Never lend people money you can't afford to give them as a gift. — Ayobami Adebayo Gift Copy Share Image
I must have listened to at least 10 covers of Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah' - Jeff Buckley's cover is usually my go-to song. — Ayobami Adebayo Cover Copy Share Image
I wanted to explore expectations we have of people - what a woman should be, what a man should be. And if… — Ayobami Adebayo Expectations Copy Share Image
I come from a part of Nigeria where a lot of value is placed on implicit communication. The 'well brought up' child… — Ayobami Adebayo Come Copy Share Image
In 2010, I was working in a bank in Lagos. It was a crazy job with long working hours. I had to… — Ayobami Adebayo Bank Copy Share Image
I wanted to write about extended family systems. You have people you can fall back on, and it's good. But what if… — Ayobami Adebayo Back Copy Share Image
Usually, by the time I hit 'save' before taking a nap, my word count has gone down, but the world I'm creating… — Ayobami Adebayo More Copy Share Image
There's a Yoruba proverb which roughly translates into, 'What turns its face to one person has turned its back on the other.'… — Ayobami Adebayo Always Copy Share Image
I think there is a dissonance between how much is expected of you as a young person, whether you are a man… — Ayobami Adebayo Man Copy Share Image
When I was a child, there were two Nigerian writers in every bookshop: Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka. — Ayobami Adebayo Child Copy Share Image
I think, for women in particular, it's kind of like you're expected to get married, have a child, and then you get… — Ayobami Adebayo Being human Copy Share Image
I'm still very interested in the things that happened in the '80s and the '70s because I think that they were very… — Ayobami Adebayo Country Copy Share Image
When I started working on 'Stay With Me,' I thought it would take two years to complete the novel. — Ayobami Adebayo Books Copy Share Image
My mother has a lot of sisters. They had very, very interesting conversations. Because I was a quiet child, I would sit… — Ayobami Adebayo Children Copy Share Image
'Stay with Me' started out being very political, largely because I'm a little obsessed with politics. — Ayobami Adebayo Being Copy Share Image
When I was in my late teens, a couple of friends passed away suddenly. This was quite distressing, but after a while,… — Ayobami Adebayo Death Copy Share Image
I have always been very interested in the idea of loneliness and the presumption that romantic relationships are supposed to rid you… — Ayobami Adebayo Loneliness Copy Share Image
I think a large part of being human centers on the state of being alone, and we try to mitigate that in… — Ayobami Adebayo Alone Copy Share Image
There is a strong view in Nigeria, as in many other cultures, that a marriage is not complete without children. I don't… — Ayobami Adebayo Children Copy Share Image
I established my first writing routine when I was 13. The school year had just ended, and I'd won a stack of… — Ayobami Adebayo Being the best Copy Share Image
I used to think that most published writers, the ones I admired, had a muse, or a special connection to the universe,… — Ayobami Adebayo Connection Copy Share Image
There's this idea that at the lowest rungs of the social ladder in an African family is a childless woman - and… — Ayobami Adebayo Childless Copy Share Image
My mother used to laugh that if they asked me to clean up my room, I would spend so much time reading… — Ayobami Adebayo Mother Copy Share Image
Wole Soyinka's 'Death and the King's Horseman' is a play I go back to and I read often. — Ayobami Adebayo Back Copy Share Image
