By Oluchi Chibuzor
In an era where authenticity and emotional depth are increasingly central to storytelling, few writers capture the complexity of human experience across formats as skillfully as Omotayo Ajoke Adeola. A Nigerian writer, producer, educator, and storyteller, her career spans screenwriting, children’s literature, nonfiction, and film production—each project building on the last, and all bound by a shared commitment to emotional truth.
Her work explores the ways our emotions guide our decisions, shape our relationships, and influence the paths we choose to follow. Whether writing for adults, children, or young adults, she crafts characters that feel strikingly real—rooted in emotional honesty and shaped by deeply relatable struggles.
With the upcoming release of her debut young adult fiction novel in 2026, to be launched across the UK, North America, and Nigeria, she continues this exploration of identity and emotional discovery. But to understand how she arrived at this moment in her creative journey, it’s important to look at the multidisciplinary path that shaped her voice—and the pivotal role her 2024 nonfiction book Motion plays in setting the stage for what’s to come.
A Multidisciplinary Voice
From early in her career, Omotayo demonstrated a remarkable ability to move fluidly between creative formats. She began as a screenwriter and producer in Nigeria, gaining hands-on experience in an industry known for its vibrancy, intensity, and sheer volume. Writing for the screen taught her the mechanics of story—how to build tension, create rhythm, and let visuals do the talking. It also taught her to write for an audience in real time, something that sharpened her instincts and helped her connect deeply with viewers.
At the same time, she cultivated a passion for writing for younger audiences. Her work teaching creative writing to children proved foundational—not just in helping others discover their creative voice, but in clarifying her own. Teaching required her to simplify complex ideas, focus on clarity and emotion, and always write with empathy. These same skills would become central to her own writing for children.
She has since authored two children’s books which were uniquely commissioned: books that tell stories inspired by African women who have left lasting legacies across the centuries. From the legendary Yoruba heroine Moremi Ajasoro to Zulu Sofola, the first published female Nigerian playwright, these stories highlight courage, brilliance, and cultural leadership from a female perspective—offering young readers characters who look like them and history that speaks to their roots.
In parallel, she’s written a number of short stories—some published during her time at the University of Warwick, where she earned a Master’s degree in Writing. These stories offered a space for experimentation, for grounding characters in emotion and observing how they move through the world. Her time in Warwick was a turning point: an environment that encouraged creative risk and demanded rigor. It was here that she refined her voice and started to think deeply about the themes that would shape her work moving forward.
Writing With Emotional Clarity
Throughout her career, one thread remains consistent: a focus on emotional truth. Her characters, whether on screen or on the page, feel real because they are built from the inside out. She is not afraid to explore vulnerability, uncertainty, or the quiet moments in which people decide who they are and who they want to be. Her stories are less about plot twists and more about emotional turning points—the moments when a person chooses courage over fear, connection over isolation, or authenticity over performance.
This theme comes to the fore in her two nonfiction books. Her first, How To Be Single (2020), explores the cultural, emotional, and social dimensions of being unmarried in a society that often ties worth to relationship status. Far from a prescriptive guide, the book is a deeply personal, reflective work that challenges readers to rethink assumptions and embrace their full selves.
Her most recent release, Motion (2024), builds on this foundation but widens its lens. The book is about movement—not physical, but emotional and psychological. It examines how we navigate change, make difficult decisions, and keep going even when the ground beneath us shifts. Through a mix of memoir, essays, and observational writing, she draws connections between motion and emotion—how we often have to feel deeply in order to move forward.
Motion encapsulates many of the themes she’s been developing over the years—truth, growth, and emotional honesty—while offering readers practical insights and affirming language for navigating the unpredictability of life. It’s also a natural segue into the territory of her upcoming young adult novel.
Toward the Future: A New Voice in YA Fiction
The young adult space is a logical next step for Omotayo, allowing her to draw on everything she’s learned across genres. Teenagers are, after all, in a state of constant motion—emotionally, physically, and psychologically. It is a time of identity formation, big questions, and first-time experiences. Her focus on emotional truth and authentic character-building makes her particularly suited to write for this audience.
Her upcoming novel, due for release in 2026, will explore many of the same themes found in Motion—but through a fictional lens. At its heart, it is a story of self-discovery, resilience, and the courage to define yourself outside of expectation. Her characters will be as flawed and relatable as always, and the emotional journeys they undertake will resonate across cultural and generational boundaries.
What’s exciting about this next chapter in her career is not just the book itself, but the way it represents the culmination of years of multidisciplinary work. Her background in screenwriting will bring cinematic pacing and dialogue. Her experience writing for children ensures accessibility and emotional clarity. Her nonfiction has sharpened her ability to explore internal conflicts with honesty. And her work as a producer gives her a unique understanding of how stories come alive in the world.
A Voice the World Needs
In a time when publishing is seeking new voices and fresh perspectives, Omotayo offers both. She writes stories that are deeply African and universally human. She gives readers the language to understand themselves, and characters who feel like mirrors. With the launch of her young adult novel, she is poised to reach an even broader audience—and to continue doing what she does best: writing with emotional honesty, creative boldness, and unwavering authenticity.
As she brings her stories to the UK, North America, and back home in Nigeria, one thing is clear: hers is a voice that transcends borders—and one the world needs now more than ever.
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