Dami Ajayi – Wikipedia

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Nigerian of Yoruba descent (born 1986)

Dami Àjàyí (born 1986) is a Nigerian poet, medical doctor, essayist and music critic. He co-founded Saraba magazine in 2008.[1] He is the author of two collections of poetry and a chapbook.

Biography[edit]

Dami Àjàyí was born in Nigeria in 1986. While he was an undergraduate of medicine at the Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife, he co-founded Saraba Magazine with another student.[2] He also cofounded media outlets The Lagos Review and YabaLeft Review, with writers Toni Kan and Tunji Olalere respectively.

Àjàyí was featured in the two-part BBC Radio 4 documentary Writing a New Nigeria.[3]

In 2011, Àjàyí was listed among the “Eight Young Nigerian Poets Whose Poems Delight” on the Sentinel UK Poetry Blog.[4] His first collection of poems, Clinical Blues, was shortlisted (in manuscript form) for the Melita Hume Prize in 2012.[5][6] It was published by WriteHouse in 2014, and was longlisted for the biennial Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa.[7][8]

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In 2017, his second collection of poetry, A Woman’s Body is a Country, was published by Ouida Books).[9] Of the work, Àjàyí says: “I wanted my book to show how the noun ‘affection’ becomes a verb, and in my attempt I was drawing from a personal reservoir, hoping that my experiences are singular as well as universal.”[10] He has been described as one who “writes about love like liquor that drowns a person into his or her feelings.”[11]

Prose and criticism[edit]

Àjàyí has written short stories that have been published in Nigeria and abroad. He currently provides critical reviews about Nigerian music to a number of online publications.[12][13][14][15][16]

He was also one of the editors of the anthology From Limbe to Lagos : NonFiction from Cameroon and Nigeria, which was the result of a writing workshop held in Limbe[2] for young African writers.

  • Clinical Blues (2014)
  • A Woman’s Body is a Country (2017)

References[edit]

  1. ^ “The Last Good Book I Read… Dami Ajayi (Poet) A Stranger’s Pose by Emmanuel Iduma”. Daily Trust. 7 September 2019. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
  2. ^ a b “Q&A: Words on the Times – Dami Ajayi”. Africa in Words. 26 February 2021. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
  3. ^ “Writing a New Nigeria – Meet the authors”. BBC Radio 4.
  4. ^ “Citadel of Life”. citadeloflife1.blogspot.com.ng. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
  5. ^ “Dami Ajayi”. badilishapoetry.com. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
  6. ^ “Melita Hume Poetry Prize Shortlist: #11 Dami Ajayi”. Eyewear, The Blog. 6 June 2012. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
  7. ^ “Nine African poets shortlisted for 2018 Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature”, P.M. News, 3 November 2018.
  8. ^ Daily Graphic (19 November 2018), “9 African poets on 2018 Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature list”, Graphic Online.
  9. ^ Mbamalu, Socrates (23 October 2017). “A Woman’s Body is a Country: Africa’s most anticipated poetry collection”. This Is Africa. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
  10. ^ “Each Collection Dictates Its Own Process: Conversation with Dami Ajayi”. This Is Africa Lifestyle. 12 October 2017. Archived from the original on 30 October 2017. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
  11. ^ Shoola, Oyindamola (6 November 2017). “Dami Skillfully Conveys Meanings in ‘A Woman’s Body Is a Country’“. WRR Publishers. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
  12. ^ Ajayi, Dami (14 July 2017). “Yahoo Boy No Laptop”. Chimurenga Chronic.
  13. ^ Ajayi, Dami (25 May 2021). “Nigeria: Afrobeats’ unpaid debt to highlife’s Crosdale Juba”. The Africa Report.
  14. ^ Ajayi, Dami (14 December 2019). “Finding Lagos: A Jazz Tribute to an African City”. The Elephant.
  15. ^ Ajayi, Dami (July 2019). “Nigeria’s King Sunny Adé: ‘I see myself as a freelance’“. The Africa Report.
  16. ^ “Nigeria’s Ayinla Omowura: The original gangster and patron saint of Abeokuta’s working class”. March 2021.


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