 The Times Literary Supplement named him as one of the Best Young British Novelists.[19]

In 2017, he was one of 20 people to have their portraits taken by Oxford University for permanent display, as part of its "Diversifying Portraiture" initiative, in recognition of his "achievements and contributions to the University and to the literary world".[20][21]

Personal life[edit]

He is the younger brother of the writer, journalist, publisher and broadcaster Dotun Adebayo.[22]

Publications[edit]

  • Some Kind of Black (1997)
  • My Once Upon A Time (2001)
  • New Writing 12 (co-editor, 2004)

References[edit]

  1. ^ Stade, George, Karbiener, Karen (2009), Encyclopedia of British Writers, 1800 to the Present, Volume 2. Infobase Publishing, ISBN 1438116896, 9781438116891
  2. ^ a b "Diran Adebayo". British Council. Archived from the original on 9 October 2011. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
  3. ^ Cunningham, John (22 September 2001), "Of Wodehouse and Wood Green", The Guardian, archived from the original on 9 May 2014, retrieved 15 October 2011
  4. ^ About Diran Adebayo Archived 15 June 2008 at archive.today. Official website. Retrieved 24 July 2010.
  5. ^ Gallery page Archived 2 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine, Diran Adebayo website.
  6. ^ a b "Diran Adebayo". Royal Literary Fund. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  7. ^ Cunningham, John (22 September 2001). "Of Wodehouse and Wood Green". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 December 2023.
  8. ^ Ox-Tales Archived 20 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine, Oxfam.
  9. ^ "Cheltenham Literature Festival, 30 November—17 October 2005" Archived 2 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ "Research project: International Writing Project – Dormant". Archived 2 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine, University of Southampton.
  11. ^ "Georgetown Hosts British Author Diran Adebayo" Archived 5 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Georgetown University press release, 2 March 2006.
  12. ^ "Mr Oludiran Adebayo - Academic profiles - Kingston University London". www.kingston.ac.uk. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  13. ^ Brooks, Richard (27 December 2023). "Museum blockbusters go kaboom".
  14. ^ "BBC Radio 4 - Drama on 4, Some Kind of Black, Episode 1". BBC. Retrieved 27 December 2023.
  15. ^ List of Fellows Archived 21 March 2015 at the Wayback Machine, Santa Maddalena Foundation.
  16. ^ Kieran Meeke, "Guilty Pleasures – Diran Adebayo" Archived 2 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine, Metro, 27 October 2009.
  17. ^ Smith, Zadie. "This is how it feels to me" Archived 4 February 2017 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, London, 13 October 2001.
  18. ^ Childs, Peter, and James Green (2013), Aesthetics and Ethics in Twenty-First Century British Novels: Zadie Smith, Hari Kunzru and Nadeem Aslam, Bloomsbury Publishing, ISBN 1623564697, 9781623564698.
  19. ^ "MPs and misdemeanours" Archived 17 September 2016 at the Wayback Machine The Guardian, London, Saturday, 27 July 2002.
  20. ^ "More than 20 new portraits commissioned to reflect Oxford University's diversity", News & Events, University of Oxford, 30 March 2017.
  21. ^ Kennedy, Maev, "Portrait exhibition at Oxford showcases university's diversity", The Guardian, 24 November 2017.
  22. ^ "Books: Some kind of success". The Independent. 4 January 1998. Retrieved 27 December 2023.

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]

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