Nigeria: Tomi Adeyemi, a writer committed to promoting African culture

At 27, Tomi Adeyemi is a Nigerian novelist and creative literary coach. Her work focuses on “fiction for young adults” and fantasy. She is known, in particular for her book “Children of blood and Bone” which was ranked in the New York Times Best Seller list in 2018.

Born to Nigerian parents who immigrated to the United States, Tomi Adeyemi is a renowned young writer. She decided to embark on writing unlike children of African immigrants in the United States who often pursue careers in fields like medicine, law or engineering.

Tomi is a graduate of “English Literature” from Harvard University and “West African Mythology and Culture” in Brazil. Her love for writing started when she was still a child. After graduating from college, she moved to California where she found a job at a film production company in Los Angeles. Although she was well paid and had a stable job, she decided to resign to devote herself fully to writing, against her parents’ wishes. Along with writing her first novel, she worked as a creative writing coach. Unfortunately, her first novel was not a success.

“Children of blood and Bone”, a best seller focusing on Africa

After her first novel, she decided to devote an entire year to writing a new novel. She also participated in a competition, “Pitch Wars”, which matches writers and publishers to revise their work before submitting it to a literary agent. Her novel, “Children of Blood and Bone”, was finally published in March 2018. It was a huge success. The same year, it was ranked number 1 on the New York Times bestseller list. It also received the 2018 André Norton Prize for science fiction and was a finalist for the 2019 Lodestar Prize for Best Young Adult Book. In addition, Fox 2000 purchased the film adaptation rights to the book, one of the biggest novel publishing deals ever, according to “Deadline” magazine. 

The story is set in West Africa. It highlights the protagonist Zelie Adebola, who fights a monarchy to restore the magic of the people. In December 2019, Tomi Ayedemi published the 2nd novel of the trilogy, titled “Children of Virtue and Vengeance”.

She received other accolades. She was named “Best Audiobook of the Year” by the American Audio Publishers Association for Audiobooks and Oral Entertainment. In 2019, she was listed in Forbes Under-30 ranking.

In addition to her success as a writer, Tomi also teaches creative writing through online courses.