Hailed as the “new J.K. Rowling” 24-year-old Tomi Adeyemi signed the biggest book deal for a young adult ever, according to Good Morning America. Adeyemi introduces the mystical world of Orïsha and its teenage heroine, Zélia, who’s fighting to bring magic back to her people in Adeyemi’s debut novel Children of Blood & Bone. The spellbinding tale of fantasy and courage isn’t your typical foray into the European/ Eurocentric world of young adult fiction (cue the Harry Potter/Lord of the Rings mental montage). In fact, Adeyemi based the world on her Nigerian heritage, referencing West African mythology, Nigerian geography, and takes it a step further with a striking empathy-driven mention of the Black Lives Matter movement cited in the Author’s Note.
Foolishly deemed as unmarketable by uninterested publishers and literary agents, Children of Blood and Bone opened at number #1 on the New York Times bestseller list during the week of its March 2018 release. And has come to offer the young Nigerian-American writer a record-breaking seven-figure advance and movie deal with Twentieth Century Fox. Find out more on Tomi and the Children of Blood and Bone below.
