Bolu Babalola (born 24 February 1991) is a British Nigerian author, screenwriter, and journalist. Her debut anthology ''Love in Colour'' was published in 2020 and became a ''

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'' Bestseller. She appeared on the 2021

Forbes 30 under 30 ''Forbes'' 30 Under 30 is a set of lists published annually by ''Forbes'' magazine since 2011 consisting of 30 notable people under 30 years old in various industries. The American list consists of 600 people, with 30 selected in each of 20 sect ...

list for Media and Marketing in Europe.

Early life

Babalola was born in

Guy's Hospital Guy's Hospital is an NHS hospital founded by philanthropist Thomas Guy in 1721, located in the borough of Southwark in central London. It is part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and one of the institutions that comprise the Kin ...

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

to Nigerian Yoruba parents and grew up in East London. She attended Valentines High School in

Ilford Ilford is a large List of areas of London, town in East London, England, northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Redbridge, Ilford is within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. It had a po ...

for sixth form. She went on to graduate with a

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

from the

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public research university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as the University Extension College, Reading, an extension college of Christchurch College, Oxford, and became University College, ...

in 2012 and later a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

in American Politics and History from

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

in 2018.

Career

Babalola began her career working as an assistant writer and producer for BBC Comedy, contributing to '' The Javone Prince Show'' and '' Tracey Ullman's Show''. She pitched the Cecile Emeke web series ''Ackee & Saltfish'', assistant producing the pilot episode. As of August 2020, she was working on a television programme with Tiger Aspect. She was shortlisted in 2016 for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' and 4th Estate B4ME prize for her debut story, "Netflix and Chill". She has written for publications such as ''

Vice A vice is a practice, behaviour, Habit (psychology), habit or item generally considered morally wrong in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character trait, a defect, an infirmity, or a bad or unhe ...

'', ''

Vulture A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to Nort ...

'', '' GQ'', ''

Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Internationalism * World citizen, one who eschews traditional geopolitical divisions derived from national citizenship * Cosmopolitanism, the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single moral community * Cosmopolitan ...

'', and '' Stylist''. A television and film columnist for ''

Dazed ''Dazed'' (''Dazed & Confused'' until February 2014) is a quarterly British lifestyle magazine founded in 1991. It covers music, fashion, film, art, and literature. ''Dazed'' is published by Dazed Media, an independent media group known for produ ...

'', Babalola is a self-professed " Romcomoisseur". She named '' Insecure'' by Issa Rae and

Larry Wilmore Elister Larry Wilmore III (born October 30, 1961) is an American comedian, writer, producer, and actor. He served as the "Senior Black Correspondent" on ''The Daily Show'' from 2006 to 2014, and hosted ''The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore'' in 2 ...

, ''Brown Sugar'', ''When'' ''Harry Met Sally'', ''

My Best Friend's Wedding ''My Best Friend's Wedding'' is a 1997 American romantic comedy film directed by P.J. Hogan from a screenplay by Ronald Bass who also produced. The film stars Julia Roberts, Dermot Mulroney, Cameron Diaz, and Rupert Everett. ''My Best Friend' ...

'', ''

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist ''Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist'' is a 2008 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Peter Sollett and starring Michael Cera, Kat Dennings, Alexis Dziena, Ari Graynor, Aaron Yoo and Jay Baruchel. Written by Lorene Scafaria and ...

'', '' Lovesick'', and ''

New Girl ''New Girl'' is an American television sitcom created by Elizabeth Meriwether and produced by 20th Century Fox Television for Fox that aired from September 20, 2011, to May 15, 2018. The series revolves around quirky teacher, Jessica Day ( Zo ...

'' as her favourite romcoms. She praised

Michaela Coel Michaela Ewuraba Boakye-Collinson (born 1987), known professionally as Michaela Coel, is a British actress, writer and television director. She is best known for creating and starring in the E4 television sitcom ''Chewing Gum'' (2015–2017), ...

's '' I May Destroy You''. She called the characters Ashley Banks from ''

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air ''The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'' is an American television sitcom created by Andy and Susan Borowitz that aired on NBC from September 10, 1990, to May 20, 1996. The series stars Will Smith as a fictionalized version of himself, a street-smart ...

'' and the titular character of the series ''

Moesha ''Moesha'' (, ) is an American television sitcom that aired on UPN from January 23, 1996, to May 14, 2001. The series stars Contemporary R&B, R&B singer Brandy Norwood, Brandy as Moesha Denise Mitchell, an African-American teenager living with ...

'', played by Brandy Norwood, important examples of "just dark skin black girls living". On September 10, 2021, the television show she wrote, executive produced and created, ''Big Age'', premiered on Channel 4. In 2018, Babalola sent a tweet with a photoshopped image of her and Michael B. Jordan, asking Twitter to help find her "holiday romance" as a joke. The tweet went viral, and was featured on ''

Entertainment Tonight ''Entertainment Tonight'' (or simply ''ET'') is an American Broadcast syndication, first-run syndicated news broadcasting news magazine, newsmagazine program that is distributed by CBS Media Ventures throughout the United States and owned by Par ...

'' and ''

The Steve Harvey Show ''The Steve Harvey Show'' is an American television sitcom created by Winifred Hervey and directed by Stan Lathan that aired on The WB from August 25, 1996 to February 17, 2002, with a total of 122 half-hour episodes spanning six seasons. Syn ...

''. Jordan and Babalola later met when he was promoting a film in London. Babalola explained: "At the Q&A at the end, I stood up and said: "Hi, it's me, the love of your life." It was mortifying, but he was so lovely." A Twitter humourist, she has said that Twitter is an important space for building community, especially among Black women.

''Love in Colour''

Babalola's debut anthology, ''Love in Colour'', was published in 2020 by Headline Publishing Group. The collection of short stories "remixes ancient love stories from Asia, Greece, and around Africa for a new audience", including pre-colonial Yoruba stories,

Orisha Orishas (singular: orisha) are divine spirits that play a key role in the Yoruba religion of West Africa and several religions of the African diaspora that derive from it, such as Haitian Vaudou, Cuban Santería and Brazilian Candomblé. The p ...

traditions, and Ancient Soninke tales. She stated that she hopes the book is a "step towards decolonizing tropes of love". Babalola changed many of the stories to make the female characters more empowered, and to demonstrate consent and love without suffering. She has said that its important to her to write about and for Black women, stating: "you're used to seeing white women play omantic archetypes They're fun girls, independent, they have their own minds and they have access to their own iteration of romance. Why don't we have that?" ''Love in Colour'' was featured on 13 November 2020 as "book of the week" of BBC2's book club programme ''Between the Covers'', hosted by Sara Cox. Fellow writers Candice Carty-Williams, David Nicholls, and

Meg Cabot Meggin Patricia Cabot (born February 1, 1967) is an American novelist. She has written and published over 50 novels of young adult and adult fiction and is best known for her young adult series ''The Princess Diaries'', which was later adapted b ...

have praised ''Love in Colour'', with Babalola saying "That's when it felt real... Meg Cabot who I adored growing up, who I still adore, loves the book… That's the moment when it sunk in." The anthology has been translated into Dutch, German and Portuguese (Brazil).

''Honey & Spice''

In August 2020, Babalola began teasing her next novel, "a collegiate rom-com set in an Afro-Caribbean Society in a UK university, where enemies become friends and eventually lovers". In January 2021, it was announced she had signed a deal with Headline Review for ''Honey & Spice'', as well as another untitled project.

William Morrow and Company William Morrow and Company is an American publishing company founded by William Morrow in 1926. The company was acquired by Scott Foresman in 1967, sold to Hearst Corporation in 1981, and sold to News Corporation (now News Corp) in 1999. The ...

acquired the North America rights. ''Honey & Spice'' was published in summer 2022.

Bibliography

Novels

*''Honey & Spice'' (2022) *''Sun Under Skin'' (2024)

Short story collections

*''Love in Colour: Mythical Tales from Around the World, Retold'' (2020); released as ''Love in Color'' to US market in 2021.

Short stories

*''Netflix and Chill'' (2016)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Babalola, Bolu Living people 1991 births 21st-century British women writers Alumni of the University of Reading Alumni of University College London BBC people Black British women writers Black British writers British women columnists British women journalists British women television writers English film critics English television critics English television writers English people of Yoruba descent People from Beckton People from Southwark Writers from the London Borough of Southwark Journalists from London Nigerian women screenwriters Nigerian screenwriters