Gboyega Odubanjo (30 January 1996 – August 2023) was a British-Nigerian poet from South London, England.
Early life and education
Gboyega Odubanjo was born on 30 January 1996,
in
London, England, where he also grew up.
Odubanjo attended the University of East Anglia between 2014 and 2019.
Gboyega was posthumously awarded a Doctor of Philosophy by the University of Hertfordshire for a programme of work entitled Adam: Fear of a Black Planet, as his work had been completed before his death.
Career
Odubanjo's first pamphlet,
While I Yet Live, was published in 2019 by Bad Betty Press.
This was followed by
Aunty Uncle Poems, which won the Poetry Business Competition. After his death, Faber announced that
Adam, a first full-length collection, would be published in 2024. The book revisits the unsolved murder of an unidentified black boy whose body was discovered in the
River Thames in 2001.
Odubanjo was a board member and former guest editor of Magma Poetry.
Death
In August 2023, Odubanjo died in an accidental drowning at the Shambala Festival in
Northamptonshire where he was due to perform.
He had been reporting as missing for several days before his body was found.
Awards
Received
-
2020: Poetry Business New Poet's Prize for Aunty Uncle Poems
-
2021: Eric Gregory Award from the Society of Authors
-
2021: Michael Marks Pamphlet Award for Aunty Uncle Poems
Shortlisted
-
2020: OutSpoken Prize for Poetry for While I Yet Live
-
2024: T. S. Eliot Prize for Adam
