Author Profile: Tomi Adeyemi is a Nigerian-American novelist and creative writing coach.
Name: Tomi Adeyemi
Timeline:
2018 – Children of Blood and Bone
2019 – Children of Virtue and Vengeance
2020 – Awaken the Magic: A Children of Blood and Bone Journal
Background: Tomi Adeyemi is born on 1st August 1993 in the United States. She is 26 years old.
Her parents emigrated from Nigeria to the United States. When Tomi was a child they faced a lot of financial struggle. While her mother worked as a cleaning woman, her physician father worked as taxi driver till his qualifications were transferred. She was not exposed to her native tongue language of Nigerian heritage, an experience which she misses.
At the age of 5 years, Adeyemi wrote her first story, relating that she loved herself so much that she gave herself a twin called Tomi. Till the age of 18 years she did not attempt writing another black character which makes her irritable to some extent.
In 2011, Tomi Adeyemi completed her education from Hinsdale Central High School. In 2008 she qualified into the Young Scholar Program of Hindsdale Central High School Foundation. In 2010-2011 she won their ‘Young Scholar’s scholarship’. She received the Rani Sharma scholarship during her senior year.
She completed her honours degree in English Literature from Harvard University and later on a fellowship, went on to study West African mythology and culture in Salvador, Brazil. She is of Yoruba heritage and presently lives in San Diego, California, United States.
Genre: Fantasy Fiction, Novel, High Fantasy, Young Adult Fiction, Dystopian Fiction.
Literary Contributions: Tomi Adeyemi has been nominated for the Goodreads Choice Awards Best Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction in 2018. The book has also been a finalist for the 2019 Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book. She has won the Goodreads Choice Awards Best Debut Goodreads Author as well as the Audie Audiobook of the Year.
Unique Stylistic Features: Tomi Adeyemi is well known for her book Children of Blood and Bone. In the Legacy of Orisha trilogy, this is the first book which Henry Holt Books has published. Considerable excitement has been generated by the Tom Adeyemi’s debut book, Children of Blood and Bone. The book has been told from three different perspectives. Zelie Adebola is central who in a bid to restore magic to the world of Orisha, takes on the monarchy in a bid. Children of Blood and Bone, is indeed an ambitious book, the first in a trilogy.
