Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Anthologies

Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀
Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ was born January 29, 1988 in Lagos, Nigeria. Shortly after, her family moved to Ilesa and then to Ile-Ife, where she spent much of her childhood in the University Staff Quarters of Obafemi Awolowo University.

Ayọ̀bámi holds MA and BA degrees in Literature in English from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife (Nigeria), and an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia where she got awarded an international bursary for creative writing.

She has written for BBC, The Financial Times, the New York Times, The Guardian (UK), Harper’s Bazaar, ELLE, as well as others. She has received residencies and fellowships from the Ledig House, the MacDowell Colony, Sinthian Cultural Centre, Ox-bow School of Arts, Hedgebrook, and Ebedi Hills.

In 2017, she won The Future Awards Africa Prize for Arts and Culture. “Stay With Me” won the 9mobile Prize for Literature and Prix Les Afriques and was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize and Wellcome Book Prize. “A Spell of Good Things” got longlisted for the Booker Prize and shortlisted for the Encore Award and Dylan Thomas Award.

In 2008, she was in her last year in university, she was working on this short story about this marriage which had broken down, and at one point she became rather frustrated with the story. This one night she went for a walk to figure out what was wrong with it. She was standing in front of Aduduwa Hall, where Yejide and Akin meet in the novel, when nearly half the plot just came to her. She didn’t begin writing “Stay With Me” until two years later, however she knew just then that she had gotten the idea for her first novel.

Ayọ̀bámi began writing “A Spell of Good Things” back in 2013 but took a break from it for roughly a year after her debut novel got published. It took her 7 or 8 years in total. The process depends on the stage she is at with the work. When she is working on her first draft, her goal is to typically get it to the end or a stand in for it. That is typically quite quick, generally easy to schedule and could take less than a year.

After that, the real work can finally begin. She goes over the book repeatedly, one section at a time, page by page, chapter by chapter, often a sentence at a time. It is tough for her to plan this stage or even anticipate how long it may take or what the rhythm might look like. Even though she will primarily work on a computer, she writes in longhand anytime she feels stuck. There is typically a notebook nearby when she is working. She uses it to doodle, make notes, or test sentences out.

She writes in a makeshift office in Lagos. Her writing desk is connected to a bookshelf which extends wall to wall, and there is an ironing board in one corner of the room. There’s also some framed art up on the walls.

“Stay With Me” is the first stand alone novel and was released in 2017. This unforgettable and celebrated debut novel is set in Nigeria, and gives voice to both wife and husband while they each tell the story about their marriage, and the forces which threaten to tear it apart.

Akin and Yejide got married since they met and fell in love during university. Even though many expected for Akin to take several wives, he and Yejide have forever agreed: Polygamy is just not for them. However four years into their marriage, after they have consulted with fertility doctors and healers, attempting unlikely cures and strange teas, Yejide has yet to get pregnant.

She assumes that she still has time, until her family arrives on her doorstep with this young woman that they introduce as Akin’s second wife. Livid with jealousy, furious, and shocked, she knows that the only way to save her marriage is to get pregnant. Which she does, finally, however at a cost that is much greater than she could’ve ever dared to imagine.

An electrifying novel of enormous emotional power, this asks exactly how much we can sacrifice for the sake of our family.

“Stay With Me” has been translated into more than 18 languages and was selected as notable book of the year by numerous publications like The Guardian, The New York Times, The Economist, and The Wall Street Journal.

Ayọ̀bámi is an exceptional storyteller, writing not just with extraordinary grace yet also with genuine wisdom about loss and love and the possibility of redemption. She’s written a heartbreaking and powerfully magnetic debut.

“A Spell of Good Things” is the second stand alone novel and was released in 2023. A dazzling tale of modern Nigeria and a couple families being caught in the riptides of power, wealth, romantic obsession, and political corruption.

Eniola is quite tall for his age, a boy that looks like a man. Since his dad lost his job, Eniola spends his days running errands for the local tailor, begging whenever he must, collecting newspapers, and dreaming about a big future.

Wuraola is a golden girl, the perfect child from a wealthy family. Now an exhausted young doctor in her first year of practice, she is beloved by Kunle, who’s the volatile son of this ascendant politician.

When this local politician takes an interest in Eniola and sudden violence shatters a family party, Eniola’s and Wuraola’s lives each become intertwined. In Ayọ̀bámi’s breathtaking second novel, she shines a light on Nigeria, and on the gaping divide between the haves and have nots, and the shared humanity which lives in between.

Her graceful and stately quality of the sentences evokes restraint, and avoids sentimentality.

All of the characters matter in this haunting, intricate, and timely fictional exploration of sexism and classism set during Nigeria’s election season. This is a moving tale, skillfully told about two people whose intertwined narratives combine to produce this insightful portrait of one unequal and deeply divided society that moves toward a horrible crisis. This second novel is equally gripping and memorable. She is a natural storyteller, and this book is Dickensian in execution and scope.