LIFTED UNITED welcomes Authors TOMI OYEMAKINDE and ROGBA PAYNE, LIFTed UNITED Book Panel

Tomi Oyemakinde grew up in London, before being uprooted at the age of 6 to head across the North Sea to the Netherlands. He is committed to crafting stories centered on Black protagonists thriving across genres, audiences & worlds. When Tomi is not busy writing, he can be found daydreaming about his future dog (namely a Rottweiler named Pan) and geeking out over all things anime. The Changing Man is his debut novel.

When 17-year-old Femi Fatona and his older brother are forced to accompany their dad to an island resort, Femi is not looking forward to it. Femi is thrilled to find that the island is bursting with new and spectacular species of plants and animals. But he soon realizes that sometimes pretty exteriors hide ugly truths—truths that are begging to come to light.

But those truths come with a price. And, when the island is thrown into chaos from animals suddenly becoming feral, what was meant to be a peaceful bonding experience quickly becomes the stuff of nightmares. Femi will have to put aside tension with his family and work with other guests, in order to escape the animals, the island, and his own guilt at the part he may have played in all of it.

Rogba Payne was born in London and the first of three, Rogba was raised across both London and Lagos, Nigeria. He is a descendant of John Augustus Otunba-Payne; the noted lawyer, writer and murdered prince of the Ijebu-Ode royal family. Rogba studied law in England before returning to Nigeria, where he started his own law firm and writes speculative fiction that examines issues of power, prejudice and spirituality.

Rumi and his family are Odu, stricken with poverty and disparaged by the other tribes. When ruthless agents of the Palmaine – the colonising nation that dominates the continent of Basmine – threaten to destroy the village market, Rumi takes it upon himself to liberate his family. Taking a place in the prestigious Golden Room, where earnings from his music offer a chance at freedom, he shoulders his pride and resentment in a bid to make it to the top.

On what should be Rumi’s greatest night at the Golden Room, his life is turned upside down. A terrifying individual known as the Priest of Vultures attacks Rumi and his family. Before her death, Rumi’s mother, Adunola, solicits the help of a dying god and saves Rumi, setting him on the path to become a Shadowwielder: warriors with the ability to use their shadow as a weapon. But Rumi’s need for vengeance may be more important to him than the future of his people…

TOMI OYEMAKINDE & ROGBA PAYNE in conversation with Karis McPherson, BEYOND BOUNDARIES PANEL 6