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Yorùbá Boy Running: Biyi Bandele returns to stage as loved ones gather around his last novel

Bandele

 

The memory of acclaimed dramatist, Biyi Bandele Thomas, will come alive on June 30 when his family and friends gather for the celebration of his life. This is coming up in London, in the form of the presentation of, and readings from, his last novel,  Yorùbá Boy Running.

The information is from his daughter, Temi, who announces as follows:

BIYI BÁNDÉLÉ – A NIGHT TO REMEMBER: Sunday June 30~ By Temi, Daughter…

Dear friends, collaborators and appreciators of my father Biyi Bándélé,

I’d love you to invite you to join us for an evening of celebration of his life, and the extremely exciting publication of his epic novel  Yorùbá Boy Running, completed just before he died in August 2022.

The event will take place at Brixton House theatre at 17:00 on Sunday 30 June 2024

We’ll tell his story through the many worlds he inhabited in theatre, film and publishing through readings and tributes from long-term friends and collaborators including Chiwetel Ejiofor, who reads the audiobook of Yorùbá Boy Running, as well as Adjoa Andoh, Burt Caesar, Chipo Chung, Danny Sapani, Diane Parish, Jude Akuwudike, Margaret Busby, Paterson Joseph and Shingai Shoniwa. Directed by Roxana Silbert, previous Artistic Director of the Hampstead Theatre and original director of Brixton Stories, and hosted by Kwame Kwei-Armah.

Tickets are available for purchase from Brixton House: https://brixtonhouse.co.uk/shows/a-night-to-remember-biyi-bandele-2/

There will be prepublication copies of Yorùbá Boy Running available for purchase on the night and can also be preordered through this link:

(UK) https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/447780/yoruba-boy-running-by-bandele-biyi/9780241562697

(USA) https://www.harpercollins.com/products/yoruba-boy-running-biyi-bandele

Thank you for all your kind wishes and condolences over the past two years, they have been very much appreciated. I’d love to thank you in person if you can join us in Brixton on the night.

Much love,

Temi

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT FEATURED STORIES

Thespians mourn sudden departure of Biyi Bandele

Bandele

Nigerian theartre arts practitioners on Tuesday expressed sadness over the death of late Nigerian Novelist and Playwright, Biyi Bandele, who died Aug. 7, at the age of 54.
His death was made known in a statement posted on his Facebook page by his daughter, Temi Bandele, on Monday.
The statement read: “As Biyi’s Daughter, I am heartbroken to share the sudden and unexpected death on Sunday 7th of August in Lagos of my father Biyi Bandele.

“Biyi was a prodigiously talented writer and film-maker, as well as a loyal friend and beloved father. He was a storyteller to his bones, with an unblinking perspective, singular voice and wisdom which spoke boldly through all of his art, in poetry, novels, plays and on screen.

“He told stories which made a profound impact and inspired many all over the world. His legacy will live on through his work.

“He was taken from us much too soon. He had already said so much so beautifully, and had so much more to say.We wish everyone to please respect the privacy of hs family and friends as we grieve his loss.”

The practitioners took to their facebook pages to pay tribute to the deceased.
Mufu Onifade, a playwright and dramatist, said, “This sudden death pricks me to the marrow! At times, like this, even silence does not provide answers to many whys rummaging our minds.
“Noises will fizzle out in the air just like a fart; and silence is not always golden.
“Indeed, life and times are transient!
” Rest In Peace, great creative thinker.
RIP, great writer and film director.
RIP, Biyi Bandele!
May your journey home be smooth.”
Theatre and Film Scholar, Onyekaba Cornel-Best wrote, “Life is miserably unpredictable. Rest on brother man”.
Also, Film Curator, Shaibu Husseini wrote, “Sad Day globally for the theatre and film industry.
“Notable writer and Director Biyi Bandele (Half of A Yellow Sun, Fifty, Blood Sisters And the anticipated Elesin Oba) is DEAD!
“This is so so so TRAGICCCCCC! At 54???????? We have just lost an ‘institution’!
“Have mercy Lord! Journey Well Biyi! Go well!”
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Bandele, who was born Oct. 19, 1967, was a Nigerian novelist, playwright and filmmaker.
He was a UK-based Nigerian writer for fiction, theatre, journalism, television, film and radio, he moved to London in 1990.
Bandele was the director of “Half of a yellow sun” and co-director of “Blood Sisters”, a Nigerian series.

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT FEATURED STORIES

Nigeria loses another bright filmmaker as Biyi Bandele dies

Biyi Bandele

Scholar, writer and filmmaker, Biyi Bamidele, has died.

He was 54.

News of his shocking death filtered in on Monday night, with her daughter, Temi, confirming it in a statement.

According to her, Biyi, who recently directed Elesin Oba: The King’s Horseman, Wole Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman, filmed by Mo Abudu, passed on on Sunday.

He was also the director of Half of a Yellow Sun and Blood Sister.

Although the circumstance has yet to be revealed, the daughter notes:

“I am heartbroken to share the sudden and unexpected death on Sunday 7th of August in Lagos of my father Biyi Bandele.

“Biyi was a prodigiously talented writer and film-maker, as well as a loyal friend and beloved father. He was a storyteller to his bones, with an unblinking perspective, singular voice and wisdom which spoke boldly through all of his art, in poetry, novels, plays and on screen. He told stories which made a profound impact and inspired many all over the world. His legacy will live on through his work.

“He was taken from us much too soon. He had already said so much so beautifully, and had so much more to say.

“We ask everyone to please respect the privacy of his family and friends as we grieve his loss.”

His profile
Bandele was born to Yoruba parents in Kafanchan, Kaduna State, Nigeria in 1967. His father Solomon Bandele Thomas, was a veteran of the Burma Campaign in World War II, while Nigeria was still part of the British Empire. Bandele spent the first 18 years of his life in the north-central part of the country. He had ambitions to be a writer and when he was 14 years old he won a short story competition.

Later on, he moved to Lagos, then in 1987 studied drama at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. He won the International Student Playscript competition of 1989 with an unpublished play, Rain, before claiming the 1990 British Council Lagos Award for a collection of poems. He moved to London in 1990 at the age of 22 armed with the manuscripts of two novels. His books were published, and he was given a commission by the Royal Court Theatre.

Bandele worked with the Royal Court Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company, as well as writing radio drama and screenplays for television. His plays include: Rain; Marching for Fausa (1993); Resurrections in the Season of the Longest Drought (1994); Two Horsemen (1994), selected as Best New Play at the 1994 London New Plays Festival; Death Catches the Hunter and Me and the Boys.

In 1997 he did a successful dramatization of Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. Bandele’s stage adaptation of his own novel The Street (1999), premiered in 2001 and was published in one volume with his play Happy Birthday Mister Deka, which premiered in 1999.

His directorial debut film Half of a Yellow Sun was screened in the Special Presentation section at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival, and received a “rapturous reception”. The film received a wide range of critical attention. His new film, entitled Fifty, was included in the 2015 London Film Festival. He also directed the third season of the popular MTV drama series, Shuga. In 2022 he directed the first Netflix Nigerian Original series, Blood Sisters.

He was announced as the director of the new Netflix and Ebonylife TV co-production “Elesin Oba, The king’s Horseman” the screen adaptation of Wole Soyinka’s stage play “Death And The King’s Horseman”, and is set to premier at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2022. (WIKI profile)