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Yorùbá Boy Running by Biyi Bándélé

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Yorùbá Boy Running

Author
Biyi Bándélé
Narrator
Chiwetel Ejiofor
Publisher
Penguin Books Ltd
Publish Date
4 July 2024
Run Time
7 hours 16 minutes
Format
Audiobook
Genre
Biographical fiction / autobiographical fiction, Historical fiction, Slavery, enslaved persons and abolition of slavery, Anglican and Episcopalian Churches, Traditional African religions and spiritual beliefs, Civil wars, Narrative theme: social issues / social problems, Narrative theme: identity / belonging

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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

Yorùbá Boy Running charts Samuel Ajayi Crowther's miraculous journey from slave to liberator, boy to man, running to resisting

'Run, Àjàyí, run!'

The day the Malian slave traders invaded the Nigerian town of Òsogùn, thirteen-year-old Àjàyí's life was split in two.

Before, there was his childhood, surrounded by friends and family, watched over by the ancient Yorùbá gods of forest and water, earth and sky. After: capture, slavery - and release, into the service of a new god, his own culture left far behind. So Àjàyí becomes Samuel Crowther - missionary, linguist, minister - and abolitionist: driven to negotiate against his own people to end the miserable trade in human beings which destroyed his family.

Drawing on the prolific writings of Samuel Ajayi Crowther, Biyi Bándélé has created a many-voiced, kaleidoscopic portrait of an extraordinary man. From the heart-stopping drama of Àjàyí's last day of freedom to the farcical intrigue of the Òsogùn court; from a meeting with Queen Victoria; to his consecration as the first African Bishop of the Anglican Church, his journey, like all great odysseys, circles back to where he began. By turns witty, moving and quietly political, Biyi Bándélé's reimagining of Crowther's life is a brilliant tour de force.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION FROM WOLE SOYINKA

'A true artist. A brilliant writer. An original thinker' Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

‘Biyi Bándélé had a prolifically talented and creative mind, shown in everything he touched. Yorùbá Boy Running is no exception’ Chiwitel Ejiofor

©2024 Biyi Bandele (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Cover artwork Chris Ofili, Blind Leading Blind, 2005 © The artist.

Critics Review

  • Riotous, exquisite, mesmerizing . . . Bándélé’s prose mutates in tone from exuberance to sobriety, from the epic to the intimate, from bawdy humour to glacial understatement . . . [he] shifts from farce to tragedy and back, with lewd jokes suddenly giving way to scenes of sheer terror or gruesome violence . . . Yorùbá Boy Running doesn’t pander to any fixed position: it is a testament to Biyi Bándélé’s courage and integrity that, in this age of strident polarization, he chose not to shy away from moral complexity

    Times Literary Supplement

  • A remarkable saga of perseverance, dedication and triumph over adversity . . . The wit and dramatic timing read like something by Wole Soyinka . . . We are lucky and grateful that the author was able to leave us with this bookend to his glorious if truncated career

    Guardian

  • Biyi was a unique, all-responsive talent . . . The more he achieved, the further he aimed

    Wole Soyinka

  • [A] literary maverick . . . His was a talent unrestrained by genre, medium, geography or period

    Guardian

See more reviews
  • Biyi Bándélé had a prolifically talented and creative mind, shown in everything he touched. Yorùbá Boy Running is no exception
  • A magical, immersive journey . . . Bándélé effortlessly draws the picture of the birth of colonial Nigeria with such panache and vibrancy that you are entertained while being deeply enlightened . . . Bándélé allow us to both observe and care for the characters he brings us, from village elders and Muslim slave traders to English colonisers. Biyi Bándélé’s wise and lyrical voice will be sorely missed
  • Bándélé excels both himself in this richly crafted novel, brimming with mirth, fervour and his sheer joy of language . . . This is the novel as homage, truth-telling, illumination. I’m in awe, inspired. We have been gifted an almighty legacy

    Courttia Newland

  • Bándélé provides a fitting capstone to his career with this astonishing novel based on the life of Samuel Àjàyí Crowther . . . an unforgettable chronicle of an extraordinary man

    Publishers Weekly (starred review)

  • Biyi Bándélé's remains a master storyteller to the end. A magnificent novel; rich, humorous, lyrical, breathtaking. What a joy

    Chikodili Emelumadu

  • In Yorùbá Boy Running, Bándélé writes with a nimble, rigorous prose. He has left us a matchless parting gift in this magnificent, unforgettable novel. And we, his readers, are grateful

    Chika Unigwe

User Reviews

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Details
Author
Biyi Bándélé
Narrator
Chiwetel Ejiofor
Duration
7 hours 16 minutes
Release Date
4 July 2024
ISBN
9781405959179
Format
Audiobook
Publisher
Penguin Books Ltd
Genre
Biographical fiction / autobiographical fiction, Historical fiction, Slavery, enslaved persons and abolition of slavery, Anglican and Episcopalian Churches, Traditional African religions and spiritual beliefs, Civil wars, Narrative theme: social issues / social problems, Narrative theme: identity / belonging

Synopsis

Brought to you by Penguin.Yorùbá Boy Running charts Samuel Ajayi Crowther's miraculous journey from slave to liberator, boy to man, running to resisting'Run, Àjàyí, run!'The day the Malian slave traders invaded the Nigerian town of Òsogùn, thirteen-year-old Àjàyí's life was split in two.Before, there was his childhood, surrounded by friends and family, watched over by the ancient Yorùbá gods of forest and water, earth and sky. After: capture, slavery - and release, into the service of a new god, his own culture left far behind. So Àjàyí becomes Samuel Crowther - missionary, linguist, minister - and abolitionist: driven to negotiate against his own people to end the miserable trade in human beings which destroyed his family.Drawing on the prolific writings of Samuel Ajayi Crowther, Biyi Bándélé has created a many-voiced, kaleidoscopic portrait of an extraordinary man. From the heart-stopping drama of Àjàyí's last day of freedom to the farcical intrigue of the Òsogùn court; from a meeting with Queen Victoria; to his consecration as the first African Bishop of the Anglican Church, his journey, like all great odysseys, circles back to where he began. By turns witty, moving and quietly political, Biyi Bándélé's reimagining of Crowther's life is a brilliant tour de force.WITH AN INTRODUCTION FROM WOLE SOYINKA'A true artist. A brilliant writer. An original thinker' Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie‘Biyi Bándélé had a prolifically talented and creative mind, shown in everything he touched. Yorùbá Boy Running is no exception’ Chiwitel Ejiofor©2024 Biyi Bandele (P)2024 Penguin AudioCover artwork Chris Ofili, Blind Leading Blind, 2005 © The artist.

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