30 Year Old Nigerian Author of the novel ,’Stay With Me’; Ayobami Adebayo is the only African Author to have been long listed in the 12-title long list of the British Literary Award for the 30,000 Euros Wellcome Book Prize.
The 2018 Wellcome Book Prize longlist celebrates the many ways in which literature illuminates the length and dept of mankind’s relationship with Health, Illness and Medicine as the selected 12 books cover popular science, memoir,lyrical meditation and medical history. The novel ‘Stay with Me’ has been described by the NewYork Times as a stunning debut novel.
According to the organizers, the shortlist for the prize would be announced on Tuesday March 20, with the winner revealed at the evening ceremony on Monday April 30 at Wellcome Collection. Holding a BA and MA degrees in Literature in English from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife and has worked as an editor for Saraba Magazine since 2009,Ayobami was one of the highly-praised authors at the 2009 Commonwealth short story competition.
Here is a review on the book by wellcomebookprize.org;
This Nigerian debut is the heart-breaking tale of what wanting a child can do to a person, a marriage and a family; a powerful and vivid story of what it means to love not wisely but too well.
Yejide is hoping for a miracle, for a child. It is all her husband wants, all her mother-in-law wants, and she has tried everything – arduous pilgrimages, medical consultations, appeals to God. But when her relatives insist upon a new wife, it is too much for Yejide to bear. It will lead to jealousy, betrayal and despair.
Unravelling against the social and political turbulence of 1980s Nigeria, ‘Stay With Me’ sings with the voices, colours, joys and fears of its surroundings. Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ weaves a devastating story of the fragility of married love, the undoing of family, the wretchedness of grief, and the all-consuming bonds of motherhood. It is a tale about our desperate attempts to save ourselves and those we love from heartbreak.
Congratulations Ayobami Adebayo.