About

My writing explores the tenderness and possibilities of love, together with the hopelessness of loss and its weight on the human experience.

My fiction won second place in the inaugural Mo Siewcharran Prize and I was a finalist for the Miles Morland Prize twice. My writing has been longlisted for the Commonwealth Prize, Guardian/4th Estate Prize, V.S. Pritchett Prize, and the Writivism Prize. My nonfiction was also a finalist for the Brittle Paper Creative Nonfiction Prize. I have received support from programmes such as the Farafina Creative Writing Workshop, and my work has appeared in Tender Photos, Catapult Magazine, Isele Magazine, Archivi.ng, and in newspapers as a columnist.

In 2023, I founded The Oluwanifise Foundation, a social impact organisation working to close the literacy and nutrition gap in underserved communities across Nigeria.

Beyond writing, I am an avid and passionate reader. For the past ten years, I have built a community on Instagram around books — hosting events, discussing, reviewing, and championing literature, both from the African continent and the diaspora. I have lived in six cities across Africa and Europe and understand the peculiarities of writing both from home and the diaspora and what draws readers to a conversation.

I’m an avid art and book collector and I enjoy coffee shop chatter, a sensory resource that has fueled some of my writing over the years.

I am online @eclectictope and topeowolabi.com