Ayodele Olofintuade

Ayodele Olofintuade is a Nigerian writer, journalist, and feminist.

Ayodele Olofintuade
Born
Ayọ̀délé Ọlọ́fintúádé

1970s
Websitehttps://aeolofintuade.com/

Biography

Born in Ibadan, Nigeria in the 1970s, Ayodele Olofintuade grew up between Lagos, Ibadan and Abeokuta. She is a self-supporting full time writer whose works are focused primarily on African feminisms, Yorùbá spirituality (cutting across Africa and the Diaspora) the LGBTQ community, and gender non-conforming persons in Nigeria. Ayọ̀délé Ọlọ́fintúádé has two children (Alexander and Kisha). She identifies as queer, and gender non-binary.

Writing

Her first major work of literature was Eno’s Story(Cassava Republic, 2010), a critically acclaimed children’s story (Shortlisted for the NLNG prize, 2011) which addressed the issue of child witches that has been plaguing Nigeria for a long time.

Her first major article on LGBTQ persons in Nigeria, The A-B-C of Sexuality (NigeriansTalk, 2014), was published immediately after the passage of the SSMPA (Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act) as part of the advocacy tools for the promulgation of the law. As it appeared that a lot of people arguing in support of the law were not familiar with the language of tolerance, the article was written as an educational tool. It was around this same period she also published her first major serialised novella, Adunni: The Beautiful Ones Have not yet Died(Brittlepaper, 2014) in which some of the characters were queer. This was to contribute to a small body of work, back then, that were trying to bring an end to the erasure of queer people from Nigeria’s literary works.

Olofintuade writes both for adults and children especially children from disadvantaged areas. She is also an activist. Her first book, in 2011, was shortlisted for the Nigeria Prize for Literature. She has had her work published in numerous magazines and journals in Nigeria including NigeriansTalk and Anathema. Olofintuade is also the managing director of a website about the negative impact of inequality.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] [9][10]

Olofintuade deep knowledge of Yorùbá spirituality and culture, she is an important go-to for younger artists. With Laipo Read, she provides educational support for children from basic to the secondary school level.

Bibliography
  • Eno's Story (Cassava Republic, 2010)
  • Lakiriboto Chronicles
  • The Whirlwind
  • Adunni: The Beautiful One Has not Yet Died
  • King of the Heap
  • King of the Heap Learns to Read
  • Children of the Rainbow

References and sources
  1. "Ayodele Olofintuade". Cassava Republic Press. 2018-02-01. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  2. "[Interview] Ayodele Olofintuade". Conversations with Writers. 2011-09-16. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  3. Ryman, About Geoff (2018-04-27). "Ayodele Olofintuade". Strange Horizons. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  4. "Ayodele Olofintuade's 'Lakiriboto Chronicles' is really good". James Murua's Literature Blog. 2018-10-17. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  5. Alhassan, Amina (2018-10-14). "Giving an empty page life is a gift – Ayodele Olofintuade – Daily Trust". Daily Trust. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  6. Emelife, Jennifer (2018-12-17). "The Pen and The Sword: Ayodele Olofintuade". Praxis Magazine for Arts & Literature. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  7. "I Simply Write From A Place of Truth - In Conversation with Ayodele Olofintuade – Syncity NG". Syncity NG – Your hangout zone for everything African literature. 2019-07-17. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  8. Adejunmobi, M.; Coetzee, C. (2019). Routledge Handbook of African Literature. Taylor & Francis. p. 533. ISBN 978-1-351-85937-0. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  9. Branch, A.; Mampilly, Z. (2015). Africa Uprising: Popular Protest and Political Change. African Arguments. Zed Books. p. 118. ISBN 978-1-78032-999-4. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
  10. "Recent Events: Ayodele Olofintuade, Author of Eno's Story, Visits ZODML". ZODML. 2013-10-29. Retrieved 2019-10-08.
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