Tomiwa Owolade
{{Short description|Journalist and author (born 1996)}}
{{Infobox person
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| birth_name =
| birth_date = July {{Birth year and age|1996}}
| birth_place = Nigeria
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| occupation = Journalist and author
| education =
| alma_mater = Queen Mary, University of London
University College London
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| known_for =
| notable_works = This is Not America
| awards = Giles St Aubyn Award (2021)
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}}
Tomiwa Owolade (born July 1996) is a Nigerian-born British journalist and author based in London, England. His debut book, This is Not America, was the major winner of the 2021 Giles St Aubyn Award from the Royal Society of Literature for a first work of non-fiction.{{cite web |last1=Callaghan |first1=Morgan |title=2021 RSL Giles St Aubyn Awards Winners Announced |url=https://rsliterature.org/18222-2/ |website=Royal Society of Literature |access-date=4 January 2024 |date=8 December 2021}}
Early life
Owolade was born in Nigeria in 1996 and moved to London in 2005. He studied English at Queen Mary, University of London, graduating with a first-class BA degree in 2018,{{Cite web |date=2021-10-18 |title=Alumni profile - Tomiwa Owolade |url=https://www.qmul.ac.uk/alumni/blog/items/alumni-profile---tomiwa-owolade.html |access-date=2023-05-22 |website=www.qmul.ac.uk |language=en}} and went on to earn a postgraduate degree in English from University College London in 2019.{{cite web|url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/alumni/case-studies/2024/oct/new-perspectives-tomiwa-owolade|title=New perspectives with Tomiwa Owolade|website=ucl.ac.uk|publisher=University College London (UCL)|date=25 October 2024|access-date=23 March 2025}}
Career
= Journalism =
Owolade is a journalist and commentator on race, language, education, and free speech. He began his career at the UnHerd website.{{cite news |last1=Owolade |first1=Tomiwa |title=The problem with white saviours |url=https://unherd.com/2021/09/the-problem-with-white-saviours/ |access-date=4 January 2024 |website=UnHerd |date=12 September 2021}} He is currently a columnist at The Times and contributes to The Observer, The Telegraph,{{Cite news |last=Owolade |first=Tomiwa |date=2023-06-04 |title=How American jargon infiltrated British English – and our politics|newspaper=The Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/tomiwa-owolade-this-is-not-america/ |access-date=2023-06-07}} New Statesman{{Cite web |title=Tomiwa Owolade, Author at New Statesman |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/author/tomiwaowolade |access-date=2023-07-27 |website=New Statesman |language=en-US}} and London Evening Standard{{Cite news |last=Owolade |first=Tomiwa |date=2023-08-28 |title=Salman Rushdie's warning rings true: ignore the Twitter outrage |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/comment/salman-rushdie-roald-dahl-ian-fleming-updating-works-censorship-freedom-of-speech-b1102688.html |access-date=2023-11-07 |newspaper=Evening Standard |language=en}} and BBC Radio 4 documentaries.{{cite web |title=BBC Radio 4 - The Church of Social Justice |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001b420 |website=BBC |access-date=4 January 2024}}{{cite web |title=BBC Radio 4 - Across the Red Line, Series 5, Are American approaches to combating racism worth trying in Britain? |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000p1g4 |website=BBC |date=2020|access-date=4 January 2024}}
= Diane Abbott controversy =
In April 2023, Owolade's column{{cite news |last1=Owolade |first1=Tomiwa |title=Racism in Britain is not a black and white issue. It’s far more complicated |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/apr/15/racism-in-britain-is-not-a-black-and-white-issue-it-is-far-more-complicated |access-date=4 January 2024 |newspaper=The Observer |date=15 April 2023}} in The Observer on race and its role in differences in educational outcome in the UK provoked{{cite magazine |last1=Bradley |first1=Adrian |title=The writer at the centre of the Diane Abbott row |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/podcasts/new-statesman-podcast/2023/04/writer-centre-diane-abbott-row |access-date=4 January 2024 |magazine=New Statesman |date=28 April 2023}} a letter{{cite news |title=Success for women need not be the same as for men |url=https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/commentisfree/2023/apr/23/success-for-women-not-same-as-for-men-letters |access-date=4 January 2024 |newspaper=The Observer |date=23 April 2023}} from MP Diane Abbott in which she stated that Jews, Irish people and Travellers do not experience racism as black people do.{{Cite news |date=23 April 2023 |title=Diane Abbott loses Labour whip over racism comments |newspaper=Evening Standard|first=Tammy|last= Hughes |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/diane-abbott-loses-labour-whip-over-racism-comments-b1076080.html |access-date=23 April 2023}} This caused controversy and discussion during which Owolade supported{{cite news |last1=Owolade |first1=Tomiwa |title=For one who knows the pain of racism, Diane Abbott shows such ignorance |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/for-one-who-knows-the-pain-of-racism-diane-abbott-shows-such-ignorance-29fkhhkw3 |access-date=5 January 2024 |date=5 January 2024 |language=en}} calls for Abbott's resignation.{{cite news |last1=Rose |first1=David |title=Keir Starmer must expel Diane Abbott, says writer at centre of letter row |url=https://www.thejc.com/news/keir-starmer-must-expel-diane-abbott-says-writer-at-centre-of-letter-row-ye7t1ami |date=26 April 2023 |access-date=4 January 2024 |work=www.thejc.com |language=en}} and which resulted in her suspension from the Labour Party.{{cite web |title=Diane Abbott suspended as Labour MP after racism letter |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-65365978 |website=BBC News |access-date=4 January 2024 |date=23 April 2023}} Abbott withdrew her remarks and apologised.{{Cite news |last=Belam |first=Martin |date=23 April 2023 |title=Labour suspends Diane Abbott as MP over letter suggesting Jewish people and Travellers do not experience racism |newspaper=The Irish Times |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/world/uk/2023/04/23/labour-suspends-diane-abbott-as-mp-over-letter-suggesting-jewish-people-do-not-experience-racism/ |access-date=23 April 2023}}
= ''This is Not America'' =
In 2021, Owolade was the major winner of the Giles St Aubyn Award from the Royal Society of Literature for his book This is Not America, which was published by Atlantic Books in 2023.{{cite magazine |title=Atlantic and W F Howes snap up Tomiwa Owolade’s debut in five-way auction |url=https://www.thebookseller.com/rights/atlantic-and-wf-howes-snap-tomiwa-owolade-s-debut-five-way-auction-1288148|date=9 November 2021|first=Ruth |last=Comerford |access-date=4 January 2024 |magazine=The Bookseller |language=En}}{{cite magazine|url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/tomiwa-owolade-wins-10k-rsl-giles-st-aubyn-awards-1292765|title=Owolade takes £10k top prize at RSL Giles St Aubyn Awards|magazine=The Bookseller|date=8 December 2021|first=Ruth|last=Comerford|access-date=23 March 2025}} In the book, Owolade argues that "too much of the conversation around race in Britain is viewed through the prism of American ideas that don't reflect the history, challenges and achievements of increasingly diverse black populations at home."{{Cite web |last=LSE |title=This is Not America: why black lives in Britain matter {{!}} LSE Festival |url=https://www.lse.ac.uk/Events/LSE-Festival/2023/events/20230617/race.aspx |access-date=2023-05-22 |website=London School of Economics and Political Science |language=en-GB}}
This is Not America was widely reviewed.{{cite magazine |last1=Rashid |first1=Tanjil |title=Britain’s race delusion |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/2023/06/britain-race-delusion-book-review |access-date=5 January 2024 |magazine=New Statesman |date=25 June 2023}}{{cite news |last=Martin |first=S. I.|author-link=S.I. Martin |title=This is Not America by Tomiwa Owolade review – a British take on Black identity |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2023/jul/06/this-is-not-america-by-tomiwa-owolade-review-a-british-take-on-black-identity |newspaper=The Guardian |date=6 July 2023}}{{Cite news |title=This is Not America: Why Black Lives in Britain Matter by Tomiwa Owolade - nuanced, compassionate and surprisingly optimistic |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/review/2023/07/05/this-is-not-america-why-black-lives-in-britain-matter-by-tomiwa-owolade-nuanced-compassionate-and-surprisingly-optimistic/|first=Mark|last=Paul|date=5 July 2023 |access-date=2023-12-12 |newspaper=The Irish Times |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=The search for a new language about race |url=https://www.ft.com/content/03aad35c-2d7e-41a2-8592-4fe44b5ca400|first=Stephen|last=Bush|author-link=Stephen Bush|date=12 July 2023 |access-date=2023-12-12 |website=www.ft.com}} In The Guardian, Colin Grant called it a "timely intervention into the politics of identity"{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/jun/26/this-is-not-america-by-tomiwa-owolade-review-why-black-lives-in-britain-matter|title=This Is Not America by Tomiwa Owolade review – black and British… and a world apart|newspaper=The Guardian|first=Colin|last=Grant|date=26 June 2023}} and Tony Sewell wrote in The Telegraph that it is "a sensible study".{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/this-is-not-america-tomiwa-owolade-review/|title=A must read exposé of how Britain fell for America's madness on race|newspaper=The Telegraph|first=Tony |last=Sewell |date=17 June 2023}} Pratinav Anil in The Times, where it was book of the week in June 2023,{{Cite news |last=Anil |first=Pratinav |date=2023-07-26 |title=This Is Not America by Tomiwa Owolade review — it's class, not colour, that matters in Britain |newspaper=The Times |language=en |url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/this-is-not-america-by-tomiwa-owolade-review-09pk66nd9 |access-date=2023-07-27 |issn=0140-0460}} found that it focussed on class over race. In The Spectator, Margaret Casely-Hayford called Owolade's "positive attitude" "glib".{{cite news |last1=Casely-Hayford |first1=Margaret |title=Black Britons betrayed |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/black-britons-betrayed/ |access-date=4 January 2024 |work=The Spectator |date=1 August 2023}} Kehinde Andrews stated that it was "so spectacularly bad it should never have been published" and coined the term "Uncle Tomiwa",{{cite web |last1=Andrews |first1=Kehinde |title=This is not… a serious book |url=https://make-it-plain.org/2023/06/30/this-is-not-a-serious-book/ |website=Make it Plain |date=30 June 2023}} which provoked further controversy.{{cite news |title=A massacre of straw men |first= Obadiah |last=Mbatang |url=https://thecritic.co.uk/a-massacre-of-straw-men/ |access-date=4 January 2024 |work=The Critic Magazine |date=17 August 2023}} In December 2023, The Times chose the book as one of the best of the year,{{cite news |last1=Marriott |first1=James |title=12 best thought and ideas books of 2023 |url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/best-philosophy-ideas-books-2023-3k0p9zfx6 |access-date=5 January 2024 |date=5 January 2024 |language=en}} as did Tortoise Media{{cite news |last1=Armstrong |first1=Stephen |last2=Allfree |first2=Claire |title=The Tortoise Top books to buy this Christmas |url=https://www.tortoisemedia.com/2023/12/15/the-tortoise-top-books-to-buy-this-christmas/ |access-date=5 January 2024 |work=Tortoise |date=15 December 2023}} and Michela Wrong in The Spectator.{{cite news |last1=Spectator |first1=The |title=Books of the year II: more choices of reading in 2023 |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/books-of-the-year-ii-more-choices-of-reading-in-2023/ |work=The Spectator |date=8 November 2023}}
= Other =
Owolade was one of the judges at the UCL Orwell Prize for Political Writing in 2023.{{Cite web |last=UCL |date=2018-04-30 |title=News |url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/english/news-and-events/news |access-date=2023-05-22 |website=UCL English |language=en}}{{cite web |title=Judges: 2023 Political Fiction Book Prize judges |url=https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-prizes/judging/ |publisher=The Orwell Foundation |access-date=8 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230109163130/https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-prizes/judging/ |archive-date=9 January 2023}}
References
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