Author's Corner: Ayodele Olofintuade Biography, Age, Books, Notable Works, Awards And Achievements

Name: Ayodele Olofintuade

Age: 1970's

Occupation: Writer

Nationality: Nigerian

Biography

Ayodele Olofintuade was born in Ibadan, Nigeria in the 1970s. She grew up between Lagos, Ibadan and Abeokuta. Ayodele Olofintuade is a full time writer, and have been freelancing for about 5 years. She run a not-for-profit project in Ibadan catering to schools that do not have access to libraries and also run a mentorship program for young girls. In one of her interview, she claimed to be a feminist, and an advocate for the LGBTQI community in Nigeria.

Notable Works

Ayodele Olofintuade is also journalist, an advocate feminist. She identifies as queer and non-binary in Nigeria, which is an anti-LGBTQ country. Most of her 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.

Her first book was shortlisted for the Nigeria Prize for Literature in 2011 and she has had her work published in numerous magazines and journals around the world.

Ayodele Olofintuade latest book is Lakiriboto Chronicles: A brief History of Badly Behaved Women (Bookbuilders Editions Africa, 2018). In which she explored sex, sexuality, economic power, mental health and gender politics within a Yoruba Family.

Books

Ayodele Olofintuade writes both for adults and children, especially children from disadvantaged areas. Her first major work of literature was Eno's Story, published in (2010), a children's story published by Cassava Republic Press. It addressed the issue of child-trafficking that has been plaguing Nigeria for a long time.

In 2019, Olofintuade published her fiction titled Lakiroboto Chronicles, the book was later re-published in 2023 by Cypher press. Her most recent book Shallow, is about Efunsetan Aniwura, a fearless warrior, and descendant of one of the most powerful families in mid-19th century Abeokuta leaves for Ibadan to supervise her family’s holdings and birth a legacy.

Other Books:

• Lakiriboto Chronicles
• The Whirlwind
• King of the Heap 
• King of the Heap Learns to Read
• Children of the Rainbow

Ayodele Olofintuade also published her first major serialised novella, Adunni: The Beautiful Ones Have not yet Died (2014) on Brittle Paper.

Awards And Achievements

Ayodele Olofintuade first major work of literature, Eno's Story (2010), a children's story published was shortlisted for the Nigeria Prize for Literature in 2011.

Her first major article on LGBTQ persons in Nigeria, The A-B-C of Sexuality (2014) on NigeriansTalk, was published immediately after the passage of the Same Sex Marriage Act of 2013 as part of the advocacy tools for the promulgation of the law.

She has had her work published in numerous magazines and journals in Nigeria, including Nigerians Talk and Anathema. Olofintuade is also the managing director of a website about the negative impact of inequality.

Hobbies

In one of her interview, when asked of her hobbies, in her words:

"read, swim, dance and love partying with my friends".

Ayodele Olofintuade has two children.