Description
‘My father’s work was his life. All of his thoughts, experiences and emotions became stories, whether on the page, on stage, on screen – or just stories he told me. I couldn’t be more grateful to have so many of his good friends gather to help share his stories and celebrate that expansive life together.’ Temitayo Bándélé
Friends, family, collaborators and colleagues will gather at Brixton House to celebrate the life and work of the writer Biyi Bándélé, named one of Africa’s Fifty Greatest Artists by the Independent.
The evening will celebrate the launch of his final novel, Yorùbá Boy Running, completed just before he died in August 2022, and tell his story through the many worlds he inhabited in theatre, film and publishing through readings and tributes from long-term friends and collaborators including Chiwetel Ejiofor, who read the audiobook of Yorùbá Boy Running, as well as Adjoah Andoh, Burt Caesar, Chipo Chung, Danny Sapani, Diane Parish, Jude Akuwudike, Margaret Busby, Paterson Joseph and Shingai Shoniwa.
‘Biyi was a unique, all-responsive talent . . . He was versatile – no sooner [had he] invaded one genre than he commenced exploration of another, with the former still hovering over his creative horizon as unfinished business.’ Wole Soyinka
‘Biyi Bándélé had a prolifically talented and creative mind, shown in everything he touched. Yorùbá Boy Running is no exception.’ Chiwetel Ejiofo
Directed by Roxana Silbert, previous Artistic Director of the Hampstead Theatre and original director of Brixton Stories, and hosted by Kwame Kwei-Armah.
