Bio
Bolu Babalola is a fiction writer, screenwriter, content creator, and journalist. Born in Southwark, London, in 1991 to Nigerian Yoruba parents, she studied Law at the University of Reading and American Politics and History at University College London, where she wrote her Master thesis on Beyoncé’s album Lemonade (2016).
She began her professional life as an assistant writer and producer for the BBC. She wrote and produced Big Age (2021), a television show about a group of young Black British friends, and has contributed to various other productions, including The Javone Prince Show and Ackee and Saltfish. Her opinion pieces have been published in media outlets such as Dazed, Vice, GQ and Stylist.
In 2016, Babalola published her first short story, ‘Netflix & Chill’, which was shortlisted for The Guardian and 4th Estate 4thWrite Short Story Prize competition in 2016. Her first book, a collection of short stories entitled Love in Colour (2020), made the Sunday Times bestseller list and has since been translated in various languages. Inspired by folk tales and myths from around the world, Babalola’s modern retellings centre on powerful Black women. 2022 saw the publication of her first novel Honey and Spice, a love story between two Black British university students. Her essay “Contradictions” is included in Of This Our Country: Acclaimed Nigerian Writers on the Home, Identity and Culture They Know (2021), alongside contributions by such notable authors as Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Helon Habila, Irenosen Okojie, and Chika Unigwe. A self-proclaimed Romcom expert and hopeless romantic, Babalola loves writing about love and in particular for and about Black women.
Selected Prizes and Nominations
• 4th Estate 4thWrite Short Story Prize 2023
Bibliography
Abbey, Nels, et al. Of This Our Country: Acclaimed Nigerian Writers on the Home, Identity and Culture They Know. The Borough Press, 2021.
Akinpelu, Oluwafunmilayo. “From Third-Generation Nigerian Literature in English to the Twenty-First Century.” Research in African Literatures, vol. 54, no. 3, 2024, pp. 147-165.
Babalola, Bolu. “Netflix And Chill.” Medium, 26t June 2016.
—. Honey and Spice. William Morrow, 2022.
—. Love in Colour. Headline, 2020.
—, producer. Big Age. Channel 4, 2021.
—. “This is the significance of Beyoncé and Jay Z’s Apes**t video.” Stylist, 2017.
—. Michael Coel Looks Beyond Binaries With ‘I May Destroy You’.” Paper, 20 July 2020.
—. “The Innate Black Britishness of I May Destroy You.” Vulture, 3 Aug. 2020.
—. “Nigeria’s Millenials Are Battling a Gerontocracy.” GQ, 30 Oct 2020.
—. “Bolu Babalola Interview: ‘Stop Telling Black Writers They’re of the Moment. This is My Life’.” Interview with Susanna Goldsbrough. The Telegraph, 30 Oct 2020.
—. “Bolu Babalola: ‘It Was Mortifying Meeting Michael B Jordan After My Tweet About Him Went Viral’.” Interview with Nosheen Iqbal. The Guardian, 2 Aug. 2020.
Bell, Carole V. “So You’re Rivals? And You’re Fake-Dating? Classic.” Rev. of Honey and Spice, The New York Times, 1 July 2022.
Beyer, Charlotte. "Centring Women of Colour: Decolonising the Literature Curriculum with Kamila Shamsie’s Home Fire and Bolu Babalola’s Love in Colour." Decolonising the Literature Curriculum. Palgrave Macmillan, 2022, pp. 45-63.
Bidisha. “Honey and Spice by Bolu Babalola Review: Playful Campus Romcom.” Rev. of Honey and Spice, by Bolua Babalola. The Guardian, 31 July 2022, Web.
Bowler, Danielle. “Bolu Babalola’s Love Is In the Details.” Daily Maverick (previously published in New Frame), 16 Dec. 2020.
Cole, Alyssa. “Bolu Babalola’s Stories Reset the Idea of Who Sees and Who Is Seen.” Rev. of Love in Colour, by Bolu Bablola. The New York Times, 31 April 2021.
Evans, Louise. “Bolu Babalola’s Love in Colour.” Brizo, 19 December 2020.
Pérez-Fernández, Irene. “Black British love matters: Asserting transformative power of love in Bolu Babalola’s Love in Colour: Mythical Tales Around the World Retold.” Journal of Postcolonial Writing, vol. 60, no. 2, 2024, pp. 1-15.
