YORUBA BOY RUNNING BY BIYI BANDELE

‘Run, Àjàyí, run!’

The day the Malian slave traders invaded the Nigerian town of Òsogùn, thirteen-year-old Àjàyí’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 Àjàyí 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. From the heart-stopping drama of Àjàyí’s last day of freedom to the farcical intrigue of the Òsogùn court; from a meeting with Queen Victoria; to his consecration as the first African Bishop of the Anglican Church, his journey, like all great odysseys, circles back to where he began. By turns witty, moving and quietly political, Biyi Bándélé’s reimagining of Crowther’s life is a brilliant tour de force.