Welcome to The Author As A Reader where your favourite authors reveal the books that shaped them. In this series, we dive into their reading lives, from the stories that bring them comfort to the books they can’t stop recommending. They’ll share the novels they’d love to see on screen, the covers they can’t resist, and even the book that made them believe in the power of words. It’s a cozy, behind-the-scenes look at the books that have left a mark and who knows, you might just find your next memorable read.
Ayotola Tehingbola (she/her, 1993, Lagos) is a lawyer, photographer, writer, and translator.
Her writing has appeared/is forthcoming in Witness, CRAFT, Passages North, Quarterly West, among others, and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best Small Fictions, and Best of the Net Anthology. Her work was shortlisted for the 2023 Graywolf Press African Fiction Prize for Debut Novel and she is a three-time recipient of a Glenn Bach Award for Fiction. She has been supported by the Lagos International Poetry Festival, Hudson Valley Writers Center, GrubStreet Center for Creative Writing, Alexa Rose Foundation, Idaho Commission on the Arts, and Kimbilio for Black Fiction.
In 2024, she received her MFA in Creative Writing from Boise State University, and she is currently a PhD candidate and instructor in English and Creative Writing at the University of Missouri. Her debut collection of short stories Lagos Will Be Hard for You was a finalist for the 2024 Restless Books Prize for New Immigrant Writing in Fiction.
The Author As A Reader | Ayotola Tehingbola
My earliest reading memory: The first Harry Potter book. I was 11 or 12 years old in boarding school, and a senior student used to read it after lights out. I would wait for her to fall asleep, sneak to her bedside to take it, and read it with a torchlight under my blanket until morning.
A book I’d like to see adapted to the screen is: Chain Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah. It’s like Gladiators meet Hunger Games. The Road to Salt Sea by Samuel Kolawole would also be a banger—the trans-Saharan immigration route needs to be depicted on screen the way he writes it.
A book that reminded me why I wanted to be a writer in the first place: The Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta.
The most recent book I’ve seen with the most gorgeous cover: The US cover of Someone Birthed Them Broken by Ama Asantewa Diaka and Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica.
I decide what to read next when I finish a book by: Picking up something from my bedside pile. I always have about six to ten books ready to go.
The book I think is most underrated: A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra and The Haunting of Hajj Hotak by Jamil Jan Kochai.
If my book had a soundtrack, the first song would be: I recently created a playlist for my debut story collection, Lagos Will Be Hard For You, and the first song is “Eka Ete” by Faaji Agba and Alaba Pedro.
The last book I purchased: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.
A book that made me recognize the power of words: Animal Farm and 1984 by George Orwell. These books are a treatise on language.
An author I discovered late who made me wish I’d found them sooner: James Baldwin and Julie Otsuka.
The book I’m most ashamed not to have read: The Famished Road by Ben Okri. I have read the first few pages many times, and I keep getting stumped.
A book I picked up specifically to challenge myself as a reader: Well, The Famished Road by Ben Okri.
If I could recommend one book to my younger self, it would be: The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir.
Something Bookish Curators are always on the lookout for the next great read to add to your #TBR. Whether it’s a backlist gem, a breakout debut, the book everyone will be talking about next, or a beloved classic, we’ve got recommendations you won’t want to miss. Join the conversation and read along with us on social!
