‘A unique, all-responsive talent… The more he achieved, the further he aimed’ WOLE SOYINKA

‘Run, Ajayí, run!’

The day the Malian slave traders invaded the Nigerian town of Osogun, thirteen-year-old Ajày’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 Ajayí 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. By turns witty, moving and subtly political, Yorùbá Boy Running is a brilliant tour de force from a titan of Nigerian literature.

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