Diran Adebayo is a British novelist, cultural critic and broadcaster best known for his vivid portrayals of modern London life and his distinctive use of language.

Education and career

Born in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 in 1968, Adebayo won a major scholarship to Malvern College

Malvern College

Malvern College is a coeducational independent school located on a 250 acre campus near the town centre of Malvern, Worcestershire in England. Founded on 25 January 1865, until 1992, the College was a secondary school for boys aged 13 to 18...

 where he boarded as an adolescent, and is an Oxford University Law

Law school

A law school is an institution specializing in legal education.- Law degrees :- Canada :...

 graduate.

His debut novel

Debut novel

A debut novel is the first novel an author publishes. Debut novels are the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to publish in the future...

, Some Kind of Black, was one of the first to articulate a British-born African perspective, and it won him numerous awards, including the Writers Guild of Great Britain's New Writer of the Year Award, the Author's Club First Novel Award

Author's Club First Novel Award

Authors' Club Best First Novel Award is awarded by the Authors' Club to the most promising first novel of the year, written by a British author and published in the UK during the calendar year preceding the year in which the award is presented....

, the 1996 Saga Prize, and a Betty Trask Award

Betty Trask Award

The Betty Trask Prize and Awards are for first novels written by authors under the age of 35, who reside in a current or former Commonwealth nation. The awards were established in 1984 by the Society of Authors, at the bequest of the late Betty Trask, a reclusive author of over thirty romance novels...

. It was also longlisted for the Booker Prize, serialised on British Radio and is now a Virago Modern Classic. His follow-up, the neo-noir fable My Once Upon A Time, which he's described as a 'latter day Pilgrim's Progress', fused film noir and fairytale with Yoruba myth to striking effect, and solidified his reputation as a groundbreaker. In 2004 he co-edited 'New Writing 12', the British Council

British Council

The British Council is a United Kingdom-based organisation specialising in international educational and cultural opportunities. It is registered as a charity both in England and Wales, and in Scotland...

's annual anthology of British and Commonwealth literature, with Blake Morrison and Jane Rogers. In 2009, he donated the short story Calculus to Oxfam's 'Ox-Tales

Ox-Tales

Ox-Tales refers to four anthologies of short stories written by 38 of the UK's best known authors. All the authors donated their stories to Oxfam...

' project, four collections of UK stories written by 38 authors. Adebayo's story was published in the 'Air' collection.

Adebayo worked as Senior News Reporter at The Voice

The Voice (newspaper)

The Voice is a British national weekly tabloid newspaper owned by the Jamaican publisher, GV Media Group, aimed at the British Afro-Caribbean community. The paper is based in the London Docklands and is published every Monday.-History:...

 newspaper and as a reporter on BBC television before his manuscript for 'Some Kind of Black' won the Saga Prize. He was formerly a columnist for 'New Nation' newspaper, and is a regular presence in the British press, writing for newspapers such as The Guardian

The Guardian

The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

, The Independent

The Independent

The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...

 and The New Statesman

The New Statesman

The New Statesman is an award-winning British sitcom of the late 1980s and early 1990s satirising the Conservative government of the time...

 magazine. In 2005, he wrote the documentary, 'Out of Africa' for BBC Television and in 2003, The Evening Standard named him one of London's 100 most influential people.

He is currently one of the writers-in-residence of the charity First Story

First Story

First Story is a literary charity. It was founded in 2007 by Katie Waldegrave and the writer William Fiennes to improve literacy and foster creativity in young people through creative writing...

.

Adebayo is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature

Royal Society of Literature

The Royal Society of Literature is the "senior literary organisation in Britain". It was founded in 1820 by George IV, in order to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". The Society's first president was Thomas Burgess, who later became the Bishop of Salisbury...

 and a member of the National Council of Arts Council England

Arts Council England

Arts Council England was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council of Great Britain was divided into three separate bodies for England, Scotland and Wales. It is a non-departmental public body of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport...

. He lives in London and is the younger brother of the writer, journalist, publisher and broadcaster Dotun Adebayo

Dotun Adebayo

Oludotun Adebayo MBE is a Nigerian-born, British-based radio presenter, writer and publisher. He is best known for his work on Up All Night on BBC Radio 5 Live, as well as the obituary programme Brief Lives.- Early life :...

.

Publications

• Some Kind of Black (1997)
• My Once Upon A Time (2001)
• New Writing 12 (2004)
• Underwords: The Booktrust London Short Story Competition Anthology (as co-author) (2005)
• Ox-Tales:Air (as co-author) (2009)
• The Ballad of Dizzy and Miss P (pending)

External links

• Biography of Diran Adebayo at www.contemporarywriters.com