Dami Ajayi Explained

Dami Àjàyí
Birth Name:Damilola Àjàyí
Birth Place:Lagos, Lagos State, Nigeria
Nationality:Nigerian
Alma Mater:Obafemi Awolowo University
Years Active:2006–present
Known For:Co-founding Saraba
Notable Works:A Woman's Body Is a Country (2017)

Dami Ajayi (Yoruba: Damilola Àjàyí; born 1986) is a Nigerian writer, poet and medical doctor who co-founded Saraba, a Nigerian literary magazine in 2008.[1]

Early life and education

Ajayi was born in 1986, at Lagos, Nigeria to parents of Yoruba origin. He attended Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, where he studied medicine. While studying as an knee graduate at OAU, he co-founded Saraba Magazine in 2008,[2] as well as The Lagos Review and YabaLeft Review, with writers Toni Kan and Tunji Olalere respectively.

Ajayi was featured in the two-part BBC Radio 4 documentary Writing a New Nigeria,[3] and has been described as one who "writes about love like liquor that drowns a person into his or her feelings."[4]

Career

Ajayi first published his poetry collection Clinical Blues, which was shortlisted while still a manuscript for the Melita Hume Poetry Prize in 2012.[5] It was eventually published in 2014 by WriteHouse. It was longlisted for the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa in 2018,[6] [7] and was first runner-up for Association Nigerian Authors Prize.

In 2017, he wrote his second poetry collection, A Woman's Body is a Country, and was published by Ouida Books in Nigeria.[8] Bernardine Evaristo praised Ajayi as one that "bravely exposes intimacies and his vulnerable self through poems that are honest and confessional.”[9] Brittle Paper called it "an affection brewed by loss", and it was a finalist for the Luschei Prize in 2018.[10]

His third collection, Affection and Other Accidents, was published in 2022 by Radi8 Book. It was described by Peter Akinlabi as "an audacious testing of the very limits of self-revelation", where "where the poet’s act of “practicing vulnerability” finds a most heightened articulation of love's complexities and contradictions,[11] and OlongoAfrica describes as "a personal narrative of pain" with "the signature of his poetics by his deployment of accessible language and lapidary details of poems that cross into the poet’s personal life and everyday realities."[12]

Between 2013 and 2019, he wrote critical reviews on Nigerian music and has interviewed musicians like King Sunny Adé and Adekunle Gold, Queen Salawu Abeni, Etuk Ubong, Adebantu, Somi.[13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18]

In 2024, The Sun describe Dami reflect on Dami music reviews and influences of poetry in his essays. The Sun stated that “What sets Dami Ajayi apart in the realm of music criticism is his dual role as a poet. This poetic sensibility infuses his writing with a lyrical quality, elevating the discourse beyond a simple evaluation of beats and lyrics. Ajayi’s reviews often read like nuanced compositions, where each word is carefully chosen to evoke the essence of the music he dissects.”[19]

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 for young African writers.

Publications (selected)

Books

Chapbook

Articles

Notes and References

  1. Web site: The Last Good Book I Read... Dami Ajayi (Poet) A Stranger's Pose by Emmanuel Iduma. 7 September 2019. Daily Trust. en-GB. 29 May 2020.
  2. Web site: Africa in Words . 2021-02-26 . Q&A: Words on the Times – Dami Ajayi . 2022-03-14 . en.
  3. Web site: Writing a New Nigeria — Meet the authors. BBC Radio 4 .
  4. News: Shoola . Oyindamola . 6 November 2017 . Dami Skillfully Conveys Meanings in 'A Woman's Body Is a Country' . en-US . WRR Publishers . 23 November 2017.
  5. Web site: Dami Ajayi. badilishapoetry.com. 24 July 2014 . en-US. 23 November 2017.
  6. Web site: Nine African poets shortlisted for 2018 Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature. PM News. 3 November 2018.
  7. Web site: Daily Graphic. 19 November 2018. 9 African poets on 2018 Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature list.
  8. News: A Woman's Body is a Country: Africa's most anticipated poetry collection. Socrates. Mbamalu. 23 October 2017. This Is Africa. 23 November 2017. en-US. 27 March 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190327102717/https://thisisafrica.me/a-womans-body-is-a-country-africas-most-anticipated-poetry-collection/. dead.
  9. Web site: 2019-05-28 . 2018 Luschei Prize: Three Finalists Announced . 2023-09-14 . African Poetry Book Fund . en-US.
  10. Web site: Passport to Her Foreign Land Review of Dami Ajayi's "A Woman's Body Is a Country" IfeOluwa Nihinlola . 2023-09-14 . brittlepaper.com.
  11. Web site: Márọkọ́ . 2023-02-03 . Picking the Grievous Bones of Disaffection . 2023-09-14 . Márọkọ́ . en.
  12. Web site: Ọlájídé . Salawu . 2022-05-20 . A Nigerian Poet's Dangerous Amorous Episodes . 2023-09-14 . Olongo Africa . en.
  13. Web site: Nigeria: Afrobeats' unpaid debt to highlife's Crosdale Juba. Dami. Ajayi. The Africa Report. 25 May 2021.
  14. Web site: Finding Lagos: A Jazz Tribute to an African City . Dami. Ajayi . The Elephant. 14 December 2019.
  15. Web site: Nigeria's King Sunny Adé: 'I see myself as a freelance'. Dami. Ajayi. The Africa Report. July 2019.
  16. Web site: Nigeria's Ayinla Omowura: The original gangster and patron saint of Abeokuta's working class. March 2021.
  17. News: Ajayi . Dami . 24 September 2021 . Nigeria: Adekunle Gold's glittery metamorphosis . live . 14 July 2024 . African Report.
  18. News: Ajayi . Dami . 15 November 2020 . Etuk Ubong's Sophomore "Africa Today" is full of righteous anger . live . 14 July 2024 . African Report.
  19. News: Chukwuebuka . Umuzurike . 18 January 2024 . Music Criticism in Nigeria: Bridging Art and Insight in Music Criticism . live . 14 July 2024 . The Sun (Nigeria).

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