Shshsjsjsj. The US edition of VAGABONDS! was published by @riverheadbooks two days ago and I’ve been so excited!!!!! Thank you so much for your support so far. If you preordered this book, massive thank you to you! I hope your copy is with you now, or getting there soon. If you haven’t ordered it yet or can’t, and would like to support me still, the best way to do this is by boosting the book wherever you see it, telling a friend to tell a friend to tell a friend, etc. If you’ve been doing that already, I just want to say thank you again. What a surreal journey it’s been with you here.
Since I last wrote, our book has now been named a Most Anticipated Book of The Year by the New York Times, LA Times, I-D/Vice, Entertainment Weekly, Electric Literature, Teen Vogue, Ms Magazine, Goodreads, Harpers Bazaar, Vulture, An Other Magazine, Lithub, The Millions, Brittle Paper, CNN etc; has received three starred trade reviews [from Booklist, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus]. So far, it has been reviewed a lot of times, but I’m linking my favourites: The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Star Tribune, By Andrew Blackman and The Plot Thickens, and has had excerpts published in Lithub and Granta.
Some more updates:
1. Interviews:
For @MIC, Nelson C.J and I had a great conversation about artmaking, stories, Lagos, Vagabonds!, love/devotion and freedom. Here’s a link.
I spoke to Juliana Ukiomogbe at Elle.com about writing, learning to DJ and why I claim the power of my work with my chest. You can find the interview here.
I spoke to Nathan Smith at them. about what queerness means in this book, what hope and courage are to me, and other things. Link here.
2. I made the Nigerian cover for VAGABONDS! and it’ll be out through Farafina Books in May. They’ll be making an announcement today.
3. Last week, an amazing bookseller in Arizona made a Vagabonds! playlist on Spotify. He said: “A good number of the songs were specifically mentioned in the novel; others are by the same artists, even if she didn't mention a specific track. Just songs that resonated with me and had a "Vagabonds vibe," at least to me.” I’ll leave a link to it in my stories. That reminded me to get back to making the one I was working on on Apple Music. It’s been such a pleasure curating it. Thinking of it as somewhere to hang out and find new music. Inside the book itself, there’s Odunsi, Burna, Angelique Kidjo, Buika, etc. In this playlist, an even wider range of songs from Miles Davis to Frank Ocean, Fela to Buju, Faze to Rosalia, the Cavemen to James Baldwin singing. Save what you love. And if you find a new song you enjoy in there, tell me.
Links below:
Apple Music (Eloghosa Osunde)
Spotify (by Brandon Stout)
YouTube Music (transferred by Chisom Peter Job)
4. Release day was the best day of my life so far, hands down. That’s true for many reasons, but THE LOVE I received in private and public was a huge part of that. I felt so supported, and I feel changed by how much. We celebrated Vagabonds Day so hard that day that it trended on Twitter for a few hours. I’ve been loving the photos and tweets as people read the book, finally. I’ve watched people make new friends, lend each other copies, find reading partners, all on that app — because of stories, because of a book. I’ve never seen anything quite like it before and I’m honestly blown away.
4. The audiobook is also out now. This was produced in two intense weeks; recorded with love in Lagos, Abuja, New York and London. Narrated by Obongjayar (who is a beast in every realm; a force; a creature with heft; listen to him *every* chance you get), Eloghosa Osunde (unsinkable; enough said), Arit Okpo (a star; shines in three stories with completely different climates; in casting this, it was clear to me which parts of the book could not be said in any other voice), Ifeyinwa Unachukwu (the range is *ridiculous*! her work here almost moved me to tears), Sheila Chukwulozie (art genius, one of my favorite collaborators; whenever we work together, expect momentous madness and colossal crase), Atta Otigba (played Tatafo with bonechilling belief in his body; there are points in this book where he was narrating something and lightning showed face in my head as reflex; a *thunderous* talent. It’s important for you to remember this name). Directed by Grammy Nominee, Ali Muirden and the incredibly precise Frances Loy; produced by Sarah Jeffe. Casting and creative direction by Eloghosa Osunde.
What’s it like? Well. I listened to it from top to bottom recently. It’s a striking eleven hour performance of the book, a kind of choir. It’s like being kept company and being successfully pulled into a void at the same time. It’s like a play - but set inside your ears instead of on a stage, or a piece of theatre in a dark room that you don’t need to see to feel because not using your eyes is the point; being led into the story by your ears is the point. It’s the kind of work that floods the body, will deepen your respect of hearing as a sense, because it’s a book that allows you to literally see it by hearing it. If you’ve loved any of the stories, it’s pretty much still the characters you know and hold close, but even more outrageously alive, and brought to you by a cast of six. This is also a way to get into the book faster if it’s not yet available in hardback where you are and you don’t want to wait. If you get both the audiobook and the book, you can hear us read it with you. Link here.
5. The book is out in the UK from 4th Estate on 31/03/2022. Two more weeks!
Whew ok, I think that’s all of it!
Thank you for riding with me. I hope you enjoy the stories when you meet them.
With big love,
Eloghosa